Halloween Summer Bash 2013

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SCARELA and SCREAM TEAM PRODUCTIONS KICK OFF HALLOWEEN AUGUST 10TH & 11TH, 2013 IN LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA!

When people hear “August” they think of beaches, late nights, back to school shopping … all of that changes this year.

Don’t run from the fear—embrace it at the ScareLA Halloween Convention! ScareLA and Creative Partner Scream Team Productions (Rob Dyrdek Scare Gram, Mind Terrors) bring the horror holiday to Los Angeles, California August 10^th – 11^th, 2013. Premiering at LAMart, it gives the City of Angels its first convention “…dedicated to celebrating Halloween.” Anyone wanting a preview of what’s to come this October needs to be here!

Attendees can expect some of the biggest names in the Halloween and Horror industries, such as John Murdy and Chris Williams (creators of Universal Studios Hollywood Halloween Horror Nights), Jason Blum (“The Blumhouse of Horrors” 2012, “Paranormal Activity” franchise, “Insidious”), and designers and veterans of Knott’s Scary Farm to showcase first looks of upcoming projects. Other appearances include Scott Michaels (Dearly Departed Tours), Mike Talarico (The Empty Grave Haunted House), and Garner Holt (Garner Holt Productions) to name a few.

   Scream Team Productions has stepped up to create and execute a most wicked and exciting Sliding Demonstration using sliders from their team of Elite Monsters, Knott’s Halloween Haunt, Empty Grave, Hollywood Sports, etc. The show will run twice both Saturday and Sunday. As is that wasn’t enough the terror consultants of the Inland Empire are producing an after party for Saturday, August 10^th! Details will be released soon.

For veterans and those new to the Haunt scene ScareLA provides classes, seminars, and workshops  to kick-off planning Halloween in August. Bone Yard FX has the know-how to transform the everyday person into an extraordinary creature from nightmares. Be sure to swing by the Bone Yard Effects Demo Stage throughout Saturday and Sunday for tips on applying prosthetics and coordinating colors to achieve the right look. Actors can brush up on their scare technique at “Movers and Shakers: Acting Technique” class while their supervisors take away budgeting advice and new tricks for treating set pieces. Those wanting to relive the magical, sweet days of youth can sign up for Pumpkin Gore: Carving the Ultimate Jack-O-Lantern or Skulls and Bones: Sugar Skeleton Making. Be sure to check the website for updated lists on the classes page.

The best part of any convention is the booth line up. This year’s is no exception. Read the latest in horror at the Fangoria booth, The World’s Favorite Horror Magazine. Set the trend—dress like its Halloween during the summer with Kreepsville 666’s unique dark style of fashion. Don’t forget to pick up some goodies for October from Grex Professional Airbrush, Immortal Masks Hollywood, CA , Froggy’s Fog, Spectral Illusions, and more.

What could be better than having this much Halloween packed into one room? Having Dread Central filming every second of it! The Dread Central crew will hold live interviews with attendees, vendors, and special guests while broadcasting highlights from both days. This year is merely the beginning of what will become a staple event in Los Angeles. So don’t miss an opportunity to be part of it!  The ScareLA Convention will be held at 1933 Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90007 from 11am to 7pm Saturday, August 10^th and Sunday August, 11th. Parking is available in LAMart’s automated gated lot.

To buy tickets or receive updates sign up for their newsletter at ScareLA’s official website or connect to their Facebookand Twitter pages. Also check out Scream Team Productions’ official website, Facebook, or Twitter pages for updates about the after party and sliding demonstration. To ask about the other services they provide, call 877.643.6132.

Tearing It Up at Days of the Dead 2013

Scream Team Productions

Scream Team Productions

Scream Team Productions

Scream Team Productions

Scream Team Productions

The Kidd and Evil Ronald with Actor Keith Davidand Wrestler Rowdy Roddy Piper 

The weekend of April 5-7, 2013 the Los Angeles Convention Center played host to the horror convention, ‘Days of the Dead™’ (http://www.daysofthedead.net/). Fans of the genre go to ‘Days’ to see their favorite horror icons/celebrities and be able to personally interact with each one. On April 6^th Scream Team Productions™ sent five of their Elite Monsters to give attendees their version of a one-on-one experience.

