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JOHN WOODS \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Jen Zoratti prepares backstage with Killer Noob Escapes owner Lisa McMillan.<\/p>\n
But being on the other side of things? That, maybe, I could do. So I accepted Lisa\u2019s challenge.<\/p>\n
When I arrive at KNE on a Tuesday night in October (their busy season, as you might expect), I meet with manager\/game master Justyn Chernak, who will be taking me into the Funhouse, one of the rooms in which participants encounter scare actors \u2014 in particular, the infamous Puddles the Clown. (You can also opt to do this room with no clown.)<\/p>\n
Jen Tries<\/p>\n
Welcome to Jen Tries, a semi-regular series in which Free Press columnist Jen Zoratti tries something new and reports back.<\/p>\n
In this instalment, Jen Tries\u2026 being a scare actor at Killer Noob Escapes.<\/p>\n
Chernak, 23, has been at Killer Noob for four years and I don\u2019t think anyone loves their job more than he does. He did some rooms when it first opened and, when a job was posted on Instagram, he jumped at it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love escape rooms and always wanted to see the other side of the curtain, and here I am,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
In addition to running rooms, intentionally scaring people as Puddles is part of the gig. The first time is stressful, he tells me.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t know how a room is going to react. You don\u2019t know if they are going to be really scared, or if they\u2019re going to point and laugh. There\u2019s different reactions on every end of the coin there,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t JOHN WOODS \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Zoratti, selects a mask. She writes she \u2018hated\u2019 each creepy option equally and viscerally.<\/p>\n \u201cBut honestly, going in for a scare turns you into a different person \u2014 at least for me. When I put on the mask, I always drop my voice a bit and hunch over and just become a different person.\u201d<\/p>\n Chernak takes me to the back area where in-progress rooms are monitored on CCTV by employees running the rooms. That way, they can see how participants are doing, if they need help solving a puzzle \u2014 or, if they are getting a little too comfy, need a li\u2019l scare.<\/p>\n Sometimes a well-timed bang on the door is all it takes, which Chernak does: the screams dissolve into laughter. Clearly, people enjoy the thrill of being frightened in a controlled, safe environment.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s exciting. It\u2019s unexpected. With normal escape rooms without the scare factor, they\u2019re just solving puzzles, so it\u2019s an added experience. I\u2019m not sure why they like being scared so much, but some people really, really love it,\u201d Chernak says.<\/p>\n \u201cI enjoy doing the scaring more than being the scared person.\u201d<\/p>\n Chernak will be assuming the role of Puddles, so I opt for the moniker Giggles. I get to choose from a variety of truly upsetting clown masks, which I hate equally and viscerally.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t JOHN WOODS \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Zoratti prepares backstage for her horror acting at Killer Noob Escapes Tuesday.<\/p>\n I select a particularly menacing one with a mop of black hair. See you in your dreams!<\/p>\n My adrenaline is already pumping. My smartwatch issues me a Relax Reminder, which is hilarious because I have done zero scaring yet. It\u2019s my first scaring rodeo and I\u2019m the one who is scared.<\/p>\n Chernak gives me some pro tips.<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t get too close to people. Don\u2019t sprint at them either because they might do the same and run away and bump into a wall and break something. Safety is always the No. 1 thing here. We\u2019ll be watching the group and seeing their mannerisms,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n As for tonight\u2019s group, Chernak grins: \u201cI think they\u2019ll be easy to scare.\u201d<\/p>\n We do the first scare together. It\u2019s dark and disorienting and my mask is digging into my eyes so I can\u2019t really see, but I can hear, and a fully grown man yells: \u201cThere\u2019s two f\u2013ing clowns!\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t JOHN WOODS \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Zoratti found all her clown-mask options upsetting.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a major rush, though I have to actively suppress the urge to yell after them, \u201cI am so sorry!\u201d<\/p>\n The second scare I do on my own. This time, I have a prop: a clown bat. My assignment: bang on the wall a little and then chase them (slowly!) into the adjoining room.<\/p>\n Success! Making a group of large men run away from me in fear is not an experience I often have as a relatively small and unmenacing woman, and they could not get away from me faster.<\/p>\n Then, before I know it, it\u2019s time for the final scare, which I feel I botch. I have switched masks \u2014 so now, technically, as far as the room is concerned, there are three f\u2013ing clowns \u2014 and have swapped out the bat for a honka-honka clown horn.<\/p>\n \n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t The participants enter a door that positions them right in front me \u2014 so close, in fact, I could swear my clown nose is touching one of their backs.<\/p>\n I could get them real good in that moment but, for some reason, I freeze. I forget, for a second, what I am doing (not playing hide-and-seek) and what I look like (terrifying), so I mostly just stand there, breathing heavily.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Zoratti does some horror acting dressed as an evil clown and scared people taking part in an escape room.<\/p>\n Chernak, as Puddles, points at me and the participants turn around for what is ultimately a good reveal, but I still beat myself up a little for not immediately excelling at being a killer clown.<\/p>\n As it turns out, I am not a different person in the clown costume.<\/p>\n jen.zoratti@winnipegfreepress.com<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Jen Zoratti Jen Zoratti is a columnist and feature writer working in the Arts & Life department, as well as the author of the weekly newsletter NEXT<\/a>. A National Newspaper Award finalist for arts and entertainment writing, Jen is a graduate of the Creative Communications program at RRC Polytech and was a music writer before joining the Free Press in 2013. Read more about Jen<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Jen produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2013 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n
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