The Fear Overload Haunted House Ready to Terrorize the Bay California Area

Fear Overload Premier Haunted House cracks open its doors this September 30th 2011 for another horrifying season. Fear Overload is one of the Bay Area’s most popular Haunted Houses and is rated the scariest haunted house in California by HauntWorld.com. Nathan and David Polanco, the masterminds behind Fear Overload, have been in the haunting business for over ten years and this year, they have developed two haunted houses: The Uprising and 3D Mayhem. “These are high shock haunted houses with horrifying scenes; they are not meant for children under 14,” Polanco warns. “Our haunts are specifically designed to implant fear and exploit all of the senses. You will not be safe from fear even if you are standing in the center of your group.”

Fear Overload Haunted House opens their doors on September 30th at 7:00pm. Fear Overload is open on all weekends in October from 7pm until 10pm. A complete schedule of dates and times is available on the website.

“We’ve completely redesigned both of our haunted houses for our October season. We have also designed them to be in eye-popping 3D,” Polanco explains. Similar to 3D technology used in the movie theaters, Polanco’s team has developed a method to make objects appear in 3D inside the haunted house by using ChromaDepth glasses. Along with excellent staff of actors and make-up artists, the FearOverload team is distinguished for their realism and sophistication – all adding to an incredible result – a masterpiece of horror.

For more information, please visit Fear Overload at www.FearOverload.com or call them at 510-730-2221

Trick or Treat Studios 10% Coupon Code for September Mask Sales

Trick or Treat Studios, is no stranger to Rotting Flesh Radio. Chris Zephro has been a friend of ours for some time. The classic style of Halloween Masks they offer is fantastic and they even include designs from such Horror Illustrators as Eric Pigors of Toxic Toons designing one of their masks.

Recently we have seen Chris and the Trick or Treat team at a variety of conventions and featured an interview with them live on the floor at Transworld’s Haunt Show this past March on RFR.

Well just in time for Halloween, many are getting those masks they rightfully deserve and want and we have a DISCOUNT CODE for you to use to get 10% Off!

“Well it’s September already and Halloween is just around the corner.

All the masks are in stock and everything looks great, the response to the 2011 line has been overwhelming!

As a thank you for signing up for the News Letter and as a celebration of the 2011 lineup, we’d like to give you 10% off your next purchase at www.trickortreatstudios.com. Just go to the product of your choice and enter coupon code TOTSPC, then click the “Verify” button to make sure that the discount is applied.

Hope you have a great Halloween!” Chris Zephro, President of Trick or Treat Studios.

So if you go to their site and place an order ENTER THE CODE: TOTSPC and get that 10% off and save. To go and browse, look at their masks including some of my favorites like Gruesome, Chiller and more. And while you are at it, enjoy their Retro Looking Catalog for this year.

For more and to place an order visit: www.TrickorTreatStudios.com

Immortal Masks Launches All-New Website in Time for the Halloween Season

As the Haunt Season draws near, Haunt Owners, Halloween Enthusiasts and more are getting their hard earned money ready to purchase props, animatronics, and masks.

With that happening all day as we count down to the season, Immortal Masks has just launched their All-New Website from Sinister Visions.

The new online store is home to their premium silicone masks for haunt scare actors, enthusiasts and mask collectors. It was designed and created by friend of Rotting Flesh Radio, Chad Savage of Sinister Visions. It showcases the masks currently available in a simple blog style site that can be updated often with new products, masks in development and just studio workshop ramblings from the team of Immortal Masks.

They have made the statement already:
“Here at Immortal, we produce the strongest, most detailed, film quality silicone masks on the market… period. Don’t be bamboozled by cheap imitations or flashy websites. These inferior masks currently on the market simply wont hold up to the rigorous of normal use. It’s not a matter of “if” these masks will tear, rather, it is “when” these masks will tear. Our masks feature the industry first Total Power Mesh Encapsulation Technology. In short, this technology makes our masks virtually tear proof.”

This is a plus to many scare actors putting stress on the masks in the heart of the Halloween Season. Over at the new site you can browse current products, get your order in and placed, and see the gallery.

To check out their full lineup of creepy ghouls and masks including Rotten Seed, Scavenger, Zombie and more visit them at: www.ImmortalMasks.com

ABOUT IMMORTAL MASKS:
Here at Immortal Masks our customers are our number one priority… Period.

