House of Horror Revealed: A Journey Through Miami's Spookiest Haunt Attraction

SPEAKER_04 0:05

Spooky season, greetings and salutations, and welcome to Hack or Slash. If you're joining us again, welcome back. It's showtime. If this is your first time listening, welcome to the party. We are a horror movie review podcast typically dedicated to telling you whether a movie is a hack.

SPEAKER_02 0:20

A total joke, a waste of time, or a slash. Totally killer, pun intended.

SPEAKER_04 0:25

The whole vibe here is we believe horror is for everyone, and as such, we rate movies with a perspective we've gained from our varying walks of life and the flavors of fear we fancy most. My name is Chris, I'm your friendly neighborhood slasher enthusiast, and this week I'm joined by the paranormal paramour, Binx. Why are we signing a waiver? Because liability's a bitch, Binx. Over on the main feed, we're concluding our coverage of a well-known found footage franchise that centers around a haunt. And while there's plenty to say about Hellhouse, we thought we'd expand the conversation by exploring the subgenre it has planted its flag in, haunt horror. Haunts have a history dating back to as early as 19th century London, but instead of simply looking back to the past, we want to focus on how the minds behind haunts perfect the art of the scare, particularly in a world where audiences' tolerance for fear continues to strengthen. And Binks and I had to look no further than our own backyard in our local hometown of Miami to find the perfect pair of folks to give us that perspective.

SPEAKER_03 1:24

We traveled to the Haunted House of the Year, House of Horror, to meet with Tony Albello, who's the president of Loud and Live, and Andrew Rodriguez Triana, art and scenic director for House of Horror, for a conversation about their work in the fear industry and the fright magic that goes behind House of Horror's haunted carnival doors. And this year, I have to tell you, they're going all out with deeper lore, more attractions, and plenty of scares in Miami. And they invited us to their early preview night to see what they're all about.

SPEAKER_04 1:50

Now we're gonna share our conversation with Tony and Andrew, and when we return, we'll share how our views on our favorite haunt films have shifted as a result of that conversation. Buckle up and enjoy the ride. Thank you, gentlemen, both for joining us. We're joined by Tony and Andrew, representing House of Horror, Haunted Carnival. And if you don't know our podcast, we believe that horror is for everyone. So we're all about community, bringing people together within the horror genre or the Halloween season in the context thereof. Now, the premise of our show is we dedicate ourselves to reviewing films and telling people if a movie is a hack, which is a total joke, a waste of time, or a slash, totally killer pun intended. So keep that in mind momentarily. But we'd love to hear from both of you how long have you been connected to horror?

SPEAKER_01 2:40

I'm a parent, so uh sometimes it's limited to uh uh what I know to make them avoid. Right, right. So I've always been a bigger fan of the psychological type of horror. You know, I saw the omen when I was a little kid and The Exorcist, and to me, still, those are my personal scariest movies are those of the that border, you know, the religious kind, and they still freak me out, and my daughters are still not allowed to watch them.

SPEAKER_04 3:03

Okay, all right. We love that. We actually just reviewed the omen very recently and the 2006 remake, but I assure I assume you have a preference for the original.

SPEAKER_00 3:12

Yes, of course. Come on.

SPEAKER_04 3:13

Smart, absolutely smart, yeah. And Andrew, how about you?

SPEAKER_00 3:16

So I'm a chicken, like straight up, which is really funny. But I love horror. I love getting scared, but it does terrify me. First scary movie I ever saw was Scream, so I love the Scream franchise. But now in my older age, I delve more into like the true crime horrors. That's really where I like to live. But I do love a good killer clown from time to time.

SPEAKER_04 3:35

So amazing. Okay, Tony. I'm assuming the omen, the original, would be your ultimate slash.

SPEAKER_01 3:41

Yes, I mean that is because look, it's believable enough that to me that's part of it. It could really be true, and that plays tricks on your mind. And to me, that's what scares me. Like, man, this is this could really be happening, and and that for me is the ultimate slash.

SPEAKER_04 3:56

Incredible. And Andrew, so you talked a little bit about the clowns. I know you watched Scream growing up. Obviously, we're big Scream fans. I think it's our generation, really. Yeah. But how about you? What's your ultimate slash?

SPEAKER_00 4:07

Ooh, um, it's gotta be Scream, but I think it also has to be like killer clowns from outer space.

SPEAKER_04 4:12

I was hoping you'd say I was hoping that too, considering that's awesome. I think the biggest miss of tonight is the fact that we cannot see your incredible clown shoes.

SPEAKER_00 4:21

Oh, yes. Yes, it they're pretty great.

SPEAKER_03 4:24

Yeah, I can definitely tell you that they're amazing. I will find a way to this is gonna make a cameo on the social media. Yes, on a platform serious.

SPEAKER_01 4:31

You could get some b-roll of them after like him walking in for your intro, and that would be great.

SPEAKER_04 4:35

Absolutely. You gotta strut yourself.

SPEAKER_01 4:37

Oh, yeah. I will for you, for sure.

SPEAKER_04 4:39

Thank you so much. Now, obviously, we're gathered here at the House of Horror Haunted Carnival. But first, we'd love to know a little bit about the history here. How did House of uh House of Horror get its start and really what separates it from other haunted attractions?

SPEAKER_01 4:53

My partner who's not here right now started it in twenty two. So it's been around a long time. And it started out as just being a haunted house at the old planet Hollywood in Coconut Grove in Miami, and then it did well. Then they went to a park in downtown, they added the rides, and then it started becoming bigger than just the haunted houses. But it always kind of stayed, I would say, mainstream, right? Because you know, it was a broad shot that we were taking at the audience. But after COVID, we had the opportunity to move it into this vacant sears, and we said, wow, like that could be a transformative leap from what it was before we did, and it really made a big transformation. But then again, like everything, it starts getting uh a little bit repetitive. The themes, yeah, we changed the names, so some of the assets were the same. And then uh this year, Andrew thankfully convinced me and said, Look, man, let's let's go hardcore, let's make everything tighter, let's add more scares, let's add more actors, like let's let's really take it up a notch, and that's where we land today. I I think this in the 22 years that the House of War has been around, I could say that this is the scariest version of it ever by a long shot.

SPEAKER_03 5:59

Well, that just makes me a little nervous because I'm also a little scaredy cat. When as we were walking in here, I was already like telling Chris I'm afraid to walk towards our table to record. So that's awesome that you kind of were inspiring it to be scarier when you get scared.

SPEAKER_00 6:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:14

I love that. I love that.

SPEAKER_00 6:15

This is actually my first year with the project. I come from a theater background, so it was really important for me to bring storytelling to this event. I think fear lives within the truth of storytelling. And so for me, that's what was going to elevate this event. And I I'm really glad we were able to do that this year.

