Local performance group adds human dimension to horror films

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GREENFIELD — Matt Speck always has loved Halloween — yes, the holiday, but especially the movie.

Speck has taken his love of “Halloween” and horror films and turned it into a business with Fright Night Theater. On Saturday evening, he will set up his mobile movie theater at Heartland Resort Campground for a showing of the movie “Halloween.” Audience members who are brave enough to attend will get an up-close-and-personal experience with the movie’s characters.

In “Halloween,” the 1978 slasher film, Michael Myers, a psychotic killer, escapes from a mental institution and returns to his hometown, leaving a trail of horror and bodies in his wake.

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During the Fright Night Theater showing of the movie, Michael Myers and other characters from the film slink into the audience and surprise the movie viewers during some of the most suspenseful scenes, creating Speck’s desired outcome of mayhem, screams and hysteria.

“I wanted to bring the movies to life and make them more intense,” Speck said.

Admission is $10 per person for a choice of seating options: the Thrill Zone or the Kill Zone. The Thrill Zone is where the characters get close, but not too close, Speck explained.

“The Kill Zone is where you sit when you want to have a really intense experience with our characters,” Speck said. “The characters get very close and may even touch you.”

Sometimes the experience gets to be too much for people, Speck said.

“People get too scared,” he said.

In that case, Speck said, patrons should utter the phrase “I want my mommy,” and they will back off and leave you alone.

“But some people get so scared that they forget to say it and just run,” Speck said.

He suggests that the intensity of the experience might be too much for the 13-and-under crowd.

Stacey Writt of Indianapolis attended Speck’s first Fright Night Theater performance at Heartland last fall. “Halloween” is her all-time favorite horror show, and she looks forward to seeing it again.

“It’s probably one of the most creative, fun things I’ve gone to,” Writt said.

Speck has a history of horror entertainment. One of his interactive horror experiences was a game he created in an empty house called Escape from Dead Wood Forest. He described it as an intense four-player game based on the movie “Saw.” Each of the players is secured to a chair in a different room of the house. The idea is to get free from the chair; the first one who accomplishes this then scrambles to free the others. Once freed, the four players use clues to search for keys hidden somewhere in the house that will help them escape before the weapon-wielding serial killer shows up.

Prior to scheduling regular appearances at Heartland Resort, Speck toured the Hancock County campground circuit, setting up spooky campground events and haunted hayrides and toting his movie screen on wheels for Fright Night Theater performances.

Although Fright Night Theater shows at Heartland Resort, it isn’t just for campers. Anyone looking for a thrill is welcome to attend, Speck said. Tickets are $10 per person, available at the door.

Fright Night Theater performs every third Saturday from May through October. Future feature films to be shown are “Friday the 13th,” Texas Chain Saw Massacre” and the 2012 horror film “Cabin in the Woods.”

Attendees should bring lawn chairs or blankets to sit on. Those wanting to spend the night at the campground should check for site availability at 317-326-3181. In case of rain, the performance will be postponed.

Writt will bring some friends who have never been to a Fright Night Theater performance before, and she can’t wait.

“You never know when he [Michael Myers] was going to come walking through the crowd or just be standing right behind you.”

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Fright Night Theater presents an outdoor showing of “Halloween” at 9 p.m. Saturday at Heartland Resort, 1613 W. County Road 300N.

Tickets are $10 at the door. Attendees should bring lawn chairs and blankets for seating.

Those wanting to camp should call the resort at 317-326-3181. In case of rain, the performance will be postponed.

Visit Fright Night Theater on Facebook for more information.

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