Our First Scare Acting Experience!
Have you ever wondered what goes into putting on a great show in a haunted house? There’s a significant amount of work to be done setting the scene, building the props, timing the effects and so on, of course - but most hardcore haunters would agree that what really brings a set to life is the scare actors. We’ve long attended Field of Screams in Lancaster, PA as guests and hosted media, but we’ve never before seen how the actors go from casually dressed civilians to mutilated monsters in the span of a few short hours. This year, we had the honor and the privilege of being taken ‘Behind the Screams’ at our home haunt once again to see how this terrifying transformation occurs…and we volunteered Katie as tribute!
Joined by our dear friend Kaylee from Fantasmic Travel, we arrived on property at 12pm EST sharp. Head of Actor Services Tanner Schopf met us outside the Den of Darkness, where it had been previously decided that Katie would take up a guest residency. After giving us a quick lights-on walkthrough of the Den and all of the infamous scare spots, Tanner gave Katie a quick crash course in scare acting; this is where the real work began. If you’ve never visited or worked for a full-scale haunt like Field of Screams before, you might think that you already have Scare Acting 101 down. After all, how hard could it be, right? If that is the case, you might be surprised by how much there is to learn about scaring at a professional level.
““Probably the most important thing is to scare and retreat. You might want to jump out and then stay in the scene, but the best way to do it is to jump out and then retreat.””
“There are three types of scares that are most effective,” Tanner purports, “which are the Startle Scare, the Grossout Scare and the Realistic Scare. Probably the most important thing is to scare and retreat. You might want to jump out and then stay in the scene, but the best way to do it is to jump out and then retreat. The first person sees you, and then you hide, and the next few people wonder ‘where is she at’ before you pop out again. You hit multiple sections of the group, and you avoid the awkward ‘I’m jumping out, everyone’s kind of just looking at me, and I’m not really scary anymore’ moment.” We were also taught not to focus exclusively on scaring the first person of the group, nor to build too much of a cadence or a routine into choosing your targets. The most effective scares are the unexpected scares, after all! Through conversations with Tanner, we quickly learned that these techniques are widely considered to be industry basics - but don’t necessarily occur to the average visitor, leading to effective scares that consistently impress.
Above: Tanner Schopf, head of actor services at Field of Screams, gives Katie a rundown on scare acting at this locally-owned haunt.
After Katie had made her way through scare school, she was deployed to costume and makeup where Kylie Helzer took Katie from a puny human to a monstrous ‘Den Dweller’ in the span of half an hour. This, Kylie informed us, was longer than usual. “It all depends on (the actor’s) location and their role, but we try for an average of ten to fifteen minutes.” And when you have more than a hundred ‘scaracters’ quickly rotating through a suite of roughly fifteen makeup chairs and VFX artists, it’s no wonder that VFX artists are trained to move quickly! Katie had a series of molds sculpted onto her face to represent cuts and other injuries, before ultimately being painted with several layers and colors of airbrushed bruising. Kylie was even kind enough to loan Katie one of her own character dresses to complete the illusion!
With that, it was on to the pep rally and the safety drills. Field is fully prepared for an emergency evacuation, should there be a need for one, and for fires and guest disruptions. Katie was shown all of the cut-throughs and given complete access to the Den of Darkness so that she was able to plan out her scares effectively and embrace some ‘Skit Lines’; these are pieces of staff-approved dialogue that would help immerse and terrify the visitors without relying too much on the simpler ‘boo’s and ‘rawr’s. Katie even gave a name to her character - “Irene”, which she decided would be a sort of tribute to the lead character in the ‘Nun’ horror films. Katie was placed in the bathroom vignette within the Den of Darkness and was left to amp herself up, surrounded by a supporting cast that was more than happy to have her.
Above: When visiting a full-contact haunt like Field of Screams, you have to be prepared for the occasional ankle-grabbing! Katie scared a few unsuspecting customers right out of their shoes.
While Tim and Kaylee took a run at all four attractions at Field, Katie got straight to scaring and found that it got less awkward and more exciting as the night went on. She fully embraced her character, never leaving the role even when on the mandatory breaks. Since Field is (and has long been) a full-contact haunt where the actors can touch the customers, she also took a stab at more intimidating scares like crawling on the floor and grabbing the ankles of unsuspecting passersby. Although a typical Field actor’s shift will last no less than four hours, Katie was tuckered out, hoarse from shouting and ready to retire after roughly three - which only gives us that much more respect for the actors who go all night, every night throughout the main season. “Once we get into October, the nights are long and the groups are going by quick - so (actors) really have to be able to dial it in to be able to last the entire night,” Tanner informed.
““Once we get into October, the nights are long and the groups are going by quick - so (actors) really have to be able to dial it in to be able to last the entire night.””
While we could only insert so much footage into our vlog from the event, we committed an entire day and night to this effort and we can honestly say that we got even more out of the experience than we put into it. Katie found it utterly thrilling to be a scare actor for the day, learned a lot about how the haunt operates and what scare tactics and approaches were most effective, and developed a whole new appreciation for the makeup and costuming processes. On top of all of that, Kaylee had an incredible experience at her first full-scale haunt ever and released a captivating vlog of her own! If you are at all interested in scare acting for Field of Screams or any haunt like it, we highly recommend that you check out either or both of the below videos to get a glimpse into what the experience is like. And of course, if you’re specifically looking to scare act for Field of Screams in Pennsylvania, you can submit a volunteer application here at any time. We can’t thank Field enough for hosting us and giving us an inside look at everything they do, and we want to give a special shoutout to Jim, Gene and Tanner Schopf for providing us with the security camera footage from Katie’s scare room to fill out the vlog with some additional angles.
