Chainsaws - Yes or No?

[Terrorknight]

Only if I build a set that a chainsaw would fit into. I would never use a chainsaw just to get a scare. A really scary haunt is a believable haunt, in most cases.

[scattered screams]

How do you hide the noise thats made from a chainsaw inside a haunt Im going to have another room on the other side of the chainsaw scare and it would take people about 4-5min to get to the chainsaw scare but I dont want them to know its up ahead?

Also I say its not a bad idea to have aleast 1-2 of them in a haunt

Andrew

[Jim Warfield]

Have the sounds of someone trying to start a chainsaw, it starts, runs for just a few seconds, then a scream, then have an actor run into the room with blood pouring out of a sleeve.
The easy way to effect the big scare os to copy the "Chicago" style of special defects, hire an amputee. It will look "so Real!"

[cheeseboy33]

we use one in our haunt and it is the last thing in it so it gets people out quickly and leaves a great lasting impression. Plus when people come sprinting out the house, past the people waiting in line to go in and into their cars it makes the people waiting wonder and nervous.
HOWEVER I have seen many haunts with good potential ruined by just using chainsaws no matter what the room theme was. So yes it can be done but in moderation it is very effective.
Also I believe that many many people have come to EXPECT a chainsaw so having one also keeps the people who expect it happy.

[Jim Warfield]

And show up every year...kind of reminds me of the crowd at the Fourth of July Fireworks.
"Boom!"
"Aaahh."(the crowd says)
"Boom!" (the fireworks says)
"Aaah."
"Boom!"
"Aaaah!"

......but...what IF you did something totally new, different and unexpected?
The crowd might be different next time, it might be bigger because the word spread, "We saw something new!"

Why do so many of us change displays then? .. but not the saw?
I know, I sometimes feel the temptation too to just tell myself that since customers really seem to like things to not change them and some people do find comfort in returning to find the same-ol, same-old favorites. But doesn't that fly in the face of what they may be coming to you for? Are they appearing at your door for a totally knowable, comfortable time?
Oh, well?

[TrailHaunter]

Yes yes I agree with everyone saying you need only 1 chainsaw or maybe 2 at the most. I currently operate the chainsaw at my haunted house and I have been for the last 6 years or so and based on customer surveys, my character tends to get a lot more votes than most of our other characters but its not solely on the fact that I have a chainsaw. For example, we have one out in our line area but he is only there a couple of times through out the season so he doesn't effect me much but we let a 2nd chainsaw roam around in back and by the time they go to me, the customer's reactions were "another one?". This is why haunts only need 1 chainsaw if any. Also, a haunt can do very well without because, when you think about it, all the person who is operating the saw is doing(if he/she is doing it right) is a glorified version of popping out and making a loud noise. Granted it is on an extreme level but it is still the same thing and that's what I tell most of the newbies who we bring on during the off season that the simplest scares are the best scares and the chainsaw is pretty much a simple scare but again on an extreme level. This is why haunts really don't need a saw but I must say it is quite a rush to chase someone who is completely terrified of you.

[Jim Warfield]

Scaring someone. I guess it sort of says:"I'm smarter than you?" Maybe :"I'm braver than you." (Because to effect that scare I had to lay in a real coffin, or stand in a dark, scary place waiting for you.?)
So going with this ego-line of thinking, imagine how it feels to scare someone by just saying a few, choice mellow words followed by silence. A silence that gives their brain time to fumble in it's repair tool box, pull out the wrong fix-it tool, drop it on their own foot and scream!
If you can take enough time to set people up and give them the time to stew abit, a fun scare can be coming from anything, even something as simple and cheap as slowing walking across the dark room, dragging your feet, taking possibly 4 minutes to do this, covering only maybe 8 feet in distance, building their anticipation by stopping , waiting, going completely silent.
This might sound totally nuts to most of you, BUT I have had So Much Fun doing what I have just described and such reactions from people too! Wow!
Maybe this works so well because it is so different and unexpected? Or maybe it works so well because the act itself is so basic and ties into a very common imaginative fear.

[chuck weber]

just ask Dr. Yank'em. That high pitched, winey sound is enough to give most people the shivers. Saw it used in a haunted house scene once and it went over BIG. Not overdone like chainsaws, which is a good thing.

[DDJR]

you know its funny this year out of all the stupid question those dumb--s I mean patrons asked the one i heard the most was is there going to be chainsaws in there. Its an oldey but it gets them every time

[Jim Warfield]

Whether they were looking for "chainsaws" because they wanted them or because they didn't want them?
98% of people asking me about them don't want to hear, see, smell them or be the victim of a faux-attack from one.
I create happiness when I tell them we don't do that.