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The Black Forest - Renovation Thread (2016)

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  • The Black Forest - Renovation Thread (2016)

    Everyone knows about the Darkness renovation thread that so many of us get amazing ideas from, but for many, a lot of the ideas and props are not realistic for lower budget haunts. I also know a lot of people that just love to see progress and see other haunts in action and running to compare them to their own (including myself).

    So, I've deciding to do a renovation thread this year. Call me a copy-cat or whatever you wish, but I'll be updating in here as much as I can with our progress.

    Our haunt is a smaller, lower budget professional haunted house about 100 miles south of St. Louis. We get great reviews every year and continue to pump as much as we can into the haunt. We pride ourselves on detailed rooms do think we do a good job.

    The 2016 season will be our 22nd year in operation, making us just a year younger than the Darkness (I think that math is right), but still, among some of the oldest around. Not many can say they've been doing it for 20+ years, but it's awesome to say that we have, even if I haven't even been alive for all 22 years.

    I personally am the baby of the family. I'm 17 years old and very involved in all operations of the haunt. Everything from branding and marketing and websites, to the actual building of the rooms, the props, electronics, lighting, sound, you name it, I do it. My parents started the haunt 22 years ago and it's been a part of my life since I was 4 or 5 years old. Started acting officially when I was 6. I've started playing a major role in the haunt probably over the past 3 to 4 years. I've helped introduce pneumatic props, better branding, some marketing, and overall just trying to get the haunt up to par with other comparable haunts. Everything about our haunt has been very DIY since the start, and while we still do almost everything DIY, I've been trying to make sure everything stays as professional as possible and continues to expand and get better.

    We start our major building season in September, even though ideas flow through our head all year. Here in Missouri it's simply too hot to work in our non-AC buildings during the summer months, especially with this summer being 90+ and 80% humidity for a month straight. So we don't get much done until most other haunts are almost complete. We only run 5 nights in October though, so we have around 5-6 weeks before we start. Crunch time starts this week!

    I hope whoever chooses to check out this thread enjoys it, and I would love feedback on any posts I do in here. Give me your thoughts and praise and criticism alike. Hope you guys enjoy. I'll be making the first renovating post this coming week as long as we get going as planned.
    THE BLACK FOREST
    22 Years of SCREAMS
    www.facebook.com/BlackForestHaunt

  • #2
    Post some pictures. Larry
    Larry Kirchner
    President
    www.HalloweenProductions.com
    www.BlacklightAttractions.com
    www.HauntedHouseSupplies.com
    www.HauntedHouseMagazine.com

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    • #3
      So we started a ton of our work yesterday and working today too.

      We usually do not keep any rooms year to year, but this year decided to keep our butcher scene pretty much as is, with just a few changes, that's the first few pictures.

      Then we started work on a new room for this year, we opened up a building on our location that we've never used before and so we had to start with framing and getting it ready. It's going to be a prison scene, with cells, an electric chair scene, and a kind of control room sort of thing. That prop and the ugly on the wall is just the start, we rounded up a bunch of electric boxes and hung them and then we're going to paint it all up and be good to go. That prop is also just sitting there for now, he'll be fixed up and looking more like an electric chair operator, lol. I'm really excited about the prison in general, and it will also be the theming for the facade of the haunt on our opening section. Chain link, etc and a huge metal door that our tour guide (which is a grim reaper) will be opening up for the guests to enter alone.

      More to come!

      IMG_3347.JPG
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      (not sure how to make the thumbnails show up, so if anyone can fill me in on how to do that, that would be great)
      Last edited by BlackForest; 09-12-2016, 10:00 AM.
      THE BLACK FOREST
      22 Years of SCREAMS
      www.facebook.com/BlackForestHaunt

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