Madame Leota Makes Her Appearance!

Hey Frightners!

Well the post Halloween blues have already begun to set in but already my mind has turned to all the ideas I have for next year!

As is the case every year in NJ mother nature decided to check in with her latest nuisance and this time she opted to drop 6+ inches of snow on top of us! Snow in October?! Really!

Many of my haunt buddies had issues with their displays because of this storm and a few even experienced some bad damage to their props but what was most unfortunate was the lack of Trick or Treating that went on because many towns actually put the kibosh on Halloween all together because of the damage the storm did. We just can't seem to catch a break these past few years.

I still managed to enjoy my Halloween as my wife and I made some rounds to check out a few local haunts in our area which I will write about in an upcoming post but for now I would like to start sharing with you a few pictures from my haunt.

Luckily I held my Halloween party for friends and family the weekend of the 22nd. We had 70+ people come to Grimlock Manor to experience this years show and were thankfully blessed with a cool crisp October night perfect for haunting!

One of my favorite props this year which turned out to be the big hit was our Madame Leota Spirit Ball. It was my first time experimenting with projection effects and though I am no pro at it just yet I had a lot of fun setting this up and am now looking forward to adding more projection effects to our display next year. Thanks goes out to Mr. Chicken & Shellhawk for the great tutorial on this effect. If it wasn't for the both of you I may not have tried this.

Below are a few pictures of Madame Leota as we had her set up the night of the party. We used a deconstructed Gemmy Spirit Ball, foam wig head (as is) and an Eyeclops Mini projector that we bought on Ebay brand new for $40. We surrounded Madame Leota with about 25 hand made candles which we made from Toilet Paper & Paper Towel Rolls that we dripped hot glue from then added tea lights to and painted an off white color and finally we hid the projector with a number of creepy picture books an a large half skull.

I did take pictures of the process to set this effect up from deconstructing the ball to setting up the projector so I will be sure to do a future post on that but please enjoy the pictures and stay tuned for the full video of not only Madame Leota in action but an entire walkthrough of Grimlock Manor 2011 Haunt.

Happy Halloween!!!

Happy Halloween Frightners!

Wow...it's here! Well it's 5PM here in good Ol Jersey and the Tots are out in force doing their trick or treating. My wife and I are getting ready to head out tonight and explore some of the local haunts in the surrounding towns. We love to try and see a few haunts if possible and since a few of our haunt buddies are close by we want to stop by and say hello.

Our first stop will be at Pandemic Cemetery a haunt located in Metuchen NJ that is put on by Dave Dankanyin. I actually went to High School with Dave's wife Nichole and she recently contacted me awhile back explaining how they came to Grimlock Manor the first year we were open as a Charity haunt for the public. Seems like Dave's love and passion for Halloween is the same as mine and though he is a smaller haunt he packs a punch with various animitronic scares and some great detail all of which he builds himself so I cannot wait to see his haunt live and in person!

After we stop at Pandemic we will be headed to a fellow NJ/PA Make and Take friends haunt Bloodcrest Manor. This is run by my haunt buddy Sharon AKA Joiseygal from Hauntforum. Sharon or Joisey as I call her provides a full walkthrough experience for all the Tot's in her neighborhood. I have done a interview with her which you can find on my Deadtime stories page. I have only ever seen pictures and videos of Sharon's haunt and have never been able to actually go so I am excited to finally make it out this year and let her scare the crap out of me! Haha!

Finally, we will be making our last stop in Roselle Park NJ. Each year the town has a town wide decorating contest to see who can make the scariest home haunt. There are quite a few people who join in the fun and put on some really nice displays and if you really want some Halloween Overload you need to stop by Bender Avenue in Roselle Park. The shut down the enter block and every house decorate and puts on a show. There are hundreds of people who attend the haunts on Bender in full Halloween Garb, it's such a site. I swear that one day I will live on that block!

Well it's time to go get dressed and ready for my Halloween Adventure. I hope you enjoy your Halloween in whatever way you celebrate. Embrace the spirit of the Great Pumpkin and have a frightfully ghoulish time!

Happy Halloween!

Grimm TV Series Pilot Review.

Hey Frightners!

