DC's

* (restored)

 

Infamous primarily on the strength of his shocking 1987 debut feature Nekromantik, German director Jörg Buttgereit was born to make horror films. His grandmother bought him horror trading cards while he was a kindergartner in Berlin, and for his first communion gift, he received a Super-8 camera.

‘At age 14, he made his first short films, and by the time he was 19, the future enfant terrible of the German underground was already creating controversy by showing concentration camp footage with his questionable 1982 short Blutige Exzesse im Fuhrerbunker. For the next several years, Buttgereit honed his talent with a series of increasingly disturbing shorts, picking up what would form the core of his repertory company (Daktari Lorenz, Manfred O. Jelinski, Beatrice M., Franz Rodenkirchen, and others) along the way.

‘Then came Nekromantik, an uncompromisingly grim and savagely appalling study of an Autobahn worker (Lorenz) whose progressive mental collapse leads to grave robbing, necrophilia, and a final ghastly act of suicidal masturbation which became the genre’s most talked-about gross-out scene for nearly a decade.

‘After the less caustic Der Todesking and the disappointing Nekromantik 2, it was a generally held opinion that Buttgereit would never match the ferocious audacity of his debut.

‘Then came 1993’s Schramm, and such premature dismissals were quickly laid to rest. The obsessively claustrophobic study of a necrophilic serial killer (Florian Koerner von Gustorf) who nails his penis to a table and fantasizes vaginal monsters while he isn’t sodomizing nude corpses, Schramm instantly reinvigorated the ebbing Buttgereit cult, solidifying the young director’s reputation as one of the few genuinely disturbing voices in contemporary graphic horror.’ — Robert Firsching

 

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Stills

 

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Further

Jörg Buttgereit Site
Jörg Buttgereit @ IMDb
JB @ Facebook
Sex Murder Art: The Films Of Jorg Buttgereit
JB @ letterboxd
Love & Death: The Films of Jörg Buttgereit
Horror-Liebhaber Jörg Buttgereit im Interview
The horror of the Nazi past in the reunification present: Jörg Buttgereit’s Nekromantiks
NEKROMANTIK: INTERVIEW WITH JÖRG BUTTGEREIT

 

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Extras

Trailer “Kannibale und Liebe” (theater play)

Frankenstein in Hiroshima (Radioplay, 2002)

What is a Cult Film – Jörg Buttgereit

 

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Interview

 

Virginie Sélavy: What’s your reaction to the fact that Nekromantik is getting an official Blu-ray release in the UK?

Jörg Buttgereit: The idea of releasing it on Blu-ray is something we had in mind for quite a while. It took ages because we did our old master from the Super8 film stock, which is not negative but positive film stock, because Super8 is made for daddy’s home films from the 70s, so you don’t have a negative. It was a lot of annoying work and I felt, what’s the use, because I prefer the movie to look very dirty (laughs). But when you transfer Super8 film stock to HD material there is not more depth, and there is no 3D effect, you get more dirt and more grain, so I’m happy (laughs).

That Super8 look is very important to the film.

I think so too. When I saw the dailies – as we say (laughs) – of Nekromantic, which was not the dailies, because when you shot on Super8, it took two weeks for the films to come back… so after two weeks, I saw the footage and I felt that it looked too normal and not dirty enough, so I was a little bit worried. So when we made film prints for the cinema in 16mm (this was a blow-up), we made sure we did it on a certain kind of film stock so the movie had this kind of greenish look, which looked dirtier, and the black looked more right in my opinion. But one curious thing happened. When we put out the film on VHS in Germany there were a lot of bootlegs in the US. I read reviews in magazines – because the internet was not there, this was 27 years ago – that said, ‘the movie looks so strange and it’s very dark’, and the viewer had the impression that they were watching real corpses. And I thought, well, it always works for the movie if you don’t see the real picture. I remember when I got my first Texas Chainsaw 2 VHS from the Netherlands, I couldn’t see anything. It was just darkness and noises, and I thought, what’s happening in that movie? I was totally fascinated. It’s the opposite of a movie experience today.

What did you think when you saw it properly?

It looked a little like a TV movie to me! It’s so bright! The first Texas Chain Saw is also very bright but it’s shot on 16mm so it still looks dirty. There was a hazing, they sprayed dust in the air, and it’s something that I did excessively when I did my episode for German Angst, my new movie that’s going to be finished at the end of the year. That film was shot on HD in CinemaScope so I wanted to make sure that it looked like a film and it looked dirty, so we did a lot of hazing. I was really afraid of seeing everything in HD.

The contrast that comes from using a home movie format and the subject matter is great. But using Super8 also makes Nekromantik look like an underground film, like those of the Kuchar brothers. It seems much closer to those films than to a straight horror film.

That was our thing, it is an underground film. The inspiration came from seeing Throbbing Gristle live in Berlin during that time, and watching John Waters’s movies, like Pink Flamingos, and having the book Film as a Subversive Art. And me being a big fan of old horror movies like Bride of Frankenstein. So it doesn’t work as a horror movie, there’s no tension, it’s terrible in that way – it’s terrible in a lot of ways… (laughs)

And as in underground film, you use non-actors who have a very unique presence. Daktari Lorenz has that weird wired energy, and it’s almost as if he’s not acting but just being himself.

Yes, I wasn’t trying to make them act. I was aware of the fact that they couldn’t deliver any lines and I couldn’t deliver good writing. I started doing good scripts when I started doing plays for German radio, but the first was in 2000. Until that time I wasn’t really sure if I could write good dialogue. Now I’m doing comic books, like Captain Berlin. That’s dialogue stuff I grew up with, very 70s, it’s something I can deliver very fast. So dialogue is something that I’m more able to deliver now. But these people who were acting in the film were just my friends, so how could they act? The film was never planned to be seen outside of my circuit. It was done mainly for this punk-rock-spirit audience inside Berlin. We were in this walled city so I didn’t even dare to take the movie and drive out of the city with it because there was the wall and they would have searched you, so it would have been impossible to screen outside of Berlin. With my short films I did stuff like this. But with Nekromantik I didn’t dare until the wall came down, which was two years later.

Did you not have more ambition for the film than just screening it within your circle?

Ambition maybe, but I was aware of the fact that it was impossible to reach this kind of audience. How could I, there was no internet. I’d only made short films before, that was Hot Love, which is also one on the Blu-ray. With Hot Love I did a tour through Germany. That was the only thing that was a little bigger than anything else I’d done before. I went to 10 different cities, in the West of course.

How do you see Nekromantik now? When you introduced the FrightFest screening in August, you seemed surprised that people were interested.

I’m amazed that it gets so much… not attention, because I understand why it gets attention. The poster we did back in 87 is an attention-grabber, but the movie doesn’t deliver on the poster. It does something else, and that’s nice, but I would never dare to hope that it really works. When I see the film I have to laugh. I see some stupid little kids trying to do a horror movie, or trying not to laugh in front of the camera. There’s a new de-noised soundtrack on the Blu-ray and in the first shot, where you see the legs and the panties coming down and then a girl is pissing, if you listen you can hear me laughing behind the camera. That’s how I approached the movie.

