“Ahhhh!!!!! Ha ha ha ha ha!” – What a Great Halloween!
Halloween 2018 has been the best Halloween ever for me. It officially finished last night with the last Aspen Crossing Train of Terror, however I think I will leave up my home decorations for a little bit longer.
After finishing the summer season with Aspen Crossing Railway, I decided I wanted to be a “scarer” (mostly as a zombie) on the Train of Terror. The Train of Terror is exactly what it sounds like and Aspen prides itself on having one of the most terrifying Halloween haunts in the area and, other than 2 trains which were for teens aged 12 and up, the trains are 18+. Passengers meet in an area ready for boarding where they sign a waiver and can enjoy a couple of drinks, then they go through a dark maze where we wait and scare them at certain spots and they make their way to board the train. They start out at one end of the train where there is a bar and once the train sets off, are then sent through the haunt (two train cars filled with a maze of terrifying delights using animatronics and actors) in couples or small groups. The first day on the train we were taken through the haunt and it was scary enough being shown the animatronics in action without actors adding to the horror. As we went to our places for each train, most of us would be careful not to set these off, but when we finished yesterday, I set every one of them off just to experience this year’s Train of Terror one last time.
A couple of other actors that I worked with at Aspen over the summer told me that I would hate the Train of Terror due to the behaviour of some of the passengers when drunk. Yes, we had some idiots go through, there was one girl that did sort of attack me (as she did to other scarers in the haunt) and another one yesterday had to have a talking to as she attempted to kick down a door at the beginning. There were other altercations that some of the other scarers experienced (usually the younger guys). As an actor you have to learn to read people in such an interactive experience, and know when to back off, for your own safety as well as theirs. Overall, for me, however, the Train of Terror was so much fun!
On Halloween itself, I was a zombie at the W. Brett Wilson Annual Halloween Trick or Treat. His house in Mount Royal was done up as the Durham Avenue Funeral Home with zombies roaming the grounds and scaring the trick or treaters as they came up the drive. Our make up was truly terrifying. Several children were in tears and some did not even make it on to the property. Mission accomplished! I think that the children in Mount Royal make it a goal to successfully make it up the drive for treats on Halloween! For some it takes years before they have the courage.
I also got to check out Screamfest as a guest this year as well. Sadly, it was its last year. It was a lot of fun. General admission gets you access into 6 haunted houses. Two were pitch dark and probably the scariest for me as you did not know when something would jump out at you. I think the clown house was my favourite. It was done in 3D and we were given special glasses to wear to go through it. Some of the scarers were excellent and they were not just in the houses, they were roaming the grounds too. I might be biased, but the Train of Terror is definitely scarier, Screamfest was for a more PG audience.
Halloween this year reinforced what I love about acting, about entertaining people and bringing joy through that entertainment. Horror entertainment certainly brings about a different kind of joy (if one could call it that). It is intriguing that humans enjoy being scared as entertainment. I think it unleashes a primal emotion that is cathartic precisely because it is known that it is make believe. For me it was really enjoyable scaring people and seeing them enjoy being scared. There are some that go through a haunt that don’t react at all and they are really no fun. Then there are the ones that are so scared you wonder why they are there at all, but there is a certain satisfaction in witnessing this as it means a job well done. The people that scream and then laugh are my favourites as they suspend belief enough to just enjoy the experience and this is what Halloween is all about.