Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Punched and Kicked

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Punched and Kicked

    As told to me tonight by a haunt actor in his now 5th season.
    He was dressed as a clown, pretending not to be a real person and not wishing to break character, he took a solid punch into his masked face, but began bleeding.
    So he meanaced the puncher , who collapsed on the floor in a ball begging for forgiveness!
    Mr. clown said something like:"I was told I couldn't punch back or touch you, so I won't."
    Then he lifted his mask and alot of nose blood ran out, landing all over the cringing puncher/customer.
    He also got kicked where it Really hurts by a girl.
    Poor vision out of that mask and being too close to the customers were to blame.
    hauntedravensgrin.com

  • #2
    Originally posted by Jim Warfield View Post
    Poor vision out of that mask and being too close to the customers were to blame.
    You're absolutely correct Jim.

    I tell all my actors, "If you get punched/slapped, you were too close".

    This past Friday was a full moon and it seemed like it too. My actor hadn't been punched all spring/summer then gets punched once and slapped later in the same day. With the customer that threw the punch intentionally (not a reaction to fear), we stopped the ride and escorted him out of the ride. I explained to him the rules as stated to him when boarding the car at the entrance and told him we have no tolerance for acts like this. Then I told him he was very lucky my actor didn't punch back as a normal reaction to being punched. But my actor stayed cool and heeded the rules of an actor. The girl slapped out of reaction.

    But both times could have been avoided. If an actor gets punched/slapped, then yes, that person got in the customers personal space, which is the risk we all take in delivering the fear. You could almost call it a game of Hockey at times

    Bryce, my actor has been with me since 2006 and is very effective, which increases the odds of getting smacked eventually. But then again, you just can't stand 10 feet away and say "Boo".

    Thank goodness there is only one full moon a month (LOL).
    Tom
    Creator of the Dungeon
    WWW.BRICKTOWNAMUSEMENT.COM

    Comment


    • #3
      In case you don't know, my haunt is known for it's "in your face" style. I have always told my actors that if you are not getting punched or kicked, you must not be doing your job. LOL! Different strokes for different folks!

      Howie "Slobber" Erlich
      Owner
      Deadly Intentions Haunted House
      www.deadlyintentionshaunt.com
      1986-1997 (Mutilation Mansion,) 1998 (Screamers Haunted House,) 1999 (Evil Intention Haunted House,) 2000-2001 Concept Creator/Business Partner (Urban Legends Haunted House,) 2002 Floor Plan Designer and Consultant for a (Haunted Barn) Owners had city challenges & were never able to open, 2002 Floor Plan Designer/Construction (Fright Nights Haunted House) 2003-2012 Now retired Owner (Deadly Intentions Haunted Attraction)

      Comment


      • #4
        I agree with Howie, the haunt i run is also very in your face status. However i dont tell my acotrs that if their not getting punched then they arent doing there job because they might take it literally and get a little TO in your face. I mean usually you can tell which person will react violently, thats why actors have to keep a cool head most of the time. But then again there is always like a little girl that can really pack a punch ((or a kick to the nuts)).


        -Zackary J

        Comment


        • #5
          We've had a few attacks on our actors. Word travels fast through them on any approaching drunkards via telephone (the kids game, not an actual phone), which is a good enough system. We get warned, we keep our distance. On rare occasions there will be a person that gets scared too much and has a somewhat violent knee jerk reaction. It's nothing we analyze too much, they didn't really mean harm and those punches and slaps aren't very powerful when they're not intentional.

          But sometimes people don't need to be boozed up to act like complete feebs. I recall one night, an actor was in a cell with her head and hands drooped out of a gap between the bars (as if she were in ye ol' stocks). All of the sudden some dolt walks by, talks to his fellow chaps and questions weither or not our actor was a prop. He decides to find out for sure by kicking our poor actor in the head.

          We can't really watch out for those kinds of people because there's not much of a red flag to spot. But when we do find them strolling about, hitting actors, we're more than ready to escort them out...and over to the police.

          Comment


          • #6
            Jesus, was she ok? Something like that happened to one of my actors, infact he was pretty high up to. How the drunk kicked him in the head i wouldnt know, but he cracked his head and he had to go get stiches and it was big drama.

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by Dr. Giggles View Post
              Jesus, was she ok?
              No damage to report, not in any physical sense. It really (pardon the expression) kicked her spirits down a peg for the rest of the night. Can't blame her, I'd be upset too. But she was a real trooper about it and went back to acting soon after.
              Last edited by Smiley; 07-21-2008, 05:15 PM.

              Comment


              • #8
                Very cool. That reminds me of a time when this fellow came in punched one of our actors ((not out of reflex)). And when we asked him to leave he pulled out a gun. It was pretty tense, but yeah it was resolved with out to much problem.
                But yeah there are some real jerks out there.

