A character at the 13th Street Manor clasps his hands behind a thin veil of smoke. (CU Independent/Alyssia Payan)
After 13 years of production and nine and a half weeks of hard work, this year’s Primitive Fear and the 13th Street Manor, brings haunted houses to a new level by combining theatrics with complicated sets.
This year, PF13 carries out a story behind the town of Lyndenwood Falls and its town folk within every inch of its 40,000 square foot space.
In the 13th Street Manor, guests encounter the town folk that follow Lord Lyndenwood as they strive to find new additions to the “family.”
Walking through the many rooms of the manor is spine chilling. With moving floors, ceilings, walls and many other stupefying effects, this manor is one of a kind.
Room after room and door after door, guests make their way from the front door of the house, up the stairs to the attic and finally down, out of the cellar. The house has sections that are two-story, adding submersion into guests’ world.
The characters are twisted and will do more than merely jump out at unsuspecting victims. They are believable in their roles, whether they are disfigured captives of the house or recruits begging guests to “stay and play.”
It’s important to be especially alert when encountering town folk, as one never knows what their next move may be. Their invasion of this reporter’s personal space was unnerving in the most fantastically frightening way as they grabbed at people and whispered in their ears, completely shattering the relative calm when entering into a new area of PF13.
“There are 65 actors split between both houses,” Production Designer Lou Lafonde said. “Most are from the Art Institute of Colorado, who take their characters to another level through improvisation.”
The actors were especially good at playing with emotions, doing everything in their power to provide an unsettling atmosphere, including a distorted man hiding in a child’s bedroom and actors trapping victims in between other horrific-looking actors.
In Primitive Fear, guests encounter the contagiously ill and tortured outcasts in the undergrounds of the town. The underbelly of the town demands attention of the senses, with an unstable floor in relative darkness and screams echoing all about.
Spooky Colorado, an independent haunted house review site, ranked PF13 as the best haunted house in Colorado this year.
Victoria Maez, a Spooky Colorado team member, said these haunt enthusiasts go through an extensive interview process before being selected to join the team. They must have knowledge about Halloween, haunted houses and have visited many attractions over the years.
The team members of Spooky Colorado cover about 700 miles of Colorado to review and score almost every haunted attraction in the state.
“The acting in this haunt is definitely something you can write home about,” Maez said of PF13. “Even if you aren’t visibly showing any fear, they will find it and drag it out of you.”
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Alyssia Payan at Alyssia.payan@colorado.edu.
