# What do you say?



## joker (Sep 25, 2007)

Do the characters in your haunt talk? The past two years with the exception of a couple of the slower rooms with kids in them we've pretty much just hit them with one scare after another and left very little time for dialogue of any kind. So far its been really effective, but I could it be bigger and better if there was a way of building more suspense?

I try to stay and encourage the others to stay in character as much as possible. With me being Mike Myers the first year and a Zombie the next I've not really said a thing to my guests inside the haunt and that pretty much fell in line with staying in character.

This year I'm changing to an asylum type theme and think there will be lots of dialogue opportunities to add to the scares, realism, and over all creepiness.

I think maybe I'm missing opportunities to plant things in the minds of people. Should the person at the entrance be in character, engage in dialogue, provide elements of a back story as well? 

What do you do at your haunt?

Do you have witty responses for when they try and get you to come out of character?


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## joker (Sep 25, 2007)

Found this response to a rude comment on another board.

Actor is up close to guest and guest shrieks "Oooooh your breath stinks dont you brush! "

and the actor responds, 

"When I eat babies I don't always check their diapers"....LOL


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## Frankie-s Girl (Apr 5, 2009)

One of the professional haunts in my area has an asylum theme, and the actors pretty much ad-lib.

Singing fragments of songs in weird voices, asking if "you've seen their mommy" or "I like your spectacles" or other nonsense... it really depends on them developing a persona for their character. 

Once they figure out their character, then the words should be easy.

I know one actor that was called something rude - trying to get the actor to break character - and he just went to town on them: they repeated the offending word over and over and started looking like they were going to lose it and just freaked out the heckler. 

I saw one following a group of girls saying things like "oh you're so scared, I got you!" but in a really high pitched weird voice and giggling like a crazy person. 

Repeating back anything someone else says works too.

If they are SUPPOSED to be crazy, then nothing they could come up with would be technically out of character, so ignoring the comments would be fine if they didn't feel like interacting.


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## Spartan005 (Mar 13, 2007)

I just prefer if the "actors" jump out at people and scream. I've been to way too many haunted houses where the actors try and say something scary and it just comes off really corny and reminds me that its just a person in a mask. I'm not saying its always bad though... there are some people who can pull it off, but most can't


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## eanderso13 (Apr 10, 2008)

I usually agree with what Spartan005 said. But then again, I tend to be checking out the props and sets more than caring about the actors when I go to a haunted house. With actors and all not being able to touch patrons, and knowing that there is no "real" danger, I usually just find the acting to be forced and a little boring. Now if you can make even the most confident person believe they are truly in danger, then THAT would be very effective...I know what I would do to accomplish it, but it would cross the "do not touch" line, and DEFINITELY would not be PG or PG-13 rated! Possibly not even R-rated.  Which is why I like props.

Also, I find that sometimes silence is the best reaction-getter. My uncle showed up to our Halloween party a few years ago dressed in a long black robe, big mound of tussled hair and a hockey mask holding a severed head. My Aunt had shown up earlier without him and had a rather believable alibi for why he wasn't there (had to work late) so when he showed up, no one KNEW if it was him...I just kind of assumed. So he shows up at our back door just staring into the kitchen at everyone...what do I do? let him in, of course. For the next hour and a half, he wandered around, popping up out of the shadows when people least expected it, and simply staring silently and raising his severed head anytime someone tried to talk to him to figure out who it was. That whole thing seriously freaked a few people out! (especially since we didn't live in the nicest area of town)

Ok enough stories...sorry.


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## joker (Sep 25, 2007)

Here's what got me to thinking about more acting http://www.easternstate.org/halloween/preview/video.php


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## Front Yard Fright (Dec 23, 2005)

It really depends on you and your actors. For my actors... if they have been working with us for a couple years and know the ropes, they are in the scenes that they can talk. Like our up front entertainment, our butcher shop, and bathroom. They have to be convincing in order to have lines! For our new actors, and those who are unsure of what to say, I put them in the pop out scares like in our black hallway and our casket.

