If you were to combine gore, violence, extreme horror,
a dedicated cast and implement them all
into a haunted attraction, the end result would be
"The House of Shock" horror show. Based in Jefferson, Louisiana,
just outside of New Orleans, it is
considered one of the most contraversial haunts today
and has been rated as one of the top 10
haunted houses in the
country by MSN.Com. Using
referrences to spirituality, sacrifices, violence
and a number of other "extreme tactics" to scare their
patrons, House of Shock is constantly
pushing the envelope as a haunted attraction. It's a
self-proclaimed "extreme haunted house" and
has been at the center of contraversy by numerous
church groups accusing the operators of conducting
satanic rituals inside. Despite all the contraversy,
the crew at The House of Shock have
constantly pushed forward to create one of
the most
successful haunts in the state that made cajun food and plastic beads famous.
Your experience begins with the que-line
entertainment. The House of Shock features two stages,
one where you are waiting to
gain entry inside. On this stage, a
theatrical show is held.
The basic plot to this
performance has revolved around a group of religious
protestors who oppose the event, who make their way on
stage and make their voices heard, only to
be silenced by one of the attraction's main
characters, "Lord Belial" and his henchmen. The show
features immense pyrotchnics including fire exploding
from different points on the stage and even
a 40 foot wide by 25 foot tall wall of flames, which
rises up from the front of the stage. This
show is put on 2-3
times a night and features effects
by licensed pyrotechnician/co-owner Steven Joseph, who has done
work for the likes of Pantera, Nickelback and Ozzfest to name a
few.
The second stage, or side stage features various acts,
depending on the night. These acts range
from sideshow type entertainment, to groups that do
drum acts mixed with fire, all the way to the
more extreme acts such as body suspension. The House
of Shock also has bands who will play on the
side stage as well. Some of the performers featured
include "Reverend B. Dangerous", who has been
on Ozzfest and "Peter Pandamonium", who does alot of
extreme acts locally.
In addition to the stage show and live acts, there are
also large projection screens which feature
gruesome underground horror movie clips for you to watch
while you wait in line.
The actual haunt itself features 20,000 square feet
with many "scare areas"; too many to list
here. On any given night, "HOS" has between 100-120
volunteers acting inside but has a membership of over 350 dedicated
members
nationwide.
Once you enter the haunt, you must walk through an old
house, which is based on a real house which
used to be in the area. Some of the atmospheres you
will encounter throughout "The House Of Shock"
include a New Orleans cemetery, a foggy swamp that
holds more than just alligators, "The Church
of Sadness", which is described as a church that has
been taken over by satanists who perform
sacrifices and other unspeakable acts within it's
walls, a coffin tunnel and a dungeon/dark hall.
This year, they are adding a large mansion, which
leads to a torture chamber then to a chainsaw
maze. When I asked what the scariest part of The House
of Shock was according to its patrons, I
was told that the dark hall was actually the part
where most people got scared, simply because
it's so dark inside and they can't see what's there.
Oddly enough, the scariest part in the haunt,
the dark hall, is also the most tame in terms of acting
because of the darkness.
Their
dark ride is also unique, in the fact that it
was completely built from scratch. It is
housed inside a 7,500 square foot building. The cars
feature dual speed and with no independent
turning. "The cars can turn on a dime" adds co-owner
Ross Karpelman. The ride is described as starting
with classic gags from the dark rides of the
past and moving into more "disney-esque" type scenes
and gags. In 2002, weather conditions put a
damper on the dark ride, wrecking some of the effects
and scenes. Although their dark ride was well-received in it's first
year, the crew at House of Shock
felt it wasn't up to par, simply because they didn't have as much time
as they had wanted to decorate the attraction. "But this year it will
be back and
better than ever!" explains Ross. The basic
theme for 2003 will be "An Entrance Into Death", which
is described as a journey into the afterlife.
2003 marks the 11th season for the House of Shock, it
also marks the second season for their
Coney Island-style dark ride, which was added in 2002.
However, This year will be the 9th year as
a commercial haunt. Originally it started as just a
small haunt in a backyard by
Pantera frontman Phil Anselmo, along with friends Ross
Karpelman, Steve Joseph and Jay Gracinette.
"We all grew up on movies like 'The Exorcist' and
other movies of that era, not like
today's slasher movies and thought it would be cool to
recreate that feeling for ourselves. We
grew up loving Halloween and didn't want to see that
die." explains
Karpelman, " who also added, "In our second year, the
neighbors found out about us having the haunt
in our backyard and didn't want us there. One of the local church
groups
found out about us and actually broke into the haunt
in the backyard and
sprinkled holy water
throughout the haunt. In our third year, the first year
we were trying to go commercial, we had to
battle the city council to be able to set up commercially.
One of the council members said that if he found
one thing that was offensive in (the haunt), he would
shut us down". In the end, the first
amendment, as well as "The House Of Shock" prevailed
in this matter and they were allowed to set
up commercially. Nine years later, "HOS" is still
going strong and more popular than ever. While
a large part of the popularity is due to the cast, who
constantly strive to create horrifying
characters for the haunt and take great pride in their
characters and hand-made costumes, the
other contributing factor are the sets, which are hand
painted. Allen Jaeger heads the art
department and does most of the interior painting.
Some of his other work includes posters and
art for many rock/metal bands. Each year, The crew at
"HOS" spends well over $100,000
decorating the haunt and getting it ready to open it's
doors to the public.
Although Phil Anselmo was one of the founders of the
attraction, his acting and participation have
become less over the years due to his constant work schedule. He is
not the only famous person to be involved with
this attraction, however, as there is a whole list of
famous people who have come through The House of Shock, some of which
have actually taken the
time to do some
acting inside. A few of them include Nine Inch Nails, the New Orleans Saints,
Anthrax, Coal Chamber and Static X.
There is no denying the fact that the scare tactics
that they use are a little unorthodox and the
subject matter they cover may not be for everybody,
but ultimately, it is the people who pay to
go through year after year that keep this haunt going.
Last year, about 28,000 people went through
the haunt, with the attraction only being open for
about three hours each night. These are the
people that discern the difference between reality and
theatre and realize that this is all just
a performance, nothing more,
nothing less. When it
comes down to it, that's what all haunts are -
an interactive performance.
For more information on The House of Shock, visit their website at www.houseofshock.com.