SPEAKER_03 6:32

And I guess being Miami natives ourselves, obviously, this, as you had mentioned, it's rooted in South Florida since 2002. Are there any, I guess, little cameos or things from South Florida that are kind of featured in these houses at all? Or have they in the past?

SPEAKER_01 6:47

In the in the past, we did um, you know, we did have a uh uh a story of a carnival worker uh and and that the the House of Horror was built on uh like a secret place where they had buried some carnival workers that died unexpectedly. And again, not not too far from possible reality, right? But then people thought it was a little bit too close to home, so we went away from the from that storyline a little bit.

SPEAKER_04 7:11

Fair. So no killer alligators yet. Not yet. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 7:15

We gotta give Andrew another couple years under his belt. This is his first year here. Maybe we'll do an Everglades uh haunted house.

SPEAKER_04 7:20

Andrew, if I'm not giving getting Everglades or Florida Man, then I don't know what I don't know what we're doing.

SPEAKER_00 7:25

So funny enough, one of our haunted attractions called Mine49 was kind of inspired by this old western town up in Davy that is no more. When you go to the site, there's still train tracks there. And so I visited that recently, and that was kind of where the idea sprung from. I mean, we don't have mines, but it sort of came from that lore.

SPEAKER_04 7:43

Absolutely incredible. So obviously, we've talked a little bit about what House of Horror has featured in the past. And really on our show, we've covered so many different films that feature haunt attractions. We think Houses October built, we think about Haunts, we think about Hellfest, we think about Hell House. Hell House LLC. Are there any moments where you've had in the history of House of Horror, Andrew? If you have anything, any ideas kicking around in your mind where you've seen these horror film elements directly inspired by or inspired and shown in the actual attraction?

SPEAKER_01 8:16

We try to not bite things, you know, and and steal from uh ideas from from other creators, but we did have in years past, we did have this whole area of one of the houses that was uh theater themed. So we had uh classic posters, we had bought, I say bought, we found in the dumpster church pews. So we had the church pews set up like an old movie theater, and then we had a lot of vintage posters of some of the the classics, and that was pretty cool because people that were into it appreciated that, and people that didn't know then walked by and they didn't care. But but the people that did, and and for me that's kind of cool when you know, like you say something uh that's interesting and the people that get it get it, and the people that don't don't, and you don't care that they don't get it. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. So uh so that was that's probably the closest thing that we've done to uh any kind of movie theater uh inspired action.

SPEAKER_04 9:04

I love it. Okay, the world of cinema is expansive, and I do have to know that out of personal curiosity, since you have such a long-standing history with House of Horror. Do you ever visit these films? Or do you I know you don't bite them directly, obviously, for House of Horror, but have you seen what's out there?

SPEAKER_01 9:19

Uh I I I have, and I think Andrew uh probably has taken great inspiration because there's some uh listen, all of these ideas can't come from him's brain. He's had to have taken some inspiration from the S have taken some inspiration. And red, I mean, are there things here that I don't know about that you know that that do come from some uh movie ideas?

SPEAKER_00 9:38

Uh yeah, so I mean I was I mean when you when you guys walk through Mine49, and I know it's not really a horror film, but you're gonna get a sense of like Indiana Jones like right away. You know, it some of the sets there are very theatrical and very cinematic. Um even in this house that we're currently sitting in, the storyline is about a cult, the sunny side cult. And so you're gonna come face to face with that cult and their sacrifices. Um and there's sort of a battle that's going on in this house between the spirit world and the cult because the spirits don't want that evil in their space, right? So a lot of good and evil, that fight between good and evil, which is sort of universal in horror films. So it is heavily inspired by by the things that are out in in theaters that we can watch today.

SPEAKER_03 10:23

As a paranormal lover, I need you to know I'm so glad that I thought this was the space that it feels like it was a calling, it was meant to be. It has to be.

SPEAKER_04 10:31

Yeah, the honestly, it's the graveyard in back of us that really does it. And we've also joked about like, you know, we should absolutely have our own cult. So I think it's all coming together nicely. I think it's really shaping up. I do have this question. Obviously, we have such a long-standing history for House of Horror. How has this experience shaped through feedback? Or, Andrew, as you've been considering stepping into House of Horror, how have you used the history or feedback from, you know, horror fans, past guests to really shape your stories?

SPEAKER_00 10:58

For me coming into this project, I did a lot of research. I went on YouTube and I went online, I checked out the hashtags on Instagram and on, you know, everywhere I could to really listen to what some of our influencers and the people that are recording have been saying, right? There's been moments where people wanted more storyline or they wanted more scares. So, you know, I took all of that into consideration, sat down with the team, and we sort of planned it out knowing that the guests wanted more.

SPEAKER_01 11:25

Yeah, and it's a it's a balance, you know, for you do podcasts, you have your businesses, and and you know, there's a balance of of okay, how many people do we need to get in to pay? Because remember, in these houses, on any given night, we have over 30 actors, and they're all getting paid by the hour, that we have makeup artists creating makeup for 30 different actors, and that's every single day. As the business owner and partner, I started thinking, okay, where's that balance? But I know more than any other year, we've struck a great balance because Andrew's right. There have been people that that have said, oh, you know, it's it's not as scary as something else. Well, the other haunts that they may have gone to may have uh uh 100 people a day or 200 people a day. Sometimes we have 3,000 people a day. So it's it's it's a little bit tough to to get that same experience. What we've done this year is gonna have both. We're gonna have the the people that a lot it is a popular event, and a lot of people will be make it out here. But the way that they're done and the the twists and turns within the houses and the and the scares and the where the niches where the I mean it re I'm I'm super excited. I've walked through it without actors and I know where they're going to hide because I've done it with the lights on. And I'm thinking I like there's gonna be people screaming and trying to run out of here. Like it's it's gonna be great.

SPEAKER_03 12:35

It'll be me. Oh yeah. It's gonna be.

SPEAKER_01 12:37

You're gonna be first. That's later.

SPEAKER_03 12:40

Oh god.

SPEAKER_04 12:41

I'm personally really excited about that, especially the blend of of the quantity and the quality. I think you know, being I know you've gone to haunts in the past, I've a big haunt lover myself, and there's something really special about those intimate local attractions that can really maximize the art of the scare and really put on by people that you know and can feel their passion and love for it.

