Downstairs, The ScareHouse is very different. It’s intense, challenging and visceral.
It’s art.
Thursday, October 04, 2018
What Lurks in the ScareHouse Basement?
Downstairs, The ScareHouse is very different. It’s intense, challenging and visceral.
It’s art.
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5 comments:
The difference is that, in your run-of-the-mill haunted house, you follow a path, endure a few jump scares and get out. Even my grandmother can do it. The real challenge is to go into something that interacts with you, forcing you to make decisions, and leaving you lost (there's no anticipation of what's around that corner here). That's what's so frightening about the ScareHouse. They've thought much more deeply about the troubling aspects of our society and things that will truly mess up those who partake in it. Also, the fact that they have a waiver is alarming enough to me. I can't even go through the small, three scare haunted house from my hometown, much less a thrill experience that is promising to break me in new and impossible ways. I do have some amount of respect (although this is tinged with concern and caution) for the creators and cast. For them this is just a show that they do every night. If you rationalize it, and break it down, it's just an interactive show that will challenge the audience more than they probably have before. Theater is meant to alarm, to criticize and to make uncomfortable, so although the ScareHouse Basement may be there to send you into major panic, it's also an art experience.
I am constantly curious to go to a good haunted house, but I never know any good ones in the area. I will probably try to go to this later this month. It is interesting to go to a theme of entertainment as an older person, my memories of haunted houses as a child will probably not serve me much when experiencing them as an adult. Having an experience like that of fear, is so much more immersive when it is interactive. I love hearing about new twists, as well as being surrounded by people with that kind of similar want to go see it. It is a time of the year where someone can have a unique time to share with people to feel primal nerves, something that can be experienced especially here in Pittsburgh.
I deeply dislike this kind of "haunted" attraction. To me it is one step away from Mckamey Manor which is some sick-f**ks idea of a haunted house where guests are tied up, mock water boarded, submerged in vile liquids and verbally assaulted, and I am sure there is someone out there who would consider that "experimental theater." I think it is a way to get away with verbal and physical torture. To me this is not what a haunted house should be, that is not Halloween should be. I was raised on a Halloween that was scary but safe, it was a holiday that was all about being scared but never being terrified for your life. It was safe fun, where you could laugh at yourself and others after getting jump scared, not getting tied up and having your religious beliefs violently questioned. That is not Halloween and not something I would ever enjoy. I agree with Elizabeth once there is a waiver it raises many red flags. Unless it is a basic strobe and fog kind of waiver, anything worse than that is a no no. I have very strong views on Halloween, I appreciate the gory parts and slasher movies, but I am personally more into spooky gravediggers, witches, pumpkins, and headless horsemen. To me Halloween is a good load of dark humor, not some disturbing mockery of so called "art."
Yesssss it's time for my annual ScareHouse comment. As expected, another year has passed and I have not been to ScareHouse. However, this is my final year in the Pitt and I demand to go to ScareHouse. When I go, I definitely want to do my best to attend the Basement attraction, since every year it seems like a truly once in a lifetime experience. This year sounds especially interesting, with a family theme. A year or so ago, the theme was a clown, and I think that might have been too much for me. I am scared very easily, so I know that this experience will haunt me for weeks, but I can't forgive myself if I make it through four Halloweens in Pittsburgh without attending at least once. Complex, storied haunted houses like this are on the same artistic level as horror films, in my opinion, and honestly, could be deemed as an even higher form of art. Special effects can only get you so far in person. Deeply disturbing and unsettling people year after year is more than just jump scares and loud noises.
Share houses like “The Basement” are nationally known in the world of haunted houses. The Basement, however, is not your traditional haunted house. As an individual experience, you have to make your own decisions and can not just fall behind a group and follow the bravest member. Any type of haunted attraction that requires the participant to sign a waiver intrigues me. This is also the most conflicting time of the year for me. I love the concept of horror houses and the amount of work that goes into them to truly become horrifying, but it has always been an experience that I have been hesitant to attend. There's no doubt that freight is one of the simplest emotions to pull out of a human but some of these attractions do a truly phenomenal job at that. The Basement may not be an experience that I would enjoy going through, but I will always watch from the sidelines and revel at the dedication that the designers, performers, and participants put into each and every scare.
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