Immortal Masks LLC was established in November 2010, but is based on our combined 35 years of special effects experience in the film, theme park, and haunted attraction industries. Our company is comprised of working Hollywood effects artists that take pleasure in giving our customers film quality products at competitive pricing. Immortal Masks sets its self apart from the other companies as a result of our unrivaled designs, superior paint schemes, prompt customer service, and our industry first total power mesh encapsulation technology. As haunt industry professionals we take great pride in offering the highest quality, most durable silicone products on the market.

A Rockin’ Way to Prep Your Limbs for the Haunting Season

by: RFR Casket Crew Hatter 99

In a few short weeks we as scareactors get to shine up our trusty black hauntin’-shoes, de-coagulate our fake blood, and scrape the crusty crud off of our makeup tubes. Mentally, we’re ready. Physically, perhaps not so much. So this week I’d like to share a fun way to get into nimble shape for the haunting season while perhaps fulfilling a lifelong dream that you might have.

Hat ON.

As a child of the 80s, I grew up identifying Michael Jackson’s Thriller as my all-time favorite music video, and it remains so to this day. Killer makeup + Vincent Price + Zombies dancing in the street. It’s a perfect mashup. I always loved that zombie dance sequence, and through the years I would sit on the couch and dream of doing those moves. A few years ago, as I was watching the video, I finally discovered that I actually had legs. I wiggled my right foot. And then I wiggled my left foot. And then–wait for it–YES! I wiggled them both. I stood up, rewound the video to the beginning, and tried to dance along with the video. My confidence quickly fizzled, though, when I discovered that it’s a friggin’ hard dance to do without any instruction. Distraught but still keen to learn, I Googled “How to do the Thriller dance.” After sifting through a few useless sites and smart aleck comments of “Watch the music video,” I found one site that looked promising, THRILL THE WORLD, an entire website devoted to teaching people how to do the dance, and it’s a FANTASTIC resource. The goal of the site is to gather as many people as possible to perform the iconic dance at the same time in their respective areas of the world, and within the site are a plethora of resources for teaching and learning the dance, including dance scripts and instructional videos. If you click “Learn the Dance,” you’ll be taken to a page where you can order the DVD or view all of the videos on YouTube. The instructor breaks the dance down into manageable little chunks, creatively naming each move (e.g. shuffle, hop, stare, roar), and instructing the dancer to say (out loud) those moves when learning the steps. It works like a charm, and in a few short days you’ll be able to mentally chant those moves as you are performing the dance alongside MJ in the video.

So, if you’re looking for a fun way to loosen up for the haunting season and don’t really want to hit up the boring old gym, you can cue up the videos and rot away in your living room. Pull the shades for some spooky darkness. Put on a costume and some makeup if you’re so inclined. And remember: You don’t have to normally be a dancer to have fun with this; after all, you’re playing a zombie, so you can stumble around and screw up your moves all you want, and nobody will be any the wiser. I have zero experience in dancing, but the way the lessons are structured with the emphasis in naming each movement rather than counting, I can do the dance now at will and will likely never forget the chants. That’ll come in handy when I’m six feet under and have a sudden hankering to climb up and do an impromptu performance in the street.

Hat OFF.

First Annual Houston Zombie Walk is coming

The First Annual Houston Zombie Walk is a Downtown event to benefit the Houston SPCA and the Wildlife Center of Texas.

Bring out your undead- the zombies are back in town!

The Houston Zombie Walk is excited to announce its first annual Zombie Walk, to be held at Jones Plaza on September 24th. All proceeds will be donated to the Houston SPCA and the Wildlife Center of Texas. This year’s event is sponsored by Miller-CoorsNo Cover Magazine, Monster Energy Drink, The Hard Rock Cafe, and Freebirds Burritos.

Everyone has a little zombie in them, so bring out your undead to party all evening with three awesome bands (The Abyss, Silenced Within, and Five Eyes Wide), the Rox Zombies Dance Team and, of course- join us for a mile long walk/shamble through downtown and along the bayou. Tickets are available for pre-purchase on the Zombie Walk website for $11, with the monies being donated to the SPCA and Wildlife Center. The Zombie Walk sponsors will be selling beer, burritos, t-shirts, and more! An after party will soon be announced.

Founded in 2010 by a group with other zombie walk experience. The Houston Zombie Walk was able to secure the biggest clients and sponsors with their motivation and charitable beliefs. This will be the second event this team has organized this year.

