Scare Tactics

A faint howl fills the dark room when suddenly a creepy, green monster charges at you, screeching. Startled, you recoil from its imposing figure only to encounter a vampire with gross, bloody fangs bulging from his powder-white face.

Sound like a bad horror movie?

Not quite. It’s the scene of a modern haunted house. And it’s a good thing you didn’t bring the kids because these elaborate attractions are no longer intended for them.

Years ago, haunted houses were homemade projects designed to get children in the Halloween spirit. Many of them were mildly scary and featured generic characters like witches, skeletons and goblins.

“For years we had it in the garage or backyard of my mom’s house and all the neighborhood kids would come,” said Bob Koritzke, co-creator of the Spooky House in Woodland Hills. “We had some ghosts and a few other spooky Halloween things and the kids really enjoyed it. That’s pretty much how all the haunted houses in this area were.”

Not anymore.

Now Koritzke’s haunted house--like most others in the Valley--posts a warning sign discouraging children from entering. Too scary, he says.

Today’s haunted houses are sophisticated operations that take months to create. They feature authentic-looking simulations of grotesque events and gruesome monsters. Their elaborate Hollywood makeup, combined with unexpected jolts in the dark, do a surprisingly good job terrorizing even the bravest of folks.

Some of these attractions offer what they call “toned down” or “milder” versions more appropriate for children during the first hour of operation, but most admit they target adults.

Universal’s Chamber of Chills is one of those.

“This was six months in the planning stage,” said Chamber of Chills producer Joelle Fleck. “We wanted to make it as realistic as possible and I think we succeeded.”

It’s real spooky stuff. That’s why most haunted houses also recommend the elderly and people with heart problems stay away. Some even suggest pregnant women and those who have had recent surgery refrain from entering.

“The whole thing has really gotten crazy,” Koritzke said. “Adults get into it big time because it’s such a fun holiday.”

The haunted house business is also very competitive. Designers say gory monsters popping out of coffins isn’t enough to attract customers.

“Competition drives us to be real creative,” said Scott Sterner, designer of Willoughby’s Haunted Mansion in Magic Mountain. “We wanted to be different so we created an ongoing theme throughout the mansion. Most haunted houses have different themes from room to room.”

That was the case with all but one of the haunted houses sampled for this story. Here’s a look at the biggest ones in the Valley in order of frightening excellence.

Chamber of Chills

Universal CityWalk

*

This is the kind of top-notch production you’d expect from a big Hollywood studio. In its first year, the Chamber of Chills takes about 15 minutes to walk through and features all the great effects and characters found in big-budget movies.

Each of the 11 rooms looks like a movie set, with special effects and monsters that obviously have the touch of a professional makeup artist. The 103 rotating actors who perform in the Chamber of Chills auditioned for their part and many of them have decent resumes.

A masked monster escorts groups of eight through the 6,480-square-foot chamber, which includes a gory torture room, and scenes from “Frankenstein,” “Dracula” and “The Wolf Man.”One of the scariest sets is “The Exorcist” because while your attention is drawn to the bloody, nightgown-clad girl in the elevating bed, the floor jolts beneath you.

The finale is also good because initially there’s nothing scary about the set. The focus is on a well-lit, average-looking living room when “Nightmare on Elm Street” antagonist Freddie Krueger pops out of nowhere yelling and waving the long blades that are his fingers.

* Chamber of Chills at Universal CityWalk. Opens daily through Sunday from 7 p.m.-midnight. $8. Call (818) 622-4455.

The Spooky House

Valley Indoor Swap Meet

*

Seven years ago childhood friends Koritzke and Dave Rector created a haunted house in the backyard of Koritzke’s mother’s Woodland Hills home. Finally it outgrew its original location and was forced to move to the swap meet parking lot in Woodland Hills.

Now it’s a 6,500-square-foot structure with 30 volunteer actors and rooms that include bloody medieval characters and movie themes like “Poltergeist” and “The Exorcist.”

Koritzke’s sister Lara, who has a degree in fine arts, created the themes and skits for the actors. Rector is a computer programmer responsible for all the attraction’s lights and sounds, which are controlled from an adjacent computer room.

The entrance features a tombstone garden that includes a skeleton with a moving head and rolling eyes. Monsters creep out of most corners, and the themed rooms, lighting and sound effects are good for a homemade project that surely doesn’t possess the kind of resources that Universal and Time Warner--Magic Mountain’s parent company--have.

