Pre-Season Happenings at Shingle Creek Manor

Though it's early in the year for any haunt related builds (for us anyway), there have been some recent Halloween oriented things happening here at the manor.

First, we are excited to say our annual video won "Best International Yard Haunt" from the Canadian Haunter's Association, which was actually quite an unexpected surprise.

Special thanks to the CHA for hosting their awards program each year and letting us "international" folks participate. Also of of course, thanks to the judges for all their work. If you've ever tried to judge peoples yard displays, it really is quite a difficult task. We hope to attend The Midwest Haunter's Convention in June to receive their cool and unique trophy.

2015 CHA "Best International Yard Haunt"

Anyone that's ever had a one on one conversation with me regarding Halloween and haunting knows my all time favorite home haunt is "The Butcher of Provincetown".

The backstory, character development, costuming and set designs of the BOP are at such a professional level that it is hard for me to fathom this is at someone's home. Each year, the owner, Brad Goodspeed, does a top notch promo video which has become one of the few staples for our own personal "Happy Halloween". We love to see what he comes up with each year to further the development of his characters and back story and these are professional promo trailers like you would expect to see of a movie preview at the theater. If your unfamiliar with "The Butcher of Provincetown", check out their annual haunt videos and promo trailers on YouTube.

As circumstances would have it, I've had several opportunities to meet and talk with Brad Godspeed over the last couple years.  This year he and his family stayed with us for a couple days while they visited Universal Studios. As if the Halloween and haunter talk weren't gift enough during their stay, Brad brought me a latex mask he sculpted and poured last season. I am such a fan, that it's like owning my own little piece of the "Butcher of Provincetown". While it's not one of the current characters it has that same BOP "look" of his main characters. I was overwhelmed with gratitude.

Finally,  in addition to the walk thru of the manor cemetery for the obtaining of the candy, we have committed on doing an actual walk thru haunt this year. The scope of putting a walk thru haunt together has kept this on the wish list for a few years without much hope of reality. Finally, I think we are going to be able to pull off something this year for our friends and neighbors that will be visually spectacular and unique for home haunters in our area.   Financial investment in the project has been made, so now there is little chance of backing out. Pretty sure I'll be posting, maybe vlogging (?) the task of getting this all together. More specifics to come!

Spring Landscaping Equipment

I'm probably not allowed to have a hearse.... I wonder if I can have a back hoe... you know to do landscaping and stuff...

This Cadillac hearse was from an old episode of "Monster Garage"

"Bat Ranch" and Other Weekend Strangeness

These gateways are pretty common to ranches here in Florida, usually with the ranch name or cattle brand on the top. This giant bat is a bit out of the norm though. Saw this on my drive to Apopka, Florida this past weekend.

I really don't get it... A defunct haunted attraction entry? Is this a bat farm? Winter home for a vampire? There was no sign anywhere, just the bat.

Looking down the dirt road all I could see was a pole barn, and the small fuselage of an old airplane both slightly overgrown with vegetation. While it was probably a Halloween decoration someone never took down, I like to think it was a bat ranch! Figured it was best not to trespass to investigate to learn for sure though. I'm betting bat farmers don't take kindly to trespassers!

Ironically, this wasn't the strangest thing I saw this weekend...

Dog's water diving contest

Pig races

There was lots of fun stuff to watch at "The Old Florida Music Festival" in Apopka, Florida. Unusual stuff, but fun nonetheless. 

...and So It Begins

Christmas is over.  2016 has arrived.

We had company for  Christmas, my wife's family came to visit. Nice to have children for the holiday. They brought me the flu to start off my new year.

My immediate thought has been this might not be a sign of good things to come for the year...

Flu be damned, between fevers, hacking, coughing and keeping the cold drug and tissue companies in business,  I managed to finish our annual Shingle Creek Manor 2015 video.

It felt like a struggle this year. Software changed and it was like learning it from scratch, couldn't find a song I wanted to use,  and once again,  kicked myself in the butt for not having enough video and photos to choose from.

Whining aside, ... it's done!

Wishing our friends and family a happy and blessed New Year!

Dear Santa...

My first choice would be a replica snowman from the "Krampus" movie to decorate our yard, but one of these replica "Krampus" tree ornaments would be cool too! The shipping price to the U.S. is quite a bit, so I'll have just depend on Santa to bring it.

Bell Ornament from "Krampus" the movie

"Krampus" - My Review

I was pretty excited to go see the new "Krampus" movie that opened this evening. I have been somewhat infatuated with the whole folklore of Krampus since I was a young soldier stationed in Germany. As luck would have it,  I accidentally stumbled across a Krampus festival in a small town during a weekend in the Alps.  While I have enjoyed seeing Krampus gain a bit of popularity in the U.S. among the haunt industry, I was really hopeful this movie would bring a good story-telling of the Krampus character.

Directed by Michael Dougherty, "Krampus" is not a horror movie anymore than you could consider "Gremlins" a horror movie. It is a Christmas movie but I wouldn't say you will leave the theater with that Christmas, "It's a Wonderful Life" glow either. It is the darker side of Christmas. "Oma"(Krista Stadler), the Grandmother, warns, "He is the shadow of St. Nicholas". That pretty well sums up "Krampus".

