Add Horror Lighting to Your Haunt - Prop Review

Greetings once again Halloween fans and obsessed nuts (I hear they’re one and the same). Your good fiend the Barrow-Wight has been digging up another How-To to help you add dread and terror into the lives of your neighborhood. The Garage of Evil has apparently been doing just that with their interpretation of this little effect. Stolen . . uh, er . . . inspired by the Halloween Propmaster what we have is your basic poor-man’s flicker circuit. You’ve seen this effect in hundreds of horror flicks. One that comes to mind is the remake of House on Haunted Hill with the Geoffrey Rush, Famke Janssen, and the ever ghoulish Jeffrey Combs of Re-Animator fame. Remember the scene where the trapped party guests had to navigate the halls of the asylum and how the lights kept flickering on and off? Ever been in a dark hall where that’s happening? Ever wet your pants being in a dark hall where the lights are flickering and you know a beast is lurking somewhere near by to suck out your soul? Well, the Garage of Evil has a great How-To up for creating this effect cheaply.

Now folks I’ve built these before from other plans. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t. The flicker circuit is dependant on a flourescent lamp starter which has a . . . well, I won’t go into the details. Just suffice it to say that if you do not have the right balance of lamp wattage to the correct flourescent starter this gizmo will NOT WORK, and you will drive yourself crazy trying to figure out why. The best part of the G of E How-To is that you have an exact parts list with part numbers and which local home improvement store to get them at.

Oh Boy
Home Improvement Store Goodies!

Lots of pictures accompany this How-To helping to make it nearly foolproof. OK - one of you fools just might mess it up or electrocute yourself so please show some good sense and be careful. You will be working with electricity here, and your haunt doesn’t need any real corpses. Plus you’ll miss all the fun while being wheeled away to the Emergency Room with a burly EMT named Gertrude beating on your chest like a dreadlocked-kilt-wearing-tribal-wannabe-neopagan thumping a bodhran at Burning Man.

The Garage of Evil not only has this How-To, but many others to enjoy and build. Spend some time while you’re stealing . . . uh, absconding with . . . I mean borrowing, yes borrowing, they’re ideas and see all the dreadful nasties they have to offer. Maybe even click a Google link or two and throw them a nickel while yer at it. Was that ethical? Alright, if you see a Google ad you might be interested in then click it and visit the happy advertisers that may have a good or service for you. How was that Google Police?

this Deadlight sponsored by

May 23rd, 2007