SPEAKER_01 13:04

And that's one thing Andrew said. He said, you know, and and I I bought into it and I said, he said, look, the the the people that are into the haunted houses, they're going to appreciate the artistry of what we're doing. And if you look at the the just the the stonework, you look at the the gates, you look at the the wood grain on on in Mine 49, if you look at those things, uh as fans and as fans of cinema, uh uh cinema and and and that kind of art, you will appreciate it. And those people will have great things to say about it. Uh and then there's a bunch of other people that are not are just gonna get scared because it's a it's a good jump scare. And they're not gonna notice the details. Uh, and that's what I love about what what he and and the crew have been able to do this year is is really strike that balance between, hey, if you know, you're gonna notice these things, and if you don't know, you're still gonna get scared.

SPEAKER_03 13:48

And speaking of that, actually, something that caught my eye is Howie in general. We're joking about your shoes, but so is Howie a new integration to House of Horror? I know that there's a backstory house that's gonna be here. I'm super excited about. I want to hear about that.

SPEAKER_00 14:01

Yeah, so Howie is actually our logo. We've had our logo for quite some time. So I say that he's just been lurking in the shadows.

SPEAKER_03 14:08

Okay, I love it.

SPEAKER_00 14:08

Um and we're finally bringing him to light this year. Um so Howie is our we I call him the skull murderer because he has a skull face. And he does have a backstory, and the house that features that backstory is called Dark Origins, The Birth of a Nightmare. And within that house, we're gonna go back in time to his house when he was a kid, and we're gonna witness his family, and we're gonna see his first kill. And I know everyone loves a good first kill in a scary movie. Yeah. Um, and you're gonna witness that first kill, and then you're gonna see the slaughter after that. So it's very exciting.

SPEAKER_04 14:37

Okay, I'm really excited to see the origins, but also the glow up of Howie.

SPEAKER_00 14:41

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Quite literally, I guess.

SPEAKER_04 14:43

So, what do you think were some of your biggest challenges, or when you think about how you've had to evolve that story, or think back to okay, we have Howie, he's been the logo, he's been here lurking in the shadows. What were some of the things that were most present or top of mind for you when you're thinking about fleshing out that story?

SPEAKER_00 14:59

I wanted him to come from a place of truth. Um, there's nothing scarier to me than that place of truth. Um, I wanted him to be sinister, I wanted him to to not care about his imprint on the world, right? He he's he's all in and there's no going back. Um, and so I think that was important for me with that character and developing that character. Um sort of in the the stretched out sort of storyline in my mind is that he's hiding within House of Horror. So his full name is Howard Oliver Hunt, which is short for HOH, which is House of Horror, um, which I thought was very fun. Um, but to me, he's hiding within our within our realm within so all the the displays of the bodies and the the people that are are dead in our houses is really him putting them on display to get away with his murders. It's kind of how I've placed him. Um and in in this realm of Howie, this is almost like a traveling circus. So he's able to get away with it because he's moving from place to place and no one's catching him.

SPEAKER_04 15:58

Oh my gosh, that sounds so incredible. And especially because some people have such a fear of clowns. It's very real, it's very present. I have an art the clown tattoo on the back of my arm. Obviously, we have Terrifier 3 coming out later this year. Andrew, you shared your love of killer clowns from how from outer space. I cannot wait to see, you know, what potential homage we may have to clowns that have really come before.

SPEAKER_00 16:21

Yeah. You're definitely gonna see that, I think, in this house today.

SPEAKER_03 16:24

So when designing, I guess, the the sets in general, has there been um something in particular that you found is maybe a challenge in and of itself when designing the just the different houses or maybe integrating film in general, creating fleshing out these stories when you were just like actually creating these sets?

SPEAKER_00 16:43

Yeah, so it started out with the story, with the storylines. Um, and then also a big part of that was seeing the things that we already had, like the assets that we already had that we were going to incorporate, that we knew we were incorporating into our houses, right? And how can I take those assets that we've used in the past that people have seen, and how can we turn it on its head, flip it on its head, and turn it into something new and exciting that people haven't seen, right? So then I think using my background in theater and in scenic design, uh, we were able to sort of piece things together and the story also evolved as the houses were evolving. Um so I think, and the biggest challenge was actually getting into the space, right? It was separating everything, seeing where everything was gonna be fleshed out, um, going through our maps that we had been working on before, seeing, oh wait, that column, I wasn't expecting that column to be there. So how do we shift? How do we, how do we reposition this room so that it still works with our storyline and it works? So that was a lot of what we saw very early on in the building process. But then once the structure was up, it was the most fun to just go all in on the decor, which which um I think you're gonna really appreciate.

SPEAKER_01 17:48

Yeah, you know, one of you know, uh Andrew touched on something um like behind the curtains, all of these houses have to be designed with safety in mind. So there's exits every so many feet, there's ADA compliance issues that we got to make sure we adhere to. Uh you know, there's alarm systems that when the you know there's a fire alarm or something, god forbid, knock on wood, the all the effects and all the sounds and all the strobes gotta go off and all the house lights gotta come on. So there's a lot of technical uh aspects that Andrew has to work around and within uh while designing the the the houses as well. And it's uh it's not an easy feat. Um but but you wouldn't notice as a as a person going through there. Uh but believe me, it's it's it's uh it's a process, and um and and but once it's done, it's kind of left like the foundation, and then he goes ham on all the details around those parameters, and that's great.

SPEAKER_04 18:39

Yeah, I can absolutely believe that. It's really looking back at what the kind of an iceberg a good haunt is, right? Everybody can think just because you uh you know sneak up on your mom in the kitchen that it might be easy to scare someone. But Andrew, you alluded a moment ago to how you have to navigate unexpected obstacles when building your haunt. But I want to turn the tables here for a second to think about how you imagine the scare for modern audiences, right? When haunts were started, they started back in like 19th century London. So humans have evolved and have become toughened up to maybe what scared us in the past. Obviously, your imagination runs wild. You talked about your passion for storytelling, but how do you manage to still deliver something a little unexpected when people are coming now into very popular haunts expecting a scare?

SPEAKER_00 19:26

So really, I just kind of think of what scares me. And and I kind of go with that and then figure, you know, and talk to the team and figure out what's gonna work best to tell that again, to tell the story, but also to get the scare. We have um we have some multiple scare spots where an actor can scare you in one spot and then shift over and scare you in another spot that you're not gonna expect whatsoever. Um, we have a double scare that sort of stops you dead in your tracks and you don't know if you can continue or move forward, which is really exciting. Um, and then we have um several spots. Uh I think one there's one specific spot in each house where we use mirrors to our advantage, which I think um is gonna set up for a really, really nice scare.

SPEAKER_03 20:07

I can envision myself already falling to the ground. That's happened to me once, by the way. I got so scared that I fell to the ground. You say once.

