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Wednesday, September 25, 2013

National Haunted House Day - Make It Happen NOW!

Support the adoption of NATIONAL HAUNTED HOUSE DAY on the second Friday in October.

Take Action Now!

The growth in popularity of Haunted Houses has inspired us as producers, vendors, and fans of haunted houses to campaign for a national day in recognition of our industry.

Sign this petition and share it with EVERYONE YOU KNOW and ask them to do the same. Creating an account to sign takes seconds.  We need 100,000 signatures on this petition by 10/22/13.
Other ways you can support the creation and adoption of National Haunted House Day:
  • Send this letter to your congressman / congresswoman and add in YOUR information.  You can download an editable word document of the letter here
  • If you are a haunted house producer or vendor donate a portion of your sales on the second Friday in October to a local charity or community foundation such as the Don’t Be a Monster Anti - Bullying Campaign or another of your choice. Then tell people about it by sending out this press release detailing your actions and support of National Haunted House Day. (instructions are included in the release).  You can download an editable word document of the press release here.

More About the Initiative

Haunted Houses and the industry around them have impacted popular culture in a permanent way. In recent history, over the past few decades at least, Haunted Houses have been slowly and methodically extending the celebration of Halloween and Horror well beyond a single night in October. Attending haunted houses has become a staple “to do” for millions of people across the country during September and October.

We are artists, business owners, community leaders, charitable leaders, and passionate fans of our industry. In our initiative to establish this officially observed day we are united by a common vision and our love of the haunted house industry.  We ask you to join us in standing up together and requesting that members of congress adopt legislation to enact a proposition to make National Haunted House Day an officially observed day on the second Friday in October.

We further insist that haunted houses and vendors across the country support this initiative by contributing to charitable causes on National Haunted House Day by donating a portion of their proceeds on the second Friday in October to a charitable program such as the Don’t Be A Monster Anti - Bullying Campaign or another of their choice.

Sincerely,

1331 Entertainment Group
13th Floor Haunted House Denver, CO / Phoenix, AZ / San Antonio, TX / Rio Grande Valley, TX
House of Torment Haunted House Austin, TX
Asylum Haunted House Denver, CO

FOR COMPLETE INFO PLEASE VISIT WWW.NATIONALHAUNTEDHOUSEDAY.ORG

Monday, September 23, 2013

Austin Vampire Ball T-Shirt (and Tickets)

If you're considering pre-ordering an Austin Vampire Ball ticket & Sinister Visions-designed t-shirt, you'll want to do it soon! In order to have them printed in time for the event, pre-ordering for packages that include a t-shirt will end at midnight on September 30th. After that there are no guarantees for shirts.

And speaking of the Austin Vampire Ball t-shirt, here it is! Order yours now!
The Austin Vampire Ball 2013 T-Shirt

Saturday, September 21, 2013

CALL FOR ENTRIES: The Third Annual Faces of the Great Pumpkin Art Contest

Faces of the Great Pumpkin Art ContestThe Cult of the Great Pumpkin, in association with Sinister Visions inc., is pleased to announce the Third Annual "Faces of The Great Pumpkin" Art Contest, and is now accepting submissions.

The concept is simple: Draw, paint, sculpt or otherwise create a portrait of The Great Pumpkin. That is, YOUR VISION of The Great Pumpkin. Since nobody's ever seen him (and lived to tell about it, anyway), his appearance is completely open to interpretation, and that's what we want to see! Let your imagination run wild, commit your ideas to paper, screen, sculpt or pumpkin pulp, and send it in!

Visit the CONTEST PAGE for full details and information. Here's 2012's winning entry by Rhode Montijo!

Returning this year are our esteemed, eminently-qualified and generally awesome judges:

Lesley BannatyneLESLEY BANNATYNE

As one of the country's foremost authorities on Halloween, Bannatyne has shared her knowledge on television specials for Nickelodeon and the History Channel ("The Haunted History of Halloween," "The Real Story of Halloween"), with Time Magazine, Slate, National Geographic, and has given talks at venues as diverse as the 2000 Halloween Convergence in New Orleans and the St. Louis Art Museum. She contributed the Halloween article to World Book Encyclopedia. She has written multiple books on the history, folklore and cultural impact of Halloween, and her knowledge of the holiday is matched only by her passion for it. http://iskullhalloween.com/

Unkle PigorsERIC PIGORS

A.K.A. Unkle Pigors, the mad genius behind the Toxic Toons empire has drawn and painted more jack o' lanterns than most people actually see in a lifetime. Eric started out as a professional animator with a diverse client list including Walt Disney Studios, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and others. He launched Toxic Toons in 1999 to merchandise and sell his own brand of gleefully macabre art and illustration work. Odds are you've seen his work more than once, whether you knew it or not! http://www.toxictoons.com

RotROT

The mysterious mastermind behind PumpkinRot.com, Rot's wicked Halloween creations are unparalleled and must be seen to be believed. If you haven't already, set aside an afternoon to explore the wicked, weird and wonderful creations on display at  http://pumpkinrot.com/

Thursday, September 19, 2013

There's Monsters, and Then There's Monsters...

