The Thrill of the Scare
The line to get into Fright Nights stretches over a football field's length down the fairground's midway, where hundreds of eager ticketholders wait to be scared out of their wits voluntarily. A group of teens from West Palm Beach are a bubbling mix of anticipation and anxiety. "I'm terrified of everything," says Angelina, 13. Her friends, Riley and Kairi, also 13, nod in agreement. The three of them have never been to Fright Nights. Alyssa, 15, is the sole veteran in the group. She attended last year. "I'm excited to be scared. The haunted houses are my favorite," she says.
Running Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays through October 26th, Fright Nights is in its 22nd year. The event has been named one of the "Top Haunted Attractions" by the Haunted Attraction Association for six years running, and for good reason. Everyone involved in the event has a fierce passion for making "the haunt" a frightening and fun experience.
"I love to scare people," says Kelly Palmieri, who lives in Stuart and is one of the long-time actors at the event. Her haunted doll character walks around silently with a creepy blank stare, scaring anyone she sets her sights on. Palmieri is excited about some new things this year. "They typecasted actors this year and handpicked them for certain roles," she says. "It's going to be really cool this year."
Craig McInnis, creative director of Fright Nights, says casting is crucial to the event's success. "We are always on the hunt for the most enthusiastic and passionate scare actors. Our casting directors pay close attention to the myriad of different personalities and physicalities that will best suit each house theme and mood. Each year we are blessed to add new talent to our cast a.k.a. The Family of Freaks," says McInnis.
As the gates open, a long line of visitors enters the Scare Zone. Creepy clowns, ghostly ghouls, demented demons and all manner of unworldly creatures weave in and out of the crowd, wielding chainsaws, knives, axes and even a rubber chicken. A tattered and bloody ringmaster follows a group of 20-somethings, eliciting screams from a few of them. A woman dressed all in black carries a bucket of popcorn spattered in blood and a knife. "I need some more blood for my popcorn," she tells a family of four. "Can I have yours?"
It's all in good fun, says Alyssa Allen, working the Scare Zone for the third year. "We wait all year for this." The West Palm Beach resident describes her character, Skittlz, as a "bubbly, blood-loving clown who likes to try to steal toes."
A few yards over, the creepy character Chaos lurks over a group of teenagers, his six-foot plus height intimidating enough even without the ghostly white face, black-rimmed eyes, and baseball bat in his hand. "Chaos is a science experiment gone wrong," says Hank Brown who is in town from Orlando to work the Scare Zone. The makeup artist is responsible for many of the creepy faces floating around the crowd. "I love everything about this. It's like letting out my alter ego."
After attendees clear the Scare Zone, they have their choice of four haunted houses. The newest, "Nightmare in Yamato," was designed by Jonathan and Fumi Glickman. A 30-year veteran of the New York and regional theatre acting community,
Glickman had the vision for years and finally brought it to life this year. "My dream was to create a Japanese haunted house," says the Boynton Beach resident. The spine-chilling experience follows the story of Tomoko, a young Japanese girl defending her village from a horde of demons. Fumi brought a lot of authentic Japanese features to the haunt, including Japanese dolls and scrolls. Demons pop out from dark hiding places above, behind and in front of the guests inside the bloodied Japanese village.
"Everyone has a lot of passion," says David Grecius, the actor trainer for all those villagers and demons. Grecius gives a rallying cry to the actors before the event opens each night. "Spread the fear!" he yells to the crowd of actors before sending them off to do just that.
Like "Nightmare in Yamato," each sinister house has a backstory. "The Ritual" is an abandoned house overrun by a cult that practices dark rituals to bring the dead back to life. "Autumn of Terror" is set on Halloween night, when it's said the veil between the natural world and the spirit realm dissolves. The unsettling theme of "Nuclear Beats" is an abandoned warehouse party where leaking nuclear waste turns partygoers into grotesque creatures.
"I love to watch people's reactions," says the head haunt designer, Jeremy Schroader. The Lake Worth resident has been designing haunts for 25 years and says he never gets tired of creating new experiences. He says this year's Fright Nights has the event's biggest prop to date (look for it in "Autumn of Terror"): "If I say I want a 10-foot pumpkin, everyone says 'alright, let's figure it out.' We make it happen."
The entire eerie production of Fright Nights requires the help of hundreds of people. "The creative team works together to try and push our concepts in different directions and create new experiences while relying on some classic scares. Inspiration comes from a variety of places, including movies, books, folklore and beyond," says McInnis.
