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HHN Scare Tactics
- Thread starter pumpkinbot343
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There are also the aerial actors that fly between different podiums, like the Witch in Scary Tales.
Stilt walkers in general, which includes the tall character on stilts fastly walking towards you. Silent Hill has examples of this happening throughout.
Stilt walkers in general, which includes the tall character on stilts fastly walking towards you. Silent Hill has examples of this happening throughout.
- Feb 7, 2014
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The floor ghost and fake chair in Wyandot Estate
The barrel toss in F13 2007
The disorienting blackout lighting effect used in the Tweedle room of Asylum in Wonderland
The barrel toss in F13 2007
The disorienting blackout lighting effect used in the Tweedle room of Asylum in Wonderland
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I never saw the barrel scene myself, but I have heard it presented two different ways:
1) Jason, standing above you, pulls a rope and barrels seem to head towards you before colliding with one another. It sounds similar to the effect in Carnival Graveyard.
2) Jason, standing above you, tosses a barrel at you that appears like it is going to hit you before being caught by netting or an attached string
The ghost in the floor trick was wild. At one point in Wyandot, the floor beneath you was see through glass and an actor would be lying on his back on a little dolly under the floor, pulling himself up and down
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- Jul 27, 2015
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Can't forget the number one scare tactic installed in every scareactors head: Boo and Skidoo!
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- May 26, 2010
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I feel like UV can facilitate some tactics that aren't otherwise available. The "invisible" scare actors in Dead Exposure 2008 (not sure if they pulled it off the same way in the sequel) that would hide in plain sight before appearing between UV flashes was a pretty stellar tactic when I saw it. But yeah, UV on its own is just a scenic decision, not a tactic in and of itself.
E-prompts are practically the only tactic installed in Hollywood these days!
- Jul 27, 2015
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A sewing machine pedal configured to activate a sound and/or light queue that actors trigger to emphasize the intensity of the scare. Again, not really a “tactic.”
Most of what’s listed are, to me, technical effects or settings and not really “scares.” It ignores the actual actions of the scares. If we want to discuss actual tactics, you need to include.
Ambush or Startle Scare (performer suddenly attacks a guest “from nowhere”)
Distraction Scare (performer draws guest attention while another performer scares)
Ping-Pong Scare (guest scared be multiple performers in a rapid sequence)
Environmental-Blend Scare (Performer disappears in the environment—gillie suits, UV pattern rooms)
Stalking Scares (when a performer scares a guest, disappears for a moment, then scares them again)
Follow Scares (when performer obviously follows a guest)
Stealth Scares (silent scares, where performer just “appears” beside you).
Alternate-Level Scare (from above or below guests)
Wait (performer is seen by guest well in advance, and patiently waits for guest to approach)
Team Scare (multiple performers conducting an ambush scare simultaneously)
Multi-Layer scare (a distraction in the distance allows a startle in-between the guest and distraction—think the door scare)
Subversion scare (what you see isn’t what you get—think scrim scares, fake arm scares, etc.)
Character scare (performer who’s primary function is establishing the narrative more than “scaring;” though scaring is possible)
Choreographed scare (performer acts out a specific scene coordinated with designed effects—Boris’ gunfight)
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There any way I could change the title to “Tactics, Effects, Gags and general fluff at HHN”?
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Eh I’ll just leave it at the first post. Anyone know if the “Catwalk” effect was used in any other house in HHN?
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Jack’s house used the same mirror setup to achieve the enormity of the space below, but the view functioned as a distraction for the scare actors around you. You didn’t actually walk on a catwalk.
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From what I read, The Hallow and one of the Universal Classic Monsters houses in the 90s had scenes that featured floating decapitated heads. Should I make “Floating Heads” or is there a term for gags like that in general (I also read somewhere that 2001’s Superstitions had a scene of dead wet black cats similar to the Hallow scene)?
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What should I call the little gimmick in Universal’s House of Horrors (HHN 22) where in the Mummy room you have to crawl on the floor?
- Aug 18, 2017
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Because this seems like the thread to ask, could they do the steep gorge mirror trick the way they did it in In-Between again? As in, no barrier between the guest path and the mirror? Just curious about things they still can and can't do for safety regulatory reasons.