I think it is part of the appeal of the film, this anarchic charm, the gleeful pleasure at showing the most disgusting things possible.

I think maybe where we were ahead of ourselves was in the fact that the movie pretends that everything you see is normal. There is no justification, there is no chain-smoking police guy divorced from his wife who is uninteresting, but is there to put law and order into place. The fact that the corpse-loving scene is depicted in a way every normal love scene would have been, with piano music, with slow motion, all the clichés, I think that’s the trick, and that’s what gets people worried. Today Betty is like some emo goth chick, but back in 87 there was no such thing. There was no Tim Burton, no Johnny Depp. I was having fights with people about the fact that the main actress is in the bathtub with sunglasses on. That was actually like making fun of goth chicks before goth chicks were invented (laughs).

The way the music undermines all the romantic clichés is brilliant. You use the music similarly in Hot Love and Nekromantik 2, and running through those three films there is the same disillusioned view of love.

That’s what I was struggling with. If you see the introduction for Hot Love, it’s a revenge against my girlfriend who had left me. And the film is called Nekromantik, you can see it’s a combination of two extremes. Other horror films have the same topic, love and death, but nobody was going straight for the meaning of the word. To me, it’s about a very naïve part of you. I like innocence. And if a necrophile is having sex with a corpse and his girlfriend, then it should be presented from his point of view, that’s the interesting thing. I had some trouble explaining all these things. Two years ago I did a stage production on Edward Gein, the grave robber, so I had to sell it to the authorities by saying that this case is a cultural thing, it’s the basis for Psycho, Texas Chain Saw, Silence of the Lambs. But what fascinates me in this case, and this also became an inspiration for Nekromantik, is the naivety and the childish appearance of this guy called Ed Gein. One and a half years ago I went to his grave and I made a short film there. It’s not on the Arrow disc but it’s on the German Blu-ray. It’s called A Moment of Silence at the Grave of Ed Gein. So you can see that I deal with these people in this sort of sensitive way. I don’t think you can learn anything from them if you just deal with them as monsters. And that’s the same as Nekromantik. You have to care about them, otherwise the movie will be boring. And if you don’t give them a Jodie Foster character in Silence of the Lambs, or someone who can deliver them from evil, then you have to make these so-called bad people sympathetic.

You do that very well in both Nekromantik films and also in Schramm, which is an astonishing serial killer portrait.

I’m trying to do the same thing on stage now in Germany. I found a topic that’s very much fitting because last year I did a German version of The Elephant Man, and that’s exactly the same thing. You have this deformed man and everybody thinks he’s gruesome, but he isn’t. It was very revealing to do that on a stage and to have a different audience. Because The Elephant Man is something that people would go to even if they don’t know who I am, so I have a lot of normal people in the theatre. And they were surprised that the production was so sensitive, that’s what the critics said. Of course they have this picture of me, they see the movie, they don’t see the person. They were saying, ‘we’re so surprised that your stage version of The Elephant Man is so sensitive’. That’s an insult when you think about it, but I was still happy!

A lot has been made of the necrophilia, but the rabbit scene remains the most disturbing scene in the film.

Because you know it’s real. For me it was important to have real death in the film, being inspired by underground movies that deal with this kind of thing. I was always annoyed by people explaining why they watch horror movies – ‘because we like special effects’. And I didn’t want to have that excuse for my movie. The scene is there to make people aware of what they’re watching, and to make people sensitive about why they’re watching it. Because when you watch footage like this, sooner or later you will begin to ask yourself, why am I watching this? That was something I was asking myself. I didn’t have all the answers but it’s a movie, I just made it with my friends. I had this guy who was a producer and was giving me all these facilities, but I did everything on my own, I experimented, I had nothing to worry about in terms of budget because nobody was paid anyway. So we were trying stuff out, which is the opposite of the experience of making films nowadays – or in general.

You said you made the film in reaction to German censorship at the time. What reaction did you expect?

With the first Nekromantik nothing really happened because nobody noticed that the film was there. In Berlin we had two film prints and it was screened at three cinemas. One cinema shared one print by driving around all the time. Only people who already knew me and who were from this underground scene watched the film, so nothing happened. People were a little worried that the film was too serious – that was the first reaction. The first review I read was in a gay magazine, saying that this was the first movie about AIDS, because people are going to bed with the dead now, and that wasn’t something I was thinking about. So I was totally surprised by people taking the film seriously and thinking that it was about AIDS.

Did you agree with that interpretation?

I didn’t have that in mind when I did the script, which wasn’t really a script, it was about 20 pages of scribbling. But of course AIDS was a big thing during that time. I knew people who were suffering from AIDS so it was in my head. If something is in the zeitgeist then it will show up in the things you do, I think. So I agreed with it but I was also surprised by it. And it goes on until today. I read reviews explaining my films and I wonder… (laughs)

What’s the weirdest explanation of Nekromantik that you have come across?

I think the strangest, and on the other hand the most convenient, interpretation was done by this film historian when we were in court with Nekromantik 2. The first Nekromantik was shot in the West side of Berlin before the wall came down, and after it came down we shot Nekromantik 2 in the East part. So the thesis is that Nekromantik 2 is art compared to Nekromantik because it’s a film about the decaying East German part of Berlin (laughs). That explanation saved me from going to jail and having the movie destroyed, so I really embraced it. And of course it was a conscious decision to shoot in East Berlin because everything looked so dead and so old over there, like the 60s, or 50s even. All the outside shots look strange, it was like a movie shot in the past. So that was the weirdest explanation, but it’s also true because it documents a version of Berlin that is not there anymore. But the main reason was of course that we could shoot in East Berlin with no money. I wanted to do all these petting zoo scenes, so we went to the West Berlin zoo because they have much nicer animals and they told us it was 350 Deutschmarks an hour. We went to the East German zoo and they told us it was 50 pence a day, because they weren’t used to professional camera teams. You could take your home camera there and film for the whole day for 50 pence. There was no capitalist concept in East Berlin, they didn’t ask for money. So we paid nothing for shooting outside, it was heaven. It took a while for East Berlin to get a hold of the rhythm of the West, but all the West Berlin people were going to the East and doing stuff there, so it was like tourism what we did (laughs).

At the FrightFest screening you also mentioned another interpretation that was given of the film, which was that it’s about the unearthing of Germany’s past. Do you see it that way?

I know that depicting death in German movies is a problem because of the German past. And if you watch my earlier short film, Bloody Excess in the Leader’s Bunker, which is not as good as the title, together with Nekromantik, you could come to that conclusion. But to me it’s more about Ed Gein than about concentration camps.

But there are references in Der Todesking and Schramm too, so do you think it runs through the background of everything you do?

Nazi trash was something that was part of the punk rock spirit – Sid Vicious was running around in Paris with a swastika. Something like this would have got you in jail in Berlin at once. So doing a film like Bloody Excesses in the Leader’s Bunker… I did a premiere of that film in 1982 in a punk rock club, Risiko, with Blixa Bargeld from Einstürzende Neubauten at the bar and the police came to check if it was a neo-Nazi meet-up. So over there it was daring to use these symbols because even now it is forbidden to use these images.

