We will once again be offering our industry renowned lineup of seminars from some of the top experts in the industry. Over 35 hours of classes in five tracks – Acting, Makeup, Props, Haunt Business, and Haunt Design!

Take as many classes as your schedule allows only $85! Seminar guests will also receive discounted admission to the Saturday Masquerade party.

Five classes will be held in each time slot on Saturday and Sunday:

Saturday:

9:30 – 11:00
12:30 – 2:00
2:45 – 4:15

Sunday:

10:30 -12:00
1:30 – 3:00

Register Now

Registration for the weekend seminar series is only $85 online and $99 at the door.

We are still finalizing some of the classes but here is a partial list:

Makeup

Burns, Bruises, Bashes, Gashes, and Slashes “Trauma Moulage made easy” – Scott Schaffer|
As the county wide disaster “make-up guy” Scott will do a hands on session showing fast, and simple techniques for putting together “victims of trauma” some of the topics will include “better bruising and contusing” “Burns to the third degree” “ cuts to the bone”.

“There is always room for jello” – Matt Seel
Workings of gelatin as a build up applications types and uses and creations from.

Haunt Makeup Quickies – Get those monsters to work!!! – Katie Johnston
Learn to give the illusion that your grease and liquid makeup is 3-D.  Will be demonstrating Vampire (good and evil), zombie, Ghost, and some random victim wounds. If have time, can do requests!  I’ll focus on creating depth, finding shadows, manipulating features, adding details, and doing it quickly so you can get those actors to work!

Water-Melon Appliances – Michael Davy
9 years ago Michael Davy Film & TV Make Up developed the first water based vinyl cap/appliance material called “Water-Melon”. Now cuts and scars made with Water-Melon were not only latex free but could be applied with alcohol, required no remover, no foundation AND were translucent like expensive silicone but without the cost. We will focus on the manufacturing principles involved with molding the Water-Melon appliance from mold making through pouring as well as application of appliances. This seminar is for the haunter who wants to make their own appliances from large body sized to smaller cuts and scars. The new Bubba Werewolf Gash will be demonstrated as well as the use of Water-Melon as a non latex wrinkle stipple – time permitting.

Gore Made Simple – Pam Trent
This class we will create different gore designs using items that can be found in your home. We will also teach a simple method of creating a quick prosthetic for your gore designs. We will teach how to work with wax, latex, rigid colodian, etc. This will be a hands-on class.

Sponge Painting – Pashur

SPONGE & BRUSH HORROR FX - Pashur
Pashur will show you how to paint different sponge and brush effects to help your haunt and horror designs pop! Skull teeth, sticthes, ripped flesh, virus outbreak, embracing your skull and more.

Acting

Basic Stage Combat – Jana Beagley
Realistic violence is a high-impact scare that audiences find visually stunning and viscerally exciting. This class is an interactive, physical workshop in stage combat technique. You’ll learn several basic stage combat moves very common to haunt scenarios (stabs, slaps, falls, hair pulling). These can be done safely, repeatedly, and realistically. Learn how they do it in the movies.

“Knowing when to say when” – Scott Olson
Picking your victims correctly, attack scenarios, knowing when to back off a victim, and when breaking character is and is not appropriate.

360: From make-up to acting with costuming in between – Glen & Melissa Gilmore, Beth Biasella
A hard look at basic costuming, make-up, and acting techniques with a few twists thrown in for fun.

Transformation – Glen & Melissa Gilmore, Beth Biasella
A brief look at the history and technique of female to male and male to female characterization and how to use it effectively in your haunt.

Haunted House Actor is Not an Entry Level Position – Roger and Beth Miller
Roger and Beth deliver uncommon knowledge on creating a remarkable and enduring theatrical cast!  With an emphasis on raising expectations this seminar will touch the Miller Acting Theory, training strategies, creative recognition and year round engagement that will assure your actors remain involved and improve year after year.

Design

“Tent Haunt Secrets” – George Maser
Tent types, prices, fire codes, fire safety, fire alarms, sprinkler systems, dealing with your fire marshall and building inspector, haunt design, weather proofing, and security. Description of varied uses for tents and tent material – quite a few!

