VISITVISI
Spooky houses are back
As if the reality of 2020 isn’tisnt scary enough.
New Yorkers — or gluttons for punishment — who haven’t had enough frights this year can get their Halloween spirits up at COVID-conscious haunted houses.
One of those places is Tribeca’s terrifying Blood Manor, which will start scaring the pants off people on Oct. 9, with Gov. Cuomo’s blessing.
The house of horrors on Broadway and Franklin St. has a strict set of COVID-19 protocols to prevent the spread of the virus within its bloodstained passageways.
“Safety, safety, safety, way before COVID, has always been our M.O. The characters are allowed to die, but the guests aren’t,” chuckled Jim Lorenzo, 62, an event producer from Long Beach, L.I., who has owned the busi
One of Timothy Haskell’s haunted attractions . This year he’s doing a stay-at-home “Scare Your Friend” activity instead. ness ffor theh past 17 years. IInn normal times, precautions mean thiings like fire-retardant paint, ample exxits and constant communication betwbetween staff in case of an emergency.
This year, the 10,000-square-foot screamscape works to incorporate sanitizing, social distancing and mask wearing without losing the fear factor that makes Blood Manor a Halloween hotspot. But with creativity, out-of-thebox thinking and attention to detail, Lorenzo thinks they can pull off a successful season.
Others have the same feeling. Despite the raging pandemic, the Haunted Attraction Association predicts that more than 75% of larger independent haunt owners across the country are planning to open this year by incorporating a complex web of precautions.
For people like Angie Hansen, the casting director at Blood Manor who also acts in the spectacle, the opening is a miracle in a year of misery. “To be able
to performf anywhereh iin person thishi year is a blessing,” she said, noting that many of the other cast members have not had live gigs since the coronavirus shut down society in March. “For us, the money is irrelevant. I think at this point most of us would do it for free, just to do it.”
Given the laundry list of safety protocols, Hansen said that she feels safe terrifying this year’s ticket-holders. Fewer guests will be allowed in per half-hour time slot, surfaces will be sanitized, and people from different parties will not be allowed to go in together. Masks will be mandatory for everyone, including the roughly 40 actors both inside and outside the haunt: Lorenzo is having a crew custom-make facial prosthetics with virus trapping systems inside, to blend in with their costumes. Blood Manor’s ultraviolet black lighting, will be pumped up to UVC level, which naturally kills bacteria.
BBut theh reall star off theh showh won’t’ bbe in the spotlight— or blacklight. Behind the ghosts, ghouls and goblins is a hightechtech system of ventilation ducts that pull fresh outdoor air into each of Blood Manor’s three frightful floors, sucking out the old air. “Without being able to put fresh air in and out, under this environment, we wouldn’t be able to open,” Lorenzo explained.
Others in the industry still have the heebie-jeebies when comes to the events. “I don’t mean to pass judgment, I just think it’s incredibly unsafe,” said Timothy Haskell, 46, the longtime owner of Psycho Clan Presents. For the past 20 years, his company has put on some of the city’s best known haunted attractions, including Nightmare: New York. This Halloween season, he’s sitting it out.
“Being inside and having monsters scream, even if they’re 10 feet away, kind of takes away the shock factor,” he said. “I would rather just come back next year, stronger andd bbetter.””
While Haskell has changed his business plan to offer haunted house audio packages for atat-homehome, dodo-itit-yourself spooking, Lorenzo is doing his best to ensure that Blood Manor is safe for opening night. For an extra measure of confidence, he brought in Nicholas Perrotta, a pandemic consultant who also evaluates local high schools and colleges.
“I don’t see any scenario of Jim not being able to operate successfully,” Perrotta explained. “It’s not just one thing, it’s layers of things that are going to make it work.”
Lorenzo says that none of his house’s haunts scare him — not gory torsos, gnawed-up skeletons, or even the reallife ghosts that are said to roam the historic building they use for the show. He’s just terrified of what could happen if he can’t make the most of his shortened season.
“We’re nervous. Also, we’re nervous bbecause rightih ddown theh blblock is a gentleman called the mayor. And if the mayor wakes up on a Sunday morning and decides that ‘you know whatwhat, I’mIm too nervous for the safety of the residents of New York’ and decides to close haunted attractions, there’s nothing we can do about it.”
By opening a week later and hiring less staff, Lorenzo hopes to cut costs enough to make up for having to sell fewer tickets. In just 18 nights, he has to make enough money to pay 12 months’ worth of rent, or else end up in the graveyard of other businesses that COVID-19 has taken prematurely.
“We hope that people are like, ‘You know something, I’m gonna wear a a mask, it [the haunted house] is compliant,’ ” he said. “It will be a night that they can get out and start to have a bit of a semblance of normal life.”
“What’s gonna happen this season is that the truly hardcore haunt enthusiasts are gonna come out.”