Haunted House Halloween Handbook [Paperback]

Jerry Chavez (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0786403756 | ISBN-13: 978-0786403752 | Publication Date: September 1997

All aspects of the successful haunted house are covered here. There is good information on site selection, design, security, budgeting, and volunteer management. This is followed by detailed, illustrated descriptions of inexpensive illusions for your haunted house. Floor plans, advertising flyers and design worksheets are some of the sample materials included.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Chavez utilizes his knowledge of stage magic and his vivid imagination to add some new twists to old illusions. ...sets a new standard for Halloween 'How To' books. For the beginning and intermediate haunter, this book is a must have" -- Haunted Attraction Magazine

"it will tell you everything you need to know to make sure the event is the nightmare you want it to be" -- Big Reel

Product Details

• Paperback: 140 pages
• Publisher: Mcfarland & Co Inc Pub (September 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786403756
• ISBN-13: 978-0786403752
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,051,528 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

61 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good ideas for the dedicated Halloween enthusiast, October 5, 2001

By 

Michael A Gacsaly (Walnut Creek, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Haunted House Halloween Handbook (Paperback)

This book seems targeted at someone that is planning to help build a medium scale haunted house for a charity event. It does this very well, describing the essence of what is scary and why, as well as all the steps required to create a safe and profitable haunted house on schedule. The author focuses on how to do first rate effects on a third rate budget though the use of innovation and imagination (and most importantly, his experience, which he shares with you). Most haunted houses are just stupid, because the designers build something that sounds like it would be scary, but does not really scare people. This author understands that people going to a haunted house want to be scared and he describes the essence of the subtle differences that transform an effect from eliciting a yawn to invoking a scream.

I have been building haunted scenes in my home for (gulp) thirty years and have produced medium scale haunted houses for charities, but I still learned a number of things from this book. The books includes plans, instructions, parts, and suppliers. The author (I learned after reading the book) builds low cost scary effects where are superior in scare and lowest in cost, of any I have seen. The book does not quite give enough specific information to build these for yourself, but it does cover a lot of other stuff. If you spend more then $150/year of scary stuff then you qualify as a Halloween nut and you should buy this book.

This book isnt (alas) for everyone. This is for true Halloween enthusiasts willing to spend tens of hours, days, or even months preparing for a scary event. If you want tips for making your home a hallmark Halloween showcase, this is not the book for you.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is awesome!!, August 9, 2001

By 

"amybud" (Ca, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Haunted House Halloween Handbook (Paperback)

every year my friends and i do a haunted house in our friend's garage. we needed some new fresh ideas and this book helped greatly!! this book is easy to understand but makes it easy to have great professional looking haunted house ... even in your friend's garage :)

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Got me started, hard to stop., July 22, 2006

By 

Arlo Ames (Albuquerque, NM) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Haunted House Halloween Handbook (Paperback)

I've been building a haunted house with a church group for maybe 5 years running. The youth won't let me stop! Every year I get a call asking if I'll help with the haunted house, both from the participants and the patrons. Everybody loves it!

OK, so the book doesn't provide dimensioned engineering drawings, and it maybe a bit vague. Working with a youth group, it's perfect. They often only need some general thoughts, and they can run with the details.

There are a lot of ideas for content posted to the internet. Chavez does a reasonable job of educating about what to look for in those ideas, so you look for ideas that are safe, provide a reasonable effect, and for a reasonable price.