The Haunt: Scary, Not Gory
by Ron Austin
“…The next level of Haunted Houses…” is what the Grand Rapids Business Journal called it. On the Town Magazine raved, “…Halloween mayhem at its finest.” “…The scariest Haunted House in all of Michigan. Certainly not for the faint of heart.” proclaimed Larry Figurski of Channel 8 News in Grand Rapids. These are just a few of the critiques that a Grand Rapids, MI, attraction called The Haunt has received in just its first two chilling years of operation. The immediate success story of The Haunt is rare if not unparalleled, so how did they do it? How did The Haunt post attendance well over 60,000 people in just its first two years? We asked The Haunt’s creator and producer James M. Burns what goes into creating a successful Haunted House, and what inspired him to close his toy store and dive into the murky world of Haunted Attractions. But more importantly, how did he create such a successful show in just two years?
“We make it scary, not gory,” states the general of The Haunt, James M. Burns. That is the motto for The Haunt and very possibly the reason for its success, along with modern 3D techniques, original story ideas and creepy but not gruesome advertisement.
“You have to treat this like a business first,” explains Burns. “If your show is a gore fest it limits your demographic.” Haunted Attractions draw only a certain demographic of the overall market; the bulk of which is lower to middle class teenagers. This is a fairly limited demographic as it is, and Burns feels that if The Haunt were to “hang a bloody spine on the wall or have a surgeon cutting up a live patient,” it would turn off a certain percentage of the demographic. “Everyone that comes to a Haunted House is paying to be scared; not everyone is paying to be grossed out,” is the guiding principle of The Haunt.
The high scare, low gore environment of The Haunt not only helps to bring in more teens, but nearly 25% of the customers are 30-50 year olds. Word of mouth is a big portion of advertising for Haunted Houses, and Burns wants to make sure that nobody is turned off by his props, by his sets or even by anything unsettling that an actor might say or do. “No Haunted House scares everybody. That’s a fact, so not every person talks up your production, but I never want to lose a potential customer because one person told another person our show offended them.” Perhaps it is this motto and the clientele it attracts that have helped The Haunt attain such well-known corporate sponsors as Coca-Cola, Little Caesars Pizza and Wild Boar Harley Davidson. This scary vs. gory concept has been such a hot topic that even the magazine Amusement Business discussed it in its March 3, 2003 edition. In 2001 the Grand Rapids Press ran an article entitled “The Haunt 2001, Scary Not Gory,” and two years later Amusement Business is writing about theme parks cashing in on Halloween by focusing on the scare, not the gore. The success of other Haunted Attractions and theme parks that use this high scare/low gore concept goes to prove only one thing; it works!
A large portion of The Haunt’s success in the past two years must be credited to advertising. “[The] Logo was the first thing that we went over and over and over. We were presented with a lot of options, but I chose a very classy black and white logo. I think that has made a large difference for us,” says Burns. “It’s easier to take our tasteful logo around to businesses like Coca-Cola and ask them to be a sponsor, than it would be if I had some dripping blood logo.” The Haunt’s advertising campaign focuses largely on print-based media such as billboards, posters and coupons. Posters for The Haunt include a large amount of black and have a very Hollywood movie feel to them. Black and white is proven to catch the eye more than any other color combination, but why create a poster showing a house in the distance instead of putting a ghoul from the show on the front? “I have seen very few posters with a ghost or zombie on the front that actually is fairly tasteful; it’s definitely a rarity,” explains Burns, who feels that this form of advertising can have its appeal on kids, but most adults are turned off by it. “The bottom line is this; nobody gets scared by a poster. No matter how much blood and monsters you put on it, nobody is going to jump when they see it.” Burns prefers to keep your monsters in the show and off the poster.
Can you still create a scary attraction without being gory? “Look at such masterful movies as Psycho, TheBlaire WitchProject and even Signs; they’re truly frightening with nearly no blood and guts in them,” explains Burns, who focuses on other things that both scare and impress people. “The use of 3D has been a great way for us to be visually impressive without being gory.” One of The Haunt’s focuses is its extravagant 3D section; over 1/3 of their 2003 show was in 3D. “3D has been the bread and butter of this show,” claims Burns. “We started with the spinning tunnel, because nobody in Grand Rapids had one. We’ve tweaked the thing over the years and found it is most effective with a two-color splatter paint job and a slow rotation speed. I also recommend mirrors on both ends of the tunnel; it’s great for really forcing the audience’s perspective. The next obvious thing to do in 3D is a dot room. We always like to do a variation on the norm, so our first dot room, instead of using dots, we used plain male Mardi Gras masks with the half moon eye design that we painted different solid UV-responsive colors. Last year our dot room consisted of a bunch of clown hands; the room gradually gets narrower until the patrons are walking right next to the clown hands. That’s when the actor gets ‘em. It’s all about trying to take old concepts and make them new to your market.”