Is that why the German authorities have such a problem with horror?

Yes I think so. Under the Nazis you had this clean screen thing, there was no dead body during the Nazi occupation, no dead body on the screen. It was just Heimat films, stupid propaganda movies, something like what you would get in North Korea today. And for some reason until today something that is connoted as horror is only possible in the underground, and you need a very good excuse to deal with this kind of matter. So for me it’s only possible to work in this field if I do it for the radio or on the stage. I did a play on Ed Gein for the stage, it would have been impossible to do it for the screen. Because there would have been no money. But for the stage I had lots of money to do it.

Is that why you stopped making films for the cinema after Schramm?

We did four feature films with no money, so as it was like what Throbbing Gristle did once with all their fans, they sent them a postcard, ‘the mission is terminated’ (laughs). I had everything, the movies were banned, the police raided my home, I was labelled an artist in court, and Schramm was nominated for a German film prize. It was the right moment to stop because it wasn’t subversive anymore. And everybody was running out of money. Because getting our money back like today with Blu-ray editions was not possible.

You said in an interview that you like to disappoint people’s expectations. Is that how you would define your general attitude?

It’s a natural reaction I have. When the first Nekromantik came out it had this strange success, people were demanding Nekromantik 2, and of course it should have been even more gross. To me that just felt so predictable and stupid that we came up with Der Todesking, which everybody was disappointed with in the first place. Later on, we gave them Nekromantik 2, which was also very disappointing because it’s even more romantic than the first one. It’s a natural reaction because I don’t like to be told what to do, in terms of what I’m allowed to do from the censorship boards, but also from the audience (laughs). It’s a childish reaction maybe. Nekromantik 2 is full of jokes about what people expect, this art movie on the ceiling in black and white, it’s all stuff people who were waiting for Nekromantik 2 hated. And only after the film was banned did they try to rethink, and they liked it then. You can never trust the critics or the fans. If you give them what they expect they will tell you that you don’t have any new ideas. If you don’t give them what they expect they have another reason to be disappointed (laughs). But in the long run it’s always more interesting to play around with a concept.

It’s interesting that it seems to define your relationship with both the censors and the fans.

Because to me the so-called artistic freedom is very important. And this freedom can’t be harmed by a fan wanting to have ‘Nekromantik 10’ and also by a guy who says, this tape should be burned. In the end it’s the same for me.

 

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17 of Jörg Buttgereit’s 45 films

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Manne The Mowie (1981)
‘A drunk sloppy person watches rugby (football?), pees in public, and tips over.’

the entirety

 

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Mein Papi (1982)
‘Mein Papi was first produced in 1982 but seems to have been worked on up until the parent of its title’s death. A version was screened in Germany before showings of Natural Born Killers: compared to Stone’s cartoon provocations this cuts very deep indeed. Buttgereit dispassionately records his father’s descent from a young, handsome truck driver into a bloated tyrant, cataloguing a series of tumours that end with an image of Buttgereit pere slumped over in a chair, apparently dead.

‘What matters, though, is not the film’s veracity – and there is a lot in it that is clearly, grubbily real – but its effect. The pinkish, brownish Polaroid tones reminded me of Richard Billingham’s infamous photographs of his alcoholic father, though when Billingham put those in motion – in his Adam Curtis-produced film Fishtank – the affection with which they were taken became more obvious. There is no such reassurance in Mein Papi, which remains a hard, insular, troubling film.’ — Graham Williamson

the entirety

 

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Der Trend (1982)
‘Punk fucking rock!’ — Kevin Riemersma

the entirety

 

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Captain Berlin – Retter der Welt (1982)
‘This is where it all started… Jörg Buttgereit, a leading light of the West Berlin underground film scene, first brought his venerable superhero to the screen in CAPTAIN BERLIN SAVES THE WORLD, with the maestro himself donning cape, tights and mask as he fights evil and saves his own true love. In this film, Buttgereit himself plays Captain Berlin in a yellow jumpsuit with red briefs worn on the outside, capped off by a Spiderman mask and a repurposed flag worn as a cape. Clearly the product of a punk sensibility slamming head-on into a love of the 1960s “Batman” teevee show. The film is funny to watch but low on stuff like “production values,” “plot,” and “sense.”‘ — IMDb

the entirety

 

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Bloody Excess in the Leader’s Bunker (1982)
‘Hitler introduces himself to the younger viewers who might be watching. From here the leader tries to bring back to life a couple dead bodies and soon he regrets the decision.’ — Michael Elliott

the entirety

 

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w/ Manfred O. Jelinski So war das S.O.36 (1984)
‘A documentary about the now abandoned and very influential punk club S.O.36. A punk music club on Oranienstrasse near Heinrichplatz in the area of Kreuzberg in Berlin, Germany.’ — IMDb

Excerpt

the entirety

 

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Horror Heaven (1984)
‘”Horror Heaven” is a compilation of early short videos, made by the goremaster Jörg Buttgereit, dedicated to Boriss Karloff. 1. Der mumie. 2. Frankenstein. 3. Die rache der mumie. 4. Gazorra: die bestie aud dem eridnnern.’

the entirety

 

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Hot Love (1985)
‘Daktari Lorenz falls in eternal, blissfull love with Marion (Marion Koob) at a party. He is in heaven… but soon she dumps him and moves in with a tall, blond new lover (Jörg Buttgereit himself). Daktari vows bitter revenge. He rapes the girl thus creating a monster baby that will show Marion what “Present Me with Your Heart” literally means. Dark, brooding and violent, this movie, made in 1985, set the tone for NEKROMANTIK.’ — Johannes Schönherr

Watch the film here

 

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Nekromantik (1987)
‘In the cult genre Nekromantik of Jörg Buttgereit is possibly one of the most discussed films. It was banned in several countries and only shown in theatres at rare occasions. One of the few screenings took place at London’s Scala during the Shock Around The Clock Festival (the forerunner of Fright Fest). Everyone who does something in the cult world, would like you to believe that he or she was there, but that’s probably hogwash. The truth is that a lot of people simply left the room, because Nekromantik is not only experimentally, it is also utterly repulsive.

