theotherguy
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Well, after just visiting a professional haunted house (one of the most frightening experiences in my life, they make you sign a waiver that lets them do whatever the hell they want with you, and you have to make it up all 13 floors, all the while very fast and very creepy people are chasing you with various weapons and cockroaches and human blood are flying at you and at any moment you can fall through the floor or get thrown out a window, you're completley alone, and there are all these freaky psychological things that happen to you, ala condemned) I had an idea for a reality show.
Why not have a reality-TV haunted house? I'm not talking about your average cheezy high-school haunted house, but something made by people in the horror films industry, and which plays out exactley like a horror film, first putting people in a mansion for the night, largely unaware of what is about to happen to them. You simply tell them that the show might be disturbing, and at any time they can leave. You make them all sign waivers. You only tell them that they will be spending the night in this house, and that whoever stays the longest will be the winner of a million dollars.
the first night, not much happens. They talk to each other, they make those social bonds you see in reality shows. It is also very important that the audience is left in the dark about the details of the game and how it works, becuase the ultimate goal will be scaring the shit out of audience members as well as contestants. After the players have made their bonds and try to figure out what the game is about, weird stuff starts to happen.
First, some sort of backstory has to emerge. The contestants will probably want to explore the house, especially since the host has said at the beginning that "various cash prizes may be in hidden locations throughout the house." Every time someone is alone, it is an opportunity for the crew to freak them out somehow. At first, as contestants find out more about the backstory of the house (classic horror movie backstory of some kind) they will be surprised only by simple jumpers...as in a cat running out from under a pile of rubble or the groundskeeper of the mansion surprising them unexpectantly.
Over time, the things that the crew does to freak out the contestants get worse and worse, and contestants begin to understand the true meaning of the show. Some of them may freak out and decide to leave, but the rest want to stay for the money. They form alliances, and stick with their partners at all times. Then stuff really starts to get dangerous.
contestants are presented with a new form of being eliminated from the game: death. Initially, players will only be able to be eliminated by leaving the house out of fear, but as stuff gets freakier, contestants will be forced into situations that may be considered life threatening (but of course, it will all be fake, so nobody is actually dying) For instance, if a contestant falls down a pit and lands on foam padding and pillows, the host might conclude that the bottom of the pit was covered in spikes, and the player would be considered dead.
Of course, the camera will never show the actual eliminations, only the situation that resulted in it. Our contesant who fell down the pit will only be seen falling, and the screen will cut to black, with the words "contestant blah blah has died." A sound would then play thoughout the house confirming to the other players that someone has died.
As fewer and fewer players remain, tensions run high. Contestants who discover a place where it is possible to be eliminated might choose to not tell the other players of its existance. (say for instance, player A finds the pit, and then tells the other contestants that the way is safe. They advance and end up falling in the pit, and player A wins the game)
eventually, there will be only two people left. At this point the entire house will be attacked by zombie-like figures who will hack their way into the building and go after the last two people. They will be cornered, and eventually the last person not to be taken by the zombies will be declared winner.
I dunno, its really rough, but I'm surprised no network has thought of something like this...I mean what could be cooler than a real-life horror movie? :thumbs:
Why not have a reality-TV haunted house? I'm not talking about your average cheezy high-school haunted house, but something made by people in the horror films industry, and which plays out exactley like a horror film, first putting people in a mansion for the night, largely unaware of what is about to happen to them. You simply tell them that the show might be disturbing, and at any time they can leave. You make them all sign waivers. You only tell them that they will be spending the night in this house, and that whoever stays the longest will be the winner of a million dollars.
the first night, not much happens. They talk to each other, they make those social bonds you see in reality shows. It is also very important that the audience is left in the dark about the details of the game and how it works, becuase the ultimate goal will be scaring the shit out of audience members as well as contestants. After the players have made their bonds and try to figure out what the game is about, weird stuff starts to happen.
First, some sort of backstory has to emerge. The contestants will probably want to explore the house, especially since the host has said at the beginning that "various cash prizes may be in hidden locations throughout the house." Every time someone is alone, it is an opportunity for the crew to freak them out somehow. At first, as contestants find out more about the backstory of the house (classic horror movie backstory of some kind) they will be surprised only by simple jumpers...as in a cat running out from under a pile of rubble or the groundskeeper of the mansion surprising them unexpectantly.
Over time, the things that the crew does to freak out the contestants get worse and worse, and contestants begin to understand the true meaning of the show. Some of them may freak out and decide to leave, but the rest want to stay for the money. They form alliances, and stick with their partners at all times. Then stuff really starts to get dangerous.
contestants are presented with a new form of being eliminated from the game: death. Initially, players will only be able to be eliminated by leaving the house out of fear, but as stuff gets freakier, contestants will be forced into situations that may be considered life threatening (but of course, it will all be fake, so nobody is actually dying) For instance, if a contestant falls down a pit and lands on foam padding and pillows, the host might conclude that the bottom of the pit was covered in spikes, and the player would be considered dead.
Of course, the camera will never show the actual eliminations, only the situation that resulted in it. Our contesant who fell down the pit will only be seen falling, and the screen will cut to black, with the words "contestant blah blah has died." A sound would then play thoughout the house confirming to the other players that someone has died.
As fewer and fewer players remain, tensions run high. Contestants who discover a place where it is possible to be eliminated might choose to not tell the other players of its existance. (say for instance, player A finds the pit, and then tells the other contestants that the way is safe. They advance and end up falling in the pit, and player A wins the game)
eventually, there will be only two people left. At this point the entire house will be attacked by zombie-like figures who will hack their way into the building and go after the last two people. They will be cornered, and eventually the last person not to be taken by the zombies will be declared winner.
I dunno, its really rough, but I'm surprised no network has thought of something like this...I mean what could be cooler than a real-life horror movie? :thumbs:
