You know those posters you always see growing up about local haunted houses? I saw them but never actually went to one, despite my love for “The Nightmare Before Christmas” (yes, it is a Halloween movie), “The Addams Family,” “Coraline” and one of my favorite Broadway musicals “Beetlejuice.” I was excited to attend Notre Dame’s Themed Entertainment Association's (TEA) “Roots of Destruction” haunted house.
I am a singer, so one of my favorite parts of the house was the music, capturing my attention while I was still waiting in line to enter. Composed entirely by senior Ayden Kowalski, many different instrumental sounds brought a low, ominous and electro side to the haunted house. Some instruments I noticed included piano, violin, viola, cello, trombones and bass clarinet. With the attention to detail, correct timing and the way the instruments blended together, it was beautiful and complimented the scenery of the haunted house and its theme.
Editor's Note: Ayden Kowalski is a Scene copyeditor.
While I listened to the fantastic music, I tried preparing myself for the unknown spooks that awaited me. Sydney Hank, a senior double majoring in industrial design and theatre, has been a part of TEA for the past three years and commented about choosing the theme and how they designed the house. “We did it ourselves, and everything was built by our team. Our process is we think about a bunch of locations that we think would work. Last year, it was swamp, so we thought it would be a good transition to this year,” she sold. Even with that said, I still had no idea what to expect.
Walking through, I particularly enjoyed the amount of scenery and props they used to emphasize a nature and forest vibe. There was an almost wilted rose on a stand with a poster of the theme above it, and throughout the house, vines and bushes swayed to emulate wind. Another part I enjoyed about the set was the different walkways we went through. At points, I walked through a doorway with some leaves and vines attached to it, which really contributed to the ominous forest feeling.
I have always loved LED lights and strobe lights (I have LED lights hanging all over my dorm), and they also played an important part in selling the “Roots of Destruction” theme. The lights changing colors from blue, green, white and occasionally purple effectively portrayed a forest optical illusion; the accompanying fog machines further enhanced the aura. The lights reflecting the fog and changing appearances strongly evoked forest life, which I enjoyed.
Finally, I want to give a massive shout-out to the scare actors who spent hours working on their costumes, hair and makeup. Sophomore and junior TEA manager Noah Janchar, who has been a part of the program for two years, comments, “Last year, I worked on some of the costumes, and I am now doing costumes as well as seeing the bigger picture.” They did a magnificent job with costumes and the jump scares. At the end, an actor was lying on the ground, which terrified me. While I did not say it out loud, the thought that went through my head was, “What if the guy just waved at us?”
The only criticism I have is on timing. What I mean by this is that I anticipated that the scare was coming because I saw actors popping out of the walls or jumping out at the people ahead of me. While I know the team built the set entirely, which is highly impressive in its own right, hiding the actors better would have made the horror more intense.
Overall, for my first haunted house, it was absolutely amazing; the design was wonderful, the music was well-composed and the actors did a fantastic job.
