# Clowns and pirates



## Johnny Thunder (Feb 24, 2006)

Does anyone think they are overdone and cliched at this point for Halloween? Have the greasepaint and red noses along with the scallywags of the highseas joined other overdone and tired Halloween costumes and props like the 'chainsaw killer' or 'hockey mask guy'?

Anyone else getting tired of these scares?


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## Tyler (Jul 17, 2008)

I dont know, I love the classics, but I agree, you do see em alot. I always love when people come up with a new unexpected idea.


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## Eldritch_Horror (Jul 27, 2008)

Well, even if they seem to be everywhere, they still seem to work. And, as the adage goes, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Clowns are a fairly standard phobia, and pirates are just cool.


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## Johnny Thunder (Feb 24, 2006)

I would respectfully disagree - but then again, that's why I posed the question! I enjoy the discussions and just wanted to see what everyone else thought.

I just think at this point they're a cliche.


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## Spartan005 (Mar 13, 2007)

Well, even though they market the crap out of pirate props and costumes, I still rarely see any home haunters use them around here anyway. And I've yet to see a pro haunt do a pirate theme as well.

I like the clown theme but you never really see an entire haunted house based around clowns... usually those are the ones that have 50 million different themes thrown together and never really turn out to well.


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## Eldritch_Horror (Jul 27, 2008)

Well, Disney has saturated the holiday with pirates due to their movies, but like Spartan said, they don't seem to show in that many haunts. The TOTers are another story, but to tell the truth, I'd rather have a few dozen pirates come to my house than one lazy kid wearing his normal clothes and saying, "I'm a rapper/gangbanger/serial killer/etc."

As far as the clowns go, I could take them or leave them. They don't do anything for me, yet they still seem to be fairly effective whenever I see them employeed in a haunt.


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## Wyatt Furr (Jun 5, 2006)

Quite a few years ago the pro haunt here in town did a "Circus of Horrors".They just recently brought it back.One fellow I know did a "Pirates" haunt in his yard for several years.Yes,you do seem to see a lot of the same stuff in stores the last few years.Once it stops selling, the retailers will move on to something else. I once did a Pirate themed yard haunt ('95) before pirates were popluar.Try finding ANYTHING back then.I had to make most of the stuff they sell in the stores now.I never expanded on it,cuse I thought pirates in the desert was even a bit wierd for me.Then they built Treasure Isand in Las Vegas.....who knew?


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## Johnny Thunder (Feb 24, 2006)

I agree, WF that both ideas were cool and unique once upon a time. I am just wondering whether anyone is doing anything new with the themes or it's just same ole same ole....


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## pyro (Oct 7, 2006)

i know on you tube there a lot of pirate haunts some ok some well......


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## Bloodhound (Oct 16, 2007)

That was cool!



pyro said:


> i know on you tube there a lot of pirate haunts some ok some well......


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## spideranne (Jul 17, 2006)

Ok, now that is dedication to a theme.


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## HalloweenZombie (Jul 22, 2007)

Anything done well is worth doing. Everyone does zombies, but I never get sick of them. I've seen pirates done well and I've seen clowns done well. To each his own I guess.


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## Night Owl (Feb 28, 2008)

Now _that's_ a pirate haunt that's anything but old and tired. Whoa!

Not a big pirate fan, but anything done well with a fresh spin on it is fine by me.


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## octoberist (Apr 3, 2007)

Johnny Thunder said:


> Does anyone think they are overdone and cliched at this point for Halloween?


I say combine the both of them:


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## Johnny Thunder (Feb 24, 2006)

That is too funny – I was about to post a reply suggesting that clown pirates would be a great twist on both themes. The Japanese manga/anmie "One Piece" has a clown pirate villain and I thought that would be a cool and unexpected scare for sure.


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## trishaanne (Aug 20, 2005)

I'm not a fan of pirates, and I won't do a clown theme because for the kids that like clowns, I don't want to ruin it for them next time they go to the circus. You don't see too many haunts with those themes, although around here you don't see many haunts anyway. I don't find them to be scary at all, and anyone that comes over here is looking for a bit of a scare. 

That video was awesome, although I don't think I could get away with something like that. I can just picture the scene: Hubby walks in the door after work, I give him a rum and coke, take his briefcase, loosen his tie, and then tell him, "This year for Halloween I want to flood the roof!!!!!"  