‘Buttgereit does not understand why people see Nekromantik as a movie. It is an incoherent experiment that took two years to make and that looks like experimental films by industrial groups such as SPK or Throbbing Gristle. A joke that got out of hand. After the London screening the film got all kinds of reviews in fanzines (for the younger readers: magazines made by fans with the help of a photocopier) and the demand increased. There was no real distributor, and consequently the film appeared on the market as a bootleg, often as a copy of a copy, and the younger the generation, the lesser the quality. With the use of digital techniques, Jörg Buttgereit restored the film almost frame by frame (of course to the extent that thas is possible), and the result is now released on Arrow Video.’ — Didier Becu

Trailer

Excerpt

Watch the film here

 

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The Death King (1990)
‘Seven episodes, each taking place on a different day of the week, on the theme of suicide and violent death. The Body of a naked man floats in blackness. Slowly stretching out from a foetal position it begins to decompose. A little girl sits in the sun scribbling in a sketchbook. “Der Todesking” – deathking – she writes. Der Todesking, Jörg Buttgereit’s second full-length feature film, has no central character or characters, but instead thematic continuity in the act of suicide. Divided into days of the week, it comprises a series of set-pieces, each featuring the self-destruction of a complete stranger.’ — film affinity

The making of …

Watch the film here

 

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Nekromantik 2 (1991)
‘A female nurse desperately tries to hide her feelings of necrophilia from her new boyfriend, but still has pieces of the corpse of the first movie’s hero in her possession.’ — letterboxd

Trailer

Nekromantik 2 Behind the Scenes with Commentary (German)

Watch the film here

 

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Schramm (1993)
‘Jörg Buttgereit takes you into the twisted mind of a deranged sex killer in the deeply disturbing SCHRAMM. Lothar Schramm, the so-called “Lipstick Killer”, lies dying in a pool of blood and paint. As he expires, fragments of his life flash before his eyes – his uneasy friendship with the prostitute that lives next door; the brutal slaughter of a pair of doorstep evangelists whose bodies he poses in obscene fashion; his unhealthy pastime of hammering nails into his own manhood.’ — Von Joerg

Trailer

Excerpt

the entirety

 

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Captain Berlin Vs Hitler (2009)
‘In 2007 Buttgereit went back behind the lens to film a feature-length project which would undoubtedly be his most ambitious to date. Based upon the character who originally appeared in a ten-minute short created by him in 1982, CAPTAIN BERLIN VERSUS HITLER is in fact a stage play, shot over three days in front of a live audience at Berlin’s Hebbel Am Ufer theatre in November 2007 and during post-production infused with special optical effects for limited theatrical release in 2009.

‘The story goes that after the Nazis took power during 1933, the resistance took great pains in searching for a solution to end Adolf Hitler’s evil dictatorship. They formulated a plan to bio-engineer super-human assassins, eventually finding their man in one ‘Captain Berlin’ (Jürg Plüss). However, Berlin’s attempt on the life of the fuehrer was unsuccessful, subsequently forcing him to go underground and adopt a new identity.’ — Kevin Gilvear

Trailer

 

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Monsterland (2009)
‘Monsterland journeys through time and around the world, exploring diverse monster types, from the origins of the latex monster in devastated postwar Japan to the aliens and serial murderers of 1980s American cinema, and on to the rise of King Kong’s digital descendants in the face of 21st-century terrors. One after another, a broad spectrum of monsters emerges that mirrors the range of our fears and longings. With the nostalgic gaze of a monster fan, Monsterland traces the history of the genre while probing the deep-seated human fear of, and longing for, violence and destruction. From this kaleidoscope of terror comes the sweet chill that only a true monster can send down one’s spine.’ — snd films

Excerpt

Watch the film here

 

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A Moment of Silence at the Grave of Ed Gein (2013)
‘Exactly what it says on the tin, which makes it devoid of any of its own commentary potentially either a memorial to a man who as part of wider true crime culture is perhaps best left forgotten or a moment to contemplate the loss of life he caused. The purpose is likely to invite this consideration, but it is essentially empty. Amusing this even has credits.’ — Perran Helyes

 

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Green Frankenstein (2013)
‘A mix between stage play, radio play and Japanese monster movie.’ — letterboxd

Trailer

Intro (German)

the entirety

 

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Schweinchen (2021)
‘SCHWEINCHEN (Piglets), a 20 minute short film, documents a decompositon study conducted by forensic biologist Dr. Mark Benecke under the artistic guidance of famed director Jörg Buttgereit. Disclaimer: No animals were hurt in the making of this film; they all died natural deaths before filming started.’ — Arrow Films

the entirety

 

 

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p.s. Hey. ** Adem Berbic, I don’t make it easy on people with data allowances, it’s true. Uh, well, I think I’ve seen a few cars explode maybe, but the one I was referring to was when I was a kid. A friend of my parents drove into our driveway and parked. His hood was smoking. He went inside to call AAA. I was in the front yard for some reason, and the car suddenly exploded. Pieces flew everywhere, but luckily not onto me, and the ruins burned. Neighbors gathered.  Car owner was very upset. That’s kind of it. It was nice. You can order Sam’s book from bookshop.org. Here. Intruding on what with what? ** _Black_Acrylic, Well, it’s a little bit of a ways from you but there’s a pretty cool looking dark ride called ‘The Time-Capsule Ride’ at JORVIK Viking Center in York? I’m going to let you be my scout re: ‘The Shards’ TV series given my TV phobia. I hope it keeps it up. ** magkneesiumm, You’ve ridden Whacky Shack! Wow. It’s legendary in the dark ride aficionado community. Envy, bud. Amazing, yum. ** Pro Marbella Photos, I think you’re a bot? How did you get in here? Apologies if I’m wrong. ** Uday, This one made it inside obviously. Strange, sorry for whatever part this blog played in evil doorman-ing you. “Fernando’, nice. Next time sing ‘As Good as New’. If you want. ** Rentedrooms, Hi! Welcome, and thank you for gracing here. So lucky: you. The annual summer Paris fete foraine is happening right now just down the street from me, but there’s no dark ride this year, which is shocking, even though their usual fete foraine dark ride is a terrible, hugely outdated Michael Jackson ‘Thriller’-themed one. Still. I’ll look for the pix, thank you. I’ve never been to the Orange County Fair, weirdly, But the Los Angeles one in Pomona is really quite good. Ever been? How are you? ** laura w., The portable kind of dark ride is very popular over here in the EU. There’s rarely a traveling carnival here without at least one. And then of course Paris Disney has ‘Peter Pan’ and ‘Pinocchio’ and those sorts of ones, but that’s a US import so. I’ve always wanted to live in a dark ride, I mean convert one into living quarters but keeping the decor and the car/track as the entrance and exit. Superhero movies are a salvation on long plane flights, a lot due to their excessive length and intent to create mindless passivity. Otherwise, meh. It’s quiet, maybe too quiet here, but that’s August. A lot of happy, wandering tourists. That’s kind of uplifting. ‘Holy Boy’ … maybe I’ll peek at it? How was your weekend? What happened? ** Corey, Well, hello there, sir! That dark ride performance piece does sound extremely cool. Wow. Kind of heavenly even. I’m good, busy with the usual film stuff mostly and friends visiting from the US and elsewhere. You sound like you’re on top of awesome things. Obviously, the micro cinema is particularly enticing. Great, I’m happy you’ve found an exciting creative groove. Big up from up here. ** Carsten, Well, yeah, essentially, but they aren’t necessarily scary, or not always. There are mellow, kind of dreamy ones that drift you through physicalised imaginary landscapes, and the cartoony Disney dark ride variety sans scares. After8 rules. Sure, you can approach them re: carrying your book when the time comes. They’re going to move into larger quarters in, I think, October, which will be good because they were just telling me the other day that they’ve had to limit the books they can stock due to their space being overly jam packed. ** Steve, Yes, I did, and it was not a good idea. Being rushed around and shaken up while on acid is counterproductive to say the least. It’s out! Everyone, Steve has released a new EP under his callinamagician moniker called ‘Electroacoustic Mammals’, and it can be listened to and scored via bandcamp here. No, as almost always, I spaced out that yesterday was bandcamp Friday. I really need to plant a Post-It in my line of sight. ** Diesel Clementine, Hi. Their cheapness is part of their charm and appeal if you get into the genre as an art thing. I saw an email from you, yes. I’ll get to it asap. Thanks! ** HaRpEr //, The way portable dark rides can be folded until they’re just big rectangular boxes, towed to another location and unfolded again is probably my favorite thing about them. That’s especially exciting to think about while you’re riding around inside them. Also that, yeah, they look unsafe but aren’t. That’s exciting too. It seems like Franzen has become only a big deal to the NYT and other big literary arbiter places. Almost no one of interest talks about him or seemingly reads him at this point as far as I can tell. It’s kind of like how big music coverage/reviews magazines and sites still treat everything U2 puts out like it’s a major event. ** Sam F, My pleasure, sir, and I’m chuffed that it made sense. Enjoy your Saturday and even your Sunday, come to think of it. ** Thom, I am 100% in favor of your Dark Ride-centric music project idea, needless to even say. This might be kind of dumb since I’m not a magician, but I’ve wondered if a field recording made while riding a dark ride, start to finish, might not be fodder for something interesting or even maybe interesting as a composition in and of itself? Good, then I’ll be watching your comments wearing my fiction writer hat from here onwards like a veritable hawk. ** Okay. Something came over me and I decided to not only restore Jörg Buttgereit Day but give it the weekend slot. Wth?! See you on Monday.

