# Scare em or impress em? (Philosophy question)



## GrimleeFeindish (Jan 23, 2009)

I was thinking about how much time I spend thinking about minutia and the way I want my haunt to look. Its pretty simple, no walk through or anything. But I think that alot of the stuff we spend so much time on gets wasted if its not jumping out on people and scaring them.

I like working on the atmosphere alot though, its what makes me happy at least, even though alot of kids could give two ****es if I spent days making a ground breaker or something that doesnt move but provides good atmosphere.

I know I need more bang type of props that produce scares but right now, Im more interested in the details and doing that stuff, I want to get into the moveable props but Im not quite there yet.

Anyone else think about that? WHats your philosophy?


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## The Bloodshed Brothers (Jan 25, 2009)

we are both. so very detailed with things that we know no one will notice but we have the easy scare the pants off you scares


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## scourge999 (May 4, 2008)

I am a huge atmosphere fan. I like to be scared but, I really am looking at the details. I think that is why I am a Disney fan. I love to ride over and over trying to see things I have never seen before. If someone decorates their yard, I am going to try my hardest to take in all the details and appreciate the hard work involved.


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## Mr_Chicken (Nov 26, 2008)

I personally don't like to be scared, so my haunt is more focused on being "cool".
I'm with Scourge on the details. It's just so much more fun to work on atmosphere. Plus, I like to think of it as art.


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## EvilQueen1298 (Jul 27, 2007)

We love the atmosphere and mystery.
What worked for years (though we no longer do a neighborhood haunt) was the small moves. Our yard was full of monsters and props so it was easy to place a human monster out there. The kids never knew who was real or fake and that made it very scary.
My husband (and crew) would move arms etc a little bit -- never missed scaring the teens!


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## Ysengrin (Feb 23, 2009)

A lot of visitors like the atmosphere, the fiddledy bits. Not all, or even a majority, but even if they don't consciously remember all the detail, it does affect their experience.


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## GrimleeFeindish (Jan 23, 2009)

I think this year I am going to use atmosphere to make my haunt scarier. Im going to tone down all the lights. Last year I used blue in the graveyard, red near the house and green on my witch. Im thinking about doing a darker door area where I will be dressed like Michael Myers with a low blue color, but mostly dark. I saw Pumpkinrot did something like that a few years ago where he sat at his stoop and didnt move. I think that would be pretty cool. 

I think because I am mostly a static guy (right now) I like to concentrate on the look of my haunt rather than alot of scares.


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

My graveyard is small and not a walk through (it's a walk around). 

As much as the hubby loves the slasher pics, we keep the display pretty PG - no gore, so we do more atmospheric than scary.

I don't have a problem with scares, but we get too many little ones to go gory and I prefer the "impress em" school of thought - I love it when we get the "How did you do that?" (lots of work) and "Where did you buy that?" (we didn't, I made it)...


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

Like this?









The hubby was out in our yard like this, and stayed perfectly still, until someone either said "that's a fake!" or "that's not scary" and then he would TURN slowly or take a step closer to them... oh the screams! I would give him a warning if there were little ones in the group and he wouldn't move at all, but the teens and adults were fair game. He got one group of teens so good that one of the girls took off screaming for a block.

SO we do mostly atmospheric, but couldn't pass up a good scare...



GrimleeFeindish said:


> I think this year I am going to use atmosphere to make my haunt scarier. Im going to tone down all the lights. Last year I used blue in the graveyard, red near the house and green on my witch. Im thinking about doing a darker door area where I will be dressed like Michael Myers with a low blue color, but mostly dark. I saw Pumpkinrot did something like that a few years ago where he sat at his stoop and didnt move. I think that would be pretty cool.
> 
> I think because I am mostly a static guy (right now) I like to concentrate on the look of my haunt rather than alot of scares.


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## Sickie Ickie (Jun 20, 2006)

Personally I love to view and study the props I see. I get frustrated if it's too dark and I can't make them out very well, although I understand why it's lighted in that way.

I think many teens though go for the scares. How many times have you heard, "That's not scary!" ?


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## Mr_Chicken (Nov 26, 2008)

Sickie Ickie said:


> I think many teens though go for the scares. How many times have you heard, "That's not scary!" ?


That's why if you choose to go the "impress" route, you've really got to go all the way to keep their attention. I haven't heard that from my TOTs yet, so I think the TOTs at my haunt recognize that it's not meant to be scary, just creepy and fun.


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

We're more the atmosphere type, although Spooky1 does sit out on the porch in costume as our one "live" component. We've found that the kids get more scared wondering if he _is_ going to move - they're almost but not quite sure someone real is sitting there. What's funny is, there are kids who've been to our house in years past who claim he jumped out at them (which he never does). Last year several kids kept coming back to look at the yard (we expanded our graveyard) and ask about the things we had out there, so we find that going for atmosphere works pretty well for us and is appreciated. We do plan to add a little more animation as we go (stirring witch last year, maybe kicking legs or head popper this year), but I expect we won't ever go for the big scare.


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## Haunted Bayou (Feb 16, 2007)

I don't do scary because of all the small ToTs that come through. The little 2 year olds aren't usually scared and hug the props. LOL! When they get a little older and can think a little then they scare themselves. 

I am sure some of you have read this before but here goes for GrimleeF...I decorate mostly with static props. I have a couple Gemmy props that move a little but mostly they are there for atmosphere. That dumb groaning bride that was on the sidewalk entertained everybody, and I was surprised at how much attention she got.

I find that the kids go straight for the candy bowl and don't pay attention to much else. The adults and teens tend to inspect everything but I learned not to bother getting to detailed with things that won't show in the dark anyway.

Soooo I go for impression rather than big scares. What is funny is that so many people psych themselves up that it doesn't take much to make them scream and run. I have had a few kids walk through and were disappointed that nothing really jumped at them. You just never know.


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## dave the dead (Jan 31, 2007)

Sickie Ickie said:


> I think many teens though go for the scares. How many times have you heard, "That's not scary!" ?


Ah yes...the battle cry of the truly scared. 

I like the atmosphere, and add in the minute details because that's what makes it fun for me. I also like a good scare, so try to put in a few surprise or startle props to balance things out. I don't do much blood and guts, and my haunt is definitely not a slasher type chase 'em with a knife or chainsaw haunt.


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