SPEAKER_04 20:13

Okay, more than once, Chris. Geez, why are you gonna help me like that? Listen, our listeners know that you be falling on you'd be falling on the floor because the scares, they get you. And that is a testament to great work.

SPEAKER_03 20:24

It is, it is, absolutely. So now we're talking about scares a little bit. How do you also, I guess, balance tension, but I I suppose like overall flow? Because you mentioned there's gonna be certain spots where you're gonna get scared, maybe stop dead in your tracks. You want to also provide, I would imagine, some moments to look around. I'll give an example. For me, I also have a background in theater, big theater kid in high schools in particular. So I love the set design. I want to be able to look around and see all of the things, but I'm also very terrified that at any moment in time I'm gonna get, you know, like got. So is there like something that you've considered in terms of like pacing in terms of tension, like the walkthrough of all that too?

SPEAKER_00 21:02

Yeah, so there's definitely there is there is gonna be a pacing to each house. Um are we do have actors? There's a couple of spots where we have multiple actors, but then there's spots where um our we give you that moment to breathe and take in the scenery. We have some really tight spaces this year, and then it opens up to bigger spaces that you can sort of enjoy that moment, and then it knocks you right back into a tight space. So that's gonna add tension that gives you a chance to breathe, sort of reset and then anticipate uh what's about to happen because you're you're not gonna see it coming.

SPEAKER_03 21:33

And that's the flow of a really good horror movie too, right?

SPEAKER_00 21:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:36

When you're watching, you're enjoying the dialogue, you're kind of like, okay, I can take a moment to breathe, and the next thing you know, something out of nowhere happens. And those are jump scares for sure, but there's also a lot of things that I appreciate in film where the horror is even in the moments where you're expecting it and you're just walking around. Maybe not necessarily a jump scare, but the tension and the aura of it, right?

SPEAKER_01 21:58

I I forgot what movie it was, but uh The actor lifts up the toilet seat and I never forget what it said. Said uh the the the anticipation of death is worse worse than death itself.

SPEAKER_00 22:09

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_01 22:10

And I was like, oh wow. I never forgot that. I was probably nine years old when I saw it. And uh and and that's true. That that anticipation is as scary as the as the actual scare. So uh we we really tried to and I say we, but you know, the truth is it's Andrew and Yvette and the and the whole team, but uh tried to do that and you know, walking through it, as you said, there's places where you're just walking and kind of going through and and thinking something might happen, but it's it's meant to kind of slow you down, and then something happens.

SPEAKER_04 22:38

I think what I've gained here is a really deeper, more balanced perspective on a quality haunt. You know, you earlier you just mentioned even the business side of it, you're having to contend with the quantity of actors, the the quantity of makeup artists that you have applying that every single night. We're thinking about the construction and the kind of obstacles that you come here. And it does make me wonder when we think about immersion in a haunt. Obviously, we think about uh the different pathways, giving people a moment to breathe. Is there anything that you've done or that you have in mind for maybe a future project where you want to try to help people engage even further with like the touch and the smell to be able to fully engage with your haunt?

SPEAKER_00 23:19

So in that's interesting. I don't know if we can do the touch part, but again, coming from from my theater background um and the storytelling, uh the audio is so important to tell a story. And um when as you go through these houses, the audio does shift. Um we build tension with the audio where we need to build the tension to tell that story. Um the you'll you'll witness it today as you're going through the neighbor's house specifically. That's all I'm gonna say. The music does shift there. Um, and you know something's coming. It is part of our storytelling. It's it's using the audio to our advantage, it's using the sense of touch because we do put stuff in people's faces. So you have to interact with the houses as you're going through it. Um, there's moments where you're gonna have to duck, or you're gonna want to duck because you don't want that face to hit you, you know, because it's hanging there or whatever. So I think that adds to the immersion. And as far as the future goes, I think we can go even further with the storytelling and um do more immersive uh moments that maybe it's a separate ticketed house where you're going through it alone or with only uh another person, and we're able to stop you and take our time with you in each room and really mess with you and decide when we're gonna let you go through to the next room. And that might be something fun to explore maybe next year or in the near future.

SPEAKER_01 24:33

Andrew, I haven't told you, but I've been wanting to do like an overnight camping. Oh at the potential new location in the next so I don't want to get you all excited, but well, let's let's go.

SPEAKER_00 24:45

I'm ready.

SPEAKER_01 24:45

Let's do it. I know.

SPEAKER_04 24:46

Listen, I don't know if Binks is down, but I know his buttons.

SPEAKER_01 24:49

He's like now, Tony, what is it? What is it? Where were we gonna do the the overnight?

SPEAKER_03 24:53

Chris and I just camping out ourselves waiting for the news of it.

SPEAKER_04 24:56

Genuinely, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 24:56

Consider us as some happy campers for you. We got you. Absolutely. Absolutely. But you mentioned that immersion piece, and it makes me think also and looking into the future, when we're looking at film, a lot of what's coming out lately integrates a lot of CGI, a lot of technology, right? And even with our own technology, it's augmented reality, all of these things. So when you're talking about immersion, looking to the future, any I guess ideas integrating that piece too?

SPEAKER_00 25:22

Yeah. So we talked about at one point, uh Tony and I uh integrating projection mapping and projections within our houses, which I think would add more of a cinematic feel to our pieces. Um yeah, I think I think looking to the future, we obviously have to tap into technology and and what we have at our fingertips because that's so visceral to us in the moment that may help with the next step of the scare.

SPEAKER_01 25:48

You know, I I I I was just thinking of something. Uh I remember I know this is gonna totally go away from horror, but I was on a Disney cruise and the kids did something uh where they they drew, you know, they do something, I don't know, and then they apparently they must have scanned it, and then they did this whole animation on the last night on all the screens around the the the on all the screens around the restaurant. But imagine if if at the beginning of a house we you you said your name, Tony. And then later on we have it timed or somehow technology is helping us that we know when Tony's going by there and Tony Tommy. Now we're talking about AT. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:24

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 26:24

I was like, we do have I think now you got me fired up with the immersion, and now uh and that's not hard to execute. No, not at all.

SPEAKER_00 26:30

Maybe it's something that you have to scan, it's your ticket, and you scan it, it has your name on it.

SPEAKER_01 26:33

All right.

SPEAKER_02 26:34

Chris and I, like starry-eyed, like, yes.

SPEAKER_01 26:37

We'll give you credit. If we do it, we do it next year. I swear to God, we're gonna give you guys credit.

SPEAKER_04 26:41

Thank you, Sony. Thank you. Listen, someone whispering my name in a dark hallway, not a lot scares me. The horrors of life have been a lot, but that would get me. Yeah. That would be sufficient. It absolutely would be. But we we talked about technology and we've talked about the all of the love and and intention that goes into building these scares and pacing things out. How do you also replicate this and carry this through your staff that you actually have at House of Horror?