As good natured as he is, I'm pretty sure that after they took the straight jacket off me he'd be handing me divorce papers...LOL


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## Lilly (Jun 13, 2006)

That was cool..very well done video of the set up, different from the usual pirates in the yard.
I'm not into clowns so would'nt ever do that. 
Pirates maybe, since they are a type of medieval theme to me.


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## slimy (Jul 12, 2006)

First off, it's great to see Johnny Thunder in these parts again. 

Second, here we go...... The front of my yard is the standard ( cliched?!?!?!?) graveyard.. skeletons... grim reaper... etc.... My back yard , the scary part, is...... clowns...... I know, I know..... a clown circus type of thing.... I have animated props as well as live actors.. I do an escaped gorilla ( no circus is complete without an animal act !) and .... here is where I am going to get crucified.....my end scare is a clown with a chainsaw... * hangs head*

Remember, I'm trying to scare regular people,not impress Hauntforum members. Honestly, you can crap on me if you want, but the truth is: people hate clowns and as cliched as it is, the chainsaw thing works. I scared about 800 people last year.


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## Tyler (Jul 17, 2008)

I agree, if it scares em, cool. I think alot of people are scared of clowns, and chainsaws. And a graveyard is just classic for me, I have to have one.


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## joker (Sep 25, 2007)

slimy said:


> First off, it's great to see Johnny Thunder in these parts again.
> 
> Second, here we go...... The front of my yard is the standard ( cliched?!?!?!?) graveyard.. skeletons... grim reaper... etc.... My back yard , the scary part, is...... clowns...... I know, I know..... a clown circus type of thing.... I have animated props as well as live actors.. I do an escaped gorilla ( no circus is complete without an animal act !) and .... here is where I am going to get crucified.....my end scare is a clown with a chainsaw... * hangs head*
> 
> Remember, I'm trying to scare regular people,not impress Hauntforum members. Honestly, you can crap on me if you want, but the truth is: people hate clowns and as cliched as it is, the chainsaw thing works. I scared about 800 people last year.


Hey if it works for you and is entertaining your patrons who are we to criticize? I say stick with what works.


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## Bauton (Apr 5, 2007)

I have too much money invested in my pirate stuff now. If I told the wife that I was trashing everything and going with a different theme, she would crush me!!!!


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## Spanky (Oct 8, 2007)

octoberist said:


> I say combine the both of them:


"Hand over yer booty, and no funny business."


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## CerysCrow (Jan 22, 2007)

Well, clowns just freak me out so any carnival/clown theme is fine, in my opinion.

As for pirates, I think they are completely appropriate if the haunter lives in a coastal town. What I dislike is, for example, would be a pirate haunt in Kansas. A haunted farmhouse type theme would be so much more appropriate there. 

Furthermore, I really appreciate a haunt that incorporates the history and the atmosphere of their geographic location into their production.

To be honest, what I really am sick of is the psychopath/serial killer/chopped up bodies thing. PLEASE don't flame me - it's just my personal opinion! 

To me Halloween is not about killers - they are around us ALL the time. I understand that it's a scary theme to many, but I really much prefer, ghosts, witches, goblins, mad scientists, werewolves, vampires and all the other traditional Halloween line-up of usual suspects.

And while I really appreciate a "good corpse" I dislike a haunt that goes into "corpse overload."

L


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## Night Owl (Feb 28, 2008)

octoberist said:


> I say combine the both of them:


Arrrrrrrghhh... *honk-honk*


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## billman (May 3, 2006)

Clown Pirates!! Clown Pirates!!....YES!! lol..


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## Revenant (Mar 17, 2007)

Cyborg zombie clown pirates. Top that.


