# Howdy from Chicagoland



## MacEricG (Jan 5, 2011)

Just wanted to drop a line and introduce myself.

Having been in the graphic design/marketing industry for some time now with a background in fine art, I find myself wanting a career change and hope to develop something that embodies my love for Halloween. The majority of my past employers and clients have been part of the entertainment and theater business. With that in mind, I have started on what I hope will be the first of many portfolio pieces that will include sculpting, character development, set design and (hopefully) animatronics.

I have been poking around halloweenforum.com for some time now. It is a nice group, but I often feel there is too much emphasis on store-bought tchotchkes and slapping things together rather than looking at this as a craft. I recently found this site and was impressed with the content that seemed to take everything up a notch from what I'd seen.

I still have my Disney Haunted Mansion LP from grade school, and love movies like The Changeling (with George C. Scott) or Ghost Story (with Fred Astaire and Melvyn Douglas), old Universal and Hammer classics, and any of the Vincent Price/Roger Corman interpretations of Edgar Allen Poe.

Old school haunting is my thing, where creepiness gets more points than simplistic gore. I love to have my hair stand on end — though that doesn't seem to happen often. It would be my desire to help bring this back to the industry.


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## sickNtwisted (Sep 29, 2010)

Welcome to the forum!
You are amongst friends.


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## The Pod (Sep 15, 2009)

Welcome to the forum.


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## Hauntiholik (May 17, 2006)

Welcome to the forum MacEricG!


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## goneferal (Sep 8, 2010)

Welcome, this is a great place to get ideas. There are some very talented folks here.


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## Evil Queen (Mar 8, 2008)




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## trishaanne (Aug 20, 2005)

Welcome.....you're one of us now!!! :zombie:


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## Spooky1 (Aug 25, 2008)

Welcome to the forum. It sounds like you've come to the right place.


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## Lunatic (Oct 3, 2006)

Welcome to the forum Mac! Thanks for introducing yourself.


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## Scarecrow (Dec 11, 2008)

Welcome 
This is a great site and there are many creative folks hanging out here.


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## scareme (Aug 29, 2006)

Welcome! I like your choice of old movies. Have you ever listened to old radio programs? I like them cause they force you to use your imagination, and your imagination can think of something far scarier than movies. Vincent Price had a radio series called "The Price of Fear". I've really enjoyed those programs, and just the sound of his voice is enough to set the mood. Good to see you here. Many of us are on both sites, so you may run into some old friends here. If you get some time maybe you could share some of your work with us.


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## Howlinmadjack (Jul 20, 2009)

Welcome to the forum Mac!! I agree with you, I think the old school flix are far scarier than the more recent gore flix. I'm an old school junkie, and base a good portion of my haunt on old school ideals.


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## Goblin (Jun 3, 2009)




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## Death's Door (Mar 22, 2006)

Hello and welcome to the forum!!!!


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## MacEricG (Jan 5, 2011)

scareme said:


> Welcome! I like your choice of old movies. Have you ever listened to old radio programs? I like them cause they force you to use your imagination, and your imagination can think of something far scarier than movies. Vincent Price had a radio series called "The Price of Fear"&#8230;


Thanks for the welcome, everyone!

Scareme: I was actually on an old radio binge for the better part of last year - and I think it was starting to drive the wifey nuts. It actually started with rediscovering some of my old digitized story record collection (most of which is available from Jason Willis through his ScarStuff blog. It includes Karloff, Price and Hitchcock, but my personal favorites comes from Nelson Olmsted, whose retellings of the classics like Poe I find simply wonderful.

It was after that I found out about Olmsted's radio show "Sleep No More," which led me to my local library for old radio on CD. Also about that time I found out about The Monster Club where mp3 files of the shows are freely available.

You are right about what your imagination can do with a good story. I have always felt that professional haunts typically hurt themselves by relying too much on filling the place with props when imagination can work wonders. Great example is Disney's Haunted Mansion with the first half developed by Claude Coats, which focuses on environment and mood and is very spooky, compared to the second half by Marc Davis, where it is eye candy galore and leaves little to the imagination.

I will check into "The Price of Fear." Price has fast become one of my favorite personalities in the horror industry.


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## playfx (Mar 10, 2007)

Welcome to the Haunt, im old school also!


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## Joiseygal (Sep 3, 2008)

Welcome to the forum! What is great about this forum is that we have so many talented people that express it in so many different ways.


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## dynoflyer (Oct 8, 2006)




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## fick209 (Aug 31, 2009)

Welcome to the forum!


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## Johnny Thunder (Feb 24, 2006)

Welcome!


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## Azirithdorr (Jan 8, 2011)

Welcome aboard - I totally remember that Disney album! I, personally, love your idea of more creepiness again - that's how I tend to design my makeups and props :>


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## stick (Jan 21, 2009)

Hello and welcome to the site.


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