Thursday, April 30, 2009

Haunted VIDEO Review Thursday

Hello once again my faithful minions to another edition of Haunted Review Thursday. Today we will change gears slightly and review a video from my Hallowe'en collection.


Do-It-Yourself X-treme Haunted House Make-Over

Hosted by Bill Lay

When you say X-treme, you had better be prepared to show Mr. Macabre something that he hasn't seen before and unfortunately, there's nothing here he hasn't seen before on this DVD. However, for the novice or the once-a-year haunter, this would be a good video to have. Hosted by Bill Lay, a special effects expert for Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Showtime's Outer Limits, he shows with great detail how to make some simplistic static props, a couple of innovative startle scares and some explanations on lighting and effects that can be achieved with black light and strobes. Everything used is easily obtainable and relatively inexpensive and quickly done.

Aside from the VERY VERY VERY annoying floating disembodied head that is supposed to be somewhat amusing, this is not actually a bad how-to video. Granted, it isn't actually a good how-to video either, being on the simplistic side. Maybe I'm being a little bit of a Hallowe'en snob and trying to find a reason to butcher it to pieces (that comes when my collection of Better Homes and Gardens Halloween books comes up to the chopping block) but I personally didn't learn anything new. However, for the younger haunter (of age or experience), this would be a good starter video, I imagine that when I was starting out I would have played it over and over and over.

My humble rating--for those who are veterans, save the money for the venti Starbuck's Cappuccino, you know everything in this video from scouring the internet for ideas. For those starting out haunting, buy this video, you can get some really good starting ideas from it and to start familiarizing yourself with the art of haunting.

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