* interview taken from Collectors Weekly

 

How did dark rides get started?

George LaCross: The forerunner to a single-rail dark ride was an “old mill,” a boat ride that went through a tunnel. When the old mills started cropping up around 1900, they were the first type of ride where you’d sit in a vehicle—a boat passing along a narrow channel—and see scenes or figures, called “stunts” in the industry. Some parks wanted these rides to be scary; others wanted them to be a trip through history, or a cruise around the world, that type of thing. These used mannequins—I think they were made out of wax, actually—to show the signing of the Declaration of Independence or Columbus landing on American soil. Some had dark areas for smooching, which is which why they got the nickname, “Tunnels of Love.”

Old-mill rides were very expensive because you had to have a tunnel with some type of a canal system, and then a wooden water wheel continuously spinning to push the water through it. And they were difficult to maintain. You had to constantly look for leaks in the wooden canal and patch them up during the off-season. I can’t even imagine what a nightmare it must’ve been re-boarding that stuff. Now, the ones that are still around have been converted to concrete canals, which are treated with special chemicals so they don’t leak. Back in the day, only the parks that were doing really well could afford to have old mills.

And the earliest dark rides only had sound effects?

LaCross: Yes. These rides were all in pitch darkness. Pretzel patented many of the first sound effects, which were actually floor devices. You’d go over a lever on the track, and it would strike a cymbal, creating a sound like glass breaking. When the car would run over another lever, a container holding a bunch of ball bearings would get tipped up, and it’d sound like trash barrels tipping over. They had a string of bells hooked up, and they would just make a big clang when you went over that lever, which sounded like you were derailing.

Some of the earliest visual stunts they had—and some of them are still in operation—were motorless effects, lifted by the weight of the car. The sound effects weren’t necessarily right near these figures; those were usually positioned in the dark so you couldn’t see them. You’d be riding along in the Pretzel car in the dark, you’d hit a relay switch for the light, and then a lever for the figure itself. A small incandescent spotlight just focused on that black box would light up, and the cable would lift, say, a skull out of the bottom of the box.

For example, in the stunt called the “Jersey Devil,” you see what appears to be an empty box, and then the weight of the car forces a papier-mâché demon head to pop up inside it. For “Al E. Gator,” a lever on the track would tip a papier-mâché alligator on roller skates, and he’d lunge out at the riders. Some early stunts had limited gear motors, animating a head or hands going from side to side. Those would just go on, move for a few seconds, and then go back off again.

I read one of the earliest Pretzel stunts was just thread that hit your face.

LaCross: That was really innovative. It seems so simple, but Bill Cassidy—the second owner of Pretzel, the son of Leon—told us before he passed away that that was one of the gimmicks that he was most proud of. It was just a spool of thread. It would hang from a rafter in the ceiling, and it would rub up against people’s faces and creep them out. It’s supposed to be cobwebs, I guess, but it wasn’t an actual web. It was just a string, but you couldn’t see it. You weren’t expecting it. That got a real rise out people back then. It seems to me that just about every dark ride I rode in the 1960s had that. If it didn’t come factory-installed, I’m sure the park owners themselves would tack it up.

Who were Pretzel’s first real competitors?

LaCross: A couple of years after Pretzel rides were introduced, Harry Traver, who’s more famous for his roller coasters, came up with the idea to undercut Pretzel. He called his rides Laff in the Dark. Even though he patented a lot of stuff, he never patented that name. And Pretzel started naming their rides Laff in the Dark after a while. Traver came up with wood-frame cars with metal joints and a metal undercarriage, which were cheaper to make than the all-metal cars that Pretzel was using. Instead of having papier-mâché stunts, Traver and his crew made these one-dimensional plywood cutouts with a little motoring for various scenes such as cats fighting on a fence or a mule that would kick at you. These motors would just barely work, but they gave the figure a little animation. Some parks went for that.

As time went on, other companies started making figures for dark rides, funhouses, and old mills. If park owners brought a Pretzel or a Traver ride, they could enhance it with other more sophisticated animation that other companies were providing. Traver went out of business in 1932, and he sold his company to Ralph E. Chambers, who successfully marketed and sold Laff in the Dark rides. Because they were cheaper to purchase than a Pretzel, they were in quite a number of parks. But Pretzel rides, as best we know, were a heck of a lot more durable because many of them are still operating. Those metal cars have survived floods and fires.

How did dark rides evolve over the years?

LaCross: First, they started making magnetic switches that they could put in the track to trigger stunts, and these were less likely to break than the mechanical levers. The most recent triggers used in dark rides are photo sensors called electric eyes. Some are set off by the motion of the car, but some are even more sophisticated, using light from reflectors on the car so the stunts are set off at the exact right time.

For sound effects, Pretzel had the noisemakers, but then some companies started producing 78-speed records that were just recordings of screams. You got a whole stack of them, and when one was done playing, the record player would drop down another one, so that you heard continuous screaming. When the eight-track came out, dark rides switched to one-track cassettes called “sound repeaters.” It would just be a small amount of tape that played the sound of a ghost or whatever that would coincide with the stunt itself and then stop at a particular point. And it would automatically be rewound for the next car that came by. The problem with those cassettes is that, again, if you’re continually playing a tape, stop-and-go, stop-and-go, it breaks. Plus, the atmospheric temperature had to be right. If it got too hot, the playback machinery would go crazy and start playing the sounds at high speed. Since then, those tapes have been replaced with digital cards.

How did they use wind for effects?