Wardrobe of the Living a Dead: A Guide to Zombifying Costuming – Katie Lane
Ever wanted to change basic clothing items into rotting attire perfect for any zombie without spending a fortune? Learn simple and inexpensive techniques that cover everything from finding the perfect garments, dyeing and aging, distressing, and customizing to create completely unique costuming for the living dead.

Set Decorating Theory – Allen Hopps
Due to unforeseen circumstances Allen could not make it to MHC last year so we are offering this class again by popular demand: Mentioned to many in convention bars, Allen’s set design theory “anti fung-shway” will be revealed to the sober for the first time. The theories are great for implementing in the design of new sets or or for adding the elements onto existing sets and whole haunts.  Allen Draws on hundreds of years of Asian study and observation on making people andvisitors welcome. The books are out there, we just have to do it backwards.

FEAR THIS! How to Scare without Gore – Kelli Lieder

The media today has desensitized our society to the reality of blood and gore, thus making them more difficult to scare. On the other hand, everyone has built in fears and phobias of their own. By playing on people’s natural fears, you’ll find screams just waiting to be harvested! Come learn the most common, universal fears, and how to best incorporate them into a sure-fire, scream-filled haunt.This approach is not only effective, but is also beneficial in reaching a wider audience, and is often much cheaper to create.

High though put, great actors - Eddie McLaurin

Designing your haunt for high though put is not hard, scaring all the people in a high though put is another story. Eddie will discuss and show you how to scare each and every guess, and still maintain that high throughput. He will break it down in easy to follow format. With this format you can scare all your customers in a high though put haunt. Eddie has worked hard over the last 5 years to make his actors the best they can be.

Designing a Spooktacular Façade - Leonard Pickel

First impressions are powerful and very important in creating the atmosphere and setting. For a Haunted Attraction this includes the entry area and façade (fake front) of the attraction. With one glance the patrons should know what kind of structure they are about to enter, the approximate time period and what may be in store for them within. A dramatic, realistic looking façade can greatly enhance the overall haunt experience and will increase ticket sales! Learn the steps in designing a spooky façade for your attraction from 30 year industry veteran Leonard Pickel, known for his “spooktacular” Haunted Architecture, and pick up some tricks and tips about how you can make the façade on your attraction look more evil and foreboding.

Props

UV Lighting and Control Techniques for Your Haunt – John Barrowman
Using UV in your haunt can impart an eerieness second to none. There are several types of paints and lights that can be used to create the effect you are after. Some of these work well together, some don’t. This seminar will cover the general effects that can be created and get you pointed in the right direction for the paints and lights that can create each effect.

Intermediate Programming Techniques for Better Props – Jon Williams
We will share with you the intermediate techniques that previously we only taught to engineers at major theme parks. If you are ready to take you props to the next level, this seminar will show you how to achieve this without spending an arm and a leg.

Pnuematics 101 – Brian Warner
This class will be covering all the basics of pneumatics systems and how to apply them to haunted attractions. Brian will be covering everything from what fittings to use, types of cylinders and valves, and safety. If you are an absolute beginner, or just someone hoping to pick up a thing or two that has not been covered somewhere else, you’ll like this seminar.

Sock Masks – Joshua Monroe
This class will will cover everything you need to know about sock masks. From the ground up, you will know what it takes to make those killer sock masks that everyone raves about. Joshua will cover what materiels are needed, proper techniques, safty precations, how to paint them, and how to care for and store them. After this class you won’t have any excuse not to make your own sock masks!

Business

“ADVANCED BRAIN DRILLING FOR FUN & PROFIT: HAUNT MARKETING THAT PENETRATES THE SKULL” -  Dick Terhune
Oh sure, it’d be fun to just sear your logo, dates, and times into the flesh of your customers with a red-hot iron…but that’s not the kind of “branding” that wins hearts and minds. So go for the brain instead! Drill down deep with the “Voice From Hell,” DICK TERHUNE, Master of the Dark Arts of Advertising & Marketing. Learn what you really need to know about advertising and marketing your haunted attraction. BONUS: This exclusive MHC presentation includes Dick Terhune’s world-infamous “Advertising Autopsy!” Actual haunt commercials from across the country will be dissected before your eyes and ears–perhaps even yours. (Not for the squeamish.)