Everyone walking around the Main Lobby was fair game. Crossing through the West Hall Lobby Evil Ronald lead his team to Petree Hall ready to freak out and impress the many make-up artists, producers, and other members of the gore society. Once there KIDD, Dr. Trauma, and Bogg broke off from the group in search of some screamers. Ronald and Izzabel dropped by the FEARnet™ table sending chills up some spines. Bogg snuck up behind a group of people near one of the stands. While a few of them noticed, they kept the female target unaware of his presence. When the timing was right Bogg let out a frightful high pitch scream that made her leap into the air, shaking and yelling out loud! Everyone around her laughed, reveling in her fear and agony.

Izzabel caught a glimpse of orange and yellow hair near the tables for Syfy’s FaceOff™. She slid into the center of a group chatting away and heard a squeal. Alana Schiro from Season 3 happily freaked out over Izzabel’s appearance and Baby Doll so much she hugged and kissed the ghoul!

Bogg, Izzabel, Dr. Trauma, and KIDD made one last stop by the FEARnet table to get a couple snapshots using the awesome camera they had setup.

The Elite Monsters made their way upstairs to the Days of the Dead 2013 Award Show. It was open early for drinks and general chatter. Through the rows of chairs they crept and climbed stopping by every patron for a spell. Dr. Trauma went in for a scare, but his female victim refused to show she was afraid. She focused so hard on showing up Dr. Trauma she failed to sense Bogg before he snarled in her ear. She shot into the air, “Oh my God you got me!

But the macabre guests were not the only ones in for a fright. In West Hall A the World of Dance Tour was in full swing, people walking in and out to grab food. None of them expected the ghoulish entertainers to turn their sights toward anyone not attending Days of the Dead. A couple guys present for the Dance competition called out to Izzabel from the sidelines. They sat on the floor smiling and laughing. Then she rushed over and bent in low above one of the jokers. He put his hands up as he yelled while flattening himself on the ground! His buddy laughed until Izzabel gave him a taste of fear. He was no braver than his friend and freaked out on the floor.

Some people enjoy a great fright. A cluster of teenagers dressed in cheer garb purposely walked over to interact with the Scream Team again and again when the creatures were not coming over to them. Their guys and girls laughed and screamed during photo opportunities.

Dr. Trauma and KIDD teamed up on a small crowd of teens and the chase began! Two of the girls kept hiding behind different friends and shrieking whenever either monster came near. They managed to trap one of them getting as close to her face as they could get.

The night slowly drew to a close. Before taking off KIDD and Evil Ronald stopped by the Awards show one last time. They could not leave without saying “Hello” to Keith David. After a few more scares going through the Main Lobby Evil Ronald gave the signal, calling it a successful night.

Themes that Generate Screams Haunted Attraction Trends for 2013

Scream Team Productions very own Bonix and Whipstitch
with Television star Tj Thyne from hit tv show 'Bones'

Scream Team Productions Whipstitch 

Gone are the days when darkly lit hallways with creaky floorboards were the key components to a successfully scary haunted attraction. Over-the-top shocks and gory horrors, with a mix of special effects, are now drawing large crowds looking for a scream with their Halloween. For terror created outside the box, Scream Team Productions, a Murrieta, Calif.-based haunt consultant, partnered with Jason Blum’s Blumhouse Productions, producers of the movie “Paranormal Activity”, to create a theatrical experience called The Blumhouse of Horrors. Blumhouse of Horrors inhabits the downtown Los Angeles Variety Arts Center, a 1930s-era venue with its own haunted history involving a theater owner’s wife’s desperate attempt to become a magician’s assistant and her tragic disappearance in a magic box.
“The theater is a great location for a haunted attraction,” said Willie May, CEO and executive creative director at Scream Team. “Jason Blum said he wanted to produce a horror play in Los Angeles, similar to an interactive horror show he saw in New York. Blum created the detailed set designs and we provided the haunted house input. We brought the scare factor.” That scare factor was performed by 40 actors who carried out a hair-raising plotline that had them interacting with guests in a “close encounters” kind of way. “We implemented subtle physical interaction between characters and visitors to the theater,” he said. “This personal space invasion was intended to prey on people’s senses, making the experience more intense. We want to scare people, but also make them feel like they are a part of the story.”
May said that the haunted attraction industry is moving in the direction of this more realistic, interactive experience. “It’s not just about people jumping out at you anymore,” he said. This approach proved successful for May, landing Blumhouse of Horrors in the number three spot on Travel Channel’s “World’s Spookiest Ghost Tours” for 2012.
Other attempts at differentiating attractions involve the incorporation of multiple activities into one haunted destination. 