LaCross: Wind and air have been used to good effect over the years. A 1960s tornado-themed ride in the Bronx’s Freedomland U.S.A. did quite a bit using big, industrial-strength fans. The final scene of the Riverboat dark ride at the park I grew up near—Crescent Park in Riverside, Rhode Island—was a hurricane simulation featuring a suspended A-frame house that you rolled underneath. That stunt had industrial-strength fans blowing in your face from all different directions. The house had pots and pans tacked up to its walls on fishing line, which would bang up against the oscillating A-frame. Now, some of the newer figures shoot compressed air out of their mouths to scare you. The newer figures from the modern stunt company Scare Factory often have that. A figure rises up out of a coffin, and it blows people’s hats right off their heads.

When did the dark rides start to get specific themes?

LaCross: Sometime in the early ’60s. The most popular early themes that we’ve found through our research were jungles and pirates. A company called Marco Engineering did a themed ride after the poem, “The Wreck of the Hesperus,” at Pleasure Island, a park in Wakefield, Massachusetts, from 1959 through 1969, and I rode that. You went in on a boat on wheels and journeyed into the oceans deep. You encountered nautical creatures as sharks circled overhead and met up with King Neptune in the end.

The Western theme was also popular at the time. You’d ride between a gunfight, come face to face with a locomotive, and see a bull charging at you, things of that nature. Pleasure Island had one of those called the Old Chisholm Trail. Freedomland U.S.A., which was an American-history-themed park that ran from 1960 to 1964, even had a ride by Marco Engineering based on the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, more and more of the dark rides started getting themed. But the best ones, in my opinion, are those that don’t have a theme because you don’t know what’s going to pop up next. Whereas, say, if you’re in a Western ride, you know you’re going see a gunfight and you’re going to see a bull. Yeah, it will impress you, but you’re already in a pre-established comfort zone. A dark ride with no connection between the various stunts is more like a nightmare to me—a train-of-thought type of nightmare where, say, you see a laughing clown, then a devil, and then a witch. All of a sudden, an alligator pops out at you. To me, that puts you more on edge.

Do you think the increasingly graphic violence in movies and television influenced these rides?

LaCross: The boom to make these things really scary took place in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Maybe after the “Friday the 13th” and “Nightmare on Elm Street” series, darks started pushing the envelope a little more. The rides that are loved the most are somewhat scary, but not totally terrifying. The 1970s Pennsylvania dark rides we did documentaries on—Whacky Shack at Waldameer Park in Erie and the Haunted House at Knoebels Amusement Resort in Elysburg—give you a couple jokes, but there’s nothing horrific in them, nothing like scenes in “Saw,” no Jasons from “Friday the 13th,” or anything like that.

People have told me that if you’re scared by something that’s not that scary, it has more of an impact on you. You say, “Wow, I can’t believe that thing made me jump out of my seat.” Compared to what I’ve seen on TV, on video games, or at an IMAX theater, if this little thing makes me jump out of my seat, then I guess it’s pretty good. That’s what I’ve always admired about the older rides, that the creators really had to be thinking out of the box to come up with these elementary devices that get a rise out of people.

How did the opening of Disneyland in 1955 affect dark rides?

LaCross: Three dark rides debuted at the opening of Disneyland—Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, Snow White’s Scary Adventures, and Peter Pan’s Flight—all in Fantasyland. But the outdoor Jungle Cruise in Adventureland was probably the most influential on dark rides. Shortly after that, you started having various jungle land rides opening up, whether they were indoors or outdoors. The indoor jungle rides were pretty creepy because it’s so dark in them, you felt like you could’ve been going down the Congo River and you didn’t have any sense of being enclosed. Bill Tracy took advantage of that. His jungle dark ride was called Lost River, and old mills were sometimes converted into Lost Rivers. But they’re all gone now, for one reason or another.

The Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean came later on. There are ongoing arguments around Pirates of the Caribbean, because there were several pirate single-rail dark rides that came before it opened in 1967, and it has many of the same type of scenes as the older rides. Disney’s defenders say, “Well, those designers must have gotten ahold of Walt’s sketches somehow because it was in the making for a long time.” There are always debates online about who stole whose ideas. But I’d say that after Pirates of the Caribbean debuted, a lot more pirate rides cropped up, and the best ones came out in the late 1960s.

Why don’t we see as many of these old dark rides today?

LaCross: There was one pivotal moment in 1984, when a walk-through dark attraction called Haunted Castle caught fire at the Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson Township, New Jersey, and eight teenagers, who were trapped inside, died. Most parks had perfectly safe funhouses, walk-through scary houses, and single-rail dark rides, but after this fire, park owners grew so afraid of something happening. All kinds of new restrictions were put on these things; from then on, they always had to have sprinkler systems, smoke alarms, and emergency exits.

In the past, many dark rides did end up burning down because they didn’t have sprinkler systems. For the most part, the fire started at another attraction and just happened to sweep into them. Some dark rides did catch fire themselves. There was one situation where one of the ride operators tried to circumvent the fuse by putting a penny into it, and that caused the fire in the control panel and set a big blaze off.

But I don’t think the tragedy was reflective of most operating dark rides and funhouses in the 1980s. Yet a lot of parks did purge their rides shortly after. At this point, that tragedy seems pretty much forgotten. All of the operating dark rides that I know of have sprinkler systems, partially because these rides are so valuable now and they’re such attention-grabbers. Not only do the park owners want to protect their patrons in case a fire breaks out when the ride is operating, but they want to make sure that it’s protected when it’s not in operation, because the vintage ones can’t be replaced.

The older devices have been retrofitted with new insulated wiring and motors, which are pretty much fireproof. That doesn’t take away from the age and charm of the stunt. It does put a little bit of a bogus slant on the ride when you see that emergency exit sign in the darkness. But they have to do it. You never can tell what might happen. If the rides didn’t have those, they wouldn’t be operating.

 

 

32 portables

 

 

The Dark Ride Project

‘Since the 1970s, hundreds of ghost trains and haunted house rides have closed across the USA and they are now an endangered species. The Dark Ride Project captures the last of the world’s dark rides using virtual reality, sharing their history to promote and save them.

‘In the 1930s, the Pretzel Ride company built nearly 1,700 rides for amusement parks across the United States, but today only three of those rides still exist. The Spookhouse in Keansburg, NJ was one of those rides but it was decimated by Hurricane Sandy and has struggled to re-open. Whether it is the Trimper family of Trimper’s Amusements or the three generations of Fasnacht family who run Funland, DL these types of rides are an important part of the community. Despite being part of the American psyche there have been no substantial efforts to record the insides of these rides.

‘Until now, there hasn’t been a secure way to record and share this type of experience. But the growing popularity and uptake of virtual reality technology is a perfect fit.

‘The Dark Ride project uses ultra low light cameras on a special rig attached to a cart. The 360-degree setup allows the capture of the ride experience from every angle. Whether a ghoul jumps out from the side or a bat swoops down from above, everything is captured — apart from the smell of fear.’ — Hypergrid Business

 

 

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Out of This World Mountain Park Holyoke MA
An Outstanding Dark Ride. Mountain Park Holyoke Ma. Lincooln Park N. Dartmouth Ma. Old dark ride from the 60’s and 70’s. It was not in the park after 82 when there was a fire and it burned down. It was also dismantled and made into an arcade in 82.

