Horror House

PHM is in band in high school and they are putting together a haunted house to raise money for a band trip in April. Here are some of the ideas I was able to put forth.

Blood Bath
View:
As the visitor walks in they see an all white tiled bathroom. Has a Sink, a tub and bright lights in 2 corners to really make it glow bright. Everything looks rather normal and pristine. Then the lights go out and black lights come on revealing a massacre. Blood everywhere even up to where the visitors are. Words scrawled in blood saying “help me” and “he watches” splattered on the walls floor and ceiling.
Then the visitors notice the killer in the corner glowing covered in “blood”

How:
Glow in the dark paint is white and shows up great under a black light. The killer can be costumed to blend in with the bathroom walls. That and standing behind one of the bright lights should camouflage his presence. Then when the lights switch to black his form can be revealed in the glow in the dark paint. Maybe have a “victim” in the tub as well? Not sure.

Hellway
View:
Visitors come in on one end of a hallway. Looks like a normal house or hotel hallway with wall sconces, trim, etc. At the end of the Hallway are twins dressed alike. Pale skin, hollow eyes and tattered dresses? The lights go out and come on and the twins are closer to the group. They beckon and “want to play”
Lights go out and come back on and they are closer. This time they are menacing and armed (small hatchet, bloody scissors?) and just as they lunge the lights go out and come back on and they are gone.

:How
The lights in the sconces are REALLY bright where the visitors come in and go down in wattage as the hallway continues. This will keep the visitor’s eyes from adjusting properly. This effect is “sold” by the actors. The hallway is created with 2 false walls that come out from the wall at a 30 to 45 degree angle. This will create a gap large enough for the actors to disappear into. Maybe have the walls pinstriped to help create the illusion of a complete wall. Each time the lights go out the actors take two tandem steps forward until they reach their mark for their disappearance. Fog rolling in couldn’t hurt either. End of the hallway needs to be dark as possible to hide movement.

Sewer
View:
Visitor has to climb into a sewer to escape. Inside the sewer they can hear the scuttle of little feet, chatter of insects and various other noises. As they crawl they realize that they are not alone, the ground crunches under their hands moves across their hands. When they come to a power junction box a light flares up and they can see that they are surrounded by cockroaches.


How:
The crawlway is a good idea! Using packing peanuts across the bottom is ok and will work well as filler. However, if you soak whole peanuts (in their shells) in water the shells will retain the water both inside the nut and in the shell. Then when someone puts their hand down and pressure it will pop, squish and crunch quite effectively (and not be as messy as something like grapes would be). This will help in adding to the cockroach clusters.
Dressing the entrance as the opening to a corrugated sewer grate would work as well. The power junction box would be just a way to explain a light coming on. If there was a safe way to make it pop and fizzle that would add even more to the ambiance.

Hillbilly Picnic
View:
I have always thought that the best way to scare someone is to attack their sense of reality and safeness. I think that with this room this can be done 2 ways.
1.A “kid” is incorporated into the group at the beginning of their adventure through and he is either taken forcefully from the group or just disappears. He is “found” later at the hillbilly picnic, bloody and torn, screaming at the guests to “run, get out, it’s all real!”
2.As the group walks into the kitchen to their right is a chain link fence and immediately there is barking and rattling and the sounds of huge hungry dogs.
3.There are 2 hillbillies carving up meat on a table and by the corpses hanging around the room it aint an animal either. When the dogs bark they turn their attention to the group.
Here it can turn out 2 different ways.
A.The tour can hightail it on outta there as quickly as possible
B.The victim can get an arm free and attack a hillbilly while yelling at the group to RUN.
I know this might be a little too high concept and dramatic to be feasible, but the overall effect can still be incorporated.

How:
1.This is accomplished with 3 young men dressed exactly alike, like a boy scout or a Webelo. All wearing the same red hoodie and blue jeans and ball cap. They start out with the group because “they got left behind” or “their mom wouldn’t go” something like that. The boys will make his self known with the group but not pester. The group has to come to understand that he is with them.
a.The first 2 boys rotate so there is always one of them waiting for a tour. In a high state of anxiety and anticipation the group is not going to scrutinize the boy at best note his bright clothes. This is good. Once the boy is separated from the group he runs back around to the next tour coming in. (actually depends on where he is grabbed but maybe 3 boys would work better as the bait).
b.The 3rd boy is dressed the same but in disarray, chained to the wall bloody amongst the cannibals. He is the next meal for “processing”
2.The dogs consist of nothing more than some chain fence, a recording and someone to shake the fence. The louder the better.
3.Hillbillies are something along the mutant cannibals from “chainsaw massacre” or “the hills have eyes”. Inbred, ugly, dirty and hungry. Easy costume over all. Some overalls and some dirt and maybe fake teeth (or a mask if someone is shy)
4.The meat can probably be gotten as refuse from Stroots. Just have hooks hanging from the ceiling with chunks of meat hanging from them like a meat locker.
5.If there is an extra actor then could always use one on the table being hacked up.