# Themes?



## Hobz (Oct 14, 2013)

What are your thoughts on themes or story lines for haunts? 

Most of haunts I've been to only seem to have themes for specific rooms or portions of their design that don't work together. (A killer clown room, followed by a voodoo witch doctor, followed by hillbilly cannibals, followed by a medieval torturer chamber, etc.) I'm wanting to do a large, warehouse-sized haunt with an overarching, cohesive story line. Everything would be tied together from the entrance to the final scare.

Does anyone have an experience with this kind of approach? Are there any pros and cons that I should consider? Is the extra creative challenge of making everything work together from start to finish in a logical way worthwhile?


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## Will Reid (Sep 2, 2013)

xx


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

There is a thread that discusses this topic here:

http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=32478&highlight=theme

There is also an older thread about the usefulness of a storyline, which includes comments on themes:

http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=12374&highlight=theme


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## Haunted Spider (Sep 6, 2010)

Hello Hobz, 

There are many opinions on a theme or non theme haunt. The threads Roxy linked to will be helpful to you. 

What you see in a haunt where one room is clowns and the next is a graveyard is the classic haunted house experience. A haunter has lots of things and want to use them, but he also knows one person doesn't like clowns, but the next fears small spaces and things that go bump. They try to incorporate a large volume of types of scares over a dedicated scare experience. Both work well. 

The large type of scare haunt usually has a dark hallway in between to break up the scares, vs a dedicated haunt, the hallways are not needed. Both work well in their own setting. The question becomes, do you have enough ideas of one type of haunt, say clowns, to fill room after room and not have it become repetitive and over used, but scary until the end?

I think this is why many pro haunts are going to 7 haunted attraction, with Killer clown, the insane asylum, the black light haunts...... you get the idea. Break the giant haunted house into smaller houses and let people pick their haunt. 

Still the same thing of a combination of scary stuff, just now you get to wait in line 7 times. 

Anyway, good luck with your haunt set up. You have 340 days until you need to open......


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## austenandrews (Aug 22, 2010)

Also remember, depending on the theme, it's possible to use a wide variety of props and characters. Themes like nightmares, storybooks, Hell, post-apocalypse, demonic possession, etc. lend themselves to a collection of different scares tied together by a common storyline. A zombie/ghost/damned storyline can have tailored versions of several settings in one plot - zombie hospital, demonic laboratory, ghost circus, alien ruins, whatever.


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## Will Reid (Sep 2, 2013)

xx


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## Hobz (Oct 14, 2013)

RoxyBlue, thanks for the redirect. Don't know how I managed to miss those discussions. Sorry to post a repetitive thread.

-Hobz


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## Wispurs (Oct 9, 2012)

I find a theme helps me. Last year (our 1st year) we did a pumpkin theme. This year my daughter wanted to do a mad scientist theme. Instead of having a Franken-type-dude on table. We are doing a pumpkin. She can cut, smear the guts and It works all the other pumpkins in as well. Very helpful to our budget.


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## Offwhiteknight (Sep 17, 2008)

I personally find a coherent theme to be utterly necessary. All of the prohaunts I've been to keep each maze on it's own, with it's own theme and some sort of loose storyline. The best ones even have an overall storyline for their entire haunt experience.

I also find I enjoy the home haunts that stick to a theme the most too, which is something I really try to do.

Oh, and as for recycling props? All the pros do it. It's kind of a game with my wife and I; we've been going to Knott's Scary Farm for over a decade consecutive now, so we recognize some of the props. We always point out when we notice a recycled prop and *how* it's been altered so the less observant won't catch on.


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