Age 18 -1995
Posted by admin in Past Halloweens
Okay, this is definately the most stressful year of all my halloweens. In addition to doing the annual Ray Cam Haunted House in, this year, the boys changing room. (see picture above) We were kind in charge of the big annual Haunted House at Aberthau, a community center near Spanish banks beach situated in a huge & very old mansion. It was ridiculously huge, dark and had a ton of rooms, double floors and a grand open foyer with a big curving staircase. It was everything we needed to create our first big haunted house. Oh yeah, we as in me, Danielle and Steve C. That was the year I was went to Blanche Macdonald for make up artistry and met Audrey, so I was armed with knowledge of out of kits SFX makeups, not prosthetics though. That would kick more ass.
Danielle, Steve & I were in charge of one room each, making it whatever we wanted. oh, I didn’t mention we were in charge of 13 year old Girl Scouts (or whatever their troops are called at that age). We had a real budget and real props to work with; I even accidentally kept a rubber skull that is still in the doorway of my Christina Lake house. My room was HUUUUGE, probably a library in earlier times with a fireplace, so we made it the insane asylum!!! Danielle had a torture chamber where she was the executioner, complete with guillotine. And of course Steve had Freddy Kreugers boiler room, what else? I can still picture every detail of Steve’s prosthetic Freddy pieces, the smell of his replica red/green striped sweater and how amazingly hott he was as Freddy….. Since Steve & I had SFX make up experience, we taught Danielle all we could and basically did ALL the make up for all the other girls, which was a LOT. Literally, we had to get there early, set up our stations and start barking orders. It was a big deal getting all the rooms ready too; as in actually building stuff, finding props, and designing the whole tour and what the backstory is. The girls were very creative and into the whole project; this was the last year that I know of that this HH kicked mega butt. More on that later!!
The day went off PERFECTLY. There were huge line ups outside and most of the little kids ( and even a lot of the adults ) were freaked out and screaming. The tour guide led you through the
1. Alien disection room, which Steve made the head for with foam & Fimo. I kept that head for a few years in my room.
2. the Insane Asylum with crazy freaks like me, girls in cages & all
3. Danielles torture chamber, with a full on execution and head falling into a basket. Whippin good ole time!
4. Freddy Kreugers boiler room, with fiery cannisters, smoke and Freddy leaping out at you.
It was my first taste at what I can only dream of doing. There is no way to describe the satisfaction I felt that way, and that wasn’t even Halloween day itself. It happened on the Saturday before. Halloween fell on a Tuesday that day & I remember Steve saying that he was too wiped out from doing the Aberthau HH that he probably wasn’t going to go TTing. I was F-ing PISSED. I can recall how Steve & I would talk about how one day soon, we would open a store to rival Act 1 and we would give classes every week. He would do prosthetics and I would do out of kits FX. We would comprise our own kick ass team of artists and do make up for movies & TV shows…
I was working in an officer downtown on Granville & Pender, the headquarters of Ingledews Shoes where I was in inventory control. It was a fun job for an 18 yr old as I got to wear office clothing, like suits and pumps, LOL. When you’re young you wanna look older than you are and vice versa when you get older.
The Ray Cam haunted house was great… AGAIN… thanks to me, Kaley & Danielle. I don’t even know if they still do it or who superceded me in organising it. This was my last & best year at Ray cam in general. I had started to outgrow it last year but still wanted to hang on to those traditions; It has been my second home since I was almost 14 and I met some of my closest friends there.
I also helped my friend Kris plan a big Halloween party for his little sibling. It wasn’t a big deal since he lived close to me, right off Hastings. I believe the party happened on Sunday, so it was a full weekend! It always struck me as weird how his mom would seemingly flirt with him, like he was a boyfriend. And how she seemed jealous of his friendship with me, another girl and possible competitor. She would always be touching him, demanding his attention and treating him like a lover & not like a mom….
On Halloween day, Victor, Beatriz’s boyfriend, drove us to Brentwood mall where we found out we were too old for the costume contest. It was Danielle as a dead Raggedy Ann doll, Steve in FULL Freddy Kreuger garb, Beatriz as a dead Catwoman and me as a Killer Japanese Doll. We trick or treated in the mall & checked out what was going on there. Then Steve had to meet his other friends, Danielle went somewhere and Bea & I trick or treated all the way back to my place!! Vic met us there and we just spent the night in. I wondered what Steve was doing that night.
That year was what I wished it could be every year. It was the perfect one, though I didn’t realise it until many years later.