 

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Horror House Jin Jiang Action Park
Horror House. Waiting in line was a noisy experience. “Bam! Bam! Bam!” went the metal walls. Cackle. Scream. For some reason, there were two nude female mannequins inside, perhaps to cover both “horror house” meanings. Some people had severe breakdowns after the ride. Women had to be lifted from the car seat. People stumbled about. Some were crying. Others looked like all the blood had drained from their bodies. I imagine that many of these people were riding a dark ride for the first time.

 

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Haunted Mansion Knoebels
Inside Knoebels Mansion, the stunts come at you fast and furious, and with the way the lighting is done, it actually makes the gags seem worse than they are. A prime example is the creature inside the clock early on in the ride. As the car approaches, the creature suddenly lunges out of the clock and heads right towards the car. But just as it gets “too close”, the lights go off. To me, that little touch completely enhances the effect. When the lights go out, you start to wonder if the creature is still coming at you or not. Other gags use the lighting to their advantage also including the “hands” and the scenes prior to the clock at the ride’s entrance.

 

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Pleasure Garden Hitachi Kaihin Park
It’s not exactly a haunted house and there’s a Japanese serpent woman and a cat meowing in the background nearly the entire ride.

 

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Scream in the Dark Rick Murphy’s Garage
Rick’s dark ride, “Scream in the Dark” was built in his 2-car garage over a few years. The kids that went though the ride were genuinely scared, but that made the kids in line even more curious – just the reaction Rick wanted. The build is for the most part completely modular. The track is made up of 4-foot square panels that have either a straight track or 90 degree bend. The modular design means Rick’s garage doesn’t need to be a dark ride the entire year. The cart rides on this curved, raised track with the help of a few gear motors and 12 V battery pulled from a Power Wheels.

 

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Nights in White Satin: The Trip Hard Rock Park
Even though Hard Rock Park was only open a few months, this dark ride was their crowning achievement. The Trip referred to acid trip, even though top brass at the park never admitted to it. Instead, they called it a “psychedelic experience” and the results are both bizarre and soothing.

 

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Mystic Manor Disneyland Hong Kong
Here at Disney, we are blessed with the top of the industry. The very best lighting designers, colorists and special effects people. And our ride guys really outdid themselves with Mystic Manor. Those engineers made use of some proprietary software — not mention the more than 200 RFID tags that we buried in the concrete floor of our Mystic Manor show building — to create this trackless ride system which can then dispatch four vehicles at a time. Not only that, but these ride vehicles — Mystic’s Magneto Electric Carriages — actually reinforce our story. We now have the ability to program each individual vehicle so that it can go up to a particular prop or effect in a show scene and then direct the Guest’s attention at that specific vignette. Then after this show scene plays out, this trackless vehicle is programmed to move the Guests to the next vignette. So that cumulatively — going from scene to scene to scene — we can then treat Hong Kong Disneyland visitors to a complete story. Which climaxes with Albert frantically trying to close that Balinese music box before its magical music dust actually tears Mystic Manor apart.

 

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Miniature Dark Ride Kevin Karsten’s house
Though I cannot afford to build or run an actual dark ride, nor even set up a Halloween yard (my wife and I live in an apartment), I have wanted to create a dark ride inspired by Disney’s Haunted Mansion since I was about eight years old. My kid sister and I used to create “rides” in our backyard — complete with fully operational animatronic figures, powered by record players, audio on cassettes, and black light effects — which we pushed neighborhood kids through in a wheel barrow at 25 cents a head. I am currently creating a haunted house theme in miniature, via CGI and models, which I am filming to demonstrate how the actual attraction might play out. I have created several fully operational miniature scenes from a concept/script that I came up with, and filmed them with a full soundtrack.

 

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Vi Pa Saltkrakan Astrid Lindgren’s World
Based on a popular Swedish television series, this dark ride follows the adventures of the Melkerssons on Sea Crow Island.

 

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Gremlins Invasion Adventure Warner Brothers Movie World Germany
The original Gremlins movie (1984) seemed perfect for a theme park attraction, and they created a one in Warner Brothers Movie World Australia. They duplicated it for their park in Germany, with one major change – it starred Alf. Yes, Alf from the Planet Melmac, i.e. the popular sitcom from back in the 1980s. Apparently he is huge in Germany.

 

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Lumalusion State Fair of Texas
This is the now gone version of the State Fair of Texas’ remaining dark ride, Lumalusion. This was when it was in full on acid trip mode with Pink Floyd music, and lots of funky lights. Not scary, just weird.

 

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Magical Powder Lagunasia
The final dark ride was Magical Powder. The name refers to the contents of paint cans with labels indicating the special effects they are supposed to cause, such as enlargement, shrinking, etc. The connection between this powder and the animatronics within wasn’t immediately obvious.

 

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Droomvlucht Efteling Theme Park
In Dreamflight, the visitors fly through a dream world of forests, castles, fairies, trolls and other fairy-tale-like creatures and scenes. The visitors are seated in small open cabins hanging from the ceiling. The ride takes them past five different scenes in about six minutes: the Castle Realm, the Wondrous Forest, the Fairy Garden, Heavenly Strongholds and the Squelch Forest. The speed and height of the individual cabins vary throughout the ride, with a climax in the troll marshes at the end, where the cabins come to a seeming free-fall in a spiral downwards from 13 meters of height. Efteling wanted to present Dreamflight in 1992, for the 40-year anniversary of the park, which coincided with the opening of Disneyland Paris. However, due to problems with the seating cabins it was not ready until 1993. Due to this problem, the ride cost €4.5 million more than was estimated, bringing the total costs up to €12.5 million.

 

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Black Diamond Knoebels
Just came back from Knoebels and i rode the new Dark ride “Black Diamond” and i must say, it is VERY well done. very well themed and just a very well remade ride. It was originally at Morey’s pier in Wildwood, NJ as the golden nugget, a mainly western themed ride designed by Bill Tracey who is a Dark ride legend. The golden nugget was three stories and the top floor was outside and desert themed then you went down into the mine settings on the second and first floor. Eventually tho the ride fell to disrepair and eventually closed and sat idle for several years until December 11, 2008 when it was announced that the golden nugget would be demolished and Morey’s pier would have a celebration. However a few days before the demolition “somebody” purchased all of golden nuggets track and ride vehicles. It wasn’t publicly announced who had purchased it except that it was a park that “loved to rebuild and preserve old rides”. then on Jan 26, 2009 it was announced that Knoebels had made the purchase and, while having the exact same track layout, the ride would be re-themed to acknowledge the areas anthracite mining history. Changes made have been, enclosing the entire ride, new effects, a Centralia section with collapsing house and “mine fire” hole, and re-built cars. I know it is labeled as a roller coaster but i wouldn’t call it that per say, its mostly mild speeds with a few surprise and quick drops and turns. It IS NOT a “wild mouse” either. It;s not a scary haunted house either so little kids might be a little iffy to enter the place because it is very dim inside and there are a few dark moments but there is nothing scary about it! Knoebels really went all out with this ride and i will go as far as to say this is the most “themed ride in the park”.