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## 1031fan (Feb 6, 2007)

throw my 2 cents in here for what its worth. as for me, slimy really hit it on the head. most of us do this to entertain other people. thats our main goal. we want people to walk away from our display scared/entertained/impressed. its about them, not us. and by us i mean us haunters as a community. its nice to come on here and other forums and show off our new stuff and get tons of compliments but its even nicer to hear that your the best house in the town - or best haunt in the city by choice of the masses, not a selective group. and yes i hate the fickle mob as much as the next person, but if were in this to entertain, they are our audience. and when i have a paying audience, if they dont get what they want i may lose them. so i guess what im trying to say is i do what works like many of you have said as well. i will always have a chainsaw in my haunt..maybe not the final room (hint hint for this year) but there will be one. a fellow haunter told me in one of his houses he didn't put one in and people were complaining. they WANT to smell that gas and see that silly chainless blade sweep at there feet as the "crazy man with the chainsaw" chases after them. they want to be scared senseless by clowns. ive had people bring friends to my haunt just cause they wanted to see them freak out in the clown room. and yes, they want to be grossed out by gore (good, realistc gore, not some cheesy bottle of blood and plastic butcher knife with bloody perfectly placed kindergarten hand "turkeys" on the wall) - - - the normal person isn't submerged in haunt stuff 24/7 like most of us are. they see it only a week maybe a month if there lucky a year. so its not really cliche to them, its a staple. thats like saying for christmas this year lets not decorate trees, lets...fill in the blank with something non "cliche" - - - supply and demand - its the way the world works.

NOW with that said. i absolutely hate old and tired haunts and displays that are the boring hum drum same thing year after year after year - - - or even haunts that dont try and do somthing new altogether. yes we have chainsaws, yes we have clowns, and yes we have a decent *smirks* amount of gore. but its all in how you use it. example time......pick a sport - any sport. golf, tennis, baseball, football, boxing, hell even gymnastics since its on the olympics....for as long as the sports have been goin on people have been doin pretty much the same thing. but its still interesting to watch. why? cause the athletes have gotten better - new records - the sports have EVOLVED. its my belief that thats the direction we should be going in instead of trying to reinvent the wheel. true its great to think outside the box and im impressed when people can really make it work. i often find myself coming up with totally off the wall scares or monsters, but time and time again i keep going back to ideas that are tried and true and changing them, tweaking them.

sorry for the long post, but thats just my .02$ on the issue. were entertainers. we may be artists as well, but as many of the great artists would tell you who really tried to challenge the system and break the mold there work didn't become famous till years after they were dead.

riley


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## Papa Bones (Jul 27, 2005)

Revenant said:


> Cyborg zombie clown pirates. Top that.


Rabid cyborg zombie clown pirates.


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## Night Owl (Feb 28, 2008)

@1031 fan: Hear, hear!

@Revenant: Rabid, cyborg, zombie, clown, pirate _statues_ in a spooky wax museum... who come alive at night and find the nearest slumber party full barely clothed, big breasted co-eds of which to murderize mightily.


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## Eldritch_Horror (Jul 27, 2008)

Rabid ninja cyborg zombie clown pirates... with chainsaws?


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## Johnny Thunder (Feb 24, 2006)

Perhaps 'cliche' was the wrong term.......

How about 'trend' or 'trendiness'? Maybe that's the point.


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## kerryike (Oct 5, 2006)

I've seen some good clown scenes as well as good pirate scenes. It's not usually my thing though, but anything done well and kept to it's certain theme draws alot of appreciation. I've seen some really awesome set ups, but one thing keeps me from going in that direction myelf...

I'm not sure how clowns and pirates became so popular as a Halloween theme. Probably because I'm not aware of how these actually link to he season. Although I can get into viewing these when done well and everything, I have yet to do either myself. I guess I seem to be drawn more toward creepy atmospheres and gothic music and sudden startles from the darkness. I'm probably missing out by not expanding my horizons toward pirates and clowns and building an entire theme around it.


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## Spanky (Oct 8, 2007)

Eldritch_Horror said:


> Rabid ninja cyborg zombie clown pirates... with chainsaws?


Everyone knows ninjas and pirates are mortal enemies. What crazy fantasy world are you livivng in?


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## BoysinBoo (Dec 10, 2007)

> Everyone knows ninjas and pirates are mortal enemies.


Except for the time that rabid ninja cyborg boy spotted the budding zombie clown pirate wench in the balcony. "What light through yonder window breaks..."

Didn't they commit suicide with a chainsaw ... dipped in acid ... and poison?


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## dynoflyer (Oct 8, 2006)

Be careful picking on us clowns, mateys! Especially us clowns what lives in coastal towns with a history of pirating.


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## Sickie Ickie (Jun 20, 2006)

I have to admit...I've stayed away from the pirate theme because I think it is too commercial right now. Just like I don't want to use known "villians" (Jason, Freddy, Pinhead, etc), I don't like to copy the trend on Black Pearl. 

