In early autumn, neighborhood spook houses spring up everywhere. Anyone looking for a thrill has several local options to wander through a darkened, enclosed maze while costumed people jump out at them. While the quality of these attractions vary, they are rarely associated with the basics of writing. However, haunted attractions should be an interactive story. This series of blogs examine haunted attractions from a storytelling point-of-view.

In 2022, I was fortunate enough to visit several haunted attractions in Universal Studios – Orlando’s theme park. I will briefly describe and review the house and then dive into how it uses storytelling techniques (plot, setting, characters) to enhance the mood.

Today’s blog reviews “When Legends Collide,” a mash-up of Dracula, the Wolfman, and the Mummy ready to scare the caca out of you. The back story is something about Dracula and the Wolfman going to Egypt for some artifact, but it doesn’t matter. The sets are amazing and the makeup spectacular. This is your typical haunted attraction where you’re stumbling down hallways in the dark while people dressed as monsters jump out at you. Overall, I had hoped for a bit more story and more atmosphere.

One expectation I had was to see some scenes with the monsters fighting each other. This is Universal Studios, for Pete’s sake. Many classic movies have the monsters duking it out, instead of scaring people. The problem is one of perspective. This house trumpets three monsters instead of one and even adds “collide” in the title. But, it seems to me, they should be colliding with each other, not with us. I would’ve appreciated a room with two monsters fighting near the end of the maze. I figure the designers of the attraction thought this wouldn’t be scary because the people aren’t the target, so they shied away from it.

An author may learn a lesson here. If the perspective of the story is wrong, the writing’s effect may be diminished, or even confusing. I’m often tempted to choose the perspective that will give me maximum shock effect, but that may lessen the readers’ connection to the material. A more interesting character’s perspective, even though they may not appear as the main character at first, may enhance the story.

Try an exercise and write a few scenes from a different point-of-view. If it bears fruit, discern whether to switch the point-of-view, or potentially use two POVs in your writing.

On a high note, the Legends Collide house has a different ending this week. This alternate ending is something impossible (or nearly so) to achieve in a novel, proving each media (and I consider these houses as a form of theater) has its own advantage.

By the way, Mummy won when I went through the house. Go Team Mummy!