Zombie question in haunt

[jaxhaunt]

I need the opinion of the experts in fear. I am going to have two seperate haunts and have a good idea about the first. I was thinking about making the second to be totally zombie related. My question is do you think zombies could be scary enough to stand alone? Thanks again everyone.

Dave.

[dr0zombie]

If you have decent makeup and good actors sure.... Zombies are all in the actors. The wife and I can zombie a cat.... so we are 50% zombies. It works as I have a good crew of crazy college kids that make great examples of starving angry living dead. I could just spray blood on those guys and they would still be crazy.... so yes... good actors... Just my $.02.....

[Mike Bizub]

I would think someone with the name drOzombie may have a biased opinion but I would have to agree. I went to a haunt in Denver called City of the Dead. It was a demolished city overrun by zombies. I thought it was very well done and I really enjoyed it. But again you will need to count on some strong actors to keep it intense.

[Jim Warfield]

I got used to Zombies

they sat all around me in study hall, were next to me in certain classes, no big deal. But some of them were handed the Same Diploma they gave me! What the heck? I handed in my work, paid attention in class, all these Zombies needed were... Brains! Brains!"

[Allen H]

Yes

Zombies,
can make a great show! One show in Dallas area is called Zombie Manor, and it is great. The best part about Zombies is that they used to be people. People are every where so Zombies could be any and every where too. Your Zombie haunt could be a condemned Roller rink, a disco, a hunting lodge, a factory, an office building, a garage, a library so you reallyhave great theme options open to you more than just zombies.
Zombies are not a theme, zombies are a situation. you need a setting and a situation to have a theme. Some haunts have great sets but no defined situation so they come off lacking, other haunts have great actors the situation of being attacked) but no setting.
I hope what Im saying makes sense, zombies are no limiting at all, Just pick a good setting.
Allen H

[Jim Warfield]

A Zombie Setting?

Like a tatoo parlor? A plastic Surgeon's office?
"Wunt tatoo removed NOW!"
"Relax, I chew it off of you!, mmmm good!"
"Thankx."

" Plastic suge my rotten head wound so I can get back to work in Congress and pass the medical care bill."
"You will have to wait your turn, I'm fixing this show-biz Tv commentater so he won't look too distracting as he fibs those really big ones we all cherish and repete so much..."
Or maybe it would just be nuts trying to figure out who the non-zombies are in these two settings?
Add to this short list the old fashioned Leper Colony!
"We're Not Zombies!"
"Prove it! If it quacks like a duck, walks like a duck, looks like a Zombie, it's.... a zombie-duck?"
Maybe the Zombie Ballet would still be my personal favorite?

[Greg Chrise]

Yeah I'm really feelin the Zombie Ballet. My favoritist part is when they spin around and parts flop off.

[bodybagging]

One of our attractions here at DarkSyde Acres haunted house in Michigan is the Catacombs, Its a zombie based Haunted attraction, in 2009 it was a iffy decision to redo it again in 2010 due to it not living up to my standards are a SCARY HAUNT, in 2010 it was one of our most talked about attractions... The difference you ask..... THE ACTORS! My Actors for 2010 were AMAZING and they stole the show.....

[icarian]

From my experience, it never really is the creature that decides the quality of the show, its all about presentation.

I've seen some really really bad zombie haunts that just throw a bunch of people in ucky undead makeup and have them say "rawr"... on the flipside, ive seen shows that completely blow me away.

If you are thorough with your presentation of your zombies, then its a PERFECT creature for a haunt. Just keep in mind that the zombie scares can be mundane and ineffective if all of your actors are the same zombie, with the same "scare" instructions.

My tip: watch a lot of zombie movies. How are the scares different in the beginning, middle, and end of the movie? how can that correlate with a haunted attraction? Zombies in film also go through various stages of decomposition... in the beginning of your show, are the zombies fresh or old? how about the end? Do your zombies just bite people, or do they maim and completely consume their victims? How will you provide suspense to your guests if they already know that the "bad guys" are all the walking undead? Are fresh zombies more or less aggressive than their more rotted counterparts?

Character and cohesive plot development will help your actors scare more people with less effort.

[Allen H]

Icarian...great post.

[legendsofthefog]

zombies are not a theme, zombies are a situation.

great quote!

[Jim Warfield]

Ah! Yes!

But! "Character " & "Presentation"....take precious time away from great-god "Through-put"! Don't they?
Taking "Time", controlling people's whereabouts also can add apprehension and even fear's beginning to the situation.
Soon some people begin to wonder:"What's going to happen next?" "When will we be able to move out of this room?" Sometimes followed by much more dire thoughts of "Maybe he's going to kill us!??" (I knew I should have entered my GPS location on a few websites before I left the car!)