 

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Terror On The Butte Eric’s Garage
This is a video of the haunted house ride we built in our garage. The ride can take 2 people around, and we shuttled around 120 people on 90 trips through the haunt during our 2007 Halloween Party. The ride was geared towards 4-7 year olds, so its not supposed to be too scary.

 

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Hollywood Tour Boat Ride Phantasialand
Imagine Disney’s The Great Movie ride, in water. Now add in scenes from Universal properties like Jaws, King Kong and even Alfred Hitchcock. Now cut the budget in half.

 

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Bermuda Triangle Alien Encounter Movie Park Germany
At Movie Park Germany, there are aliens in a volcano who seem to be ticked off.

 

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Zombie Small World Suzhou Amusement Land
This Chinese boat ride is a near-complete rip off of Disney’s It’s A Small World, but look a little closer and the dolls seem to be possessed. You may also spot Ninja Turtles and Transformers.

 

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Brer Rabbit Rap Party Oakwood Theme Park Wales
1988: Nutty Jake’s Gold Mine (Family Dark Ride). 2001: Nutty Jake’s Gold Mine, already closed since 2000, is now transformed into Brer Rabbit’s Burrow. 2011: Brer Rabbit’s Burrow is rethemed for October half term in to ‘Scare Rabbit’s Hollow’. 2012: Brer Rabbit’s Burrow is rethemed as Brer Rabbit Rap Party. 2013: Brer Rabbit’s Rap Party is closed, demolished, and replaced with The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Ride.

 

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Don and Scott’s MegaCreeper Las Vegas
This is a documentary of this years Haunted House my son Scott and I made for our backyard. Come ride the Museum of the Weird! This year was very cool. Next year will be insane!

 

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Davey Crockett Ripley’s San Antonio
This ride was part of the Ripley’s attractions in San Antonio across from the Alamo. It was definitely a dark ride aimed at kids. And the fact it immediately went down a long tunnel underground probably freaked out a lot of those kids. It only lasted a few years, and was replaced by a scary dark ride.

 

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Whacky Shack Waldameer Park
The Whacky Shack dark ride at Waldameer Park in Erie, Pennsylvania was built by Bill Tracy in 1970. Bill Tracy is considered a legend in the dark ride business and sadly there are very few of his attractions left. The Whacky Shack at Joyland Amusement Park in Wichita, Kansas is another Bill Tracy creation that closed along with the entire park in 2006. A fire was started inside the ride in April, 2007 and was put out by a Park employee.

 

 

*

p.s. Hey. ** Adem Berbic, I guess fireworks don’t count? Because I’ve seen a ton of those. I saw a car explode. Hm, maybe others, blanking. First draft done! The worst part, excellent. Buckle down obviously. I haven’t submitted things to zines or sites in so long I don’t even know the requirements, but I suppose 2k max is not hugely surprising. The get-together sounds like a ripe first step, for sure. ** Aleks, Hi again to you! Oh, thanks for the add. Wow, that looks good at a glance. I’ll pore over it. Everyone, Aleks has provided a cogent and eye-involving addition to the explosion fest yesterday, and go check it out. It’s called ‘Cunt Toward Enemy’, and it’s here. After8 is a dreamy. It literally makes Paris liveable. Cool you got to scour it. Enjoy your today. ** LH, Hello there! Yes, you certainly may, and thank you. That looks great. Everyone, Another good looking explosion example courtesy of LH. It’s Johann Lurf’s ’12 Explosionen’. Much appreciation. All good with you? ** _Black_Acrylic, Right, Signer is a volatile guy or a maker of volatility. The Mike Nelson looks good, you bet. Very my thing. Thanks, Ben. ** ⋆˚꩜｡darbbzz⋆˚꩜｡, I think you’ll love France for all kinds of reasons. I predict. Okay, I read everything, and I do think you should give them the letter, yes. Who knows how they’ll react, but I think both to solve your own pain and to let/make them understand what consequences their actions and words have on you and, by proxy, others, you should. I think it’s important even. Just prepare if you need to for a possible intense initial reaction. Some people get really scared at having to confront their fucked-up-ness. But, longer term, they’ll think deeply about it and question themselves even if they’re too proud to tell you. They also might take it well. Anyway, my two cents, yes, let them know. Sorry you’re having to go through that, pal. And thanks for Shrooms on N313 soviet oscilloscope. It sat well. Take care, d. ** Sam F, Ace on all the great stuff for your book. I read the Zona Motel piece, very nice. Maybe needless to say, but don’t sweat the possible post-attention crash. The period after the initial hoo-hah is when your book is starting its life, moving into and through the world without you knowing what’s happening. That’s the important part, and it kind of sucks that it happens where you mostly can’t see and know, but time will tell. Like when I published ‘I Wished’ there was the initial press and events and stuff, and then things went quiet, but now, several years later, people are frequently talking about it here and there and to me. The quiet word-of-mouth period is what it’s all about. Blah blah, possibly unnecessary share there. Nice: the Moral Crema in-progress thing. Enjoy the freed up headspace to move forward. Happy for you, sir and bud. ** Steve, We have a new mouse wandering about here at night and hopefully soon to find our little harmless trap enticing. Enjoy the mixing. No doubt. ** DonW, You’re in this general neck of the woods. Shout across the Channel. No, that’s not on ‘Guide’. It’s possible it might’ve inspired the artist/designer, I have no idea. All luck with the jetlag recovery. Traveling West to East is always especially tough. ** laura w., Hi. Good! Hope is a mixed bag, but it’s as good as it gets. Genet, lazy comparison, def. There probably are French authors who write novels expressly to have them turned into films at this point, but it’s pretty rare. Truth is that most French films du jour are just as crappy as most American films, they just don’t get released outside of France. ‘The Odyssey’ is big here, but not as big as ‘Spiderman’. I’d rather pour salt in my eyes than watch ‘The Odyssey’. ‘Spiderman’ I’ll watch on a future plane flight. ** jay, Me too, I like explosions, and I make no bones about that. They don’t explode buildings in France very often, which is good obviously since they’re mostly attractive buildings to one degree or another. Although in Marseille buildings collapse numerous times a year on their own. Not sure why. All that sun or something. Hyper’s good. Hyper is precious even. Luxuriate in it while it lasts. ** HaRpEr //, Nice about the brick foundation ghost. Nice that dinosaurs are defunct but they still evolve, probably more than they did when they ruled the roost. The great American novel nonsense is still in play in the States for sure. That’s how we got Franzen and that epic-aspiring bunch. And critics there are always panting for the definitive American novel. That longing among cultural arbiters to predetermine a medium’s important center is so gross. ** Steeqhen, Hi. Happy birthday! Do it up somehow. Yes, I’ve seen all of the ‘Castration Movie’ sections, I think. I’m on board. I think the first one might still be my favorite of the group. On your birthday gathering, quality not quantity always, remember that. But, yeah, I can count the number of my friends who aren’t away from Paris on their yearly vacations on two fingers. Happy birthday!!! ** Bill, Hi. I hope everyone around you at the wedding is grinning their faces off. Well, and you too, come to think of it. ** Right. Today I have constructed a post about one of my very favorite art forms — the dark ride! Some history, some examples, some this and that. Safe trip. See you tomorrow