im a pretty big stickler for having some sort of theme - or at least making the rooms somewhate integrated - one of the things we as haunters do to make the experience scarrier is try and make the atmosphere as realistic as possible with cool scenery, mood setting sound effects/music, lighting, even smells for some, however, in my opinion, if you dont have a haunt that flows at least a little bit, you take a few steps backward from making it realistic and kick yourself in the foot - - - so yes, you might be able to have some really scary rooms by themself, but you will lack buildup and momentum through the whole haunt as well as make it more unrealistic - - - we have a hard enough time trying to make our show feel like the place really is haunted, so why put a clown room right after a burial chamber? it may still be scary for some, but some of the older people who are harder to scare wont be as impressed and wont be scared even if each room is executed well. getting the people in the right mindset to be scared is just as important as the actual scare. a little analogy....take one of your favorite rock songs or any genre for that matter - take your favorite 10 second clip out of the song and put it beside a couple other clips of songs you like. while that still may be a really impressive part for whatever reason, i bet you wont get goosebumps like you do when the third time the chorus roles around and the guitarist goes crazy or that key change happens - know what i mean? we feel that way cause of the buildup and the rest of the song has put us in the minset to be impressed
the way i approach it is this - instead of making props specifically for a theme, try and make a theme that encompases a lot of your existing props - it may take a little more work to create a backstory that way but spending a few days mulling over a good story is better than spending a couple hundred bucks and a few weeks making very specific props to your theme that you could possibly never use again - - just using my haunt as an example - - just a few of the rooms are a childs room with maybe clowns, a bathroom, an endless pit, a toxic room, and a chainsaw room. now at first glance that dont seem like they have anything to do with each other, but when you read the story and go through the haunt it will still flow nicely
the story involves an undertaker who worked out of his home - the facade will be of a turn of the century srtyle house - this explains the childs room (which is the only way i can think of getting clowns involved while still keeping a theme other than circus) and the bathroom - however, since the undertaker was a crazed killer, he didn't want to do his slaughtering in the open, so there are secret passages in the house, in a particular room the style of scenery will take a drastic change from house like rooms to more of an underground/old forgotten passageway sort of thing - this is where the pit will be - once a mineshaft/ a pit to throw bodies? you decide - - - the toxic room will be labeled with embalming fluids and stuff he would need for his practice, and the chainsaw guy could be the killer himself trying to claim you as the next victim - so instead of having like all pirate stuff, or all vampire stuff, i was able to have a lot of variety while still being able to keep the haunt flowing and make it as believable as possible
sorry for the long post - hope this helps someone a bit - riley