Date: September 24th, 2011

Time: 5-10 pm

Zombie Walk: 7-8 pm

Location: Jones Plaza at the intersection of Texas and Louisiana

For more information, visit us at houstonzombiewalk.org, or check out Facebook, www.facebook.com/thehoustonzombiewalk

Gil’s All Fright Diner by A. Lee Martinez

by: RFR Casket Crew Denise

Welcome to Gil’s All Night Diner, where zombie attacks are a regular occurence and you never know what might be lurking in the freezer…Duke and Earl are just passing through Rockwood county in their pick-up truck when they stop at the diner for a quick bite to eat. They aren’t planning to stick around-until Loretta, the eatery’s owner, offers them $100 to take care of her zombie problem. Given that Duke is a werewolf and Earl’s a vampire, this looks right up their alley. But the shambling dead are just the tip of a particular spiky iceberg. Seems someone’s out to drive Loretta from the diner, and more than willing to raise a little Hell on Earth if that’s what it takes. Before Duke and Earl get to the bottom of the Diner’s troubles, they’ll run into such other worldly complications as undead cattle, an amorous ghost, a jailbait sorceress, and the terrifying occult power of pig-latin. And maybe-just maybe-the End of the world, too.

Gil’s All Fright Diner by A. Lee Martinez reminds me a lot of Fried Green Zombies by John Allen. Just some good ol’ boys that always find themselves up against a brik wall.

Duke the werewolf and Earl the vampire are unlikely friends that find themselves needing to save the world. This is a fun and humorous story that reminds us all that even the undead can have hearts of gold.

Evan – Facing the Zombie Apocalypse

by: RFR Casket Crew Denise

Evan, a balding man in his mid 40s, sat in his living room, drinking beer, watching the evening news. It was hot. Sweat trickled down his temples. Grabbing the brown stained napkin from the end table, Evan ran it across his reddened face.

“Damn,” he said climbing out of the Lazy Boy recliner. Pulling up his boxers, he walked to the air condition controller flipping the lever to the left, cranking down the temperature. Stumbling to the refrigerator, Evan grabbed another beer and ran it across his sweaty chest before popping the top.

Juliet slammed the kitchen door and yelled hysterically for Evan.

*Damn that woman, she’s such a drama queen.* Evan clicked the mute button, looking toward the kitchen in disgust.

“In here, honey,” he called as pleasantly as he could manage.

Juliet rushed into the living room looking frazzled, gripping her store bags closely to her chest. Her graying hair poke out at weird angles. She looked as if she had been in a Chicago wind storm.

“They’re coming!” she exclaimed.

“Who’s coming?”

“The zombies!” Juliet wailed dropping the packages onto the green shag carpet.

“Zombies? Woman, you’re not making any sense.”

Evan had been married to Juliet for 25 years and had never seen his wife this crazed before. *She’s talking about zombies. She’s finally lost it.*

“Juliet, there’s no such thing. Calm the hell down woman, you’re talking nonsense,” Evan said trying to keep the annoyance out of his voice.

“Screw you, Evan,” Juliet said picking up the remote. “Does this sound like nonsense?” She turned to the TV and voices flooded the room.

On the glowing screen, a representative from the CDC was standing before a wooden podium addressing more than a dozen reporters. The reporters held out their microphones and recorders capturing what the man said. Evan looked at his wife as she stared at the screen and saw she was crying. Tears streaked down her face leaving white tracks where make-up had once been.

Evan clicked off the TV.

“What the hell are you doing?” Juliet questioned. “Give me the remote.” Juliet gestured for the black box but Evan jerked it away from her.

“Woman, you’re talking crazy. This is a joke. It’s all one big joke.” Evan picked the newspaper off the floor but kept the remote out of Juliet’s reach. “What time is dinner?” he asked nonchalantly without looking up from the paper.

“They’re here Evan!” Juilet screamed jerking the paper out of his hands. She gripped his arms, digging her nails into his flesh.

“Ouch!” Evan exclaimed, “Goddammit woman, you’ve watched too many horror movies! They aren’t real!”

“They’re are! You saw the TV report. They’re coming. I even saw one.” Juliet gasped as soon as she said the words, digging her nails deeper in Evan’s arm. Evan shook her off.

“It was probably some homeless bum. Trust me, Juliet, there ain’t no zombies.”

With that, Evan retreated to the bathroom with the newspaper. No doubt about it, his wife was bat-shit crazy. That is until she turned into a zombie. After that, Evan stopped thinking.

Haunt Up Your Yard This Summer With Attack of The Gnombies

Ever have those neighbors that look at you painting black walls in July, or give you the look when trick or treaters line up for blocks to get to your house? Well now you can really get some fear into them and bring them some summertime terror with THE GNOMBIES!