In my opinion, the more unique a haunt is, the more truly memorable as being creative...

...of course what do I know? I still like doing the cliche graveyard out front. :googly:


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## Terrormaster (Sep 27, 2007)

I agree with SI... Originally I had a pirate theme planned this year as well and have since switched - way too commercial right now. 

While I love to entertain others I also consider myself an artist and don't do things for the masses. I create the art I like and if it's well received then thats cool. If not, then I had fun making it. I've had this debate countless times back when Digital Necropolis was an RPG Maker site devoted to building horror RPGs. I've said it then and it still applies here. I have and always will design and build all my endeavors based on my tastes and preferences not to what the masses want. This haunter does not flock with sheep 

-TM


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## Spanky (Oct 8, 2007)

Sickie Ickie said:


> ...of course what do I know? I still like doing the cliche graveyard out front. :googly:


Still the best theme if you ask me.


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## Eldritch_Horror (Jul 27, 2008)

Spanky said:


> Everyone knows ninjas and pirates are mortal enemies. What crazy fantasy world are you livivng in?


That's why I added them together. One thing that frightens people more than anything is when the world doesn't make sense.


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## hedg12 (Jul 6, 2008)

CerysCrow said:


> To be honest, what I really am sick of is the psychopath/serial killer/chopped up bodies thing. PLEASE don't flame me - it's just my personal opinion!
> 
> To me Halloween is not about killers - they are around us ALL the time. I understand that it's a scary theme to many, but I really much prefer, ghosts, witches, goblins, mad scientists, werewolves, vampires and all the other traditional Halloween line-up of usual suspects.
> 
> ...


I agree completely. To me, the blood and guts and gore aren't scary. I prefer a more suspenseful atmosphere with the traditional skeletons and witches, etc. I guess I'm just more of a traditionalist.

That being said, I'm not sure where my rabid ninja cyborg zombie clown pirate chainsaw juggling fuzzy bunny fits in...


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## Daddy's Little Corpse (Sep 7, 2006)

I personally am tired of both. I LOVE pirates, don't get me wrong, but there was a serious obsessional stint with POTC in my house and now I just loathe it. Over and done. Clowns... well, while I see the terror merit of clowns, I've always thought, for the most part that clowns are dumb, but they're the norm. A "classic" as someone mentioned thanks to IT and Halloween and Poltergeist. Pirates have just been completely run into the ground and I'm over it for the moment completely-- especially "sexy" pirate costumes. Sexy anything really, but that's another discussion entirely.


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## Terrormaster (Sep 27, 2007)

DLC, don't even get me started on "sexy" costumes suffice to say it's whats really giving Halloween a bad name these days.

-TM


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## Daddy's Little Corpse (Sep 7, 2006)

Tell me about it. I don't even bother looking at the costumes anymore.



Terrormaster said:


> DLC, don't even get me started on "sexy" costumes suffice to say it's whats really giving Halloween a bad name these days.
> 
> -TM


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## englundisgod (Jul 3, 2008)

I dont get where pirates fit in with a halloween display, thats all Ive seen out these days now thatsome stores are stocking up Pirates arent scary, I actually dont see clowns anymore around here, i just dont get whyso many pirate decorations

- Aaron


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## Moon00 (Oct 7, 2007)

hedg12 said:


> I agree completely. To me, the blood and guts and gore aren't scary. I prefer a more suspenseful atmosphere with the traditional skeletons and witches, etc. I guess I'm just more of a traditionalist.
> 
> That being said, I'm not sure where my rabid ninja cyborg zombie clown pirate chainsaw juggling fuzzy bunny fits in...


I'm the same way I completely prefer a well done suspenseful atmosphere with more traditional elements to it over the whole blood and gore stuff. Plus we do more of a display/mini haunt just for trick or treat night and most of the ToT's we get are young kids. So we always try to go for a theme that is creepy, spooky, and entertaining for everyone rather than downright scary. I think when people do something more traditional you just have to try to be creative with it so it doesn't just become the average grave yard scene or pirate scene. 
Even though I've always liked pirates I've been staying away from the Pirate theme for a few years now because of how commercial it has become with the POTC movies. But this year we're going to go ahead and do it, but try to make it more unique and interesting.


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