The Haunt has over 30 rooms that change every year; here is a sample of what patrons saw in 2003:
The attraction begins with a dimly lit city alleyway that leads to the ticket windows. Once patrons buy their tickets, they enter the two-story façade of Cyn-Tech labs. The patrons are led into a fenced, decayed waiting area where the lab tours where once held. 20 minutes of original film is broken up over four different television monitors to show the rise and fall of Cyn-Tech labs, a genetics laboratory filled with experimental mayhem and genetic freaks. In the first room, patrons pushed past hanging body bags only to be greeted by our less than friendly coroner. As the victims run out the door a zombie escaping from one of the body bags bids them farewell. As the customers walk into an entirely black strobing room they can’t help but notice the small tortured teen with the number 13 on her shirt. In a scream of pain she runs off, and in a matter of seconds a 6'5" troll appears wearing the same number 13 as the girl. The troll lets out a mighty growl that seams to come from everywhere and then heads for the customers. Fleeing into the catacombs, patrons wonder through a lush and dark set of winding caverns covered on all sides with foam sprayed and carved to look like rock. The organic textures make perfect hiding spots for the Rock Man, a foam-covered creature that peels away from the walls and sends the patrons screaming on their way. One stand-out feature of this area is the 20-foot-tall waterfall, which cascades into a 20' by 20' tank. A nice site for the customers to stop and look if it weren’t for the moss man floating in the water.
Patrons with a fear of clowns won’t look forward to the next section of The Haunt; 3-D Circus. A 16-foot-tall foam carved head of an evil clown serves as the entrance, and the customers are forced to walk through the open mouth to continue. Soon after is the 3-D Rubber Room, which is painted on all sides in a 3-D star-like pattern. Patrons soon realize that there is something very wrong here; everything they touch is made of rubber, including the walls and floor, and clowns seem to bounce in and out from all directions. The terrified groups scurry away from the maniacal laughs and ricocheting clowns, further into The Haunt and its scary secrets.
In the last two years, The Haunt has had over twenty different 3D rooms. Staff favorites included the Bik It Maze, The Pipe Room and the Writing Room. The Bik It Maze is not an actual maze; it’s a completely black lit room, with two actors. The shorter of the two actors stands in front of the other actor with, in this case, giant UV-responsive clown gloves. The taller actor has his face painted in UV responsive make-up, and both are wearing black spandex. When patrons enter it looks as if there is one person in the room, than the actors split. “People were really amazed with that one,” says Burns.
The Pipe Room, which uses a series of mirrors and horizontal and vertical pipes, is equally simple and effective. The pipes are all UV-responsive and are staggered deeply on both sides of the room. Behind the last set of pipes at both ends of the room is a mirror that makes the pipes look endless. For The Haunt, Burns put an actor behind a drop panel inside one of the vertical pipes.
The Writing Room really is a normal black room with a black light strobe in it. Burns and company wrote, “Beware the Clowns” all over the walls in invisible UV-responsive white paint that the patrons could only read when the strobe light hit. Patrons aren’t familiar with the technique and are impressed with the effect.
Over the years of testing, The Haunt has also had its share of 3D blunders. “I don’t personally recommend trying to do a 3D Peppers Ghost. In theory it was a good idea, a next step of Walt Disney’s Haunted Mansion illusions, but it never really came together.” Burns also advise against letting patrons take their own 3D glasses rather than staff handing them out, as people would actually shove a handful of them into their pockets.
“I never want somebody to walk through our show and say, I saw that mask at K-Mart or I saw that set in a movie. I feel to properly submerse our audience in our show’s reality we have to be completely original, not just a host of movies chained together in a nonsensical way,” says Burns about the originality of his production. “I think right now people are fed up with violence. Even before the war, I knew that I wanted to stay away from violence altogether.”
One of the most unique things about the past two years of The Haunt has been its theme. Every character and every room revolves around a single overall story. The storyline in 2003 revolved around genetic experiments gone very wrong at Cyn-Tech Labs: Where Your Future is Our Business. Cyn-Tech Labs specialized in fusing animal DNA with humans; unfortunately there where many…negative side effects. When Cyn-Tech was forced to close in 2003, the whispered rumors surrounding the company grew louder. Questions were raised concerning other experiments that were being conducted in the laboratories, but the biggest mystery was the disappearance of Cyn-Tech employees. What had happened to all of the workers? Are you brave enough to find out?