It also helps if they have the correct makeup. It's hard to breath, let alone TALK in latex masks. For your actors who will talk, make sure they have a good makeup job and maybe even a prothstetic that will move when they talk.


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## Just Whisper (Jan 19, 2009)

I have personally always been more creeped out by the actors who simply followed me around, closely, saying nothing. Drop downs and pop outs don't scare me much with dialog. It may surprise me or catch me off guard, but it is the silence that is unnerving to me. Singing is kind of creepy.


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## Phil (Sep 2, 2007)

Generally spoken words in haunts can get cheesy, but I heard two lines in an asylum-themed haunt that were quite creepy: "I love you" and "Do you think I'm pretty?" It had alot to do with the mood of the rooms and believable characters.


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## kprimm (Mar 14, 2009)

Talking has got to be done by someone who can act well and be over the top.
I have been in a few haunted houses where someone jumps out and says"what are you doing here"? or "I'm gonna git ya" or something stupid and then it just totally ruins it. When you jump out ofthe dark screaming and thrashing at somebody it tends to get a pretty good reaction.


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## Devils Chariot (May 23, 2007)

also dont assume they have to say something scary or creepy. Can they further the back story? Provide some comic relief? or just ad some realism? It doesn't always have to be" I'll eat your souls, eh hee hee hee hee.." or some such nonsense.


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## Revenant (Mar 17, 2007)

Everybody feels comfortable in a certain role and delivery style. Just from my own experience, I almost always do silent stalker characters because I hate having to think up dialogue.... I loved my Grave Guardian persona last year... all I did (besides work the RC zombie) was lurk and loom, and pose as a static prop and then change positions when the people had their backs turned so I'd be closer to them or in another spot. I got a lot of response from people and helped make them uneasy... but then that's what you can do working the queue line. As a character in the maze or whatever you don't have as much time with people, so you gotta go for the in your face boo. Seems to me you need a balance between the two different kinds overall.


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## Warrant2000 (Oct 8, 2008)

I hired my daughter's field hockey teammates to be actors in my haunt last season. I told them to ad-lib in the spider chamber and maze, mainly be pop-up type scares.

The doctor/patient in the autopsy room had some more specific actions where the doctor would drill and the patient would scream, with not really specific lines.

It did help to gather the actors for 2 meetings/briefings - one was 1 week prior, the second was the day before Halloween to go over the layout, props, costumes, schedule, safety, etc.

I agree with Revenant about the silent stalker tactic. I've seen much more scare come out of TOT's walking past something that LOOKS like it MIGHT come alive, but they are not sure. Usually all I have to do is turn my head or slowly raise a giant hand for them to suddenly realize it's alive. The SUSPENSE of something scary can be held longer than a sudden scare that ends quickly.

Funny story: I had my grim reaper outfit with giant skeleton hands on right next to the path of the TOT's, standing totally still. A group of mom's and kids walked by to get the candy, not knowing if I was real or not, kept looking over their shoulders. As they went to leave and walked past me again, one of the mom's slowly reached to my arm, gave it a cautious squeeze, and screamed, "OH MY GAWD, IT'S REAL!!!". They all ran screaming out of the haunt. All that and I didn't even have to move...


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## The Mangler (Jul 2, 2007)

Actors certainly make or break a commercial haunt. And the aboslutely-essential no-touch rule makes their job difficult... although I have never understood why commercial haunts don't place plain-clothes actors (wihout costumes, etc.) in line who get touched. Can you imagine that? For example, picture an insane asylum patient who mauls (WWE style) a plain-clothes actor. That would create real fear, or at least apprehension, in most people. People would seriously question whether they are about to get "touched" in the haunt.


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## Warrant2000 (Oct 8, 2008)

The Mangler said:


> Actors certainly make or break a commercial haunt. And the aboslutely-essential no-touch rule makes their job difficult... although I have never understood why commercial haunts don't place plain-clothes actors (wihout costumes, etc.) in line who get touched. Can you imagine that? For example, picture an insane asylum patient who mauls (WWE style) a plain-clothes actor. That would create real fear, or at least apprehension, in most people. People would seriously question whether they are about to get "touched" in the haunt.


