Haunt & Product Reviews
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- The Glowing Skull Rating....Each Review will receive from 1-5 Skulls (5 being the highest)
- Review of Froggy's Fog (Interview at the National Haunters Convention)
- Rating: (4 Skulls)
We recently did an interview with Froggy's Fog while attending the National Haunters Convention. We witnessed some amazing fog performance when reviewing the Fog Fluid along with the Chiller. The hang time on the fog was astonishing. This is some of the most amazing fog fluid that I have ever seen. Seeing is definitely believing.
We interviewed Chris Markgraf, the VP Marketing for Froggy's Fog. In this interview he reviews the company and its beginnings while providing some great guidance on fog machines, fog machine placement, and integration of fog into your home haunt. You will also see first hand this amazing fog fluid in action.
Check out the links below to view the complete interview.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFpKY-Lsqa8http://www.froggysfog.com/category/a375_chillers/
- Review of the Hot Wire Foam Factory Crafters Deluxe 3-in-1 Kit
- Rating: (4 Skulls)
The use of foam is a given in a home haunt. It has wide uses from walls to
tombstones. The challenge comes when trying to cut and sculpt different
types of foam. We have all struggled through knifes, saws, router, etc….
that leave us with jagged edges and a blizzard of foam particles. Have no
fear, Hot Wire Foam Factory has fixed this problem.
This year, the HHA team purchased the Hot Wire Foam Factory “Crafters
Deluxe 3-In-1 Kit”. Initially we used the kit for cutting and carving
tombstones. What a difference the bow cutter made when making those large
cuts. The bow cutter makes a very clean cut and does it effortlessly.
We also used the engraver tool to design the lettering and graphics on our
tombstones. This is a must have and I must say it will have to be pried
from our cold dead skeleton hands. Once you use this, you will never use
saws, routers, or roto-zips again. It is like cutting butter, it is that
easy.
Take if from us. This is a great investment that will make your foam
crafts easier and cleaner.http://hotwirefoamfactory.com/
- Review of "In A World Music" (http://www.inaworldmusic.net)
- Rating: (4 Skulls)
As Home Haunters, the HHA team continues to look for CD's to set the correct mood and environment of the haunt.
We found some really unique sound tracks that really bring the theatrical quality of sound and music to the haunt. These soundtracks are produced by "In a World Music". The sound tracks are definitely unique, powerful, and bring the Hollywood style mood to your haunt. The CD's also have great sound affects that will definitely get your guests attention. The CD's cover many areas that will work for your haunt including clowns/circus themes, vampires, zombies, and much more.
We reviewed Hallow's Eve Volume 1, Hallow's Eve Volume 2: The Horror, and Hallow's Eve Volume 3: Dead of Night. Take a look at the website http://www.inaworldmusic.net/. The website allows you to listen and preview some of the tracks. We think you will be impressed, we were.
- Review of Midnight Syndicate
- Rating: (4 Skulls)
Who says that a Home Haunter cannot have professional audio for their haunts?
As home haunters the HHA team have purchased many sound CD's and creepy music CD's to try and set the ambiance of our haunts. None have come close to providing the intense audio experience that Midnight Syndicate sound tracks can bring to your home haunt. Audio is very important to a haunt and these thunderous soundtracks really set the mood of the haunt and help take your guests into a new realm of terror.
As a team we own three of these CD's and use them in our home haunts. We are planning to purchase Midnight Syndicate's new CD "The Dead Matter: Cemetery Gates." We are sure that this is another masterpiece that will send goose bumps up your spine.
http://www.midnightsyndicate.com/
- Review EFX-TEK's Prop-1 Controller
- Rating: (4 Skulls)
I just finished my first prop using a microcontroller (//www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdRHq6-B4AA). I originally started trying to build my own controller. I was having some success with PIC microcontrollers (e.g., turning LEDs on and off, limited servo control) but progress was slow. I realized that my hobby needed to be either building props or building controllers. I decided that, for now, I wanted to build props and I started looking for a turnkey solution. The microcontroller I decided to try is the PROP-1 by EFX-TEK (//www.efx-tek.com).
The PROP-1 is a small circuit board containing a BASIC Stamp microcontroller and interface circuitry for power, programming, and I/O. As the name indicates, it is programmed in BASIC using software that can be downloaded for free from Parallax. The programs are developed on a PC and then loaded into the PROP-1. The maximum program size is between 80 and 100 instructions. The PROP-1 can control up to 8 inputs and outputs.