Rated PG13, "Krampus" (and his minions) is the character of ancient folklore accidentally summoned upon a modern day family and their visiting relatives for not believing in St. Nicholas.

The movie sets a comedic tone right from the start with montages of Black Friday shoppers pummeling each other to the Bing Crosby Christmas carol, "Most Wonderful Time of the Year". That same type comedy pretty much continues throughout the film with that over the top dysfunctional family type humor breaking up the suspense.

Acting was really good with David Kouchner, ("I just got my ass handed to me by a bunch of Christmas cookies") and Conchata Ferrell ("It looks like Martha Stewart threw up in here") leading the comedic relief. Adam Scott did a great job playing the serious "leader" role as the Father of Emjay Anthony, who plays his son "Max". Max is the central character who ultimately is responsible for bringing Krampus to visit on Christmas. The rest of the supporting actors were great as well.

I personally thought the digital effects and sets creating  the neighborhood street consumed by a winter blizzard were top notch. The appearance of snowmen props also were top notch but had a strange look of familiarity about them... Yes, "Pumpkinrot" friends we get to see "Snowman design by Pumpkinrot" in the closing credits! Congratulations Rot!

The only CG I felt wasn't really well done was of the gingerbread cookie characters. They were so over the top ridiculous though that they were hilarious.

The Krampus character of course was not funny, and the designers did a great job at making sure he was scary and the focus of the movie's suspense. The costuming and CG really brought the character to life. I personally didn't like the costuming of the "Elves" as much, but most of the focus was on Krampus so they didn't do anything to hinder the overall quality of the movie.

I am pretty sure Krampus won't do great at the box office just by virtue of it being a "scary" movie at Christmas, the "most wonderful time of year".  It is a good movie though, with some good suspense, some good laughs, and though the ending is somewhat predictable, a good story. It will certainly get added to my Christmas DVD collection, and I'm pretty sure the Halloween folks are going to enjoy it for what it is, an entertaining movie!

"Requiem"

"Requiem"- our first use of a full skeleton to make a graveyard statue

Our only big prop this year was the "Requiem" statue.

It started out in my mind as a different concept for a reaper with a cloaked hood and a scythe leaning against him while he played the violin. I may still re-visit that concept next year with another character, but after getting the skeleton and violin in the right position I was pretty happy with the way it looked under the lights. To be honest, I didn't feel like the mess of using "Monster Mud" this year to make a solid cloak either.

Total investment for this guy was about $85, a pose-able skeleton from Home Depot for $40, a 3/4 size violin off Ebay for $40, and a piece of 1/2' aluminum conduit and a flange from Home Depot that was under $5. The remaining paint and materials I had from previous projects.

 

Tips for making a skeleton statue:

Skeleton spines are the part of pose-able skeletons that don't really pose. They're always straight and completely limit your options for making a skeleton position look natural. I bent a section of half inch aluminum conduit to the angle I wanted the skeleton's spine and attached the conduit to a wood base with a flange.

Attach aluminum electrical conduit to a wood base with a plumbing flange

If you like to design and build props, a good adjustable heat gun is one of the few tools that are essential, and this is one of those times. I gradually heated the spine until it was soft and mold-able but didn't actually start to melt the plastic. Then bent the spine to match the bend in the vertical conduit, and zip tied the spine to the conduit. (If this was something that would be viewed in daylight it appeared as though the conduit could actually be run up through the inside of the spine to completely conceal it, for my purpose it wasn't necessary.)


The only other heat gun use was to pose the fingers of the hands holding the violin and bow, and a bit on the neck to tilt the head.

Use a heat gun to pose parts that aren't "pose-able"

Each pose-able joint ( shoulders, elbows, knees, and ankles) were positioned and hot glued in place temporarily. Then I used some left over Apoxie Sculpt to cement the joints solid and cover any gaps and screw holes. Apoxie Sculpt is a two part moldable putty that when combined dries very hard like an epoxy cement. There is probably a similar type construction material that could be used to harden the joint, but Apoxie Sculpt can be bought through Amazon for under $20 and can be frozen so the left over material keeps for a long time.

Each moving joint is secured using "Apoxy Sculpt" before it's painted

Store bought skeletons have a smooth shiny plastic surface. This was suppose to be more statue like so it was painted with grey tinted Drylok that we had left over from our tombstones. I like Drylok because it gives everything that stone-like sandy grit look and it's readily available at Home Depot.

Dry wall compound "weathered" skull after dry brushing

After the first coat of Drylok, I used drywall compound to texture certain areas I felt should look weathered. The best method I have found so for "weathering" with drywall compound is to slather on the wet drywall compound. Let the compound set until it starts to dry just a bit. Then firmly dab the areas with a damp kitchen sponge to give it the texture you want. Drylok those areas to seal the drywall compound.

DryLok-ed statue before "inking" and "dry brushing" details

The entire statue gets sponged with a watered down flat back paint using a sea sponge. Finally, the statue is finished off by dry brushing flat white to highlight the edges and textures and ultimately give it that "carved stone" look. Dry brushing with white or a very light color is critical for viewing your creations in the dark under spotlights or ambient lighting.

Hopefully these tips were useful! I think more skeleton statuary to come for our graveyard next year!