# Ideas to tie-in yard w/ Killer Klowns/funhouse theme?



## chartreusechaos (Jul 7, 2009)

I'm going with a carnival/funhouse theme in my garage haunt, 12-year-olds only to attend. Funhouse mirrors, one a two-way where a scary clown appears. Rickety floor, blacklight dot room with moving walls, maybe cotton candy cocoons (one quivering) like in Killer Klowns movie.

Haven't been able to figure a way to tie-in the front yard decorations. I have a steeply sloping yard with no trees, but lots of bushes in front of the house.

I have a bunch of wig heads with blue LED eyes from last year (they were draped in fabric and cheesecloth for a ghost army), floodlights, light strings, and two 7' tall free-standing, lighted ghosts that could be remade into something else (clowns maybe?). 

*Any ideas?* I prefer to build, not buy - I have more time than money - fair artistic skillz, better mechanical skillz.


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## Haunty (May 31, 2006)

Do you know anyone that can lend you a large tent, for the front yard?
Could place some clown figures in & around the tent with circus music playing from it. Simple tiki torch type lighting or long strings of lights along the long drive way to welcome guests to the garage. Rental of a cotton candy machine & or popcorn popper would really go along with it.


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## aman018 (Mar 5, 2009)

for yard decor. you could go buy some highlighter color spray paint or line markers for construction use paint at lowes or home depot andi think at home depot you can buy it in gallons but take the spray cans and spray circles in you yard in like orange yellow and red or green highlighter colors and then put up some black lighting or really any sort of low bean shallow lighting and have it pointing in different places through out the yard to draw attention to thoses spots and have other clown material maybes some streamers hanging form the trees old sheets ripped up in to stramers and spray them or just slpater some international red color paint on them for blood or use cheese cloth


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## Halloweinerdog Lover (Jul 20, 2009)

have a sign saying "Carnevil" in your front yard and if you have trees someone posted on the thread "haunted carnival" some good props for your front yard a tight rope skeleton and a clown in a car, there are some great ideas on that thread, also someone had hung pool noodles for their entrance way into their haunted fun house, cheap but neat idea. Hope some of this helps, but definately check out that thread!


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## Wolfbeard (Sep 22, 2008)

There are a few photos from our Carnevil theme last year. There is a poorly lit shot of our tight rope walker. This had a pinpoint spotlight on it for night lighting. I posted the shot with a flash, for construction details. It is made out of a $10 Walmart groundbreaking skeleton, a pvc frame and metal conduit for the "rope." 

The clown car was a $2 tag sale find, I added a pvc body, styrofoam wig head, kid's clown costume, mask and prop knife. 









The other Carnevil photos are on both pages of my gallery:

Halloween Forum - Wolfbeard's Album: Wolfbeard's Photos

Eric


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## JahRah (Oct 23, 2009)

*Awesome*

Wow Wolfbeard, 

Those are awesome!! I have my theme for 2010 already, but you have inspired me to do a Carnival (sorry, Carnevil) for 2011. Very cool.


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## redrom (Aug 25, 2008)

We did it in 2008. A big hit!


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## redrom (Aug 25, 2008)




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## redrom (Aug 25, 2008)




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## offmymeds (May 26, 2010)

Redrom.....that is outstanding! and Wolf the little clown in the car is awesome, that's one of the best props ever! (also, i loved the tightrope walker)


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## redrom (Aug 25, 2008)

The funhouse entrance was made of chicken wire and paper machet. There was a tunnel in the mouth made of black plastic sheets. Past the end of the tunnel we set up a cheap dj light called a moonflower. It made a rotating light-beam effect that with fog made the tunnel look really long and it messes with your balance a little. Great disorienting effect.


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## redrom (Aug 25, 2008)

Modified a xmas tree rotating stand to be a toss carnie game.


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## redrom (Aug 25, 2008)

The freakshow attraction included "Bigfoot in captivity". When the kids teased bigfoot like we knew they would, he would bend the bars (painted pvc pipe), jump out and chase them around. They never saw that coming and it scared their pants off.


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## redrom (Aug 25, 2008)

Had a couple of carnie games for the kids to win candy. Other attractions were a fortune teller, and we rented a cotton candy machine. 

The coolest thing was the tatoo artist. We used blacklight ink to make tatoos that were invisible in normal light but very bright under uv wash. Yellow highlighter pens are uv reactive too. There was a string of white lights around the tent and the uv wash was out in the yard putting uv on everything. The white light overpowered the uv so the tatoos were relativelly invisible. But the effect was set up so that the white lights would occasionally blackout in sync with an electical sound coming from speakers. When the white went dark, the uv lit up the tatoos.


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## Raven & the Wren Studios (Aug 23, 2009)

I have a few ideas... 

1) Try building a carnival board-walk facade that funnels your guests into the ' 3 ring tent' (entrance to your house) Try classic carnival games with a torture-twist: Instead of the "ring toss", suggest that you're supposed to be tossing knives and saw blades into hanged people with hoods over their heads with crudely drawn targets on them. For safety, have the knives/ props already embedded into the back of the wall. The 'prizes' could be lengths of bloodied and filthy old dolls and such. You could do a 'whack a mole' that displays shackled hands of 'living' people trying to pull their hands out of danger from a prop clown with a spiked mallet. . . the possibilities are endless. 

2) Create tent walls that funnel guests to the entrance in a maze-like fashion. On the walls would be 'old' bill-boards of Attractions at your carnival, complete with frazzled marquee and psychedelic lighting. You could find classic posters like the bearded lady, lizard man, etc. Or if you really want to creep people out, create your own posters with images you can Google from Mutter Museum Displays. 

3.) This might be a little elaborate to figure out, but I've always wanted to do a carnival scene where a "ride car" has derailed, crashed and 'burned' through a bill-board poster or tent with body parts pinned underneath it. Hiding speakers underneath the overturned and mangled wreck to play sounds of moaning and agonized "Help- I'm still alive!" might be an extra demented touch. 

4.) Rent a genuine popcorn machine so you can serve your guests. Nothing says "carnival" like the aroma of popcorn. It would also be an opportunity to serve said popcorn in something fun.
For instance, a bio-hazard bag? 

5.) I would also take the time to make/find live recordings of real carnivals with people screaming on rides with the hum and rush of huge machinery. It wouldn't be that hard to loop in the occasional scream of someone that sounded like they were being murdered, accompanied by the deranged laughter and giggles of clowns. 

I'll see if I can't dig up pictures/videos from an art installation display _way_ back in the high school days. I called it the "schizophrenic circus tent", based on the idea that both circuses and churches use pipe organ music. If I'm lucky, I might be able to dig up the audio loop to share with everybody...*sigh* Such Great memories.

Can't wait to see what else pops up in this thread...


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