MANY CHEERS FOR SCARING US TO DEATH
SHOCK, horror, it’s over. The Glitter Strip’s most nerve-jangling visitor attraction is to be completely transformed from a house of horrors to selfie heaven. The owners of Dracula’s Haunted House in central Surfers Paradise will today begin gutting the interior and its weird and wonderful contents to make way for a new offering. It will become Trick Pic, full of optical illusions, larger-than-life murals and 3D interactive scenes. The Haunted House shut permanently yesterday. The five-storey site reopens soon.
AS we say a ghoulish goodbye to a Gold Coast icon, something fresh and twisted will take its place.
Yesterday was the last day punters could get spooky at Dracula’s Haunted House, the house of terrors with the iconic toothy entrance located down the central strip of Surfers Paradise.
Marc Newman of Newman Entertainment International (NEI) said they first opened the tourist attraction to cater to the slasher fascination.
“That haunt scene, in particular Hollywood movies were being pumped out like a machine,” he said.
“Friday the 13th, Texas Chainsaw (Massacre), and later movies like Saw and there was a big buzz around the teen market for haunt attractions.
“We had to duck and weave and change directions a few times. We created something that was too gory and violent. Of course the haunt people wanted more – you can almost never give them enough – but the other 80 per cent were freaked out.
“So we toned it down slightly,” he said.
The five-storey creep-fest was a labour of love for Dracula’s, who back in 2006 revealed the weird but wonderful props they had been stockpiling for the attraction’s opening, some from Hollywood movie sets.
Props included a giant lifesized great white, a scarily realistic werewolf with rabid eyes and bloodied mouth and terrifying zombie masks.
By the end of 2007, they were open for business frightening the living daylights out of everyone.
There have been developments over the years, but the essence of terror has remained the same.
The new venture will remain under the ownership of NEI, the masters of macabre behind the Dracula’s powerhouse. They have announced it will morph into the next level of entertainment; Trick Pic.
Due to open later this year, Trick Pic promises to introduce a world of optical illusions, larger than life murals and 3D interactive scenes relying on photos and selfies to be properly seen.
As of today, Mr Newman, his brother Luke, NEI CEO Alfie Schmid, prop director “Zip” and the whole crew will set about gutting the fivestorey beast. It marks the start of a month of “intense installation”, with open dates to be announced shortly.