Halloween: Get in touch with your inner ghoul
By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Writer
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| The abandoned food court at Aloha Tower Marketplace has been invaded by ghouls. Temporarily.
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser A few tips: Impressionable kids younger than 3 or 4 should not attend. Strollers are a hazard for all; carry your toddler. Kids should stay close to their parents; some houses require an accompanying parent for children 10 or younger. Instruct kids: no horseplay, no running. While it's usually dark, a flashlight would ruin intended lighting effects; if you carry one, don't shine your way through the maze. Take your time, and don't push; most exhibits require 10 to 15 minutes for a walk-through; take 20 if needed. If your child wears a Halloween mask, remove it during walk-through for safety's sake. |
If you dare to sample the horrors:
An abandoned food court, on the second level of Aloha Tower Marketplace, is home to Shock House, crawling with creepy critters. It opened last weekend and operates through Halloween.
Ultrazone, playland for laser-tag enthusiasts at the Renaissance 'Ilikai Hotel, has been converted into a maze of spookiness called House of Madness. It welcomes visitors Tuesday through Halloween.
An old plantation home in 'Ewa Beach, now housing Easter Seals' adult services program, will be masked in creepiness tonight and Saturday.
"For adults, it's the time of your life when you're able to be a kid again," said Rick McCall, head of Act One Theatre Design and Productions, who has mounted the Shock House at Aloha Tower Marketplace. "It's fun to put on a mask and become a different character and act like a kid, to bring back memories of youth."
Raymond Ho, who is helping to convert Ultrazone into an ultra zippy stomping ground for devils and demons, also is reliving childhood memories of spooky Halloweens.
"I loved haunted houses when I was growing up," said Ho, a Honolulu shipyard worker by day. With friends George Medeiros, who is seeking a law-enforcement degree at Honolulu Community College, and Michael Scalera, owner and manager of Ultrazone, they're putting the final touches on a maze filled with horror and chills at the 'Ilikai site.
"Ultrazone already is a maze, with black lights, so it's perfect for a haunted house," said Ho. "We've just got to fill it with tombstones, a coffin and other scary stuff."
Anastasia Keller-Collins, director of adult services for Easter Seals at the Easter Seals Hawai'i Home Community Based Services Program at 'Ewa Beach, said the organization's vintage plantation-home setting is fitting for transformation into "a very scary haunted house, with lots of scary creatures, lots of loud music, and lots of fog."
The Halloween scarefest involved "the entire staff of volunteers," Keller-Collins said. "For the past few weeks, participants in adult services have been painting, cutting, shopping for materials and getting props ready."
Most of the haunted houses will take about 15 minutes for a walk-through. And parents should be aware that some of the spooky effects may be inappropriate for easily scared youngsters.
Ultrazone has 10 scenes, said Ho, offering unexpected scares around each corner.
"We had to make it spooky — that's what the public wants," said Ho. "There aren't really good, spooky haunted houses anymore, so we decided to do one."
It will take a crew of 25 to get the fright right, said Ho. Among the fearsome fodder: a chainsaw-wielding character, floating heads formed from foam, and a coffin — bathed in black lights. Also, there are strobes and a soundtrack that just screams fear.
McCall, whose company does a number of year-round theme parties, credits his theatrical experience under the guidance of Ronald E. Bright at Castle High School.
"I grew up on an Indian reservation in New Mexico, and there was not much to do then, so I would create my own toys, make different things," he said. "That started me off in the world of creation. At Castle, Mr. Bright had me painting sets, and after I graduated, I opened a theater design company. That was 25 years ago, and I've since done weddings and all kinds of special parties with special sets and themes."
| • | Haunted Houses
Shock House 6 p.m.-midnight today through Thursday (till 1 a.m. on Halloween) Aloha Tower Marketplace, second floor, mauka lanai $6.50 (free for keiki 5 and younger) 593-8333 (Tom Moffatt Productions), 566-2337 (Aloha Tower Marketplace) House of Madness 6 p.m.-midnight Tuesday through Thursday Ultrazone, lobby level, Ilikai hotel $10; $7 pre-sale 973-9936 (Ultrazone), 864-7398 (George Medeiros) Easter Seals Haunted House 6-10 p.m. today and Saturday Easter Seals Hawai'i Home Community Based Services Program facility, 91-1251 Renton Road, 'Ewa Beach $2 general, free for keiki 3 and younger; $2 for all keiki for game-room activities 681-0747 |
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"Our haunted house features a rock entryway into a lava tube underground with molten lava, smoke and flames," McCall said. "We then proceed to a dungeon, where a jail cell holds several captive monsters being held against their will. Then it's off to a bad doctor's laboratory, where he's performing surgery on an unwilling monster.
"From there, you move to a black-light room and the mirror menagerie room with lots of broken mirrors. The alien room has flying creatures and tunnel worms; the graveyard has tombstones and rotting corpses coming out the graves. It all ends at the witch's wilderness, complete with cauldron."
"We leave minimum age to the parents. It can be frightening for the youngsters, so I wouldn't bring the very young to this one," said McCall.
Easter Seals' venture also could be a bit overwhelming for impressionable keiki.
"Our maze goes completely through the house, and some of the scenes have lots of fog and lots of loud music, so youngsters could be scared," Keller-Collins said.
"There are gorillas, aliens, and, for the first time, a zombie room, with gore and scares galore. Each time you turn a corner, you either see, feel, or hear something scary."
There is an alternative for keiki ages 3 and younger: Easter Seals will offer games for the young who don't go through the maze.
"The biggest challenge is to create an environment that makes people feel they're in this creepy space, yet remain 100 percent safe as possible," said McCall. "You want to do scary and spooky, but you don't want anyone getting hurt. The creating part is easy; the task is to be creatively safe."
