By Ken Sakamoto, Star-Bulletin
Rick McCall of Theater Design and Production and Liz Brown
of Tom Moffat Productions, top, put finishing touches on the
Y2K Room of ShockHouse 2000.

It’s enough to leave you
screaming for more!

High tech meets Halloween
at Ala Moana Center

HALLOWEEN EVENTS

By Tim Ryan
Star-Bulletin

WHY do people like being scared? Sociologists say it's because we need to be reminded of life's meaning. So Halloween must be a really happy time for people.

But some aspects of Halloween have obvious appeal. People like to play games and eat candy, and dress up in costumes that let them pretend they're something else. But what's with cavorting with images of death and make-believe threats of violence?

THRILLS AND CHILLS What Shockhouse 2000 and Shock Jr. haunted houses Where: Ala Moana Center, mall level, mauka side, next to Sharper Image When: Oct. 15-31; weekdays 3 p.m. - 9 p.m.; Saturday 1-9 p.m.; Sunday 1-7 p.m. Cost: Adults $6; 12 and under $3; 6 and under are free Tickets: All Tempo Music stores on Oahu; House of Music at Ala Moana, or by calling TicktsPlus at 526-4400; Tickets can also be purchased through the American Lung Association at 537-5966 Other stuff: A portion of the proceeds will go to the American Lung Association.

What better way to celebrate Halloween than to visit a haunted house, though make believe.

Starting tomorrow through Oct. 31, Oahu residents will be able to visit the most sophisticated haunted houses -- not one but two -- ever created in Hawaii.

Shockhouse 2000 for adults and Shock Jr. for kids to 12 years old are on Ala Moana Center's mall level in the former Lenscrafters store, next to Sharper Image. The haunted houses -- each about 4,000 square-feet -- with their frightening accoutrements, high-tech gadgetry, and costumed characters cost about $70,000; design and construction began last July, said Liz Brown, one of the venue's two producers.

By Ken Sakamoto, Star-Bulletin
A rat jumps out at Brown in the "sewer room."

Though Brown and partner Alan Arato are reluctant to expose all the exhibitions' frightening secrets, they did say Shockhouse 2000 is "very scary" and filled with shocking surprises, including cockroaches and rats, howls, thunder, "sophisticated and really gross body parts," dead bodies, fog, screams, and roving maniacs.

Visitors to ShockHouse 2000 first enter a room -- one of 15 -- of high tech lighting effects and sounds where more than a few things pop out of the walls.

By Ken Sakamoto, Star-Bulletin
A wide-eyed prop awaits unsuspecting visitors.

There's also a forestlike jungle room -- a la "The Blair Witch Project" -- with witches and shelves filled with body parts in jars; a 12-foot waterfall where visitors might encounter a swamp monster; live characters including the Texas chain saw massacre nut; a Y2K room filled with mass destruction; an underground tunnel system infested with rodents and insects; a torture chamber; the freezing cold Ice Room; and a Bone Garden.

"Watch out for things and creatures popping out of everywhere," warned Brown.

Every visitor enters the exhibit through Shock Jr., designed specifically for keikis 12 years and under and "not scary at all," Brown said. This exhibit is filled with a dozen cartoon-like and familiar characters, and takes visitors about 15 minutes to wander through.

By Ken Sakamoto, Star-Bulletin
Children can brave "Starfish Beneath the Sea"
at Shock Jr. haunted house.

Visitors first enter a castle where a princess and king sit atop a throne surrounded by twinkling stars. The Asia room has Mulan-like characters in bright gold and reds.

Meanwhile, the Southwest Room features a Woody-like cowboy character from the film "Toy Story"; Bedrock is where the Flintstones come to life; an Under the Sea room is filled with mermaids and neon-colored sea creatures and a large, friendly starfish. And there's even a Jack-in-the-Box Room with a live Jack who might give you a treat.

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