Sweet idea!


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## joker (Sep 25, 2007)

We did something similar to that last year with a couple of the neighborhood kids that wanted to get involved. Freaked a few of our guests out.


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## The Mangler (Jul 2, 2007)

Further to my comments above, most people know "the rules" of commercial haunts and aren't truly afraid. But, if you cause them to doubt whether "the rules" are in effect, then I think that it would be a unique experience. For example, EVERYONE knows that the chain is not on the chainsaw and most people don't really respond to it. BUT, if they weren't so sure, then, you might get them to react. Imagine two actors dressed identically with identical chain saws, except that one has a chain and the other does not. You could have one of the actors actually cut some wood (at a safe distance from the crowd) with the real chainsaw, have that actor walk into a very small shed (or somehow go ot of sight), and have the second actor quickly come back out with the no-chain chain saw and go at the legs of the patrons. The key here is timing. People have to believe that it's the same saw and the same guy, so the faster that you can make the switch the better. An important safety feature would be that the "crowd actor" could NEVER even touch the real chainsaw and the "bait actor" could NEVER enter the crowd or let the other guy get his saw. Maybe even combine this with plain-clothes crowd actors who scream "Oh my god, it really has a chain" and run. You could probably triple the response.


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## joker (Sep 25, 2007)

I saw a tree prop that had a slit in it so that you could slide the bar into the tree. I press of a foot switch caused the upper part of the tree to hit the ground. I think it would even throw saw dust out from where you inserted the blade.


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## The Mangler (Jul 2, 2007)

Sweet.


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## Toktorill (Sep 15, 2007)

The Mangler said:


> Actors certainly make or break a commercial haunt. And the aboslutely-essential no-touch rule makes their job difficult... although I have never understood why commercial haunts don't place plain-clothes actors (wihout costumes, etc.) in line who get touched. Can you imagine that? For example, picture an insane asylum patient who mauls (WWE style) a plain-clothes actor. That would create real fear, or at least apprehension, in most people. People would seriously question whether they are about to get "touched" in the haunt.


That is a really good idea... provided that all the liability is spelled out in writing. I still get shivers remembering the irate father from our 2001 haunt "looking for the manager" when his son was grabbed on the leg. Brr! Since then I've had NOBODY touching NOTHING NOWHERE, NOHOW! Even haunter/haunter contact. Someone always complains, and its a sue-happy world.

As for spoken dailog, traditionally I've had my haunters jump out with a quick loud boo, then disappear. Then I moved into providing them with cheap whistles, clappers, buzzers, ect. to save their throats (The dollar store has TONS of noisemakers!) Last year was a little different, with our tallest staffer dressed as a 6'6" jester (in mask), giggling as he ran a spin-the-wheel gameshow.

The most vivid dialog I remember was from a foreign exchange student who had never been in a haunt before. He just laid on the floor in a corner, in plain sight. When the patrons would walk by he would yell "I am Beggar! Give me money! Give me money!". Scared people great, and really put them on edge for the next scene.


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## The Mangler (Jul 2, 2007)

Father? Clearly you would not use actors under 18 for something like this. One, they couldn't consent to the fake contact even if they wanted to. (I assume that everyone understands that WWE wrestling is fake.) Two, they couldn't sell the stunt.


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## Toktorill (Sep 15, 2007)

The Mangler said:


> Father? Clearly you would not use actors under 18 for something like this. One, they couldn't consent to the fake contact even if they wanted to. (I assume that everyone understands that WWE wrestling is fake.) Two, they couldn't sell the stunt.


Sorry, was really tired when I wrote that paragraph. What I was trying to say was I would only do actor/actor contact if we were rock solid on liability issues. For some reason I went into a side-story of accidental actor/guest contact, then went back to talking about actor/actor. My bad. Your correct, I would not use underage actors for stunts.


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## ubzest (Jul 1, 2008)

I like the "BOO' yelling and loud noises, One year I had an actor working the devil room and speaking like a witch! imagine a witch cackling 'welcome to hell" dressed like a devil! 
not funny! (or scary) lol


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