SPEAKER_01 27:07

Well, I can tell you every single person that I've met and our you know makeup team and our actors team leaders have met with, I honestly I think they would work for free. Right? But they but they don't, we pay them. Uh because they're real fans of the genre, they're real fans of Halloween, they're fans of horror. Um, and it it doesn't take a lot to get them fired up. I mean, they they get here early, they bring their like like tonight, you know, as a preview night, like they all wanted to come. Like we we had too many actors showing up, right? And and I think that makes it easy because again, the the the the segment of the audience that is into it, it's gonna appreciate their work. Other people may not, but that's fine. That's okay. It's like, hey, you know, you know, sometimes you go to a steak restaurant and my wife orders chicken. Like, what am I gonna do? But the guys that like chicken or the girls that like chicken, they're really gonna, I mean, that like steak are really gonna enjoy the steak. So our steak is that that real horror experience, the actors, and the love that Andrew and Vet and the rest of the team have put into the the thoughts behind every every single nook and cranny.

SPEAKER_00 28:08

And the creative team is actually there on the first day with the actors. Um, we did a little bit of a walkthrough with all of them, showed them their boo holes, showed them, you know, explained to everyone what they were gonna be doing, where where they were gonna be doing it, talk to them about the story, which also helped to hype them up because the creative team was able to one-on-one speak to the actors. And I think that really helped us.

SPEAKER_01 28:28

Andrew, I didn't know it was a boo hole, was the actual terms.

SPEAKER_00 28:30

That is the that is the term. It's called a boo hole. Okay. Industry terms.

SPEAKER_01 28:35

Yeah, I I know I that's I I called it like a scare niche or something, boo hole. Can kind of go in a lot of directions, but booh, but that is what it is. Scare nook is good.

SPEAKER_00 28:46

Maybe, maybe that's what we coined it. Scare nook. Okay, scare nook. I like it.

SPEAKER_03 28:49

It's already we have this thing on our podcast called Hackerslash After Dark, and that's kind of what we've approached. I'm so glad we've been able to bond together on this bonus episode and integrating together. It's great. Well, I have to be honest, I'm so excited about everything that's to the future. Clearly, if you couldn't tell, especially the camp thing, I'm just saying that would be great. Um but now I want to kind of integrate in terms of horror films again and looking to the future with all these ideas. Are there any, I guess, things that you want to integrate considering that horror films are constantly changing, even like the topics, right? I think we've had like maybe five nun-related films this year alone. We've recently uh there is a horror film that's about AI. We've seen we're seeing a couple of those, even with Megan, is like an animatronic AI doll. So all of these things in horror are evolving constantly. So I would imagine also these ideas keep going in terms of House of Horror as well. Anything that you're thinking of?

SPEAKER_00 29:42

Honestly, I'm just trying to get through opening. Love that. And then I can start thinking about the following year, to be quite honest. But it is always something to consider um because movies, uh, scary movies are so integral to the world of Halloween and the world of the haunt. Um, so that's definitely something to look into. Uh, I know we talked about something specifically that you wanted to do that maybe we bring in next year with the whole AI thing. Yeah. Yeah. Um, so that's something that we'll we can definitely look into for next year.

SPEAKER_01 30:13

Yeah, and we in even even like that, we um, you know, like I I I started thinking about like I started thinking about what are the scary movies, you know, a month ago uh that are that are popular now, like the the you know, like the where the nobody's talking and and that and then and I said, man, well how difficult it would be difficult, but imagine something was totally silent, no sound effects. Uh a room, you know, having padding so that the sound's absorbed and and you it's really very silent. When we're when we move into the Sears, there's nothing here, and it's pretty fucking scary. Can you say a bad word? We definitely crystal. Because you're you're here, and I mean this Sears, it has a hundred thousand square feet on the bottom and a hundred thousand square feet on the second floor. We don't even use the second floor. Oh, you go to the second floor, you don't need any actors here. It's terrifying. You you you just don't even want to go up there because it's scary. The lights are flickering, it's it's crazy.

SPEAKER_04 31:01

Listen, you give me that second floor and the whispering names. You got it.

SPEAKER_01 31:05

We got you.

SPEAKER_04 31:05

You got it. Oh my gosh. I just cannot imagine.

SPEAKER_03 31:08

I was expecting you to also say, like, and a Ouija board. She just loves a good Ouija board.

SPEAKER_04 31:12

I have never Ouija boarded. But you want to, but I do want to partake.

SPEAKER_03 31:15

But you do.

SPEAKER_04 31:16

I did buy a Beetlejuice Ouija board recently.

SPEAKER_00 31:18

Oh I believe in it too much that I'd be too terrified to put one of those. Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 31:23

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 31:23

Personally, but Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 31:25

Okay. We can do a little like wish brand Ouija board. You know? A little squeegee board. Squeegee board. I'd love that.

SPEAKER_01 31:31

It'll be like uh from you know, Fisher Price or something. It'll have bright colors and it'll be less less scary. To hold child's play thing.

SPEAKER_04 31:37

Safe mode. There you go. See, we're cooking. We're cooking, we're cooking.

SPEAKER_03 31:42

And then in terms of us, right? Obviously, we love horror so much. Being from Miami as well, seeing that this opportunity is here to be able to engage with other people that love horror in this space where we've grown up. How other ways have you thought about integrating the horror film community here? I this is a major night, I'd say, an influencer night where we get to get a preview, get to know everybody, and share. Are there any other things that House of Horror has done in the past or wants to do to be able to continue to bring in horror lovers into this space?

SPEAKER_01 32:15

I could say sadly, no. We have never done anything to this level to and engage with the the horror community. I have to give again credit to Andrew and Vet and the whole team. They really wanted to push the storyline and the authenticity of it. And I would say, and again, you're gonna say, man, Tony, you're a jerk. I would say, listen, we don't have enough time to tell a story. And they put the story's important. And then they they they won, right? And uh but we we have never embraced the the horror um the horror community like we have this year, and and I'm glad we did because they're they're passionate. Uh they're a lot of them, you know, have come up and wanted to be actors and they want to contribute on with ideas, and and again, it's a it's it's not a cult, but it's kind of cult-like where it's they're very passionate about it. And um, and I'm I'm excited that that we did it this year, and we're gonna continue to embrace that community because you know when when I go to you know some of the trade shows in St. Louis, uh and I forgot the name of it now, like it's trans world. Yeah, trans world. And I'm I'm sitting there and I'm saying, I'm a sucker, man. These guys are deep into it. You know, Andrew went with me and and we went up there and I said uh we we talked about it when we were up there in St. Louis this year, and I said, We need to to to to find that love and passion and start integrating that more. And uh and he was all in and I was all in and we were all in. So yeah, so we're super excited to embrace that community more, and we're gonna continue to do the things that are going to make them fans of us.

