Scaring people is his passion
A mom slowly walked with her family through the 17th Door, appearing nervous.
Lights flickered, and the group huddled, seemingly in fear.
They moved through a laundry-themed room, where actresses called them “filthy piggies” and threatened to chop them up and throw the parts into a washing machine. Then, a slender man wearing a demented-looking pig mask and long black coat burst through a set of curtains.
The mom screamed but continued through the maze. As she neared the rear of the room, the character — named the Pig Demon — jumped through another set of curtains, causing the woman to scream even louder and clutch her daughter.
This time, she shouted, “I want out!”
The Pig Demon’s favorite scare tactic was, once again, a success.
“The key when I’m scaring someone is to not just walk away,” said Angel Rodriquez, who plays the scary character at the 17th Door, a 6,000 square-foot attraction in a former Tustin Marketplace furniture store. “You have to always come back and interact with them a little more.”
Rodriquez, 25, of Malibu has for more than a decade acted in about 55 home, independent and corporate haunts across the United States, including Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights. He began playing the Pig Demon when 17th Door premiered last year.
While some might consider scare-acting fun, Rodriquez insisted the job is physically demanding.
“Endurance is a huge factor,” he said. “If you don’t have endurance, you won’t be able to handle it the way I do.”
As one of about a half-dozen pig demons throughout the 17th Door, Rodriquez is expected to be active for most of his six-hour shift, running among each of the 17 rooms in his heavy mask and outfit. Last year he sweated off 40 pounds.
But it’s worth it, he said, adding that his speed and ability to do about 25 “demon voices” are key to his successful scaring.
If visitors become overwhelmed with fear at 17th Door, which lasts about 35 minutes and requires participants to sign a waiver, they can scream “mercy” to exit a room early and move on to the next.
Last year, Rodriquez was one of the 17th Door’s top scare actors, earning 407 of 3,822 “mercies.”.
“While you can evaluate, classify, audition and train these people as much as you can, you don’t really get the 100% picture, and you won’t see how strong they really are until you see them in action,” said Heather Luther, co-founder of the 17th Door, which has more than 100 scare actors this year, nearly double last year’s count. “I think that was kind of true for Angel last year. We knew he was good but until you actually sit back and watch him perform, you’re like, ‘Wow, this guy’s all over the place.’”
Rodriquez, who has performed at corporate and independent haunts, said he has noticed more effort from scare actors at the independents because they seem to want to “build a name for themselves.”
He oftentimes does not have to audition because of his history and reputation in the genre.
Scaring is something that comes naturally to the father of two who plans to soon open a tattoo shop in Malibu.
As a child, he loved hiding in closets and popping out to scare his mother.
When he attended his first haunt — Knott’s Scary Farm — as a kid 13, Rodriquez he thought the monsters were real. Eventually, he learned he could play them.
At 15, he performed in a neighbor’s front yard haunt before moving onto professional work at 18.
“I like working at different haunts, and experiencing different ones, because no haunt is the same,” he said, adding that he wants to start his own maze next year.
For Rodriquez, scaring is the ultimate stress-relief for a busy father.
“As you go to a haunt, and you’re getting ready to start scaring people, it just releases so much stress,” he said. “When you’re working at a haunt and you’ve had a long week, you just get instant relief.”
*
IF YOU GO
What: The 17th Door
Where: 2856 El Camino Real, Tustin
When: Various nights through Oct. 31
Cost: $22 to $29 for general admission and $27 to $35 for VIP, depending on the night
Information: the17thdoor.com
Twitter: @BrittanyWoolsey