Capturing the Moment: Recording the Haunt Experience – Jason Dasti and Glenn McKnight
A picture tells a thousand stories, This is true as long as the picture is done right. Learn the fundamentals of capturing your haunt in digital pictures, setting guidelines for volunteers photographers, distribution strategy for pictures and harnessing the pictures of attendees for the purpose of building excitement. Key words, Flickr groups, Hash tags with Twitter, Blogging, New Social Media has organized a wide range of events which heavily relies on capturing the random and unscripted photographs which tells the full story of an event.  Please bring your cameras and smart phone to the event Note FLICKR Group site MHC2010 and TWITTER Hash Tag #MHC2010 for picture group sharing..

Claustrophobia, Xenophobia, Necrophobia: Underlying Themes in Horror Movies, Books & Haunted Attractions – Robin Walters
Everyone is afraid of something. The horror genre, including the multi-million dollar haunted attraction industry, excels at pushing our fear buttons. But what are the deeper themes that lie beneath the rotting corpses, tortured spirits and repulsive monsters? Freudian themes run rampant in horror – from child zombies eating their parents to the violent penetration of the knife as a substitute for sex. We’ve all heard about virginity as the best way to survive Jason. But could many horror movies with female survivors be viewed as feminist? How close is the link between what makes us laugh – and what makes us retch? Learn how horror movies, books and haunted attractions reflect what’s happening in the world at large and how these underlying themes create a legitimately  entertaining art form.

Backstage operations – it doesn’t have to be scary! – Cliff Martin
Is there as much screaming behind the scenes before your show as it is in the show? Is your staff still arriving or getting ready when you open? Do you open late almost every night? Have you found something critical to your show wasn’t working after the night is over?  Getting your backstage operations to function smoothly is critical to your success.  In this session, we will discuss the things that keep your operation from working as smoothly as it could.  We’ll cover wardrobe and makeup operations, check in and check out, timing and flow during startup and shutdown, queue management, customer service, parking, delegation,  procedures, operations, and dozens of other things to help you run your haunt smoothly.  The session will be followed by an open discussion so everyone can share their hints, tips, and lessons learned.

How to properly train your first year actors – Jeff Simmons
The class is divided into five sections. These sections include Safety Precautions and procedures, Creating and Developing a solid character, The importance of A.S.I.C, the different types of scares and how too utilize them, and finally proven methods exploring the five laws of fear. Several of the sections will require audience participation for a more visual hands on learning experience. The purpose of this class is too get a better understanding of how to train your first year actors effectively and efficiently in order for them to return to your attraction year after year.

Classes By Time:

Saturday
9:30 – 11:00

There’s Always Room for Jello
360: From make-up to acting with costuming in between
How to properly train your first year actors
Wardrobe of the Living a Dead: A Guide to Zombifying Costuming

12:30 – 2:00

Sponge Painting
Haunted House Actor is Not an Entry Level Position
“ADVANCED BRAIN DRILLING FOR FUN & PROFIT: HAUNT MARKETING THAT PENETRATES THE SKULL”
“Tent Haunt Secrets”
Intermediate Programming Techniques for Better Props

2:45 – 4:15

Water-Melon Appliances
Basic Stage Combat
Backstage operations – it doesn’t have to be scary!
Set Decorating Theory
High though put, great actors

Sunday
10:30 – 12:00

Gore Made Simple
“Knowing when to say when”
Capturing the Moment: Recording the Haunt Experience
UV Lighting and Control Techniques for Your Haunt
FEAR THIS! How to Scare without Gore
Sock Masks

1:30 – 3:00

Burns, Bruises, Bashes, Gashes, and Slashes “Trauma Moulage made easy”
Transformation
Claustrophobia, Xenophobia, Necrophobia: Underlying Themes in Horror Movies, Books & Haunted Attractions
Pnuematics 101
Haunt Makeup Quickies – Get those monsters to work!!!
Façade Design

Register Now