4B - Thursday, October 28, 2010
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Indie horror descends on the Michigan
Bringing people together
with scares for a
frighteningly good cause
By CASSIE BALFOUR
DailyArts Writer
On Devil's Night, the Michigan Theater
will be transformed into a terrifying circus
fit to host an indepen-
dent horror film festival. Three Corpse
LSA senior Jonathan
Barkan and his crack CirCUS
team of horror buffs Saturday
had visions of creating at 7
a stronger, more cohe- M .
sive horror comnt Mchigan Theatr
svhorrcommunity Tickes from $17
in southeast Michigan.
The result: the Three
Corpse Circus Independent Horror Film
Festival.
The eclectic festival submissions range
from zombie movies to comedic stabs at the
genre. Submissions came locally from both
University of Michigan and Eastern Michi-
gan University students, as well as interna-
tionally from places as far as Denmark.
"We have everything from zombie mov-
ies, to broken families, to comedy. The film
festival is going to run the gamut of the
horror genre in just a few hours," Barkan
said. "All the films have their heart in the
right place and are really fun, even if some
are kind of low budget."
"I actually prefer the B-movies even
where the production is kinda crappy,"
added Brian Schmieder, an LSA senior and
the operations manager for the festival.
"Most of the time they're a lot of fun and
don't take themselv
The films range
as two minutes up t
val will also feature
ror trivia games, g:
Lanes and Monste I
treats for movie buf
EMU alum Chris
tival coordinator, sa
"ringmaster."
"She goes by U:
to be fantastic. St
crowd."
Barkan hopes fo
the festival, believi
everyone's curiosit
of life.
"It's in our natu
said. "Horror movi
ity. In general, hort
Hollywood because
they want to see. W
instinct, we wanttt
Barkan knowsv
- he writes for Bl
popular and respec
the Internet that is
and getting it off th
Despite what Bar
ror community inI
is there. Last year,
played at the StateT
ences. Ann Arbor w
of cities nationwide
rolled out the filmI
see that people in A
horror movies and
creepiness that ext:
"The horror co
Michigan is scattt
with only small po
'es too seriously." kan said. "I know people who hate horror,
in length from as short but who love Halloween and watching
o 48 minutes. The festi- scary movies with their friends once a year.
costume contests, hor- "But horror can be enjoyed year round.
iveaways from Colonial There is a stigma around horror. We're not
Energy drinks and other all scary, or angry hate-filled people; we're
fs throughoutthe night. just normal people who enjoy being scared
topher Anderson, a fes- and enjoy the darker aspects of films," he
tid there would also be a said.
Barkan said the Three Corpse Circus has
rsula, and she is going big plans to carve out a horror community
he'll really engage the that would extend far past their event.
"We're building the Three Corpse Cir-
ir a diverse showing at cus not just as a film festival but as a brand,
ng that horror taps into something that brings that horror com-
y about the darker sides munity throughout southeast Michigan
together for monthly events -- where it' s
re to want to know," he not just film festivals, but also art galler-
ies play on that curios- ies," Barkan explained. "In the future, we
ror is very profitable for plan to do concerts when it gets closer to
people are curious and Halloween. We'll also focus on the things
e want to celebrate that parents can do with their kids, such as
D celebrate horror." pumpkin carvings leading up to the main
chat he's talking about event, the film festival, which by the way is
oody-Disgusting.com, a unrated."
ted horror websites on "Yeah, don't bring your little kids,"
publicizing the festival Anderson added.
e ground. The trio has a philosophythathorror can
-kan calls a lack of a hor- be used as a tool for social change and is
Ann Arbor, the demand using the festival to rally support for causes
"Paranormal Activity" like the Spectrum Center - the Univer-
Fheater to sold-outaudi- sity's LGBT outreach and advocacy center.
'as one of only a handful If they sell more than 1,000 tickets, they'll
where Paramount first donate $2 of every ticket to the center.
