INTERVIEW: Heartstoppers Haunted House lives up to its name
Heartstoppers Haunted House near Sacramento, California, has carved out (with a sharp knife) an impressive reputation for being one of the most consistently scary Halloween attractions in the country. Joel Watson has been running Heartstoppers professionally for 12 years, and before he went pro, he had several years of home haunting under his belt.
“We had been doing a home haunt off and on for about 10 years, and it just got to a point where it was getting pretty crowded on the little street we were on,” Watson said in a recent phone interview. “The neighbors were always cool with it, but you could tell they were kind of getting annoyed. So we kind of just decided we either need to quit doing this, or we need to take it pro. So we teamed up with another haunt in the Bay Area, and we did our first year with them. And then we kind of branched out on our own. It’s been going nonstop since then.”
The haunt’s mission statement promises lasting memories of fantasy, fear and fun. They achieve this goal by setting up a variety of scares at an old mini golf and gaming business at 2300 Mine Shaft Lane in Rancho Cordova, California. The haunted areas are appropriately named for the Halloween festivities: Deadlands, The Ward, Underland and Murk.
“We have some pretty hardcore fans,” Watson said. “People really seem to love us around town here, so, yeah, every year our show gets bigger. And the crowd gets bigger. … This year is kind of different because we were allowed leave a good majority up, a little bit over half of our stuff, and we’ve been working on it throughout the year. So we’ve had a full year to really bring out some detail and really work on these individual rooms. It’s going to be kind of exciting that way. I think people will be impressed with the level of detail that’s been poured into it. That’s the main change that has happened this year.”
Heartstoppers is affiliated with a nonprofit called Theatre Education 4 Theater Nerds Inc., and certain proceeds are used to support various community programs in the Rancho Cordova area.
When attendees stop by the haunt, they form small groups of anywhere from three to seven people. There is no tour guide, but actors are ready to jump out in every room.
“We’ve always done sort of PG-13,” Watson said. “That’s kind of our range. It’s a three-story building that we’re in. Our top floor is our newest haunt this year. We’re changing the whole theme of it, and that’s going to be by far our bloodiest one. That’s going to be a bit closer to R rated with blood and gore.”
The later weeks of Halloween are the most crowded at Heartstoppers, especially in that final week leading up to Oct. 31. Watson’s recommendation is that visitors try out the haunted house before those crammed final days.
“We do have a fast pass available,” he said. “It’s called our Fast-Q wristband, so for people who don’t want to wait around, they can pony up for that one. It’s definitely pretty busy, just like most haunted houses. It’s best to get there a little earlier.”
He added: “We’ve always done a pretty big insurance policy. We haven’t really had to use it yet, so fingers crossed that everything continues. But, yeah, it’s definitely a big show. It’s a three-story house. It’s in an old mini golf place, so back in the ’80s and ’90s in this three-story building, the top floor had a snack bar and pool tables and such. The main floor is where all the video game arcades were, and the basement was a dance club. They also had a huge mini golf course out back, so we’ve taken over all that. We’ve got a haunted trail, which is our Underland show that goes through the mini golf course. That’s our 3D show. That’s sort of a trippy Alice in Wonderland thing, very weird out there. People love that one. Our basement is called Murk, and that is our deep, dark catacombs. … It’s really underground, and there are some real tunnels you have to go through to get to it. Everything is in the dark, and there’s all sorts of effects that go off. Then we have two other shows that are on the top floor, which is The Ward and then Deadlands, which is our original zombie western that we’ve been doing since the home haunt days.”
That initial idea so many years ago, when Watson and his friends set up a home haunt, has blossomed into a scary attraction that has Sacramento area residents terrified — just the way they’re supposed to be in October.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Heartstoppers Haunted House, located at 2300 Mine Shaft Lane in Rancho Cordova, California, is open through Nov. 2. Click here for more information and tickets.
