The EAC Halloween Parties have become a tradition at our school, allowing students and parents to enjoy the spooky atmosphere through its decorations, food, games, and the notorious Haunted House. While the Haunted House is one of the biggest attractions of the celebration, not many people are familiar with the extensive effort put into it by our seniors every year. This ranges from coming up with creative ideas to executing one’s plan to bring these to life.
Online interviews with the seniors Alvaro Santana and Olga Keppke were carried out, through which it was revealed that the 2022 senior’s Haunted House was inspired mainly by the Jeffrey Dahmer Netflix show. While the original idea had been “murder inside a madhouse,” the counselors advised against it. Marta Bidoli disclosed that the project was relinquished due to the propagation of stereotypes of psychological treatment.
The plan was to have the actors in straitjackets, which goes against CRP’s (Conselho Regional de Psicologia) movement toward helping people understand that seeking psychotherapy does not mean being confined and medicated against one’s will. Additionally, apart from being a harmful belief to promote, it is especially damaging right now, as we face one of the biggest mental health crises the world has ever had. Many students and adults have been facing issues relating to depression and anxiety. They ultimately concluded that as a school, it would be inadequate to disseminate a message that deterred these people from getting help.
Upon being confronted with such an issue, the seniors faced major complications, the decorations, plot, and characters had already been arranged. The show was in two weeks, and they had to completely change the theme. Olga Keppke proposed that they keep the same props and costumes while changing the plot. Ultimately, they came up with a new storyline, where there would be an investigation of an apartment by an officer, following its neighbors’ complaints about hearing screams. There, after his discovery that the family living in the place are cannibals, the police department loses contact with the man, leading them to send a rescue team to examine the situation.
One of the central characters of the house was inspired by the Texas chainsaw massacre and wore a 3D-printed mask. It was found in Thingiverse, an online 3D printing community, and was printed outside of school. The process took around 27 hours and the prop had to be printed in several parts that were assembled later on. One of the pieces took about 25 hours to print, while two other smaller parts had to be reprinted. Extensive supervision was required to monitor the process and ensure the best possible outcome. The mask was supposed to represent how the house’s cannibals perceived bones as decoration, as well as contributing to a creepier atmosphere.
Although the Haunted House was unquestionably successful, there was a variety of problems that arose along the way. For instance, the school did not contribute financially to the creation of the house, leading the seniors to have to buy supplies with their own money and rely solely on each other’s responsibility to bring certain items. Also, the setting was inadequate due to the lack of walls (created with fabric) and flooding caused by the rain. Of course, there were also some challenges involving students disrespecting the waiting line and actors.
While the seniors have voiced that the experience was stressful, they have also stated that they had a lot of fun coming up with the idea and bringing it to life, as well as being proud of the results. They felt honored to keep the tradition alive and recommended future grade levels do the same when their time comes.
EAC PRESS 