The PROP-1 currently lists for $39.95 but when I finished my controller, I had invested around $120. One of the first changes I had to make was to remove one of the chips (the one that allows the PROP-1 to controller higher currents) and replace it so that I could connect an RC-4 solid state relay board that allowed me to control 110V circuits. The relay board cost $29.95 and the four relays that I installed in it cost $9.95 each. This seemed pricey to me but the RC-4 allows four independent 110V circuits to be controlled using a single (serial) output from the PROP-1. In my prop, I use the RC-4 to control four 110V lights: one UV, one rotating beacon, one floodlight, and one red party lamp.
I wanted to control a 12V power supply used to operate a wiper motor in my prop. I could have used one of the RC-4 relays to do this at the input to the power supply but (because of the capacitors in the power supply), there would have been a lag between turning the power off and the wiper motor coming to rest. To solve this problem, I bought three mechanical relays (www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062482) from Radio Shack at $4.69 each and connected them to three of the eight PROP-1 I/O lines. I used one of these relays to make the connection between the wiper motor and the power supply on the 12V side. Since the relays can control either AC or DC, I’m using another to turn a fogger switch on and off (to control a fogger, you must modify the switch rather than the power input).
I used the Passive Infrared Sensor (PIR) EFX-TEK sells for $9.95 to trigger the prop. It works well after a warm-up period but I’m planning to mount mine in a PVC end cap to narrow the region in which it triggers. My prop requires audio and I would have liked to have tried the EFX-TEK AP8. However, it was out of stock when I ordered so I used a CAR/P300 from Cowlacious (//www.cowlacious.com/AudioProd.htm) for $33.95. (I was having a problem triggering the CAR/P from the PROP-1 and sent a note to support at Cowlacious late Saturday night expecting to get a response later in the week. Ten minutes later, I had a personal response solving my problem!)
I’ve had programming experience so I found the BASIC language and environment I downloaded from Parallax (//www.parallax.com/ProductInfo/Microcontrollers/BASICStampSoftware/tabid/441/Default.aspx) easy to use. One of the problems I had with the PIC microprocessors I originally tried to use was that the C environment it used required too much low level programming. The PBASIC hides the low-level stuff. Something I plan to try that may even be better is Vixen (//www.vixenlights.com). This is a freeware package that can be used to synchronize control to audio using a graphics interface. Since many props can be operated using the trigger->set switches->wait->set switches->... paradigm, this could be the best solution for non-programmers. The EFX-TEK forums provide the additional downloads needed for Vixen at //www.efx-tek.com/php/smf/index.php?topic=993.0.
All things considered, I’d recommend the PROP-1 and other products I used to first-time builders of controlled props. The products work well, are fairly easy to use, and are well supported. The downside is that they are pricey and it is easy to hit the limit on the number of instructions a PROP-1 can support. I’d certainly try the PROP-1 again in a simple prop but would move up to the PROP-SX for something more ambitious. Overall, I’d give the PROP-1 four skulls.
- Review of the soon to be Published "How to Haunt Your House"
- Rating: (5 Skulls)
The Home Haunters Association Team just finished reviewing the soon to be published /How to Haunt Your House/ by Shawn and Lynne Mitchell. The book is a visual feast and a goldmine of information on haunting technique. The book covers a range of topics from basic craft technique through construction of complete props.
The book combines clear writing style with incredibly beautiful photographs depicting prop construction from start to finish. One example is a Celtic tombstone which is so realistic that it includes moss! Another example of well-explained technique is the section on sand casting. The photos and description are so clear that a novice haunter can quickly duplicate complex objects for the haunt. At the book progresses, so does the sophistication of the technique. The section on Pepper's Ghost (the technique used in the Ballroom of Disney's Haunted Mansion) make a technique mainly found in commercial haunts accessible to the home haunter. If the book has any shortcoming it is in the discussion of animated props. There's very little on that topic in this volume. However, I understand that there is a second volume in the works and I'll keep my fingers crossed.
All things considered, this book is a masterpiece. I would give it five skulls! I'd give it six if that were possible. I want a hard copy and I'm sure that anyone who considers a home haunt to be more than a pumpkin with a candle in it will want one too!!
http://www.howtohauntyourhouse.com