Barkan and his team can "We want to show that horror can be a
knn Arbor crave quality source of positive change in the community
hope to create a cult of in general," Barkan said.
ends past Halloween. Barkan admits that a lot of their initial
mmunity in southeast schemes ended up on the cutting-room
ered and disorganized floor.
'ckets of support," Bar- "We had such grandiose plans at first,
we had to trim down our ideas and figure
out what was logistically feasible for us
because as it is right now, we're already
running ragged and if had tried to hold
onto our original ideas it would have been
a complete nightmare," he said.
"Nightmare on Liberty Street," Schmie-
der injected, always ready with a quick hor-
ror reference.
In fact, the team's encyclopedic horror
knowledge is almost, well, scary. When
asked to name favorite scary movies, con-
templative silence- descended upon the
group - but only briefly.
'The Fog' is my favorite, but as for the
scariest, the original 'Alice in Wonderland,'
even 'The Wizard of Oz' freaks me out,"
Schmieder said.
"I'm gonna have to say 'Let the Right
One In,' " Anderson said. "Horror to me
isn't about the gore and the guts, it's about
relationships, and that film is truly about
relationships."
And if you're looking for a horror film
TESY OF THREE CORPSE CIRCus recommendation, look no further than
e public good. Barkan. Unable to decide, he spent several
0
p
If you don't go to the Three Corpse Circus, Ursula will be angry. You won't like her when she's angry.
minutes rattling off a host of movie titles.
"I can't even narrow it down; I'm still
scanning my mental DVD collection of hor-
ror films," he said.
Eventually he cited "The Shining" asone
that still freaks him out to this day.
"It can be three in the afternoon, birds
tweeting, blinds open, and I will be scared
shitless for hours," he said.
The important idea these horror advo-
cates are pushing is to keep an open mind
about the horror genre.
"It's like when people say they don't like
metal even though there are tons of sub-
genres. Same thing with horror movies,
like the ones with a lot of gore and shock
value ... you just find what you like and
stand by it," Barkan said. "As you can see,
we have a lot of passion."
Ultimately, the team has high expecta-
tions for how they want the audience to
react to the spooky submissions.
"I want to see the audience freak out,"
Schmieder said.
"We want to have popcorn flying at
every scare and people screaming," Barkan
added.
With that, Anderson had some final
advice for would-be film fest attendees:
"Sissies stay home."
The Three Corpse Circus brings local short horror films together to pror
HAUNTED
From Page lB
people to actually go through it."
Many consider "Alien Caged Clowns"
the most intense attraction at Night Ter-
rors.
After the structural, logistical and con-
ceptual details are all worked out, set deco-
ration commences. The goal: make it feel as
real as possible.
"We really want them to feel like they're
in (an) asylum or in a mine shaft," Wilson
said. "All the things that we can make seem
more real to give more of that terror effect
is what we try and go for."
Wilson describes this as one of the most
gratifying and genuinely fun parts for him,
because it allows for substantial hands-on
creativity.
Most of the props for Night Terrors
are purchased from garage sales, antique
shops or secondhand stores. A portion of
the set comes from employees, who bring
in objects that they otherwise would have
thrown away.
Nicole Karbacz, the "Head Witch" at
Krazy Hilda's Barn of Doom, explains that
it's quite the contrary for their homemade
attraction.
"Probably 85 percent of what I have is
something we've put together ourselves,"
she said.
For Karbacz, the key component to a
haunted house is the live-action perfor-
mance of its actors. She refers to the actors
that populate the Barn of Doom as "mon-
sters" and described how exactly these
monsters get to be so scary.
"There is an art to scaring people," she
said. "It's all about the timing and read-
ing their body language and listening. We
kind of listen to (the guests) as they're
approaching the place to scare and play
on those fears that we heard them talking
about."
If a child says "Dad, I'm scared," she will
respond by saying "Dad's not going to pro-
tect you."