Scream Team Productions 'Dr. Trauma'

At the Festival of Souls in Hallendale Beach, Fla., for example, a haunted hayride takes a different turn as a Zombie Safari experience where riders shoot the living dead with paintball guns armed with UV paint. “In South Florida we have places like Disney World and Universal Studios setting the bar for entertainment,” said Brandon Kittendorf, president of The Monster Academy, producer of the Festival of Souls. “When developing this site, we felt we needed to be unique, so we added something more than just the haunted-aspect of the attraction.” Also part of the Festival of Souls, located in approximately 8,400 square feet of space at Gulfstream Park and Casino, is the Demon Mansion, a 17-room labyrinth of demons and monsters that prey on people’s fears of things like spiders, scary clowns and vicious dogs. While the public may not associate festivals with haunted attractions, Kittendorf believes creating an overall festive environment featuring a variety of activities serves a larger audience and results in more visitors. “We created an attraction where families could come, stick around and have fun,” he said. “For 2013 we’re thinking about adding a third activity to the festival, as well as having bands and vendors set up on the site.”

Huntsville, Ala., haunted attraction developer Shane Dabbs looks to his surroundings for his inspiration. Most recently, he took the blank canvass of a former mega-store location, applied popular phobias, such as fears of snakes and spiders, and created Disturbia Haunted House. During his 20 years in the business, he has learned not to overlook the features, or lack thereof, offered at each location “You need to look at what’s in your area when considering a theme for your attraction,” he said. “I once had a haunted attraction called Greystone Manor that was an old house with a graveyard and an old hospital on the site. I could market the local folklore about the house being haunted and capitalize on that.”
Planners at Kennywood Amusement Park in West Mifflin, Pa., have their own local notoriety to call on as they come up with characters for the park’s Phantom Fright Nights attraction. As Director of Ride Operations Marie Ruby explained, no haunted attraction in the Pittsburgh area would be complete if it didn’t have zombies. “The movie ‘Night of the Living Dead’ was filmed in the Pittsburgh area, so zombies are a signature of any haunted attraction in our area,” she said.
In addition to the standard zombies, Ruby said they also look to the media for character ideas, combing pop culture for news about “what kids are reading and watching.”

Scream Team Productions Hubert and Sketch

While zombies are at the forefront in some locations, they’re “on the way out” and “not as impactful” in places like Glendale, Ariz., according to Chambers of Fear owner Paul Boyd. For 2013, Boyd said they’re getting “back-to-basics” by bringing back the fright classics like Frankenstein’s monster and vampires.
“I just got back from visiting Universal and Disney and saw their haunted houses,” he said. “I liked what they did with the classic horror characters and would like to expand on that theme. Places like that can provide great inspiration.”
Turning to a more traditional classic, with a scary slant, Boyd plans to include some twisted fairytale attractions and Alice in Wonderland-themed characters. Boyd also said that adding technology to an attraction is a way of differentiating one haunt from another. “We’re always looking for new technology upgrades,” he said. “We’ve added scream cams and photo scares where visitors can go on our website and see themselves while they were in the attraction.”
The scare business takes a number of twists and turns from year to year. In the end, however, the attraction with the most creative production stays a step ahead of the latest trends in what makes people scream the loudest. -

Rocking the Hard Rock!

Halloween at Hard Rock Hotel San Diego, California

It was the last weekend of October. The Hard Rock Hotel in San Diego invited Scream Team Productions to scare at their annual Halloween at Hard Rock the night of the 27^th. This time they sent Sgt. Hacksaw, Porcia, Vladimir, Izzabel, and Dr. Trauma.

The Elite Monsters arrived at the hotel and were led to their designated break room on the second floor. As each creature suited up Sgt. Hacksaw went over some of the basics: no sliding, no hitting walls with the metal pieces on the mitts, stay on the same floor, etc. The most important thing they had to remember, especially with alcohol involved, was safety first. Watch out for teammates and never go for a scare if it seemed unsafe for either monster or the intended target. That night Dr. Trauma was with Izzabel and Sgt. Hacksaw while Porcia and Vladimir had each other’s backs.

Before they knew it the clock struck 8pm. They put their hands together one last time and barged out the doors back downstairs. Music was blaring through the speakers, the sound intensified as it reverberated off the floor and walls. It was slow to start, a few people here and there, the perfect pace to feel out the place.

