Have you ever thought about scare acting in a Haunted House before?

I run a haunted attraction and every year I have newbies who haven’t scared before. So, every year I go over a few simple tips to help these actors stand out from the crowd and give a meaningful fright to customers. The simple “Boo!” from the shadows just doesn’t work anymore. In today’s world, we want our characters to seem genuine and be over the top at the same time.

We all know “The Do’s” are more fun, so we will start with those.

The Do’s of Scare Acting

Give your character a name – This is handy for a couple of reasons. It makes your character more personal and real to you and to the audience. And honestly, it’s convenient for referring to the character in the future.

Create a character backstory – Having a backstory is an effective way to get into character. It is hard to get into character if you don’t know who the character is or where they came from. So, create one.

For example, if you are in a clown outfit and your prop weapon happens to be a rope. Your backstory could be – You were a rodeo clown (with a cowboy accent) who wasn’t fast enough to be around the bulls (that’s why you have a limp) but you were really good at one thing in particular- tying things up.

Give your character a personality – After you have a name and a backstory you enjoy, now think how that character would feel inside the room/scene you are in. Is your character Outraged, Weirdly Happy, Terribly Sad, Hilarious or Insanely Hungry?

 (Notice all examples were dramatic. Haunted Houses are DRAMATIC.)

Knowing your character’s personality will help you know how to react to the customers when they come into your space. When guests approach would you attack them, convince them to join you in a dark corner or attempt to eat them?  

Consider the posture, demeanor, voice and accent of your character and stay with it– If you move around on your set, always think about how your character will move. If you’re out of your spot, walk back in character. It also helps you stay in character because you never know if a guest is close and you just can’t see them. So no twerking between groups.

Always interact as your character, not yourself- Think of what your character would say in a situation. If some kid says “you’re not scary” don’t respond with “screw you, I even created a backstory for this character!” say what your character would say, like “we can talk about it later when you get home, I’ll be under your bed.” Have fun with your responses. 

There will be hecklers, so it might be a good idea to think of a couple responses beforehand. Having several good responses to common things guests say can help you respond quickly and with the impact you are looking for. I would also suggest having some that you can use that don’t address them directly but will mess with them none the less. That would be the “You smell different when you’re awake” and the “You have great hair, I can’t wait to wear it” types of comments that tend to wreck people.

SCARE FORWARD – The haunt is designed with one way in and one way out. Do not jump in front of the customers or try to scare them backwards ever. There are many groups coming through on any given night and you don’t want to ruin their experience by adding another group to theirs and them missing out on whatever was scary. Always find a way to scare the customer out of your set into the next set.

The Don’ts of Scare Acting

Do not break character while on the set- As soon as you get into character stay in character, because you don’t always know if someone is coming and can hear you. If they see/hear you being a normal human, it will kill the scare and they will probably remember it after they leave the Haunt.

This also goes for after you get your scare, scared people tend to look behind to make sure no one is coming after them, if you walk normally back to your spot out of character and scratch your ass; they might see it. Then the Illusion is ruined.

Do not continue trying to scare someone who isn’t scared by you – You simply cannot win them all, or should I say scare them all, no matter how good you are. If you keep trying to pursue them, the only thing you will accomplish is pissing them off…A LOT!

Speaking of pissing people off a lot, do not try to scare your coworkers– I know this sounds fun and you do work in a haunted house after all, but there is a time and place for everything; and during opened hours isn’t a good time. There are a lot of people actually paying to get scared, focus your energy on them. It can really throw an actor off and let’s be honest, we hate it when guests try to scare us back, so don’t be that annoying coworker.

Try to not use clichéd overused phrases – Avoid the old, overused expressions that have been used to death. If you walk through a haunt and hear “Get out!” multiple times, you’re going to want to, but not because you’re scared; because it is boring. Same with phrases like “fresh meat”, “what are you doing here” “you’re going to die” etc. You need to get creative and get weird. Remember to use the backstory/personality you created to help figure out what your character phrases would be.

Do not follow a customer beyond your area– Especially into another actor’s scare zone/room. Two reasons for this, first off is you have stopped being scary and now you’re just annoying the customer. Second, you will ruin the next actor’s scare. DO NOT STEAL ANOTHER ACTORS SCARE AWAY!

These are just a few Do’s & Don’ts of Scare Acting. I hope you found these tips helpful. I wish you the best of luck in your Scare Acting Career.

Scared before and have any other advice to add? Let us know in the comments!

Thanks for reading Haunters!

Stay Scary,

-Jeremy