Caitlyn Melton, mathematics and aerospace engineering junior, walks back to her hiding spot after scaring attendees during Fright Night on Oct. 17 at the Maverick Activities Center. This year’s theme for the haunted house was a toymakers factory.
Actors wearing weathered, bloody costumes lingered in the dark, eager to terrify each guest who dared to pass by them in the Maverick Activities Center. Thrill-seeking students were surrounded by uncanny dolls and animatronics in each room of the attraction.
As Halloween approaches, students and their families took part in EXCEL Campus Activities’ haunted house, giving them a festive fright. This year’s haunted house was centered around the theme “Toymakers Factory,” with props inspired by “Toy Story,” Jigsaw from the “Saw” films and “Annabelle.”
Months before students start anticipating the event, EXCEL members began planning for it. Members brainstormed the theme and props to build the atmosphere in the previous semester.
EXCEL programming director Paola Esparza said her favorite part of the process is hearing members’ ideas.
Social work junior Adrian Morris pops out of a box to scare attendees during Fright Night on Oct. 17 at the Maverick Activities Center. Morris said he wanted to improve his acting skills.
“This year we have a lot more members who are more enthusiastic, where they’re just throwing out ideas,” Esparza said. “I’m like, ‘Oh my god, I don’t know how we’re going to do it, but we’re going to do it somehow.’”
In the summer, members focused on building props and deciding the layout of the haunted house. Advisers gave them feedback on how to structure the attraction and budget for materials.
This year’s theme made it easier to create props, as many members brought in used toys, Esparza said. The toys were painted and splattered with fake blood to give them a worn-out look. Doll heads were pulled off and painted to look scary.
“We just go crazy with the painting and maybe destroying a few toys here and there to look like it was from a toy factory that got a bit destroyed,” she said.
Esparza said they try to keep a shopping list for animatronics and costumes to help maintain their budget.
Along with planning, EXCEL had to adapt to the event moving from the University Center to the MAC while their office is in the Continuing Education and Workforce Development Center.
“The challenging part is we need enough space to build some of these,” Esparza said.
With the location change due to the demolition of the west side of the UC and the limited space that comes with it, Student Government shared its chambers with EXCEL for making props and workshops and also provided ideas. UTA Ambassadors were also excited to help with props and provide costumes, she said.
“That’s why we have so many directors,” Esparza said, “We have a lot of our members. We’re putting everything and everyone to use.”
Acting positions for the haunted house were offered to EXCEL members before being opened to other organizations.
Architectural engineering major Tati Alvarez screams while being locked inside a cage during Fright Night on Oct. 17 at the Maverick Activities Center. Alvarez said she loves to act.
Actors had creative freedom to choose their costumes and makeup, though they could wear the provided costumes. During acting orientation, the actors were briefed on safety measures and could talk about their ideas for their characters.
“We do get some of the lines from the movies of what they can say, but they can always improvise,” Esparza said.
Social work sophomore Adrian Morris said he had not heard about Fright Night before the president of UTA’s NAACP chapter brought the opportunity to his attention.
Morris said he has done scare acting before at a haunted house event held at Mountain Home Air Force Base when he was in the service. The experience helped him understand not to take himself too seriously, he said.
“If you’re going into something, especially acting for a haunted house, you have to let down so many walls or at least step outside of your shells that you may have,” Morris said.
When preparing for Fright Night, he thought about what he would find scary and how to lean into uncanny aspects of horror rather than typical gory horror.
Caitlyn Melton, mathematics and aerospace engineering junior, pops out from hiding behind the curtain during Fright Night on Oct. 17 at the Maverick Activities Center. Melton said she wanted to try something new with scare-acting.
“Any time I’m there, I may not even be doing any yelling,” Morris said. “I may be completely silent, but you see me as though I’m somebody standing out in the crowd of a Halloween party that isn’t moving but feels like they’re watching you.”
He said that as a commuter student, he was looking forward to getting involved and feeling closer to the UTA community through the event.
The day before Fright Night, props and supplies were loaded onto wagons and moved from the Continuing Education and Workforce Development Center to the MAC.
On the day of the haunted house, actors arrived early to rehearse and work on their costumes, splattering the fabric with fake blood. Once they were in their performance setting, they could get a better idea of how they wanted to act, Esparza said.
EXCEL directors walked through the haunted house and helped the actors with their performances before the event started.
Then the attraction is ready. At 7 p.m., the haunted house came alive with determined scare actors and frightened guests.
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