If movies like Nightbreed and The Monster Squad taught us anything, it's that the guys that look like monsters aren't always the Bad Guys, and sometimes the scariest monsters of all are completely human. It's with that in mind that Sinister Visions is pleased to be a sponsor of DON'T BE A MONSTER, an anti-bullying campaign initiated by the 13th Floor Haunted House.

For more information and to get involved, visit http://www.dontbeamonster.org.

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Preparing for the Haunt/Halloween Season 2014: Upcoming Awesomeness

As I hammer away here at Castle Sinister getting my clients ready for the 2013 Halloween & Haunted House season, I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge a stack of cool things happening with my good friends and partners, Zombie Army Productions. So, in the order that they're happening:

The Premiere of Days of the Living Dead, Season 4

DAYS OF THE LIVING DEAD Season 4 premieres Thursday September 5th!
Days of the Living Dead

Your exclusive look behind the scenes of Chicago's #1 haunted house, Statesville Haunted Prison®, and into the depths of its production team, Zombie Army Productions, is back with Season 4 of Days of the Living Dead. Follow the Zombie Army crew through planning the designs, buying the props, building the sets and running an award-winning haunted house. There is a reason the Travel Channel chose it as their craziest Haunted House for the upcoming "Halloween Craziest", set to air this October (check local listings) - tune in to Days of the Living Dead, go backstage and find out why!

This season watch as John and the Zombie Army take on many new endeavors to build Statesville bigger and better than ever before after the Travel Channel dubbed it Halloween's Craziest Haunted House. Find out what worked, what bombed, and what actually blew up!

Catch up on Seasons 1-3 and watch the Season 4 Trailer at
http://www.daysofthelivingdead.com

Zombie Army Games at Statesville Haunted Prison®

The Zombie Army Games 2013 will take place at Statesville Haunted Prison® on September 7th. For details and to buy tickets, visit http://www.ZombieArmyGames.com!

The Mole Man of Belmont Avenue on DVD September 10th!

The long-awaited and much-anticipated release date for The Mole Man of Belmont Avenue has finally been announced, and it's sooner than you may think! You can pre-order RIGHT NOW at Amazon.com for next week's release date of September 10th! Check out the new cover art, then click it to order your copy TODAY!
Mole Man of Belmont Avenue DVD Cover

Statesville Haunted Prison® Gets a Long-Overdue Makeover

Statesville Haunted Prison & City of the Dead have a brand new logo (and artwork) more fitting the ferocious nature of the haunted house, courtesy of... well, me.

The Fear Haunted House Returns to Chicago's Navy Pier

Zombie Army Productions is thrilled to announce that the award-winning Fear Haunted House is returning to Navy Pier for 2013!  This October will feature both an aggressive adult-themed haunted house at night and a low-scare, family-friendly attraction during the day.
Don’t miss the return of The Fear Haunted House and see why it was rated one of Haunted Attraction Magazine's 25 Must See Haunts for 2009 and voted Chicago's #1 haunted house (HauntedHouseChicago.com, 2008)!
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Sinister Visions clients have said...
  • “Knowledgeable, creative and most critically - prompt! Chad has the perfect skill set to create very user-friendly websites that work great and look super scary!”

    — Ben Armstrong, Netherworld Haunted House

  • “Chad has been instrumental in growing all of our trade shows by marketing our brands through amazing web designs, brochures, banner displays and t-shirt designs! Web design is so important in today's world and we credit a lot of our success to Chad for keeping our image fresh every year. Chad works around the clock to deliver the best products possible.”

    — Jen Braverman, TransWorld Trade Shows

  • “Chad is an unbelievably talented artist. The fact that he is able to take that creativity and use it to build websites that not only look good, but also work well and are reliable is just one of the reasons we've loved partnering with him over the years.”

    — Edward Douglas, Midnight Syndicate

  • “SinisterVisions.com have built and serviced three web sites for me over the past 6 years. Chad's input, design, backup and all around service are a credit to him, especially as we are based in the United Kingdom. I would not hesitate in recommending Chad and SinisterVisions.com to anyone wishing for web design and creativity.”

    — Mark Edwards, Farmaggedon

  • “Chad has always been one step ahead of what's popular at the time. He continues to amaze me with his creativity and designs. We at Terror on the Fox have always used Sinister Visions, and we/I always will!”

    — Mike "Beaker" Parpovich, Terror on the Fox

  • “There is no more prolific dark web designer anywhere. If you want a successful event, then you need a Chad Savage-designed web site.”

    — Leonard Pickel, HAuNTcon

  • “Chad Savage has a command of typography that isn't seen anymore... And that's only one of his skills; he's really a pioneer in horror / haunted / fantasy corporate ID and digital design. Most of the work you see in this arena that wasn't done by him was most likely influenced by him. He's an original.”

    — Joe Sena, EMCE Toys / Cinefantastique Magazine / The Monster Channel

  • “Chad Savage delivers, in an internet world where most designers and enablers spew and wheeze far beyond their capacity. Chad views complex codings with an artist's eye ­ which makes him the real deal. He walks the walk. Hire him now before he wises up and prices himself accordingly.”

    — David J. Schow, Author

  • “I knew by hiring Sinister Visions I would get excellent results. The results were even better than expected. Thanks for exceeding my high expectations.”

    — Larry McKenzie, TheHalloweenNetwork.com

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