Behind the scenes of one of the top-rated haunts of the nation are transformations from the mundane civilized man to the iconoclastic ghoulish monsters such as cyborg mummies.
“We wanted to do both,” said David Enloe, owner and creator of The Chamber, “so we combined them.”
Within the 900 ft. chamber of terror, are three themes that take gutsy people from the Tainted Monarchs (the futuristic cyborg mummies) to an underwater sea adventure ( a swim amongst sea monsters) to Hoodwink’s Hideout (a hillbilly lodge filled with monstrous moonshiners).
“We did it (Hoodwink’s Hideout) the first year,” explained Enloe talking about how they wanted to bring a favorite theme back this year.
However, it requires more than just an idea or two to put The Chamber together.
According to Enloe, there is “45 actors in the maze at one time,” though there is more, and 10 make-up artists who materializes the monsters.
“I used to do stage make-up in college,” said make-up artist Ramona Potts, “but for this specific stuff I learned the first year,” which was the debut of The Chamber (formally known as The Chamber of Chills) four years ago.
“It’s not painful, it’s not tiring, it’s fun,” said Potts.
According to Potts, it takes about four hours a day, each day that The Chamber is alive, for each artist to create the crowd of monsters, which amounts to a half hour to 45 minutes to create each actor’s facade.
“Since I only had to be spray-painted, it only takes about 10, 15 minutes,” explained Erica Castro, who represents the underwater sea-adventure by being a lobster. “I’m in the lobster room.”
Besides spray paint, some actors had to endure foam latex masks, gelatin stuff that creates the gory style and airbrushing.
“This year, we have some glowing features, so we’re doing some glow-in-the-dark airbrush,” said Potts. “We airbrushed a lot of people.”
According to Castro, it only takes a wipe of the face to eliminate the make-up. “Mine is pretty easy, but when you put on the prosthetics… I put them on one night that was really hard to get off. It took forever.”
“It takes about a good 20 minutes to take off,” said cyborg mummy and Bakersfield College student Becky Flores, “it’s a pain in the butt.”
According to mummy Rhiannon, 16, she has to use a lot of Lava soap to diminish the stains left on her face, “’cause I’m so white.”
Though the foam latex masks, after six hours of wearing them, imprisons the heat causing the actors to sweat, the actors reap the benefits.
“The more we sweat,” explains Flores, “the easier it comes off.”
Though there are some hardships to the process, the actors are eager to please those who want to be scared.
“If you’re gonna be an a**, don’t come to The Chamber,” explains Rhiannon. “It’s a lot of hard work. There’s a lot of effort into this.”
The Chamber is located at Sam Lynn Ballpark and will be open every night, 7 p.m., from Oct. 25 through Halloween. It costs $10 per person.