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so, i didn't write that many blogs during the haunted house. that is when i should have been. right? like, you were only moderately interested in this in the first place, and that modicum of interests was likely driven by "hell, let me see if there are any interesting antecdontes he tells about the run, like Tyra Banks came and she screamed so hard her tit fell out." well, she didn't come, but Giselle did come on halloween dressed like an FBI agent. her boobies, much to the chagrin of everyone gawking at her, stayed inside her dress, however.
Vincent D'Anafrio came with his whole family, and his sons was too chicken and backed out after only the third room. D'Anafrio comes every year and he is actually a really nice guy. this is the first year his son chickened out. we finally got him. he's like 11.
but all in all the house was an enormous success. we broke all attendance and box office records. it was really quite remarkable really. not even in our wildest dreams did we think these kind of crowds were going to come. there was a tipping point somewhere along the way, and i'll never figure it out. i'd like to thank everyone who helped make this possible. firstly, sumeet Bharati. she's first because she helped out unumerably, but also because in my speech at our closing night party she was the only one i forgot, and she was more important than 90% of the people i mentioned, and she is secretly in love with me, but who isn't? she is the general manager for the event. next chip meyrelles the executive producer, jim glaub who headed up our website and internet marketing, and then... you know what, as i write this i realize there are like 100 people i could thank. so i am going to stop now. these people are not necessarily at the top of my list (but they might be) but they are who came to me first in my stream of conciousness. thanks to everyone involved. especially the beautiful actors. some of them werenm't so beautiful, some were extremely beautiful and others were alright. you know hwo you are sucka faces.
so thanks again, i can't wait for next year's house, but we have other things in the hopper before then, so i will be sure to blog about them if you give a shit.
We have had so many people come on fridays and saturdays that the accumulated body heat turns that place into an easy bake oven by 9 PM. so people come out drenched in sweat (partly because of the scares, partly because it is as hot as a bitch up in the place. but mostly because of the scares. of course).
and also, please get your tickets in advance for any performance this thursday on. you should for wednesday and tuesday as well (the 23rd and 24th) but you might be able to get those at the box office. but you will be told it is sold out from thursday and beyond. one of the main questions we get on our hotline is "do we have to get them in advance?" well, yes, if you wanna get in. please listen to me as i tell you. get them in advance or don't whine about it if you get there and you are told we are sold and happy Halloween.
finally, were some g-d sensible shoes to this thing. i have seen so many stupid flip-flops and 3 inch heels. those are awful for this house. it isn't dangerous, but it is messy and challenging and requires some physicality on your behalf. so don't wear stupid shoes. please. you are just as cute without them. i think you are super cute in tennis shoes. they look great on you. all your friends are going to like you and that dude is till going to think it's hot that you are jumping all over him even if you are wearing an old pair of sauccony's. cool? thanks
i turned 34 on tuesday. several of my cast members, who are on the youngish side, made me feel very old. they genuinely thought i was between 40 and 50. now i don't look taht old do i? so for the record i am 34. and you are welcome to send me gifts.
Evidently, people read these things, so i need to be better about it.
We are in the stretch run and things couldn't be going better. people are coming, people are getting scared, people are leaving (sweating and hyper-ventilating). i look at the house and there are a million things i would do different, but that is always the case. i like its rough around the edges fell, but in years to come i would like to make it a little slicker and a little more durable. that's definitely happening. i feel the ideas are strong, but those ideas have to mesh better with a gaziliion people trampling al over it every night. it has definitely held up better than year's past both literally and artistically, so i am happy about that, but it could always be better. much better. i will always strive to do that.
Our reviews have been fantastic. The Times gave us an out-of-the-box review that didn't make much sense, but it seemed like he thought it was distrubing and scary which is what we want (the part he didn't get is why enyone would subject themselves to htat - and you know why you do!), The Daily News gave us a wonderful write-up. 5 out of 5 screams! Time Out also rated us ghihger than our in-city competitor (not to be named here, but you know who they are. Daily News did the same by the way). So we are very happy.
NPR is doing another feature and I was on Maxim Radio yesterday ("whoa, bor, too much information. ha ha. are the girls hot, dude? awesome brohan i can't wait to go!")
oddly enought we are going to be on the cover of this week's Next Magazine (a gay rag) and some MTV Network (i think MTV 4 or some shit) is coming to shoot their top 20 countdown from our house tonight and air it on halloween. and did you guys see me on good day new york last week? of course not, you guys aren't awake at 7:30 AM.