SPEAKER_04 33:39

Now, obviously, we've talked a lot about the past, we've talked a lot about the future, but let's talk about tonight and this season for House of War. What are some of the houses that you're most excited about, or what are you most looking forward about for Miami and South Florida to experience your haunt this year?

SPEAKER_01 33:54

Well, I'll tell you from my perspective, and and I I didn't build it, uh I think that the the the the neon experience uh is is something that it's kind of like a like a throwback, right? A retro is cool. It's uh it has this retro vibe, but it is again, it's something that we haven't seen in a while. Um we did it once in in our haunted house, you know, maybe 15 years ago. So bringing that back with a modern twist, I I'm excited about it. I think that again, that um that's the most memorable part of the houses for me. Uh, but I also haven't run through it with all the actors. So I that might change after tonight. Nice.

SPEAKER_00 34:33

Tonight's the first. Yeah, tonight's the first for all of us to see it fully with the actors, full makeup, full costumes, um in their scare hole. What did we call it? Scare nooks. Scare nooks.

SPEAKER_03 34:44

But I'm still about booho.

SPEAKER_01 34:46

You know what? I think we're gonna adopt booho, and uh you guys go with it.

SPEAKER_04 34:49

I'm gonna be honest with you. We're gonna be talking about that on our podcast. Oh sorry. Yeah. The second we do another hot horror movie, it's gonna be like, listen, I think Andrew would rate this boo hole like a six out of ten.

SPEAKER_01 35:01

Oh my god. Welcome to the family. I'm glad we didn't have drinks before because it's gonna be going in a totally different direction of the movie.

SPEAKER_03 35:12

Amazing. And how about for yourself? Are you like really excited for this particular house?

SPEAKER_00 35:16

I yeah, I agree with Tony. I'm I'm so excited for Howie, for our character, and I'm excited for him to be unleashed to the world. So I'm really excited about this house.

SPEAKER_04 35:26

Yeah, well, I am looking forward to hearing how how he continues to evolve even next year. Now, before we wrap and start talking about how our our audience can attend House of Horror, is there anything that we haven't discussed yet that is top of mind that you feel like you really want to share with our audience?

SPEAKER_01 35:42

It's an event that has haunts and then it has the carnival and it has the the carnival food and all of those things. And it is a broad uh net that we've cast in the past. Uh but the haunts, I would say I know that they're the best haunts we've ever done. And I would say they're some of the best that I've seen as far as decor thought behind it tonight, we'll know for real, because the actors are gonna be in full force. And that's what's great about it. It's that your mom and dad could come and they may not they may not be into it, and you might be a 17 or 20-year-old person that's really into haunts, and you're gonna get go to the haunts, and your parents are gonna eat elephant ears and you know, and and and do a ferris wheel if they want. But that's another thing is that as the and again, not to you know jump on the business side too much, but it is a good value, right? Because haunts they're we we're priced in in the same range as any other haunt that I've been to in South Florida or in Florida for for that matter, except you also have rides and they're unlimited and and it and it's a it's a whole night where you could even if you get scared, you could go and maybe eat and then come back for the other house and then go ride a ride and come back for the third one and things like that. So it is a broad uh appeal, but the haunts are legit.

SPEAKER_03 36:49

I love I love that though, uh, because to me I think of all of the times where I've wanted to experience something like this with my mom. My mom loves horror, this is what got me into horror. And so I'm imagining myself as a kid and having this opportunity to be able to do that with my mom or with my family, or even down the road in the future when I have kids to take them to this kind of experience is great. So even on the business side of things, it's I appreciate that you've even like brought this here and like seen that opportunity for South Florida specifically to give us a space where we can enjoy and go somewhere with our families, and even maybe they'll be scared. My dad, on the other hand, is a scaredy cat for sure. Like, actually will not enjoy any of this. But he would take me, you know, and I think that that's super special to be able to provide those opportunities for us to go.

SPEAKER_01 37:32

Even like my my I have twin daughters, they're they're 15. They, you know, they'll come in a group of eight or ten kids, and some of them are really, really scared, and they won't go into the haunted houses, but they still come out because they they all go on the rides together. They do other parts. So uh, you know, in Spanish we say comparti, but we share, right? So you can compar ti, you can share that night together. I may not be into it, I may get scared, I won't go to the haunted houses, but guess what? We'll eat elephant ears, we'll go to the rides, we'll do other stuff, we'll hang out, I'll wait for you guys at the end and see you guys come out screaming. So it's a real uh it's really a great way to bring people together.

SPEAKER_00 38:02

Yeah, it's just a fun night. If it's a fun night out with your friends or with your family, there's something for everyone, right? Uh another thing that we haven't really talked about, which I'm really excited for, is Toxic Apocalypse. Um, it's our paintball experience that we're adding this year. It's the first time we're ever do it. So, but it but it's it's really, really exciting. Uh, it's basically like a like a paintball shooting range. So um I'm I'm really excited for that project um to to for that event to open up and um to see what happens, yeah, to see how it does, but because it is our first year. Um, but that's something new that we haven't done before. And and so I think in this evolution of HOH, we are pushing that limit, that boundary.

SPEAKER_01 38:42

Yeah, that that that that listen, that qualifies 100% as immersive, right? Because now you're actually shooting targets, you're shooting moving targets, and you're shooting actual zombie actors that are that are you know trying to not get hit. So it it's a cool experience. And uh and you know, we are looking forward to it. I think it's gonna be a hit. We're we're looking forward to that one.

SPEAKER_04 39:00

Yeah, certainly no doubts here. Obviously, you've both shared about how important community is and how House of Horror is dedicated to bringing families together, bringing friends together, you know, regardless of whether you're into the horror or haunt experience. And I think that is so aligned with the values of our podcast. So I can't thank you both enough for joining us and and welcoming us into your home tonight. Now, just for our listeners, just to make sure that they have an opportunity to partake as well, what are the dates for Hause of Horror this year?

SPEAKER_01 39:28

So we open up September 26th and we go all the way to Halloween to the 31st. We are closed on Mondays, we gotta give the actors a little bit a little break. So Mondays we close up, but every other night from 6 p.m. to 11 and midnight on Fridays and Saturdays, we're open.

SPEAKER_04 39:41

Well, thank you both so much for joining us. We can't wait to see what this night has in store for us.

SPEAKER_01 39:46

Great, thank you so much. Can't wait to get your feedback.

