Though temperatures may have reached the 90 degree mark for Come Out with Pride in Orlando and the Tampa International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, fall has indeed arrived in the Sunshine State. And with it comes Halloween, the occasion seen by many as “the gay Christmas.” Like the December holiday, the area’s theme parks create special events to bring out the crowds. The Magic Kingdom and SeaWorld both offer kid-friendly parties, and Universal Studios goes for a more fright-filled approach with its long-running Halloween Horror Nights.
But this year’s Howl-O-Scream at Busch Gardens offers a unique draw to the LGBT community, thanks in part to its creative marketing campaign. The park’s House of Vayne theme has taken this season’s hottest trend in pop culture—the vampire—and sent it down the fashion runway. Thanks to the creative advertising approach and the event’s openly gay creative director, the House of Vayne is Busch Gardens’ most buzz worthy—and gay-friendliest—Howl-O-Scream in its 10-year history.
“I don’t think vampires have ever lost their popularity, but then again, I’ve always been a huge fan of vampires,” says Scott Swenson, 46, who has served as Howl-O-Scream’s creative director for the past five years. A framed movie poster on Swenson’s office wall shows his devotion to the creatures of the night. “I’m a huge fan of Lost Boys. Plus I thought they were pretty hot, too!”
Unlike most other monsters—your werewolves, Frankensteins, and right-wing Republicans, for example—vampires have been allowed greater liberties in the world of entertainment. Swenson says The House of Vayne ranks at the “ultimate high end” of how vampires have been portrayed in pop culture.
“There’s a level of intimacy vampires have that most monsters don’t,” Swenson says. It’s safe to say that it’s the underlying sexual overtones of Twilight’s vamps that have made it a must-see movie for both pre-pubescent teenage girls and 20-something gays and not the acting talents of either Robert Pattinson or Kristen Stewart.
Vampires are certainly enjoying a love affair with today’s pop culture. In books, TV and movies, blood suckers are seemingly everywhere, but it’s not just luck that allowed the park to catch this current wave. Swenson begins researching each year’s Howl-O-Scream more than a year in advance.
“It takes a lot of time to construct everything and to make sure the casting is done in time,” Swenson says. “It’s a year-round, non-stop event for us.”
Swenson and his associates have already had their first two planning meetings for Howl-O-Scream 2010 and the team is “this close” to finalizing its theme.
But it’s more than the monsters that make The House of Vayne stand out.
“I do like Project Runway a lot,” Swenson says of the TV show that, in addition to America’s Next Top Model, is reflected in the Tampa theme park’s month-long event. As a fellow creative professional, Swenson admits to laughing at how serious the show’s contestants take themselves.
“Then again, I go to work and get paid to make a haunted house about a bunch of sorority girls who grab guys and beat the crap out of them,” he says. One of two new houses for Howl-O-Scream 2009—Delta-Epsilon-Delta: Pledge Week—is also one of the event’s most popular attractions.
“It’s built on the anguish of others,” Swenson says about the house’s overall theme. “It starts out as a little light hazing, but ends up a torture chamber. There’s definitely some dark humor to it, which we try to have in everything we do. All of our houses are scary, but there’s always something there to chuckle about.” (Sound out the pledge house’s Greek lettering for a great example.)
When asked to pick his favorite of the event’s seven haunted houses, Swenson likens it to asking a parent to name their favorite child.
“The truth is, it varies from night to night,” he says. “I’m always excited about what the guests’ reactions will be, especially for something like Nightshade Toy Factory. As we were developing it I thought it would either be a huge hit or a huge flop. I’m really glad, of course, that it’s turned out to be a huge hit.”
As Swenson describes it, the idea here is that a condemned toy factory appears abandoned, but when night falls, the mysterious manufacturing plant glows and hums as it creates the diabolical dolls, terrible teddy bears and possessed playthings of childhood nightmares. Like the twisted sorority sister “âԹ†â┚¬Â ΕâԹ†â┚¬Â ” house (get it now?), Nightshade Toy Factory is also new to this year’s Howl-O-Scream.
“It’s sort of like Willie Wonka making evil toys,” Swenson says, “which is how we start the concept of any of our houses. We take a location—any location—like an abandoned toy factory, and add the phrase ‘…gone horribly, horribly wrong.’”
Busch Gardens’ scream team relies heavily on guest comments and focus groups for shaping each year’s event. But sometimes, too, the public can get it horribly, horribly wrong.
“The craziest idea we’ve ever gotten—and we hear it more often than you’d think—is that we should just let the animals loose in the park,” Swenson says.
One other set of guest reactions have also shocked Swenson.
“Trapped in the Walls is a horrible murder scene in someone’s house,” Swenson says. “In the kitchen, the family’s dog is filleted on the dining room table. I’ve had people tell me they can’t believe we went there. What blows my mind is that sitting there next to the table is a guy impaled with knives, pizza cutters and other utensils in his face…but some people are more concerned about the dog!”
As an owner of adopted pets, Swenson understands the guests’ reactions. But as Busch Gardens’ master of shock and awe, he’s left the scene in unchanged.
Also shocking is Halloween’s economic impact. Estimates put combined sales of Halloween-related merchandise and entertainment offerings at $4 billion annually. The holiday ranks as the third largest party occasion behind New Year’s Eve and the Super Bowl. There’s even trade organizations, such as the Halloween Industry Association and the Haunted House Association, that cater to costume shops, hayrides, corn mazes and other spook-related businesses.
“Halloween has the same appeal that roller coasters do,” Swenson says. “It’s for adrenaline junkies. Plus the holiday gives you permission to be something or someone else.
For a population that typically spends at least part of their lives living in the closet, the psychological concept of “being someone else” is certainly not lost on the LGBT community.
“You’d be shocked at how many gay men and lesbians are really into Halloween,” Swenson says. “Not to mention a whole lot of undecideds. When you work in a haunted house you are accepted for whatever you are—straight, gay, vampire, werewolf—it’s a very accepting culture.”
Theme parks likely employ a larger percentage of gays and lesbians than other businesses. Swenson says that the gay or gay-friendly quotient is even higher for Howl-O-Scream employees. Busch Gardens utilizes roughly 630 personnel to haunt the park’s houses; that’s only the performers, and doesn’t include the ride operators, technicians, stage management and other behind-the-scenes employees that bring the event to life—or death, depending on your point of view.
“Our performers do drag every night, it’s just really scary drag,” Swenson says. “It’s no different than throwing on a dress and feather boa. It’s all about creating a new persona.”
With Swenson buried up to his neck in blood, guts and gore at work—most often figuratively but occasionally literally—Eric, his partner of 21 years, takes charge of the Halloween decorating at home. Swenson describes his partner’s approach as “vintage,” using creepy black cat containers from the 1950’s and 60’s and papier mâché skeleton marionettes from their many trips to Cozumel.
“It makes for a nice retreat from all the sinister stuff at work,” Swenson says.
But once the fall decorations are packed up, the couple, who first met on a blind date in Chicago, immediately begins decorating their home for the winter holidays.
“I’m a Christmas-aholic,” Swenson says. “We usually put up about five or six trees. By the time we’re done it looks like Christmas threw up in our house. It really cleanses the palette, though, after Halloween.”
However, it’ll be a while before the tinsel, wreaths and ornaments are hung. There are still numerous hangings, executions, electrocutions, murders and other joyous occasions.
What: Howl-O-Scream
Where: Busch Gardens, Tampa
When: Through Oct. 31
Tickets: $50- $80
