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Photo/Makeup by Spatola Designer Images
I like to scare people.
That statement is the main reason that I’ve tried my hand at being a scare actor. (For those unfamiliar, a scare actor generally works at a haunted attraction with the intent of terrifying the patrons.) I don’t know why I get such a kick out of it. Maybe I find a perverse and possibly sadistic thrill in scaring the piss out of another person. Maybe it’s some sensation of delight at being able to effectively entertain and disturb at the same time. Maybe it’s all of the above. Whatever it is, I like it.
At this time I have worked at three separate haunts. Two of them were only for a few nights as a volunteer, and one was as a paid employee at an autumn carnival. So far I’ve gotten to be an eyeless dolly, a bruised lobotomy patient, a demon, a deranged nurse, a vampire and the classic generic haunt monster. I’ve got my favourites out of that group (eyeless dolly and nurse) but they’ve all been fun roles to fill.
Many scare actors seem to have a type of character they play in general. Noisy and sarcastic, screamers, wild lunatics and so forth and so on. My forte is the silent, creepy type. I revel in being able to terrify people without having to say a single word. I’ll throw in a growl now and again or a gnashing of teeth, but a silent stare and a crazed walk are immensely effective on their own. I remember scaring one guest at a haunt so badly that they tried to run away from me. I gave chase and they tripped and landed face first. They started to get up, took one look at me looming over them and took off running again.
I also use my size to my advantage whenever possible. I’m fairly tall, but slender, so I can fit into places some other scare actors can’t. At one haunt there was a tunnel filled with fog for guests to go through, and generally the actors would bang on the outside walls and scream. I was just slim enough to slip inside with the victims guests and pretend to crawl sideways along the wall, appearing out of the mist. The space was so narrow that walking by me was unavoidable and I actually had to make sure people would leave the tunnel in the correct direction.
Scare acting also has a lot to do with timing. Sometimes you’re in a place where folks can see you from far away and visa versa. That can be easier sometimes since you can start to gauge who’s going to be the best target to torment. (Haunt monsters tend to pick out the weakest of the herd.) When you’re in hiding though, it’s a lot more difficult to time your scares. You have to listen to the group to try and figure out how large it is and try to aim for the middle. (The general rule of thumb is not to go after the first or last of a group. The middle is best for collateral damage.)
Unfortunately, working haunts isn’t all fun and games though. It’s hours of repetition. If you’re the type that screams and hollers at people you have to be careful to not lose your voice. There’s always the chance you could get maimed by a guest (especially if you’re like me and like to get in as close as possible). And, of course, there are the jackasses.
I can’t fathom why some people spend good money to go to haunts only to be rude to all the actors. Maybe they feel that they can get away with being nasty since they’ve paid to be there. Some of these people are nearly unbearable. They come in to heckle you, tell you your makeup is lousy, tell you that you aren’t scary, all the while you’re trying to keep in character and scare the other people coming through.
Sometimes the guests aren’t the problem at a haunt; sometimes it’s the other monsters. You get the ones that don’t take it seriously or roam into your area and ruin your scares. Effective scaring often results from teamwork, but not everyone wants to play nice. So many of the actors at the last haunt I worked were so horrible that I actually had to quit before scare acting lost all its appeal. The folks in charge had hired mainly high school kids that could never bothered to follow the rules or simply didn’t care. The experience we were trying to create really suffered because of a few individuals. There’s plenty of room for fun and jokes, but you have to remember that you still have a show to put on.
Sadly, I didn’t have the opportunity to work at a haunt last year. The timing was bad, and I’d already worked and quit the biggest local haunt the year before. I’m hoping that this year I can pick up a few days somewhere as a volunteer. I almost feel like a junkie that’s going to need her fix.
Gentlemen, start your chainsaws.
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