Forget Gnomeo and Juliet, for the Roaming Gnome and bring some Halloween and Horror Terror with a Gnombie. What is a Gnombie you ask? A Gnombie is a garden Gnome that has been zombiefied. These add some fun and much needed weirdness to any garden for haunters and enthusiasts alike. They will eat your flamingos, other yard statues and more.

Here is the official Lore to the Gnombie:

“..…”and it all changed in an instant”….”this will haunt us all, well at least those who made it out of the Tir na n’Og Garden” (which has since been dubbed The Dark Garden)… Mark McElligott (One of the 3 remaining survivors of the incident in “The Dark Garden”) ….”the sounds were those of a variety that will haunt the 3 of us for the rest of our days”….”we just happened upon them all feeding on a mixture of scavenged parts”…. Errol Englebrecht (One of the 3 remaining survivors of the incident in “The Dark Garden”) ….”It was a total sensory overload, the smell, the sounds, the heat generated”…”and yet we were all drawn to them as if they had the answers to why they were doing what they were doing”….. Chris Perna (One of the 3 remaining survivors of the incident in “The Dark Garden”) Gnombie Pandemic Continues to Spread BOSTON MA: The Gnombie Pandemic continues to reach an all time high with multiple sightings all over the Eastern seaboard of the United States which are now estimated to reach over 100 cases in just a mere week.

“Staggering” was how one local law enforcement officer described the amount of 911 phone calls describing the sightings of “…these little garden freaks…” as referred to by the Medfield Garden and Lawn Ornament Emporium Proprietor Cliff Slater. “We had been having trouble with some of the local kids stealing from our shop at night so we decided to buy a guard dog. After a mere day on the job, all that was left was a collar, teeth, and many sets of tiny foot prints.” The rationale behind this recent insurgence of Gnombies is being investigated from every angle including an increase in overall home pesticide usage, the potential for any ancillary effects of acid rain or even a tertiary effect of the Nuclear Meltdown in Japan delivered via stratospheric gas transfer dumping this waste into bark mulch, peat moss, soil fillers. Investigations are still ongoing but for the time being, it is the advice of Bay State National Guard to follow the following instructions: Gardens should be avoided at all costs, weeding is not that important.

Attack of the Gnombies

Bring your animals inside and do not let them out until this situation has been stabilized. Look for little footprints in your garden, lawn, driveway, as well as, claw marks on your other lawn ornaments, front/side/garage doors and if you find any of these contact your local authorities immediately. Be careful who you pickup hitchhiking as they blend into society quite well SEND IN PICTURES IF YOU THINK YOU HAVE IDENTIFIED ONE! Stay tuned for a weekly update as this crisis continues.”

Right now you can add your very own Gnombie to your yard by visiting: www.TheGnombies.com and pre-order yours before you are eaten by one yourself. I know Rotting Flesh Radio will be having a Gnombie very soon in the RFR Studios.

Revelation Trail: Shooting Zombies on Film

by: RFR Casket Crew Unknown Scare Actor

Greetings Deadites,

Sunday, July 17, 2011. That is the day I got to be zombie. Not a haunt zombie, but a movie zombie. I spent the day in Kentucky, on the set of “Revelation Trail”, a different kind of zombie movie. This one is set in the old west. Check out the link

For those of you that have not been on a working movie set, let me tell you that parts of it got long and boring, but when we were shooting scenes it was fun. Everyone there was friendly and helpful. Candace in wardrobe made sure that we all had the correct costumes for the period and she even had to deal with a few of the difficult ones to fit, like myself. Makeup was done by team B.A.M., the makeup team behind the creature creation of the Dent Schoolhouse.

We had various extras doing different scenes, from closeup zombies biting at the camera, to dead bodies lying face down, to a group of zombies getting picked off one by one, by a marksman. And this was just one day of shooting!. The majority of principle filming is going through the end of the month, in several different locations around Kentucky.

I got to speak briefly with John, the director, and although there was no time to get an interview with him, he has told me that after things cool off in mid August, that he will sit down with me and we will have a long interview and perhaps get some more insight into his creative vision of a zombie outbreak.

On a personal level, I was very proud of the Unknown Scare-Actress, for not only was she in the same scene with me, but she was in a great close up shot that I hope they keep in the film. After we shot the scene, the director told me she did an awesome job!

