Clown area or no clown area?

[unihaunter]

I myself don't like them but the customers do so give them what they want.It seems like someone in every group is scared of clowns.I just don't understand it.

[Pumpkin King]

I'm not into the whole 3d Funhouse kind of clown thing, but I do like the more old, creepy carnival style or even have a room like a child's bedroom with lots of dolls and other things that are normally good but can be twisted if done the right way and with that you can add a clown or to with the right costume, not even a clown suit, maybe just a pair of old jeans or flannel shirt. Like Captain Spaulding style. I am designing a room for our haunt next year that will be a child's bedroom and the theme will be the kid has had a continuous nightmare where a crazed clown is hiding in the closet ( kind of the classic monster lurking in the kids closet) and when you walk into the bedroom you will find out that the boy's bad dream is REAL and you will have to walk through the closet with all the clothes racked up (it'll be pretty claustrophobic) and you will come face to face with Huebert the Clown. Anyways I've gone a little off with this, but bottom line is I think as longs as clowns are used the right way and they fit your theme they are great! I don't like the haunts that are ALL clowns though, I don't think you should over use them like that.

And maybe the clown could come from behind- The kid shaking on the bed warns them... they go into the closet, inching foreward, terrified. Meanwhile the clown opens the secret door and comes into the closet from behind them, honking a horn and screaching at them. I would imagine that would cause plenty of pee-talities.

[phrase]

Only if they fit the theme. We had them when we first started, but have not had one in years. This year we are going to have about five for our circus themed haunt.

[zombietoxin]

Let me jump in on the tail end of this horse and whip it once too. YAHHH!

I say all areas must be tightly controlled, related and fit a story line.

Because our back story includes a family, we will have the little girl's room (really the doll room) and our clown will dwell there. I think clowns have a real impact, but as wise the men have already stated- you gotta break it up.

It's my thought that the doll room will rotate actor outfits (maybe weekly or yearly) so that returning guests will not know what to expect from that particular room. This time the clown, next time the midget doll, the time after the ghost girl, etc. They will all be there, some prop some live, so the scare will vary.

Personally, clowns out of place are wasted time and money.

<clink, clink> my .02

[O"terror]

In our haunt, we already have multiple themes (it's a volunteer haunt with different groups taking a section of the haunt)(http://www.fieldofscreams.info/). My wife, a tour guide, mentioned over and over again how people were deathly afraid of clowns and would question her on whether there were any. So, I suggested clowns for our theme, which was not met by enthuisasm. While clowns are scary, they don't seem to get the actors very excited here. So we are evolving the concept more, and it might turn into something very cool with blacklight effects, etc.

P.S. - Many of the actors did not want to do clowns because they themselves are deathly afraid of clowns, and did not want to get scared of their castmates.

[jimmyfish]

I think if you can make them fit into the story line, then yes. After all a lot of people are scared of clowns and that is what we are here to do.

Sometimes since we are so close to the industry and analyze everything, we think things are burned out. But most everyday people go to a haunt or a few haunts a year and that is about as much as they are exposed to it, but we ofcourse think about it all year and try to get to several haunts or atleast look at videos and get on message boards ect.

Same thing with chain saws, we think they are played out, but most guests expect them.

[ResHallHaunter]

I use them only because I haunt at a university where it seems the entire football team is terrified of clowns.