“I believe that having a story adds to the realism of your Attraction. This also means not to put a bunch of horror movies together. You’d never see Freddy and Jason together in the movies…OK, bad example, but I think you know what I mean.” To make as nonviolent a theme as possible, The Haunt revolves around mysterious disappearances. Burns has found this type of theme to be “the safest route” to avoid offending anybody. “I know people will assume that the people were probably murdered or are dead, instead of just gone. But we make sure not to ram that fact down people’s throats.”
To enhance the theme of the last two years, Burns has used original film shorts displayed in the waiting area as extra entertainment. “In the films so far we’ve used news reports combined with interviews and sometimes a little Blair Witchish film to get our theme across.” The story is also told in news clippings on The Haunt’s website, posters and radio commercials. How well is this non-violent theme received? “I’ve found that some people really enjoy it and others could care less. The people that don’t care just won’t pay attention to it, so it’s a no harm, no foul scenario for those people. I will say this; in our first year we had a character name for everybody in the show, every zombie, ghost and drop panel. While it didn’t hurt, it wasn’t worth it. Once people are inside the show they’re far too scared for you to further your story. I recommend getting your theme across clearly beforehand and then once the patrons are inside, just make sure the rooms have roughly something to do with your theme.”
The Haunt employs 40 to 50 volunteer actors in the attraction each night of operation; many are trained professional actors from the area. “We get a lot of professional actors in here, because in this town, The Haunt looks good on your resume. The quality of talent here is so high; I can never thank our actors enough.” Actors are not the only pieces to The Haunt puzzle. The Haunt pays a skilled team of specialists that start work in December to get the attraction to full operation by its early October opening. This crew of people includes production manager John Cluff, with a solid 26 years of experience in Haunted House construction and design, along with experience in several Hollywood productions. “He has so much experience and gives us a real Hollywood feel, yet he believes in our low gore style,” says Burns. Casting Director and Co-Creator Scott Cramton is also a critical member of The Haunt team. “Scott was with me since day one. He handles all the actors magnificently and has a real bright future ahead of him in the film world.” The rest of the top-notch team includes Brian Demski from KNB F/X Studio, master mold maker and professional foam carver and sand sculptor Charlie Wakefield, and Wyoming Fire Marshal James Hutchison. “I don’t think I would be able to get the quality actors I have or the quality team of professionals if The Haunt didn’t have such a family reputation,” says Burns. “The blood and guts probably would have scared some of them off during recruitment.”
The community of Grand Rapids is also important to James Burns and The Haunt. “Let’s face it; Haunted Attractions don’t have the best reputation. They seem to be regarded as some sort of counter culture. I didn’t want The Haunt to be that.” Before opening, Burns went to the local Fire Marshal, Police Department and other city officials to inform them of what he was going to do. Burns assured each and every city official about his family friendly ideals and low gore show. “I sat down with them and showed them the logo, a few of the rooms that were sketched out. They were all very pleased to hear from me; they wanted a show like ours in their town. None of them like surprises or hearing things second hand, especially the Fire Marshal.”
Because of The Haunt’s family friendly attitude and professionalism, one city official arranged The Haunt’s charity recipient. “We work with the Grand Rapids Youth Common Wealth currently. It’s one of the most respected charities in West Michigan and to be frank, we wouldn’t be with them if we hadn’t been able to promise them that we would never compromise their integrity with something that happens in our show.”
Haunted Attractions always seem to run into problems when it comes to fire codes. How did this up-front approach help with fire safety for The Haunt? “I can’t tell you how pleased the Fire Marshal was that I came to him and he didn’t have to come to me. He told me everything I needed to do to make The Haunt fire safe.” In the past two years Burns has gone from learning fire codes to speaking about fire safety and the Haunted industry in front of over 500 Fire Marshals at a state conference in Lansing, MI. “I think most Haunted Houses think that the fire department is out to get them, which really couldn’t be any further from the case. A Fire Marshal is just trying to help keep everybody safe; they don’t enjoy closing places down.”
With their focus on scary not gory, James Burns and The Haunt charges forward into what may be the next step in the Haunted Attraction industry. The Haunt might not be your typical attraction, lacking the blood and guts of other shows. Yet in the eyes of the Grand Rapids community, the charitable Haunt has pleased and thanked its way into two straight years of 30,000-plus attendance records. “The Haunt is both a business and art form. But most importantly it is my dream.” James Burns’ dream truly has become West Michigan’s worst nightmare…but in a family friendly kind of way.
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The Haunt “Nuts & Bolts”
Contact: Jim Burns
2535 Waldorf Ct.
Walker, MI 49544
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