Well Deadites, that’s it for now
So Sit Back, Relax and Rot Away…and check out Revelation Trail



CLICK HERE TO SEE THE TRAILER FOR REVELATION TRAIL

Down the Rabbit Hole with Hatter99

by: RFR Casket Crew Hatter 99

On Friday as I was driving home from work in Ohio, I happened to glance out my window and beheld a beautiful sight…a vast field of little cornstalks, swaying lightly in the breeze as they reached upward toward the clear blue sky, anchored in the far distance by a creepy white farmhouse surely crawling with zombies…Oh, how I wanted to climb out of my car, frolic through the field, and join them in their carnivorous feast.  But no, I thought.  I must wait.  In two months the harvest will be MUCH sweeter.

I’m Hatter99 (aka Josh), a newly-inducted member of the Haunt industry as of Fall 2010 when I embarked on the glorious world of scareacting.  The thrill of the scare latched onto my heart like a bloodsucking leach and drew me into the exciting Haunt community, anchored by killer conventions, a plethora of media resources, and a close-knit community of haunters who truly love what they do.  Now I’m honored to be sharing my thoughts on the RFR blog.  For me, the facets of the Haunt industry (and all things macabre and mysterious) are an escape into a world of dark wonder where nothing is as it seems.  Reality is a nice place to be sometimes, but occasionally it’s nice to shake things up a bit…read a creepy book, research a mysterious cryptid, watch a mind-bending movie or TV show, or put on some makeup and a neat hat and scare the bodily fluids out of people.  (That last one only really works well around Halloweentime; the mall cops don’t really appreciate it the rest of the year when I jump out of the rack at Victoria’s Secret at timid guys who are discreetly shopping for nighties…for their wives, they claim.)

So, when I want to step through the looking-glass and explore my own wonderland I choose one of the aforementioned activities, among other things, and that’s what I plan as the major basis for my posts, exploring the ways that I fill that deeply-rooted need for dark amusement.  In exploring those interests I’ll also be reflecting on my experiences as a newbie in the Haunt industry, offering my thoughts and soliciting input from others so that I can learn how to better build that alternate reality for myself and for those whom I am scaring.  The more convincing the experience, the more satisfying the adventure for both the haunters and the hauntees.  Ready?

Hat ON.

As we’re all gearing up for the Haunt season, I’d like to mention to all those Haunt operators out there how important it is to me as an actor to have some type of theme/backstory for the Haunt that all of the actors are aware of, whether it’s a story for a particular room if your Haunt switches themes from one room to the next or a universal theme that works through the entire Haunt.  

Of course it’s important to make the audience aware of that theme as well, but it’s just as important to get the actors on the same page.  If we’re inserted into a spooky environment, given a costume, and told to “Be scary,” the Haunt experience is going to fall apart.  Some actors might be telling guests to “Get out,” while others might be telling them to “Stay for dinner.”  You might have one actor speaking in an American accent and another with a British accent, with a hillbilly thrown in for good measure.  
Unless it’s your own twisted little version of the “It’s a Small World” ride (which is totally creepy, by the way), then the theme of the Haunt becomes broken, and the atmosphere’s scare factor diminishes, leaving the onus on the actor to make up that difference.  Sure we’ll get some scares, but it could have been much more intense had we all been briefed on what our story was.  And if the atmosphere becomes too broken, the scares are next to impossible for us to extract from the guests.  And I know that my energy comes from seeing someone jump, or hearing the screams.  If I can’t get that reaction due to a broken atmosphere, then after an hour my energy is drained, and I feel like I’ve failed.

It doesn’t have to be elaborate.  We actors are creative.  We can fill in the gaps, and we certainly don’t want to be handed our lines, but the key is to have a brief understanding as to why we’re in the environment that we’re in.  Maybe a bunch of spooks have come to collect Granny in exchange for a deal that she made fifty years ago.  Or maybe your house was a bed and breakfast where the proprietor had a bit too much demented fun with the guests.  What’s your setting?  Are you in the South?  London?  The backwoods?  Are you in this century?  It can be a short and sweet little idea, and you might be surprised how much energy your actors can extract from that little spark.  Having that small understanding between the designers of the Haunt and its actors can work beautifully in creating a coherent, ominous atmosphere that is amplified by the actors who can now work together toward a common goal.  It makes a world of difference for me as an actor, and it could make a world of difference for your Haunt.

What do you think?  Have any Haunt operators out there found success in NOT providing a theme to the actors?  Do any actors out there enjoy NOT having a theme?  Chime in.

Hat OFF.