                -Zackary J

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by Dr. Giggles View Post
                  Very cool. That reminds me of a time when this fellow came in punched one of our actors ((not out of reflex)). And when we asked him to leave he pulled out a gun.
                  A gun!? That's quite serious. Perhaps we should stop using foam filled axes and knives and start using the real thing.

                  Scares the public and protects against would-be attackers.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Exactly, then all we would have to worry about is an accidental discharge or something silly like that. Hahaha but thats only a little thing, and yes it was quiet serious. But another actor who was in the same scene, or room when he pulled out the gun tackled him from behind and wrested the gun from his grip, it was all very herioc hahahaha. But yeah if it wasnt for that lone actor bad things probably would have happened that night.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      A few years ago as I was standing beside the front door watching the next group enter the house one young man mumbled under his breath,"I'm gunna Kill one of those SOB's!"
                      He had been arguing in the parking lot with some people who happened to also be included in the group coming in the house.
                      I never took my eyes from him for the first two rooms. He never smiled , never talked to anyone else , looked very serious and never took his one hand out of his pocket.
                      The Police surrounded him and handled that situation rather well. I think he was surprised we were paying that much attention to him too.
                      When surounded by uniforms he really still had to work at faking a smile, he resisted emptying his pockets but eventually did.

                      The frightfull trick here is to seem as if you are right in their face yet not be availble for those quick dental adjustments or a painfull nose-flattening.
                      I do this many different ways, mixing it up so the customer/victim is off balance and will not be anticipating the next upcoming scary confrontation.
                      This is not really so hard to do when a tour here almost always runs 90 minutes.
                      Plenty of time between such events to lull almost anyone. And of course this also usually allows me to spread the fun around from front to back, middle, newbie, returning patron who even though they have seen the scare before might not know I have more than one way to effect it in a given location.
                      I love it when the returning patron acts so smug then is the first one genuinely screaming!
                      hauntedravensgrin.com

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        One of my fellow actor friends had a big problem with a group of people one night.

                        it was the week before halloween, and attendance shot up, so of course this meant our doors stay open longer. one night, somehow a group of drunks were let into the house, as some of the workers couldnt detect wether they had anything to drink or not.


                        a few rooms before me, a friend of mine was an actress in our "saw" room. she's an actual amputee, and wore a prostetic leg. when customers entered, she began to saw off her chained leg and crawled towards em. this honestly was a disturbing effect, and she did a great job.

                        anywho, when the drunks walked in, before she could even begin her act, one of the drunks remembered the room (i guess he had been in before) and PULLED OFF HER LEG. She immediantly broke character and tried to get help, but the pushers didnt see it happen. they were way to far ahead to see. The pushers didnt even know it happened till we had a break.

                        When they entered my room, I knew to stay back from these guys, as they may try to swing or do something. I was freddy kruger, and was behind a wire fence on a stage to lunge at people from. one of em even tried to climb the fence but I hit his fingers. he didnt say anything actually, and kept on moving.

                        amazingly the drunks still lingered around and were arrested for disturbing property. whats worse was I could hear the entire thing happen since we share the same wall, but the back door to get to her was too far and I couldnt leave my spot.


                        needless to say, both me and amy (saw girl) jumped the pushers butt on not protecting us, and not making sure that we are safe.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          "Disappearing Employee!?

                          "Larry" a man older than even me vanished from the backyard after a tour one night, quite a mystery, this wasn't like him at all?
                          Maybe 45 minutes later he regained consciouness, crawled up and out of a grave where he landed when someone punched him as he wore a mask.
                          He never saw it coming, or at least couldn't remember seeing it arrive?
                          One large haunt had catwalks above everything for the guards to walk on watching everyone and even yanking an actor up and out of harm's way when a group became too aggressive toward the actor.
                          It was his only escape path, straight up!
                          (But at least he had a place to escape to!)
                          hauntedravensgrin.com

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            So are you blaming the actor? It's definitely not his fault. Yes your not suppose to get close to people but they have no right to punch or do any physical abuse to the actors. Where i work, they don't take kind to this stuff and they prosecute the customer if the actor decides to press charges. But thats pretty bad. I feel bad for the actor more than i feel bad for the customer. Actor was just trying to do his job.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              I'd say the most bizzare thing I've had happen to me was last season when I was in the first room of the haunt, before becoming Lillian. I'm sitting on the floor, chained to a laundry cart, pretending to be a prop and minding my own business. Some guy who had obviously had a few comes in with three other people and I guess thinking it would be funny decided to shove both of his hands under the skirt of my dress. He must have honestly thought I was fake (I hadn't had the chance to move yet), because when I started talking, he looked terrified. Now, we pride ourselves on the "in your face" scares at the morgue, and we are all prepared to deal with rowdy customers and dodging blows from them. But this? I don't think anything could have prepared me for it.

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X