Is Freddy Kruger Irrelevent?

[Reverend Colt]

First off this thread is not about stealing the copyrighted work of the movie studios (maybe borrowing it a little I suppose). This is about understanding our target audience to reach them. As I waked through the bosses haunt a few weeks ago trying to figure out what should change and what should remain, it occurred to me that Freddy Kruger may now be irrelevant. He hasn't lead a successful movie since 1994 [Freddy vs. Jason (2003) was just silly and nobody seemed to notice the 2010 remake].

Thinking about who our target audience is (15-30 yo) the last group of people old enough to probably watch Freddy Kruger when he was relevant are now 35 and out of the target market range. So a Freddy Kruger mask with a glove on the sparking fence just isn't going to have that same effect on the young adults making up 80+% of our audiences that it had on my generation 12 year ago.

Dracula used to scare my mother to pieces but I can't remember ever being really scared by a metro-sexual vampire. I was too young to know I was supposed to be. So what movie franchises and characters are our audiences watching these days and learning to fear?

[RobfromErie]

I'm 24, and one of the haunts I attended last year had a freddy in the queue line and one at the end on your way back to your car.

He was excellent, and was one of my favorite parts of the haunt.

[Front Yard Fright]

I personally don't like movie characters in haunts... Just because they seem to be over done.

However, I will say that there are PLENTY of people that are still terrified of them, and they can be effective if used correctly.

Brett Hays of Fear Fair does an EXCELLENT job recreating movie sets to use these icon characters in.

In the end, I think it's all about personal taste.

[siliconeskull]

I'm pushing 40 myself and I've never really cared for the Freddy character. But there is a huge fanbase , old and young out there. Weather that translates to haunt goers though I dunno. Just look at the number of Freddy silicone masks , everyone and their grandma has to make their own "definitive" version of him. As far as a modern haunt goes I'd think something more current / gory / bizarre / twisted/ or just plain weird would get a better reaction than someone clowning around as ol' Fred.

[Badger]

I personally don't like movie characters in haunts... Just because they seem to be over done.

Not to mention that unless the haunt is paying royalties to the movie studios, they are breaking trademark and copyright laws and subject to hefty fines or being shut down as mentioned in the original posting...

[Novus]

Not to mention that unless the haunt is paying royalties to the movie studios, they are breaking trademark and copyright laws and subject to hefty fines or being shut down as mentioned in the original posting...

Bingo.

Also, haunters need to trust their intuition more when they create their characters and scenes. Don't be worried you can't come up with something as scary/popular as the movies... push yourself to make your own characters and storylines. Your audience will appreciate it a lot more in the end and you'll learn a lot about your own creativity! It's a difficult, but very rewarding process.

[Reverend Colt]

I think that most of us are in agreement that using movie franchise icon characters is overdone and it's best to give your audiences unique scares. Personally it's on my list of things I don't do as an actor-

1. Dead babies
2. Satanism
3. Chainsaws
4. Movie characters
5. Full frontal nudity

Now if I'm directing or managing a show I have no problem putting a weak actor in a Michael Myers mask and letting him walk out into a weaker room that is between a couple of strong ones. Come to think of it, the haunt I work was started by a couple guys who did the special effects for Hellraiser III and Children of the Corn II. They marketed it that way when they opened it. Pinhead has always been a staple in the show, complete with the voice work, flying victim and the chains that come flying up from the ground. Most of it was the actual stuff they used in the movie but I'd say it's all been used up and replaced now. It's always been a good scene and I think the repeat customers would miss it.

But my generation (X) was raised on these horror/ slasher icons like Jason, Freddy, Michael, Pinhead, Leatherface, etc. and most of us gleaned a lot of what we put into our shows and the characters we create by the behavior we learned watching these guys. Just like you see a lot of Madonna in a Lady Gaga show, you will see a lot of Freddy Kruger and Pennywise in the Otis the Clown character I have played here and there for 10 years. If I'm playing Cleave, well there is probably a lot of hitchhiking brother from Texas Chainsaw Massacre in that character. Several times when I'm running and directing one of the houses and need a really strong performance from a girl I'll tell her to think of Baby from House of 1000 Corpses. What would she be doing in this scene?

These movie characters are how we learned to be creepy and make our audiences uncomfortable. Granted I don't watch a ton of horror movies but the dozen I have seen in the last couple years I'm not seeing these strong characters anymore (maybe Jigsaw from Saw but those movies just don't impress me). The current trend in horror seems to be pain, how much pain can you show. The Saw series, Hostel, some of the stuff coming out of Japan are all about torture and pain I’ve just been wondering is this where we'll need to take our shows? I hope not.