Like Universal, “The Exorcist” room has a moving floor that catches spectators off guard as they focus on the possessed girl in the elevating bed. While it’s not as smooth and sophisticated as the one at Universal, the effect is similar.

“I used a washing machine motor to move the floor, which is activated by the actress on the bed,” Koritzke said.

For $5.50 you certainly get your money’s worth going through the Spooky House, which takes about 15 minutes.

* The Spooky House at the Valley Indoor Swap Meet parking lot in Woodland Hills is open Friday and Saturday, 3 p.m.-midnight, and Sunday from 2-10 p.m. $5.50. Call (818) 888-8570.

Willoughby’s Haunted Mansion

Magic Mountain

*

This attraction is part of the park’s Fright Fest and is included in the $33 admission. Halloween spirit is visible throughout the park’s 260 acres, which are decorated with cobwebs, skeletons, ghosts, graveyard sets and a 50-foot-tall spider.

The haunted house is about 6,000 square feet and tells the story of the morbid Willoughby family. It takes about 10 minutes to walk through the eight rooms.

Creepy organ music is played loudly at the entrance and a large tarantula drops from above before entering. The first room is among the best, with a moving skeleton and a bloody monster popping out of a nearby coffin.

Makeup on the house’s roughly 20 actors is excellent, not surprising since the park contracted 15 professional makeup artists. “We held auditions for our actors and we’ve been putting this together since February,” said Sterner, the designer. “I don’t think the L.A. market would go for anything less.”

The different rooms feature a screaming lady butcher surrounded by bloody cartilage in a small kitchen, a pathway with mirrors caving in and an array of startling monsters.

The attraction, which is open through today, is well worth visiting if you’re in the park.

* Willoughby’s Haunted Mansion at Magic Mountain in Valencia is open today 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Park admission is $33. Call (805) 255-4849.

GYRO’s World of Terror

Topanga Plaza

*

This attraction proves that bigger isn’t necessarily better. Promoters call it the largest, most elaborate and terrifying haunted house in the country, but it doesn’t live up to the billing.

Most of the World of Terror’s 50,000-square-foot area is winding, dark corridors that connect one themed room to another.

“I kept walking and walking and thinking the best part was ahead of me, but it never came,” said a disappointed woman after completing the 30-minute walk.

There’s too much dull space between rooms, many of which contain fake-looking props, like a huge mechanical rat and immobile, plastic monsters.

About 25 live actors look great in costume and makeup, but that’s not enough to compensate for many of the other flaws, among them a mediocre sound system that is hard to hear in some parts of the attraction.

The best thing about this haunted house is that the Northern California-based Global Youth Resources Organization donates the proceeds to nonprofit clubs dedicated to combating drug use among teens. But the $12 admission is still quite steep considering what you can get for your money at nearby haunted houses.

* GYRO’s World of Terror in the Topanga Plaza parking lot in Canoga Park opens today 7 p.m.-10 p.m. and is open Friday and Saturday from 6 p.m.-midnight. $12. Call (800) 944-HOWL.

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Other Haunts

In the Valley:

* Hallowed Haunting Grounds materializes tonight from 7 p.m.- midnight. A special-effects show suitable for young trick-or-treaters. 4343 Babcock Ave. in Studio City. Free. (818) 763-0582.

Elsewhere:

* Alien Terror is an extra-terrestrial-laden tour based on Area 51, the site of a reported crashed UFO in New Mexico. Produced by the toy store Puzzle Zoo. Not recommended for children 5 and under. Open 5 p.m.-midnight tonight through Saturday. $6. 1418 4th St. in Santa Monica. (310) 393-9201.

* The Queen Mary will have two horror mazes, Londontowne of Terror and Haunted Hull of Horror. Tonight through Saturday 7 p.m.-midnight. $10. The Queen Mary at the Long Beach Harbor. (310) 435-3511.

Theme Parks:

* Halloween Haunt at Knott’s Scary Farm, billed as the world’s largest Halloween party, contains 11 rides and walk-through mazes. 7 p.m.-2 a.m. tonight through Saturday. 8039 Beach Blvd. in Buena Park. $19.95-$33.95. (714) 220-5200.