[JamesButabi]

My latest idea for the scare portion of my 2nd annual Halloween party. Last year we did a pipe and drape maze with typical jump and noise scares which people weren't aware was going to be part of the party. This lead into a 100' event tent where the party was.

This year.....

The Scenario: I would like to fill a 20' x 20' tent with a scene. The one I came up with was an old kitchen. Old appliances, Blood smeared, and dim lit.

The Idea: People would be ushered into this fully enclosed tent to very dim light. As they enter the lights suddenly go out and from the opposite end, a full size jigsaw is slowly wheeled into the room in a wheel chair under a dim red light carrying a tape recorder. The tape recorder is triggered which starts the game.

Over speakers a prerecorded message plays.

(I made this literally on my first take to show my brother and cousin that I could get the voice close enough) The recording would instruct the people to find a key in the room to escape along with clever anecdotes in the message relating to the party.

Once the recording is over a large countdown timer begins to tick down from 2:00. Trying to find the key people must stick their arms in a garbage disposal that sprays air. Fridge full of heads / bowls of eyeballs. Dead body on the floor. Oven with something inside of it.

They never find the key. As the time ticks away, the saw theme music gets louder and louder and more climatic. The timer ends.... Something big happens.

Ideas? Hoping you all get into this idea and can help me improve the base concept. I would like to hear your ideas for the contents of the room (or even a better theme for the room). Also what could occur as the timer runs out.

My budget is probably around $750 for the room.

 

[Copchick]

Whoa, that is a good scare concept and I think your voice on the recording is spot on. How about just everything goes black and silent? As the music gets louder and the timer counts down, your "game players" are rushing to find the key and when the time ends...all is black and silent. Then they need to feel for the door, in the dark, and it upon trying it, it opens without the key. Perhaps when the lights go out, there is a glowing message on a wall to "go to the door", then they can just open it.

 

[JamesButabi]

I thought it could be alot of fun. Its an adult party so it can be really crazy.

I am kind of hoping to come up with great scares during the find but something really big to happen at the end that would scare the bejesus out of people.

 

[Magic13]

Sound like a scare!!!! Great idea!!!

 

[Headless]

Sounds great - good luck with it!

 

[BioHazardCustoms]

Awesome job on the voice! Why not do a spitter in the garbage disposal? When they stick their hand down in there, it sets off a motion detector attached to a windshield washer pump, and squirts water at them.

Just a thought. If I come up with any more, I'll post them.

 

[JamesButabi]

Awesome job on the voice! Why not do a spitter in the garbage disposal? When they stick their hand down in there, it sets off a motion detector attached to a windshield washer pump, and squirts water at them.

Just a thought. If I come up with any more, I'll post them.

I like it! Keep them coming

 

[Cat_Bones]

what if in the garbage disposal there were actual spinning "blades" they had to reach through (made of foam of course so no one gets hurt) just to up the ante on that one

what if in the heads in the fridge there was an xray of one head with the key behind the eye (just like in the movie) but no actual key in the heads

what if when the timer ran up flames spouted up and there was a body in the oven that kicked and screamed perhaps?

 

[Cat_Bones]

or there was something like the blood trap and all the participants have to stick their arms into a scary looking device?

 

[JamesButabi]

I might have to rewatch the series just to get more ideas . Cat I like that head in fridge idea. I think the

Another idea is we are going to have someone chained up who began to saw their arm or leg off. They will be yelling at people to find the key / hurry / you are going to kill us!/ etc. We might incorporate some time of magic trick or device trigger on this person when the timer goes off.

 

[fontgeek]

If you can dig a hole for an actor to hide their actual/live leg in, you/the actor could have a false leg from just below the knee to the foot, you/the actor could just finish cutting off their own manacled foot just as people are coming through the room. You could make the cut or damage as severe as you want, or as severe as the "tool" they are using would normally make it. Obviously the other end of that chain would need to be fastened/anchored down to something fairly "permanent" to make it appear that removing their own foot was the only way to escape. You could do the same trick with an arm by using a table with a hole in it, then having the other half of the "arm" chained down to the table. The real arm goes into the hole in the table while the fake arm gets "cut".

 

[BioHazardCustoms]

You could build the door out in a way that there is a sliding latch in the frame that keep it from being opened until you're ready for it to open. It's best to build these out of rebar or 2x4 lumber though. Have the hole go through the side of the door frame and all the way into the door.

Or even better, have the door open out of the room and have the hinges and knob on the same side. The opposite side latches like I described above, and has a set of dummy hinges so that it looks like the door opens into the room.

 

[JamesButabi]

Font: We do the party under a tent in a concrete parking lot so the dug hole is out of the questions. However the table idea if pretty cool .

Bio: I understand the first example but what is the purpose of the second? To make it look like they can get out but cant?

 

[Sideshow.Zombeau]

You could have many uncut keys everywhere, somehow I think that would be even more unnerving. You have to find the "correct" key right. You could probably build the kitchen on a raised platform and have weighted lawnblower blades mounted underneath, that activate when the time is up. Really shake things up. Junkyards have plenty and you may be able to get them for a song. Two minutes is a short time in a large area, so you could focus more on the big finale. The detail you listed is awesome.

 

[JamesButabi]

The only reason I thought to not have a key able to be found was so that you are guaranteed the time expires and everyone gets to experience all of the setups. The reason its only 2:00 min is because really we only have a couple hours to usher ~100 people through the scene into the party.

 

[BioHazardCustoms]

The second example is forced misdirection. Have a dummy doorknob on the same side of the door as the actual hinges, but have a set of hinges that aren't connected to the door jamb on the opposite side of the door. They'll go up and attempt to tug on the door handle, and the door won't open. But an actor on the other side of the door can unlatch the door after everyone walks away from it to start searching the room.

 

[Georgeb68]

Dude.....that's awesome!......

 

[JamesButabi]

OH ok I understand what you mean now. Saw your comment on the youtube too. No problem at all.