Gore vs Unsettling Ambiance

[scarrycher]

DITO to all of the above

[DynomiteDaniel]

hmmm. I am trying to run my home haunt in 2 stages. I will have a tame first section that will be about 4 or 5 minutes. Everyone will go through this part and Candy will be right at the end of this section. At this point everyone has a choice to continue or leave. From this point on I plan on scaring the crap out of everyone who continues. Gore will play a part my friends....GORE will play a part!

Last year we had one continuous haunt. I warned EVERYONE but we still had lots of pissed off moms. All of the Dads loved it. THis year I will not feel bad at all is someone decides to continue through and we will bar nothing.

[fontgeek]

Sounds like you are in for a repeat of last year.

[DynomiteDaniel]

Originally Posted by fontgeek

Sounds like you are in for a repeat of last year.

You think so? Even if I go through the trouble of having 2 separate sections? Heck it is like I will have 2 separate haunts. That would be a total bummer.

[MurrayTX]

I see 2 big challenges for anyone who sets up a haunt. First, young kids terrify easily while parents respond to that in ways a haunter can't really prevent. Secondly, even if one sets up a segregated haunt (part kids, part adult) some parents are still going to lead the youngest ones over to check it out. So while I will try to minimize kid trauma, I see it as a near hopeless battle. Rather focus on the fun of building a haunt and let the complainers froth while they walk away with their free candy.

[N. Fantom]

I always go full out gore. Especially 3 years ago when I did my funeral home theme. It was a horrible bloody hell hole, filled with the stench of burning flesh, the sounds of slopping intestines, and pile after pile of human innards and I didn't have a single compliant. But that was the walk through. I always have a more family oriented display in the front yard and a very intense walk through in the back. My secret is to not let anyone under the age of 12 in at all. I even had a friend of mine (she's a baby sitter) stand by the entrance and watch the kiddies while their parents went through.

[goneferal]

With my work, I am not a fan of gore in my haunt. I'd feel bad if a family member or friend of a dead loved one saw my haunt and was offended.

[Jaybo]

We generally do not have much gore, but that's really not the problem with the little kids. They're overactive little imaginations will create things in their heads much worse than what you've really added to your yard. We had a real problem just getting the kids to walk up the sidewalk. LOTS of left over candy.

So, we came up with a solution.

My wife and I both carry bags with little plastic costume rings. We call these our "Rings of Protection". We inform the little ones that the rings have magical powers that will ward off any monsters in the haunt so that they can get to the candy. All of our actors know to act afraid and to run away from the kids who hold up the rings. We also take the kids by the hand and escort them to the candy, all the time announcing that the kids have the rings of protection. We really ham it up for the little ones. They usually forget to be scared and really get into the act. Some of them will even chase our actors. It's great fun!

You really can't separate the age groups at a home haunt unless you run two different events, so you might as well go for the one that you enjoy the most. Just realize that if you take it too extreme, you will usually get a few upset parents. That's ok if you are prepared for the consequences, and do your best to forewarn them.

I usually find the gore is not really necessary. It really does not take that much to scare people. Just find ways to get in their head, and they will do the work for you.

[fontgeek]

While the gore, burnt flesh, etc., may be fun or funny for you, if you terrify little kids, you scare off future haunters rather than initiating them into the enjoyment of the holiday and all of your hard work. As I said before, if you are only doing the haunt for your enjoyment, then build it and enjoy it by yourself, but if you are building this for the public, then you need to build it with them in mind.
When you read about people who have phobias, do you ever wonder how they got those fears? Like the fear of clowns, the little kids were probably forced into a confrontation they weren't able to understand, and while the clowns didn't do anything to scare the kids on purpose, they caused life long fears that keep those people away from clowns. Well, it works the same for doing haunts for little kids.

[Troll Wizard]

I have to say that I believe gore has replaced a lot of what used to be scary in movies. It seems the more gore the better in Hollywood these days. I remember a time when movies used suspense and fright to accomplish what now has been replaced with gore.

I believe with fontgeek gore has it's place, if it goes along with the storyline then use it if needed. Like telling a true story or something along that line. But I think it is overused today in Hollywood, it seems that every horror flick has gore in it. Or with remakes same thing, overuse of gore.

Now to use gore in a home haunt, I think you would need to feel out what type of neighborhood you live in. If you have a large amount of small children, then cater to their needs which would mean no gore. If it's mainly teens and adults then go ahead and have some things that make people turn their heads. I would suggest to use it in moderation, don't overdo it. The main thing I'm trying to say here, is that gore is not scary. It is designed for one purpose only and that is SHOCK VALUE!!!!

I like a good scare, but I like to use my imagination, I like the suspense that builds up from not knowing whats around the corner. Let me anticipate whats lurking behind the curtain, let me guess who's going to jump out at me from behind the door. I don't need gore to be scared, just let me jump out at someone from behind something in the dark and say BOO!