Well with Halloween only days away the TV Networks are in full swing with their 31 days till Halloween specials along with some new series premiers that could help satisfy our dark cravings after the Halloween season has come and gone. One of those new series is Grimm on NBC.

Grimm is a new drama series inspired by the classic Grimm's Fairy Tales. It follows the story of homicide detective Nick Burkhardt who discovers he is descended from an elite line of criminal profilers known as "Grimms." The Grimms are charged with keeping the balance between humanity and the mythological creatures of the world and in the pilot episode detective Nick comes to realize that all those fairy tale creatures he thought were just stories aren't really just stories after all.

My wife and I caught the pilot episode for free on iTunes and went into watching it with low expectations but in the end we were pleased with the show and excited to see what was in store for future episodes. The cast is likeable and David Giuntoli who plays detective Nick Burkhardt did a great job, it's easy to like his character and want to see how he develops his new found power of profiling the mischievous creatures of the world. The pilot revolves around the story of the big bag wolf. Seems there is a wolf stalking anyone who is wearing red (little red riding hood anyone!) All in all it's worth some attention moving forward and should be a fun watch.

Every once in awhile the networks do a dark drama right and hopefully this time they will have a winner on their hands. The actual TV premier is tonight at 9PM EST on NBC but check your local listings for your time and channel. It appears that the iTunes version does not show the entire one hour premier but does provide a full episode. I assume as the series moves along they will be shortened to half an hour episodes and the premier is just two episodes in one but we shall see.

If you happen to check it out please feel free to come back here and post your take on Grimm. It would be cool to see what everyone thinks!

The Grimm Website: GRIMM

Stay Frightful!

Early Pics....

Hey Frightners!

Just wanted to post some early pics from Grimlock Manor 2011. We have a bunch of pictures and video to sift through but for now here are 3 favorites of the Mini Minion, Madame Leota & Our Vanity scene in the seance room. Hope you enjoy!

Cool Halloween Light Show.

Hey Frightners!

I have been sifting through some haunt videos and pictures the last few days just to see what people have posted recently of their haunts for this year and at the same time have come across a few good haunts from years past that I have missed.

The one below is by Mark Goodson who's full youtube channel you can view HERE! Mark has a nice variety of props and lighting effects and has even started to get into some digital effects that he has created himself but overall I am always a sucker for a cool lightshow. One day I'd like to give one a stab myself but until now I will sit back relax and enjoy Marks like many others!

Cyclops Shark!!!

Hey Frightners!

Just in time for Halloween comes the discovery of the Cyclops Shark!!!

While most of these discovers wind up being fake this cyclops shark is actually the real deal! This shark was sliced from the belly of a pregnant mama dusky shark caught by commercial fisherman in the Gulf of California earlier this summer. 

Researchers have examined the preserved creature and found that it's single eye is made of a functional optical tissue however, the malformed shark was unlikely to survive outside the womb and is now destined to sit on the shelf of some mad scientists lab...well not really I just made that part up hehe, sounded good though!

To read more about this interesting cryptic creature check out the link to it's full story HERE!

I guess that one eyed shark costume I had in mind isn't so creative anymore huh?!

Stay Frightful!

Sneak Peak!

Hi Frightners!

Hope all is well in Halloween Land. We are almost set to go for our opening night party this Saturday. It's down to the final little details and then this Thursday and Friday the cemetery goes up and we should be done!

As I was working on the haunt last weekend I took a few short video snippets of the seance room which you can see in below. Not everything was fully set up nor was all the lighting fully installed and on at the time of the video taping but I think it will give you a sense of where this room is going.

We will have a huge abundance of flicker candles and a few real candles on and there will be other dim lighting set on flicker circuits so it appears the lights are short circuiting. Also the music won't be Rue Morgue Radio by the Creepshow haha...that just happened to be on so we had a cool lightshow going with it...we will actually have a storm track playing and besides it you will hear Madame Leota calling in the spirits. We might mix in a subtle third track of ambient music but haven't really decided yet.

I hope you enjoy the little sneak peak. We will start taking final pictures and video this Friday night so the cemetery setup and carnival section are to come and of course a final look at the seance room all edited together for our 2011 haunt video!

Can't wait till Saturday and of course Halloween! I can't believe its upon us!

Stay Frightful!