The unsettling feeling began when Ania asked Nicole to “Put her somewhere where she won’t get hurt.” and Nicole responded with “I can’t promise anything.”
Let me back up a bit. You see, I have been working with Ania Kubicki and Brooke Rodda from Angles PR, and Glenn Rea (co-producer extraordinaire) for four years to try and arrange for me to work a night in The Nest Haunted House. This year everything fell into place, and there I was last Thursday night waiting patiently to be zombified while they figured out the best place for me to work where I wouldn’t be assaulted (apparently some of you, when frightened, become punchy).
When it was my turn for makeup, I was placed in the capable hands of the master of makeup macabre, Tim Richards. He started with a “wound” on my face, placing it delicately on my cheek and building from there. There were layers of red, white, black and gray makeup and the final touch – lots of squirts from one (of many) squirt bottles of fake blood (at least I am assuming it’s fake). I went over to a mirror, and I couldn’t believe how truly horrifying I looked! It looked as if I had been in a horrible accident – and didn’t survive. I guess that’s what makes for a good zombie.
They decided to place me in the Apocalypse Room (since they were short a person there) to work with fellow zombies, Mike and Noah. Let me set the scene – in the middle of the room sits a shell of a 1950s era vehicle complete with an air rifle for shooting unsuspecting victims. There is also a button in the car that when you press it, sets off a series of bright flashes and loud bangs – completely unsettling. The room also has three mannequin zombies, old oil drums and chain link fence pieces. Pretty much how you picture a post apocalyptic world.
So, Mike and Noah are showing me the ropes and I get situated in the car and familiar with all the gadgets I get to play with. I also look around for a moment and take everything in – the continuous fog, the creepy music playing on a loop, the sounds of the air horn on the other side of the building that goes off when people trip it. Mike was telling me that the important thing is to draw people’s attention to me as they enter the room – thereby setting up the “scare” for them to jump out and really pour on the fright. I am all set, but I wasn’t really sure how it was all going to play out until the first group of people came from the room before us. I started screaming and shooting – and it all felt very odd and unnatural. The guys gave me more tips and I fell into a rhythm with them and how it all worked.
As the evening progressed I found that I was better at being quiet and kind of growling, rather than full-on screaming. After all, zombies are more the scary silent type, right? I also enjoyed scaring people who were laughing/screaming a whole lot more than those who were petrified out of their minds. I found it uncomfortable to keep on scaring a person who was obviously actually really, really upset. Mike and Noah, on the other hand, had no problem! I guess that’s why they are the pros and I’m not!
Since the guys wanted me to experience everything the room had to offer in the way of scares, I got out of the car and hid behind one of the mannequin zombies. I would then lay in wait for an unsuspecting victim to pass and jump out – got some good scares that way. I also went to the end of the hallway and stood across from a mannequin. I would stand really still and when people got close enough I would growl and shake a severed arm at them – I enjoyed that tremendously. Sometimes, I wouldn’t move at all and would hear them say “I thought that one was real – guess not!”
At the end of the night another interesting thing happened. A guy came around and said “That’s it – we’re done!” and we all started to weave our way out. As I walked through the other assorted rooms of horror and gore, the other ghouls and monsters were wrapping it up as well, so no one was doing any scaring. I could walk through and wave, or give a thumbs up as I passed. I was one of them! When I reached the spot where four hours earlier I was being made up, everyone was sharing their stories of the best scare of the night. It had that back-stage feeling of a play that went off without a hitch. I listened and heard comments such as “I made a grown man cry tonight” and “That girl dropped down and was cradling her knees – she couldn’t move!” In between tales, most everyone was working on taking off their makeup (not an easy task as I found out later), but I wanted to wear it home and scare my family.
As I was driving home I realized how tired I was, what hard work it is to scare people and how yucky my skin felt with all that stuff on. I also realized that I didn’t like scaring people as much as I thought I would have. I’m all for a perfectly timed practical joke, but really, really scaring people – I think I will leave that to the professionals. Except I couldn’t resist rolling down the window and yelling at those two guys driving next to me on the freeway…might have been the best scare of the night!