So it is going really well. i am going to the house right now to do some beautification of it. You guys are wrecking the crap out of it. but that just means your scared. so we'll fix it and be happy.
wow, people are loving this house and attendance is up two and a half times over last year. Cipha Sounds from Hot 97 was there on Friday night and it was a ton of fun. he is great DJ. Hot 97 night was amazing. a kazillion people came, Cipha was broadcasting live from the house, and our ears are still ringing. we had such a new york moment on friday as well. Hot 97 send down a 73 piece marching band to perform outside the haunted house. we had no idea they were coming, but there they were standing on the sidwalk with their tubas and flag dancers. it weas 9 PM, and all of a sudden a powerful marching band version of Thriller started blaring and filling up the streets of the LES. people were gathering from the whole neighborhood to watch, and people were poking their little pointy heads out the windows. it was pretty amazing...that no one issued a noise complaint and had us arrested. marybe its a case for the feds.
anyway, we have fangoria night coming up on thursday the 11th (and the giveaways for that night are amazing!).
tickets are sincerely selling fast from this point on, so don't wait a few days before. we also are selling tickets for this wednesday and thursday at smarttix a real good discount. use the codeword HUMP when purchasing your tickets at and you will get $15 off the SuperHaunt ticket (normally $35 at the door- includes both the house and the maze). this is absolutely the last time we are going to do anything like that. once we get into this weekend forget about it. we are damn near laready sold our for many performances!
finally, nightmare backstage is coming up on october 15th. this is actually going to be an awesome event. me and my concept team and designers are goin gto answer any questions you might have, do demonstrations and then take you through the house and show you how things work in the house. show you all the secrets. like a DVD special feature "making of", "behind the scenes", "featureette", sneak peak", "inside look", "first look," you saw it here first", "this is how we do it", "come and get some", "tuna fish sandwich" kind of thing. it is totally worth the $20 . that is an amazing tuna fish sandwich we aren't talking about here.
check out the youtube video of me talking about nightmare backstage! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsLj0cvPnRg&eurl=http%3A%2Fhauntedhousenyc%2Eblogspot%Ecom% 2F
hey, go to nightmare backstage. go to our website, under promotions and check out nightmare backstage. it is an hour and a half seminar on the making of the house, demonstrations on some cool effects, and a tour through the house with me and the other designers where we explain the secrets of the house. it is going to be a lot of fun, and a very rare opportunity to be taken backstage of nightmare! friggin' do it!
this is the most crucial time for me to blog because i am supposed to be writing about how it is going, what's going on, how awesome everything, this is cool, that isn't, your mama this, etc. but this is absolutely the most difficult time for me to do so. i am crazy, as well as crazy busy and the whole team has worked very late into the night to get this up. the house is more technically sophisiticated than ever before. and if we can put it altogether on time it will be great. if we don't, then, er, not so much. i'm banking on us pulling it together. it is the only way. it's the little things that i am concerned about like whether we pounded out all the screws jutting out. just kidding. but watch your heads just in case. just kidding. but do watch them. anyway, i brought the actors throught the house today teaching them all of the roles and they were copltely psyched. they unequivically gave this house the nod over previous years. we have a lot of tremendous talent working this year. so many veterans from years past came back, so we ahve a very exprienced crew. we had the luck of being able to choose the very best for once. it isn't always that way. i believe we have the best of the best from year's past. they are ready to scare the bile out of you, and i know they can. watch out sucka, here comes the spiderman! what? peace out i got gout
go to haunternet (www.haunternet.com). it is finally launched! watch my podcast. it's fun. have a good time. tell us what you think.
As may of you might remember, we did 5 houses last year, and are doing only the one really big on this year. there are many reasons for this, many of them i have gone over in this very blog, but one i haven't addressed is the improvement on your experience.
the Manhattan house is the flagship store, yet out of the 5 houses last year it might not have been the strongest. not all of the time, mind you, but on those nights that we were super crowded. that makes a huge difference. you see, one of the things i realized after last year's experience is the reason people seemed to be more scared at the brooklyn and Staten Island houses last year was because they had a nice even flow of people, but rarely got overwhelemd. Manhattan was always overwhelmed. what a nice steady pace does is allows the actors to stay energized and fresh without the pressure to keep it moving. thus peeople are in the house longer, have more concentrated scares, more energy, and a better experience. so i designed this house on having that kind of experience in this super busy house in Manhattan.
What i've done is create a house that is twice as long for starters, but even more importantly, it is designed so that no matter where you are you will not miss the happening in the room. it is happening all around you and all of the time. it is also okay if you combine with another group, you probably won't even realize it. there is a real linearity to it all and you are focused on where you are in the house, and not getting lost. it is not dependent on events that have beginnnings, middles and ends. it is intense the entire time. so no matter how busy the house is it will always work. there is no need to execute more quickly. and we are now on the third day of load in, and it looks amazing. this house is bananas and i can't wait for each and everyone of you to go through. if you do and you have a good time, let us know. if you don't, then kiss my butt, we did our best (and you're a cynical bastard!)
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