I am making a haunted house. How do I start?

Question

Well, I've been making haunted houses in my basement for 2 years at my b-day party and my uncle, cousins, and siblings help. This year I want to make it really scary. I have a fog machine and a strobe light but thats about it. Also, my basement is kind of cramped so, I don't have a lot of space. Please help!

Answer 1

Cover your walls with black visquine. Get a piece of plastic and paint it so that 70% of light can not pass through it and put it in front of your strobe. A bright strobe will destroy all atmosphere.

A fog machine will choke you out in a basement, I would not use it.

Next, find a scary song. Not a stupid, moaning/chain rattling, wind blowing soundtrack, but honest music. I personally like the theme from Nightmare on Elm Street, Omen, Fugue in D (?) Minor, Halloween as a start. Put them on an answering machine tape and let them loop over and over.


If you can divide your basement into quarters, then do so. Each room will need to be about 10 x 10 if you have the room. Section each room off with black visquine. In the first room, have a fortune teller give fortunes for the victims, er guests. The first fortune "you will get zits, 2nd, you will flunk you test, and the 3rd - you will die tonight. As soon as this is said, a spook jumps from behind the curtain and chases the group into the next room.

The next room can be a kitchen scene where the costumed chef is seen eating on a victim's arm. When he sees the group, he walks toward them. They naturally walk backwards into the arms of the monster from the first room.

After tormenting them for a period of time, they are allowed to proceed into the next room. Build a chair frame out of 2x4's Put a strobe light into a metallic lamp cover that is bowl shape and have it rigged so that the switch is near the electrocuted guy's hand. He flicks the switch, and spazs around in convulsions. Just when everybody thinks he's dead, he does it again -screaming "I'm not dead yet!". Then he gets up and chases them into the last room.

The last room will be a witch stirring a pot. After she sees the group, she walks toward them. Again, they will walk back into the arms of the electric chair guy. If you have a saw (you will not be able to run a gas powered chain saw in your basement, then now is the time to whip it out and goose everybody on the leg (minus the saw, of course). If you can chase them outside, then you can crank it up and torment them. Otherwise, a good sound effect tape turned up to 10+ will do the trick.

If you have a really small room, then paint checkerboards on your visquine on all four walls and the ceiling too (on visquine). I would make mine about 2" x 2". You will have to build you a template to do so. Then, you get black comfortable clothing and paint it the same way. You could even build a costume out of the visquine material so you hide better. Then you hide in the corner (remember, nearly pitch black except for the ability to see faint markings on the wall) you move along the walls and goose everybody. If you do it right, you will blend into the background like Predator did in the rainforest.

Answer 2

Me and my sister make an awesome hauted house every year...
use old halloween mask the devil lookin ones r good...and put them on post of somkind and then wrap a cape arond the post it looks awesome..and creepy when the strobe lights on...play a horror sound effects CD...fake spider webs r great too! We did this thang this one year where a guy was hung from the ceiling ya know like he hung himself...and underneath him there was a glass table with blood on it. it looked really cool.
Just be creative but the best part of the hauted house would have to be the scary masks with the capes they look so real...
Hope this helps good luck!
:)

Answer 3

Envirodude's ideas are great, and I'll add one thing, instead of making the separate rooms, how about a maze? Friends did this in a small barn, using plywood on hinges to make the passageways, all dark of course. People with purple lights on them would jump out at you, scaring the you know what out of you, all they had to do was yell, "Boo!" The reason they put the plywood sheet on hinges, was to make it easier to fold and store them, then the next year, they would make a different maze. Another goofy idea that takes time but is worth the "watching" effort, is take lengths of clear plastic package sealing tape and long strands of dark gray thread, lay the strands across the tape, attach the tape to the top of a doorway. Folks can't see it, but when they walk thru, they feel "cobwebs" across their faces, and it's funny to watch them brushing their faces to get rid of the webs. If it's thru to a darkened room, use black thread..One year my DH was in charge of catagories and prizes--he gave one couple a toilet brush for the cleanest costume, a bar of Fels Naptha soap for the dirtiest costume,a roll of scotch tape for the skimpiest costume---you get the idea.......

Answer 4

You should get some spiders and stuff to hang. You also might want to make a coffin for some one to sit in and jump out (even if it is made of cardboard it still works). Make the room dark are cover the windows with dark cloth or plastic table clothes. In some stores (or online) you can buy this really creepy music you could play in the back. Good luck!

Answer 5

I'm also making a professional haunted house opening in 2008. I don't want to rain on your parade. But if you plan on opening anything that you'll charge to the public, it will cost money!
You need to fire proof your haunted house. You'll need insurance. And you'll truly need someone who knows how to build a haunted house and design the rooms.
I'm telling you all of this because, I had a man here who opened a haunted house after 5 years of having it grow and grow within his garage and into his back yard.
He was unready for fire inspections. Had no insurance and was shut down by the city after one night of opening. So PLEASE do your homework, and you'll be happy on opening night that you did!

Answer 6

total darkness and unexplained noise and movement is as scary as reality can ever get. All the horror and gore can't compete with the unknown and unseen but heard.

Answer 7

www.halloweenmonsterlist.info/ One stoplink there.