SPEAKER_04 39:52

I am absolutely devastated that I didn't get to stay for the entirety of preview night since my day job or really night job at that point took me away from the occasion. But banks, I'm I've been dying to know what was the rest of the night like for you.

SPEAKER_03 40:06

Yeah, you're missed. You're missed, but I gotta tell you, it was so much fun. So after we recorded, they had a whole section where all the influences were at, you know, friends and family. It was so much fun. Lively, the music was hitting, and the food was incredible. I didn't realize how hungry I was. I had like pizza, empanadas, I had cotton candy. I didn't have popcorn, which was shocking. They also had open bars, so you know people were getting liddy.

SPEAKER_04 40:36

Ooh, man, I'm devastated. I couldn't partake in that.

SPEAKER_03 40:39

Yeah, it was fun. It was so much fun. They even had contortionists, they had a whole moment to reveal Howie, and he was walking through the crowd. It was very intimidating. His design really is incredible. Like obviously, Andrew and Tony were talking about. Like you can feel the vibe, the lore, the history of this character and their icon coming to life. And seeing him like right in front of me in that crowd, him weaving through. I don't know who was playing Howie underneath all that makeup and stuff, but props to him. Or her either person, really.

SPEAKER_04 41:15

I feel Howie in this carnival tonight.

SPEAKER_03 41:17

He was felt. And then we spent a good time, you know, hanging out, eating, drinking, uh, watching the contortionists. Like there was a tarot reader. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get my tarot read.

SPEAKER_04 41:29

But why do you need to? You've already read all our tarot this this year. You're good.

SPEAKER_03 41:33

Fair enough. But it's different. It hits different when you've got like the tarot reader of Hylia, you know? I'm just kidding. That's not true. She's not even from Hylia. But no, she's awesome. And actually, my best friend who was with us at early preview has followed her for some good time and was so excited that she was there in particular, got to uh get to know her a little bit better, even though we weren't able to get our tarot read. She was already booked and busy. You could only imagine. Well, we were recording, everyone was flocking to her to get some insights. There was a little photo booth section. It was just, it was really lively. It was so much fun.

SPEAKER_04 42:07

Oh, that is absolutely wild. I almost wish I could have had the opportunity to get a reading done just to see if it's turned around from the bevy of anxiety and insecurity that you laid on me that time.

SPEAKER_03 42:20

Yeah, I really laid it on thick on all of us, including myself, but you and Mac got the worst of it for sure, and I wanted to basically jump out the window from embarrassment a little bit. I wasn't prepared. I wasn't prepared for the interpretations.

SPEAKER_04 42:35

You operated with a high level of integrity, and that's what we really needed. Thank you. Even though I had to miss the rest of the preview night, I am so excited. I'm gonna be taking Allie and her son this weekend for their opening weekend.

SPEAKER_03 42:46

Nice.

SPEAKER_04 42:47

I'm really excited to have a fucking elephant year.

SPEAKER_03 42:49

Oh, it's gonna hit. It's gonna hit so well. That's the other thing that you look outside and they have everything already set up. They even have like a little roller coaster. They released the the map already of the carnival, and so you're gonna have such a good time. I will be out of town this weekend, unfortunately. But you already know I get back on Sunday, Sunday night, I'm out there. I I'm I'm trying to go as much as I can and enjoy the festivities because it was so much fun, and mostly because we got to go in to the origins house that Andrew's referencing in this episode. It was a lot of fun. It was a lot of fun. And I gotta tell you, the beauty of House of Horror, I've realized, especially going through the house, is that because it's inside a mall that is complete and empty sears, you know, that already adds to the layer of creepiness like Andrew and Tony were talking about. And then when you're in the haunted house, it's long, like it's a good while. And A, and then B, and because they time it perfectly so that you can experience it with your friends, you're not all like. Bunched up with a ton of people going through the house.

SPEAKER_04 44:02

Oh my god. I am so excited for the quality of this experience. I mentioned in the episode, right? You can tell when a haunt operates on love and passion. And of course it's a business, so you have to maximize the amount of guests that you can have. But I love knowing that House of Horror is still able to protect the integrity of that experience and give it some give you something worth paying for. I'm so happy to hear that the walk is so long because when we look at the map, obviously it hits how big that building is, but then you don't know, okay, is it kind of like at Halloween Horror Nights where it's much shorter, and then you walk out of a lot of like backlot area and it's just a long exit route. This is incredible.

SPEAKER_03 44:44

No, and they have little TVs in the queue to kind of give you a preview of each house. The queue itself is scary because you're inside a dark, empty Sears department store. And so it's echoing, it's very, very, very dark as you're in the queue. The only thing that loot that illuminates the queue is the TVs and the house. So even that experience alone is already kind of giving you the heebie jeebies. I was really impressed with the house. And like Andrew was talking about in terms of providing Howie lore, you can see that throughout the experience. There were times that I got got for sure. I hit the wall. I was holding on to my friend Sarah, like, oh, I'm going to scream. It was a lot of fun. And I got to also enjoy the production. It was a perfect balance, like I had mentioned and I had hoped for. So we only got to see one house, and I can't wait to see the other ones. Because if it's like that, I think people are gonna have a really good time.

SPEAKER_04 45:44

Since our interview, I was able to see the preview footage of Toxic Apocalypse that they've been pushing out on social media. I've only done a zombie paintball situation once in Virginia. Never did I imagine getting to actually see it here, much less with glow in the dark and neon. I am so excited to get the pew pew on.

SPEAKER_03 46:07

Oh man, the pew pew is gonna be nuts. I've I gotta say I've never done paintballing. I'm a little petrified, obviously, because I'm a fragile little flower, but it's a good sell. I might actually do it, depending.

SPEAKER_04 46:19

You need to. You don't get shot. You just do the shooting.

SPEAKER_03 46:22

You just do the shooting. That's true. That's true.

SPEAKER_04 46:25

This is safe. You're you're in a safe space to get some aggression out, like Tony was saying.

SPEAKER_03 46:29

Yeah, and I feel like now's the time. I can't wait for like the carnival food as well. Delicious. You mentioned the elephant ears, and now it's still stuck in my head too.

SPEAKER_04 46:38

I had an elephant ear for the very first time last year when I went to another local haunt with Sean and Ari. Oh, that's right. But then that reminds me of that experience. And how incredible is it that they're able to not only put on this high quality production that really is faithful to the experience of the guest, but you also have unlimited rides with your admission.