[Joe P]

movie characters blow

talk about a pet peev, I cant stand iconic characters in haunts. I believe that when a patron comes in and sees freddy, Jason, Michael (all great characters by the way) they dont see them they see a shotty attempt at recreating them. You arent judged on your own merit you are compared to the original which in many cases is extremely difficult to pull off. So I say leave the great ones on the silver screen and make them fear your ideas and characters.

[jakprintsHAUNT]

As the consensus says, I would not say Freddy or others are irrelevant...just like Dracula Frankenstein and more are still relevant, but I personally do not care for them in haunt scenes. I have always been a fan of doing original characters myself as well as haunts that do the same. Some do pull off the characters or scenes well, but its gotta be done just right. Something like Freddy though, would need to be makeup with a metal glove, sweater, and a very animated actor to be able to pull it off to have the kind of impact I think you want.

Mike "Pogo" Hach

[Allen H]

Yes, Freddy is irrelavant in a haunted house setting. Here are my thoughts as to why.

He is the same as frankenstien and Dracula, they are now childhood friends as opposed to monsters, there is an heir of nostalgia and childhood memories that flood our subconcious when we see him. When he comes out of hiding and approaches a group in the haunted house they yell "Freddy" more than screaming and running. Every time I see it now in my mind I see Norm from Cheers walk into the bar and hear the crowd yell "Norm"
There needs to be an element of the unknown for something to be scary, why do we work so hard to get rid of white socks and sneakers? its because we see them everyday and they are commonplace, they are a reminder of our tormentors humanity. Freddy is as commonplace and everyday as white socks and sneakers. He is a Horror icon, so high on a pedastal that we are so far below him he isint really scary any more.
the more familiar something is, the less scary it becomes. How do we comfort ourselves when we hear a strange noise, we attribute it to something familiar like "the wind". We know Freddys lines as well as the actor does, instead of having him in our haunt we should play a Freddy Kreuger drinking game. One drink everytime you hear the lullabye and two drinks every time he says "You've got the body, and I've got the brain".
He is a such a symbol of horror that he is no longer scary.
That is my opinion on the original question. When I worked at Terror on Church street in the late 90's we had a liscenced Freddy character, his fear factor was waining even then.
Allen H

[bhays]

Brett Hays of Fear Fair does an EXCELLENT job recreating movie sets to use these icon characters in.

In the end, I think it's all about personal taste.

Wow. Thanks for that compliment. It is personal taste. We love our movie scenes and our customers seem to as well, but I agree they are terribly overdone. I resisted the urge to do movie scenes for just that reason and we continued to hear that the customers wanted them. So we decided to do them as we felt they should be done and it is working. That said, I have noticed we have an older crowd than a lot of haunts. We get lots of 35-50 which I gather is outside the norm. We have nearly none of the kids below driving age.

[Jim Warfield]

"Life Is Too Short...."

To waste my time copying other people's chitt. My House= My Turdz! and proud of it, them.
Just because "Hollywood" recycles every successful movie plot ever made sure does not mean we should be thinking that way too.
Might as well take their ticket money, open the front door, sit them down to watch a movie on TV! (This is what I do here)
But the movie is very disturbing, they have never seen it before and while the movie is on many things start slowly happening in that room around them, building in sound and intenisity... half a second before everything goes dark, except for that woman screaming from the next room(That's why the door was left open a crack!)
The customer is in My "Movie" (forgot to get the camera men and the sound guys, script person was commited last month!)
As we go through the house the rooms and walls are full of mostly my own original art works, the house itself was modified with my own ideas, my own "back" doing the grunting (= "My Turdz" again? No.)
I didn't get this house until I was 38, time's a -wasting nobody lives forever!!!
I am pretty sure, nobody has more fun that I do. But then I work at it. Long hours. My choice(s).

[sean]

I swear to honest Jesus....Please research the copyright laws before you quote them and claim they are being violated. I have.

[sean]

I wonder... the kid who dresses up as freddy, micheal or jason and goes trick or treating....is he violating copyright laws. He is receiving candy, which according to supreme court decisions (a gift is a form of payment). What about the mobile DJ, plays all these tunes, made and trademarked, etc by the record label. He makes a few hundred bucks each show, is that a violation? Or, for that matter, the cover bands out there or any band playing "old time rock and roll". Did I just commit a violation by saying "old time rock and roll", cause, if so, I said it twice, could be a double violation.

[Reverend Colt]

I wonder... the kid who dresses up as freddy, micheal or jason and goes trick or treating....is he violating copyright laws. He is receiving candy, which according to supreme court decisions (a gift is a form of payment). What about the mobile DJ, plays all these tunes, made and trademarked, etc by the record label. He makes a few hundred bucks each show, is that a violation? Or, for that matter, the cover bands out there or any band playing "old time rock and roll". Did I just commit a violation by saying "old time rock and roll", cause, if so, I said it twice, could be a double violation.

I think you ow $0.16 to BMI now. I dare you to send the check just to see what they will do with it