Volume 1, No. 9. June 1, 2001
Mummy's
the word
The guy in the mirror didn't look
particularly fearsome; just fierce. He was an Indiana Jones-type who had just
come out of an encounter with an angry jaguar, his face bruised and slashed.
In adventurer's wide-brim hat and filthy flak vest, I headed out to make my
debut as a haunter in The Mummy-LIVE, a highly themed haunted maze at
the I-X Indoor Amusement Park in Cleveland in April.
With instructions from the show's creator, Lynton V. Harris, I stood in a corner
next to a room's entrance. Down the path and opposite to me a mummy crouched
behind a wall. I was to yell upon the guests' entrance, and the mummy would
jump up at them. My yells, though, resulted in more laughter than fright. One
teen looked me over and said, "Are you supposed to be scary?" Retaliation was,
of course, out of the question, so I just stared at him, and he walked away
watching me with increasing wariness.
Ah, new tactic. I stared silently as people walked past, a strategy that resulted
in some true yelps. When one couple turned the corner, the woman saw me and
doubled up in screams. Her male companion laughed and gave me a thumbs up as
if to say, "Good scare," then jumped three feet sideways when the mummy hissed
at him. Perfect double-whammy teamwork. It was the peak of my 45-minute career
as a haunter.
This bit of participatory journalism came courtesy of Lynton, president of The
Sudden Impact! Entertainment Company and mastermind behind Madison SCARE Gardens
in New York City, a haunter I featured in a Psychology Today article
on "thrills and chills" psychology (June 1999). He secured the rights
to The Mummy as a haunted maze, and the I-X Indoor Amusement Park was his first
test of the product in a non-seasonal venue. This month he will open a 3,000-square-foot
(909 square meters) Mummy's Returns at Dreamworld Theme Park in Queensland,
Australia, for a two-month run. Fortuitous timing on his part because the attraction
opens within weeks of the cinema version's blockbuster premier Down Under.
And we are fortuitous to partner with Lynton on a special $1 million promotion
just for THE LOOP readers. He is waiving the license fee for the first 40 readers
who obtain from Sudden Impact! Lynton's short Halloween film "FREAKSHOW." Lynton
produced the film, featuring Alice Cooper, for his Madison SCARE Garden venture.
This is a perfect opportunity for those of you planning Halloween events to
turn your facility's theater into a haunting experience, a free (for you) add
on to your mazes and rides. And if you aren't planning your Halloween events,
you better get started.
For more information, see the FREAKSHOW Promotion
page on this web site.
©2001, Minton Enterprises LLC
All rights reserved