The Barn of Doom's monsters also
use a tag-team technique to provide for
an extended scare, rather than numer-
ous isolated frights. The actors playing
monsters will give each other verbal cues
- for instance, a monster warning the visi-
tors to "watch out for my wolf" before the
wolf jumps out and scare them - which
requires a certain degree of improvisation
that most actors normally don't encounter.
Night Terrors also realizes the impor-
tance of performance and has a very selec-
tive process for hiring potential actors.
"We do a pretty intense interview pro-
cess," Wilson said. "We actually put them
in a couple of the scenes, tell them how
we want them to act out, give them all the
cues, give them what we want them to say
(and) the feelings we want them to get
across to the customer."
Wilson informs his candidates early on
of the high standards to which he holds his
actors.
"When we go through the interview
process, the first words out of my mouth
(are):'Don't think you're just going to jump
out of a corner with a flashlight,' " he said.
"Our customers pay to be terrified, that's
why they come here, and we want to ter-
rorize them."
The selection process for Krazy Hilda's
monsters is much less rigorous.
"I guess I just hang out with some real
scary people," Karbacz said.
Most of her monsters are friends and
acquaintances.
After an actor is hired at Night Terrors,
his or her job is to work wherever the event
managers see fit. This includes some peo-
ple playing the same part all the time, and
others alternating on a frequent basis.
"If we've got a real good guy in one
scene, and he's just phenomenal, we may
pull him out and make him a floater,
because he's got the energy," Wilson said.
p
0
"He'll float the whole event and scare you
five, six, seven times while you're in there."
Regardless of how effective an actor is,
impressive visual effects are necessary
to really make the experience terrifying.
Wilson said that smoke machines are used
to slow people down and strobe lights are
often employed to create a disorienting
effect for visitors. In addition to their abil-
ity to disorient, Karbacz said the strobe
lights she uses give inanimate objects a
sense of vitality.
"(We) try to place them to make the
object look like it's alive," she said.
Dimming or changing the color of the
lights can also enhance a room visually.
Lighting is most valuable in changing the
mood from room to room and never allow-
ing the customer to become too comfort-
able.
Karbacz also uses Day-Glo paint -
which she describes as "fluorescents under
blacklight" - and "Gotetraits," which are
"3-D pictures hanging on the wall with
creatures' faces on them," to enhance
rooms visually.
The soft colors of the Day-Glo paint lull
guests into a false sense of security because
of their contrast with the harsher mood
created by the lighting in other rooms.
One Goretrait features the face of a
monster that can be seen somewhere else
in the Barn of Doom. The intention is for
a visitor to see the terrifying portrait and
then see the face in real life later on.
The effectiveness of these methods are
difficult to measure, however, so customer
feedback is essential.
Wilson sees a constant need to keep
each attraction fresh, which he measures
through reactions after groups have gone
through the events at Night Terrors.
"We do a lot of talking," he said.
Event managers stand outside of the
attractions and ask the customers ques-
tions about what scared them the most.
Whether you're the kind of person who
looks under your bed at night or the kind of
person who never shudders while watch-
ing a horror movie, Wilson and Karbacz
both think their haunted attractions will
make you think twice next time you go out-
side in the dark.
"If you're here, you're getting scared,"
Wilson said. "Race, color, gender, it really
doesn't matter - they're all screaming and
yelling."
For Wilson, the most rewarding part of
his job is observing the toughest-looking
people crack under pressure.
"Even the biggest guys scream like
babies sometimes," he explained. "When
you've got a six-foot-two, three-hundred-
pound guy come running out of the exit of
'The Mind Shaft,' screaming his head off,
yeah, that's a good feeling."
Karbacz can relate to this feeling and
continues to do what she does for one sim-
ple reason: "I'm just passionate about scar-
ing the crap out of people."
Attractions at Wiard's Night Terrors include "Mind Shaft" and "Alien Caged Clowns
6
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