SPEAKER_03 46:59

Which is incredible. You don't have to worry about extra tickets. It doesn't even have to break the bank. You're just there having a good time, enjoying some eats, getting some scares on. It's a it's a perfect night out. Low commitment in terms of like, oh, I'm gonna be here till like three in the morning. If you want to, feel free, have a blast. But we love a good, even a weekday experience where you can just go after work and get the aggression out with a paintball or enjoy yourself some you know hot dogs and elephant ears. It's not even like a whole trip that you've gotta make, it's at the local mall. Can't go wrong with that.

SPEAKER_04 47:34

I genuinely cannot wait. Obviously, we talked a lot about haunts and haunted house horror films during our interview. But Binks, I gotta know, has your perspective on all those shifted, now having a little bit of a behind-the-scenes look.

SPEAKER_03 47:49

Oh, for sure. And that's why I think I I love that we did this, and I love that we were able to get a peek at the making of, because we love these experiences, we love going to these things, and we also watch the films that are centered from these experiences, and we don't have many of them, right? There's not that many haunt films, but when we do get them, you feel like you relate to them the most because we enjoy going to those theme parks, we enjoy going to haunts, whether they be local or at, you know, obviously Orlando or or what have you. And so for me, it's changed the perspective because now if I were to watch one of those films, I'm gonna be thinking, who created these particular haunts? What was this lore that they were trying to build that naturally then becomes a real life risk, right? Or, you know, in certain in some of the haunt films that we've seen, that we have a slasher, you know, a killer running rampant throughout one of these houses and bringing that haunt to life, quite literally, depending on what the lore is. So I think it's so fun to realize, like in these scenarios and in these settings, there are people that put in the work that had these ideas that wanted to integrate these horror films into the haunted house, and then the experience then becomes an actual horror film. It's like you go into from it's almost like a weird timeline, right? Like you grab these horror films, develop it into a haunted house, and then the haunted house then has an actual horror film going on within it. So fucked.

SPEAKER_04 49:19

It's absolutely incredible. Man, I'm thinking about even Haunt from 2019. Yes. There's so many of these movie beings that I really want to rewind on our podcast now because it's like we've already done so many great ones, and I need to know what you and and even Mac and Sean feel about these films. Because now that I know that these motherfuckers are hiding in booholes, come on.

SPEAKER_03 49:43

It changes everything. It really does. And also, let's talk about like what the future of House of Horror looks like, right? When they talk about really integrating all these other components, whether it be technology, whether it be, you know, isolation, right? And and making sure that people going through these haunts are really experiencing them in a singular level, not again, like I just said earlier, with a ton of people crammed into a line. That is haunt as well. We go back to that particular film as an example. Haunt is literally just a small group, four or five friends. I think it was like whatever, it's a small cast, right? Going through an entire haunt, just them. And that's something that House of Horror, you know, hopes to maybe one day, if possible, integrate into an experience. That would be scary as hell.

SPEAKER_04 50:30

Mm-hmm. Or even the note that Tony was talking about, which is you know, you have them record their name, or you get their tracking of where they are throughout the house, and then they start whispering your name.

SPEAKER_03 50:41

Oh shit. That would ruin me, but I'm ready. The camp was my favorite.

SPEAKER_04 50:46

We're having a sleepover next year. I swear. The year that they do this, we're doing it.

SPEAKER_03 50:51

A hundred percent. That would be incredible. And I love, I just, you know me, I'm such a Miami girl, right? Like I not tip stereotypically, but in the sense of born and raised here, I really love the city. And it's so cool to be able to kind of see something that's been around for so many years continue to flourish, to continue to iterate what they do. And then imagining how many other places that are out there in this country and just out there in general that are really trying to bring the horror community together, even in the local sense. You don't have to go to a big theme park to be able to experience and come together.

SPEAKER_04 51:27

And I have to admit, when I lived in Virginia, we had our local haunts that were not actually good. Like, let's be very clear, they were pretty trash. But it was the spirit of community, and it was this the fall season. And I think moving back to Miami, obviously we had the pandemic in 2020, and that's kind of shifted things, but Miami feels like summer all year round. There is something missing. Like you can't just pop over to a pumpkin patch very easily, it's not super convenient. And so, is the spirit of Halloween really alive and well? When you see it in House of Horror, hell fucking yeah, it is. And that's the kind of iconic gathering that we need to keep that season moving in South Florida.

SPEAKER_03 52:11

Couldn't agree more. I couldn't agree more because us being from here, we know that there are the snowbirds, right? They're coming down here to enjoy the heat and get away from the cold weather in the fall. And the biggest complaint that we have as being natives is that we don't get to experience that season. And as lovers of horror, we feel like we're kind of like missing out on all that, right? We're missing out on the spookiness. And so I just love that House of Horror is really bringing that and is lighting it up, making it even better and better each year. And so I would say to any of our listeners that maybe aren't from South Florida, you know, if you're thinking of coming down in the fall and in the winter to, you know, obviously in this case it ends October 31st. So ideally within this time frame, right? It's a spooky season. But I say it in general in the sense that, you know, if you're thinking of coming down and being able to get away from the cold, make it a point to go to House of Horror. You know, you there is a spot here for you to be able to enjoy and get your spookiness on. Don't think that we're just all palm trees.

SPEAKER_04 53:08

Mm-hmm. That's what it's all about. And listen, we talked a lot about haunts tonight. We briefly touched on some of our favorite haunt films, and there are still so many left, right? We have Houses October built, we have Hellfest that I have watched and forced so many of you all to watch. Yes. But it's about time, honestly, that we go experience these haunts for ourselves. Now, the doors of House of Horror are open for the 2024 season from September 26th to October 31st, and you should actually come join us. Please. I need you to experience with me just how scared Binks can get. She collapsed at Halloween horror nights, she got got a preview night, but we need to see her fall over so many other times and see her use a paintball gun for the first time.

SPEAKER_03 53:52

Absolutely necessary. I welcome everyone to witness quite the show.

SPEAKER_04 53:56

Absolutely. And now you can follow the link in our show notes and use code hacker slash for 10% off of your tickets to Miami's Haunted House of the Year. And we certainly had this robust discussion, but our conversation about haunts, horror, house of horror, none of it ends here by any means. We're gonna be talking about this shit all month long.

SPEAKER_03 54:15

Absolutely. And honestly, like we were saying, if you really do want to keep getting scared with us, consider supporting the show by subscribing through Apple Podcasts or visiting patreon.com slash hackerslash where you can enjoy even more of the show, including bonus content with early access, extended episodes with our B sides, which are free sides for the spooky season, movie nomination, and live shows. And if you've enjoyed learning about the haunt experience, especially about boo holes, leave us a five star review wherever you get your podcasts. This helps us continue to deliver great content for all you horror fiends out there.

SPEAKER_04 54:48

We'll see you next time, folks. And remember, guard your boo holes.