[Spookkid]

Next year I was thinking about doing a UFO, Alien theme. Has anyone done it before? What worked well? What didn't? Is there any links you could give me from someone who has done it? Thanks.

Also, if this is in the wrong place, please move it. Sorry.

 

[Johnny Thunder]

Seems like this would be the proper place to ask advice on next year's haunt and its theme. I think this would be a cool theme too - were you thinking more like a 50s sci-fi UFO kinda thing or a more realistic Alien type of decorations? I think a 50s cheese fest could be fun

 

[Hauntiholik]

Also, if this is in the wrong place, please move it. Sorry.

No need to move it because it's in the right place

 

[Spookkid]

I was thinking about a more realistic thing with a crashed UFO in the front yard, and a big one in the back. Also, I was thinking of having a crashed UFO the TOTS would have to walk throught.

 

[Johnny Thunder]

That would be pretty cool.

 

[edwood saucer]

Sk - that would be really cool - a walk through.

You know - you could do a glowning half buried asteroid in front - and a UFO in back.

I could see a glowing asteroid glowing and dimming with a small cheap fogger underneath it. Then maybe the walk through UFO in back. MAybe the story is that the ufo gets hit by the astroid shower and crashed it. Then go from there...

Sorry - these things sort of pop into my head and don't let go... I'd go 50's era if it were mine - but there is a nostalgia that I love that you might not.

Let us know how it progresses or if you want more ideas...

ooww - then the asteroid turns humans to zombies - then you have your cake and icing too!

Print out some fake newspapers and strew about the yard...

"UFO CRASHES - MASS DESTRUCTION"
"WALKING DEAD AMONG US"

Man - I could go on and on... (I'm working on too much coffee)

 

[Lilly]

ed you are funny. But you have good idea!

SK: Don't forget the weird weeds that hang on it like in the creep show episode.
maybe some pools of glowing goo.
Maybe a half burnt body that got smashed under the asteroid.
found this pic thought it may be good for an idea.
http://http://blog.theavclub.tv/?p=524

 

[edwood saucer]

Lilly - you and I are exactly on the same page...

the glowing goo is awsome - same with the plants.

SK - you need stuff like this to help carry the theme from front yard to back yard.

Could you imagine the legs kicking as they stick out from underneath the asteroid? That would be freaking hilarious. (think of the recent post about the hanging guy - watch the video and get the idea)

 

[Front Yard Fright]

this year we had a toxic/alien room in our haunt. we used great stuff and we sprayed it all over the walls and 55 gal barrels we had laying around. Then we spray painted the great stuff with floresent paint and added 2 4ft black lights... it was soo awesome!
maybe you could have a dead alien laying in the middle of a room with the great stuff coming out of it so it looks like it died in the crash.
there was a site i was on a long time ago but they had a giant ufo in their front yard that looked like it crashed... it was really cool. but i can't find the link... i'll look for it though!
good luck!

 

[NickG]

use two large diameter fiberglass or steel satellite dishes (now antiques) bolted together to make a UFO. Think I saw that done somewhere...

 

[Spookkid]

Wow. Great ideas, there is some alien blood at my local store for $.49, i'll buy all of it next year. I do like the fake newspaper idea, thats sound good, I could also hand them out if front of it. I was also thinking of having Men In Black outside of it at night, telling people to leave, ect. Also, as soon as the TOTS exit the space ship, there would be a skeleton lying on the groung with a treat basket in it's hand, like an alien shot him, (like in War of the worlds, or Mars attacks) and then having aliens shoot at them with fake rayguns.

Anyway,

Thanks for the ideas everyone, sounds great.

 

[Lilly]

okay my sis happened to send this to me the other day maybe more ideas for ya

http://aliens.monstrous.com/aliens_gallery.htm

I dont know how much space you have but maybe a small crop circle?

 

[Spookkid]

Thanks for the link Lilly, thats great.

 

[mike]

Great idea!

 

[Diaval]

Hello Spookkid and all here,

I was thinking about this same theme for 2008. Spookkid, did you ever see your theme come to fruitation? I know this is an older thread, but I read through it all and there are some good ideas everyone was sharing.

I will say that I too, am pretty new at creating Halloween attractions. I have worked with others and their attractions and I have done some small one and two room set ups before...but I would like to take it to the next level.

For me the Sci-Fi theme started at first as my desire to create a mad lab scene. Initially it was to be another one or two room attraction. I was going to shoot for something like out of the movie Van Helsing. I managed to pick up some very old meters and test equipment and was starting to plan this. But then I wanted to do something more along the lines of a theme. I mulled over a few things and then I dared to do something 'different'. Thus the sci-fi theme was born. Now since I already collected old equipment, it was obvious to shoot for a 40's, 50's "War of the Worlds" type sci-fi attraction. I was going to go with a scary 'Roswell' style alien type creatures. Some how the mad lab would be melded into this and the climax would be centered around a confrontation of sorts...perhaps with an alien beast.

So this is where I am now. I been scrounging around this message board for some ideas when I came across this:

http://www.garageofterror.com/haunt2006.html

I think for those that have not seen this, they may find it insteresting. I know it hit home with me!