Vladimir jumped in front of passerby’s starling them before moving on. Porcia had a way of luring the person in closer then snapping at them with her Monster Mitts™. Dr. Trauma had the height advantage with plenty of opportunities for overhead frights. Being short Izzabel went in low and popped up in people’s faces. Sgt. Hacksaw, even without his blade, maintained his killer presence with every victim he pursued.  As a team the Elite Monsters moved back and forth from the first to second floor hallway and back. Getting a terrified scream requires reading the mannerisms of the patrons before reacting with the appropriate action. It’s the difference between an ear piercing shriek and a punch to the face.

A few hours passed when the Elite Team headed to the break room to re-energize and swap stories of flighty damsels and adamant stalkers. Having worked the Hard Rock the past two years Scream Team warned their monsters of alcohol induced changes in the patrons after 10pm. The break was over and the monsters were ready for more fun.

However the fun loving crowd they left was not the one they came back to. Patrons were stumbling around or no longer in the mood to play. Some became aggressive or irritated while others wanted to get frisky with the monsters. By 1am the fun was over and Elite Team returned to the break room to call it a night.

Blumhouse of Horrors Survives!

In the last week of September 2012 Willie May, Scream Team Productions CEO and Co-Founder, received a phone call from a member of Blumhouse Productions. They wondered if he was available for a consultation in Los Angeles to make sure their up and coming Blumhouse of Horrors haunted attraction was headed in the right direction. Willie said yes unknowingly taking the first step toward a grand partnership.

Jason Blum, CEO and Founder of Blumhouse Productions, and his crew had developed a solid concept with enough terrifying thrills to balance out the plot. In the 1920’s Magii, a disturbed practitioner of the dark arts, regularly performed his magic on the stage of the Variety Arts Theater. Every show his assistant would climb into the magic box and disappear only to reappear later. One night, the assistant stepped inside and vanished, but Magii couldn’t bring her back. Immediately the theater was closed off to the public and had been ever since, until Blumhouse reopened its doors.

The macabre sets they created added to the eerie mystique the Variety Arts Theater already possessed. Professional actors displayed their talents in the roles they played, but there was an important aspect not being used to its fullest: the scare factor.

October 3rd it was decided the actors would attend a course in scaring courtesy of Scream Team. Throughout the rest of October the Elite Team of Monsters provided by Scream Team Productions trained the newest actors. During the event the Elite Team was set free to roam the sidewalk in front of the building entertaining the patrons awaiting entry and giving a final scare to those trying to escape.

Blumhouse of Horrors opened October 4th and the world took notice. Hundreds of pictures made their way to Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Many nights the line ran down the block and around the corner with people ready to be scared.

The Huffington Post relayed to their readers, “Who better than the producers of the horrifying Paranormal Activity franchise… to take Halloween to the next level?”

Shock Til You Drop™ called it an “impressive, extravagant affair with stunning production design and, more importantly, terrific scares.”

“If you live in L.A. and are a fan of haunted houses, I certainly recommend it,” wrote Bloody-disgusting.com

October 10th the attraction was listed as third “World’s Spookiest Ghost Tour” for the Travel Channel. Later on November 1st The Golden State Haunts and Events 2012 Haunted Attraction Awards named Blumhouse the “Best New Attraction” with the “Best Costumes”.

Having ties to a big production studio it’s only natural to see the occasional celebrity. The crew from Paranormal Activity 4 showed up opening weekend. Neil Patrick Harris came for a scare on Halloween night. Other celebrities include Kate Walsh (Grey’s Anatomy), Jon Herder (Napoleon Dynamite), Michael Rosenbaum (Smallville), Carol Radiwill (Real Housewives of New York City), Aly & AJ (78violet), T.J. Thyne (Bones), Joey Fatone (NSYNC), Sophia Bush (One Tree Hill), and Josie Loren (Make It or Break It) to name a few. DJ Jojo Wright and Producer Ian Zack from 102.7 KIIS FM decided to swing by, hitting it off with Boinx and Whipstitch. Even John Murdy, the man who created Universal Studio’s Halloween Horror Nights, dropped by for a spell and enjoyed himself.

Jason loved the new elements Willie’s team brought to the event! Each night since the training the actors inside the maze tried new things to make each experience different. They succeeded in eliciting terror from the patrons walking through. Outside screams were heard up and down the block. Elite Monsters were seen chasing the runners and sneaking up on unsuspecting victims throughout the line queue. There was a lingering enthusiasm within the creatures to personalize scares to every individual.

The BlumHouse of Horrors was well received in 2012. To anyone who experienced this amazing event it’s obvious that good things can be expected should Blumhouse Productions and Scream Team Productions cross paths once again.