Chainsaws - Yes or No?

[Todd Shumansky]

Pretty much anything that makes a lot of noise is good if used in the right spot. We've had good success using a pneumatic air chisel hammer tool on the side of a barrel. It makes a ton of noise, uses compressed air, is very compact, and is easy to use. I just bought a new one at a hardware store for $19.99. They will typically last about two seasons.

[Badger]

There's a haunt down in SC (which I won't name) that goes completely over the top with chainsaws. I think they use one in EVERY scene for the pop scare. It may be a local thing because they draw decent numbers, but I also think it's a cheap scare.

I used to use a leaf blower for noise and I found it just as effective.

[freak 'n' stein]

There's a haunt down in SC (which I won't name) that goes completely over the top with chainsaws. I think they use one in EVERY scene for the pop scare. It may be a local thing because they draw decent numbers, but I also think it's a cheap scare.

I used to use a leaf blower for noise and I found it just as effective.

Do name! Do name!! I'd like to pay them a visit. Our haunt crew visited Phobia here in Columbia two weekends ago and they didn't have one at all - show was NOT good. We visited Gilbert's #1 House of Terror this past Sunday and they used a few in different places but their show was AMAZING!!! We use one for the main scare and our show gets rave reviews. Where is this haunt, cause I wanna visit...PM ME?!

[Badger]

Check your IM...

[ZodiacWarrior]

We use them. To me it is all in how it is placed and if it fits the overall scene of the haunt. If all the haunt is clowns or aliens, then a chainsaw would be stupid. I agree with no more then 2. Over that and it is just overkill. I like them hidden to where you can hear them but have no clue where they are at until its too late. Our guy at our haunt who works the chainsaw, has been doing it for years and he is just twisted. He has it down to a science. We have had so many compliments on how they see him and he still gets them every time. So it helps a lot when the actor knows what they are doing. It would be a serious buzz kill to have a group ready for the attack to only see it fizzle because someone doesn't know how to start it right without busting it.

Alien's I agree with, but clowns can work if put in the right area with the right actor. I mean, there's a couple of the clowns at Halloween Haunt at Knott's that use it to great ends and it works because it compliments their costume design.

I suppose theoretically it COULD work with an alien themed haunt/area, but the outer appearance would have to look much less earthly for it to not look goofy in the hands of a visitor from another planet.

[Jim Warfield]

I see many customers who come here Because I don't have a chainsaw.
Thanks to all of you guys using (and over-using) chainsaws I do a routine involving a "chainsaw" which either makes people laugh or scream and twitch..all in anticipation of the chainsaw attack! (sans chainsaw)
I have no trouble advising potential customers who want or need their chainsaw "fix" to simply take a short drive to a house that has a chainsaw, since most do.
My newest display in my backyard does excite many customers when they see it. It's a trike with handlebars which happen to belong to a 1949 Mall two-man chainsaw.

[Frightguy1]

I run a small charity haunt in NJ and we were totally against the use of chainsaw. It didn't fit our theme and there didn't seem to be a reason we would need it however..our que line runs right up against some woodlands and we deployed a chainsaw actor from out of the woods up to unexpecting que line guests and they seemed to love it so I think it is all in how you use it. You can't please everyone but it's hard not to take advantage of a scare like that when you have a group of huddled teenagers that are already scared waiting in line!

www.grimlocmanor.com

[ZodiacWarrior]

I run a small charity haunt in NJ and we were totally against the use of chainsaw. It didn't fit our theme and there didn't seem to be a reason we would need it however..our que line runs right up against some woodlands and we deployed a chainsaw actor from out of the woods up to unexpecting que line guests and they seemed to love it so I think it is all in how you use it. You can't please everyone but it's hard not to take advantage of a scare like that when you have a group of huddled teenagers that are already scared waiting in line!

www.grimlocmanor.com

I wholly agree with you. I think haunts just need to be mindful of whether it works for an area or with a character or not.

[Jim Warfield]

Then amid all that noise and confusion, do the totally unexpected, attack of the toilet plunger!
(Of course to the thinking customers, they might see this as an insult calling them bothersome waste product!)

[thehauntedhollows]

I remember 5 or 6 years ago when chainsaws first started making their ways into haunts, everyone was scared of them. Everybody couldn't beleive they were chased out the haunt with chainsaws. Now I think most everyone is desensitized by them, they have just seen them too many times. We still use one in our haunt but don't get the same response we used to.... that is until one night when we had a group of French students who were visiting America... when they heard that chainsaw they BOLTED- just like Americans did years ago.

We need to take it up a notch and bring something even better into the haunt world- thats a whole different discussion though.