Overall this is an excellent attraction and it has a solid theme. There are certain things I think could have been executed better for realism such as the elevator and the containment tanks. Also, I wouldn't have gone with a 'spoof' but rather something more scary. However GOT's ideas behind the theme is solid. The creation of the aliens are first rate and the idea is fantastic. The aliens seem to be a combination of aliens from these movies: Alien (face hugger), Blood Beach & Day of the Triffids. So this is early Sci-Fi and very much what I would be shooting for. I would be going a bit darker and scarier, but another thing I liked about GOT's haunt is that it is low gore. That is a major plus.

So I am curious to thing about what you guys or anyone else has in mind with a Sci-Fi based theme.

JG

 

[tcarter]

I had toyed around with an alien invasion idea a few years ago. I scrapped the idea due to yard space issues, but one idea I came up with that I thought was pretty cool at the time, and could be done quite easily, is to make aliens out of bluckies. I had been thinking of doing a lot of modification to them, but even as is, they look more alien than skeleton. I was thinking maybe even a kind of Mars Attacks inspired type of alien might be fun, and could easily be done with a blucky.

 

[Revenant]

I was gonna suggest the same thing as tcarter... bluckies would make great aliens in the "Mars Attacks" or Invasion of the Saucerman vein... there was that period in the 50's when all aliens had mean skeletal faces and big brain heads. Get a brain jellomold and make some caps for the bluckies or just use greatstuff, paint the blucky, add a spacesuit and voila. Like he said, they're kinda alien looking as it is.

 

[Diaval]

I had toyed around with an alien invasion idea a few years ago. I scrapped the idea due to yard space issues, but one idea I came up with that I thought was pretty cool at the time, and could be done quite easily, is to make aliens out of bluckies. I had been thinking of doing a lot of modification to them, but even as is, they look more alien than skeleton. I was thinking maybe even a kind of Mars Attacks inspired type of alien might be fun, and could easily be done with a blucky.

I wasn't going to shoot for a Mars Attacks scenario. You would be correct in that aspect in which it would consume massive amounts of space. Also, unlike some other themes where you can interchange props and reuse them, going Sci-Fi (in that vein) doesn't have much in reusable items. So storage would be an issue as well...even if you made collapsable spaceships.

No I wanted to go more along the lines of an Area 51 type Roswell scenario. Something involving a lab of sorts (since with a lab I always could recycle much of the props for a mad lab scene in another haunt).

I liked Garage of Terror's scenario because I can easily much of what he has done could be recycled. (i.e. the elevator could be used a decontamination chamber for another themed haunt). But I liked his theme too. The parasitic organism from space deal. Yep, that is more to my liking.

I could see much of GOT's haunt being recycled for a genetics experment gone wrong scenario as well.

But I do see your point. Because this is a specific haunt genre and the fact that if you do something as specific as "Alien" or "Mars Attacks", there will be much that you will not be able to reuse.

JG

 

[GOT]

The elevator was a dissapointment to me because it started with grand plans that ultimately failed. I then had little time to work on the realism after that. All in all, it was a great success but certainly not my scariest haunt (I think the parents liked it more than the kids). I would like to stress just how creapy fishing lures can be. Just go to a sports store and look at them. Great for making small slimy things. One thing I wanted to do but ran out of time was to rig a wheel with loose straps that would simulate some small creature scuttling across the plastic ceiling. It would start with a strange alien scream then a scuttle above their heads. Unseen can be scary. Thanks for the gore comment. I think neighborhood haunts should be scary, but not gorey. They're for the young kids, not the teenagers.

 

[Diaval]

The elevator was a dissapointment to me because it started with grand plans that ultimately failed. I then had little time to work on the realism after that. All in all, it was a great success but certainly not my scariest haunt (I think the parents liked it more than the kids). I would like to stress just how creapy fishing lures can be. Just go to a sports store and look at them. Great for making small slimy things. One thing I wanted to do but ran out of time was to rig a wheel with loose straps that would simulate some small creature scuttling across the plastic ceiling. It would start with a strange alien scream then a scuttle above their heads. Unseen can be scary. Thanks for the gore comment. I think neighborhood haunts should be scary, but not gorey. They're for the young kids, not the teenagers.

[Bows in presence of the master].

I am very impressed with your work and I do like the themes you come up with (Your fortune teller takes the cake). You also have an excellent website. When I saw your Sci-Fi man-eating plant theme, I was like "This is perfect". This is what I would be shooting for.

I too, wanted to have an elevator in my project.

Doing a haunted elevator is an ambitous project and I have not got it down pat on how I would implent it. So I always come up with ideas too, but there always is some kind of hitch with implenting the technique. Either it is a compromise or do something very expensive.

Stainless steel panels would be the most believable, but also the most expensive AND hard to work with. Your idea of using Masonite is great...it is fairly light and strong. But it's downside is that it is less believable.

My plan was to go easy on the elevator design and heavy on the illusion or effects. I wanted to have a mostly open frame elevator like the old wrought iron ones from the 20's and 30's era (but actually made of PVC). Creating the look that you were descending would be a little trick I would borrow from Disney. The main downside is that it would be a very tall prop and would have to be constructed outside or within a building with a high ceiling. Other alternatives have me coming up with something that is too expensive.

In addition to the descending illusion...would also be the fact that when the elevator doors open...you would be in a different area then where you started. This I know how to do and it is pretty easy too. But putting the two effects together is hard.

Of course there would be the standard shaking and awful sounds that would make people wish they haven't stepped foot in the thing .

But I really want to fool people into thinking..."this seems to be a real elevator".

Perhaps we could pool our minds together on this one.

Keep up the great work. It seems every year you get better.

JG