Chestermere’s favourite haunted house, Dr. Giggles House of Pain, celebrated Halloween with a street party while collecting donations for the local food bank.
This year, Dr. Giggles created an immersive horror film experience, with the Theatre of Pain Volume 2.
Scenes were made from classic horror movies such as The Purge, Annabelle, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Dr. Giggles’ own movie The Undoing.
The Undoing was a continuation of last year’s film the Dr. Giggles crew shot, about a family man with a dark secret.
The film was shown throughout October and played on the street on Halloween Night.
“It was awesome. We blocked off the street, we had fire pits out there, and we showed the movie we shot this fall out on the big blow-up screen,” Mike Koroll said. “The food trucks and the fire pits were all along the front of the haunted house, so everybody was staying where the action was.”
Koroll heard a lot of positive feedback from everyone who dared to enter the Theatre of Pain this year.
“Everybody said it was completely over the top, they were blown away, just having a blast, everyone was super excited, and they were happy we got back to the street party and happy to have the food trucks,” Koroll said.
Families with younger children also stopped by the street party to support the food trucks.
“It really brought a pro-element to the whole show,” Koroll said.
On Halloween Night, anyone brave enough to enter Dr. Giggles Theatre of Pain Volume 2 was asked to bring a food bank donation.
About 450 people braved the haunt, donating nearly 500 lbs of food, and more than $300 in cash donations.
This year, the Chestermere High School also auctioned off Dr. Giggles tickets, raising $1,200 and more than 350 lbs of food for the food bank.
“They said they would help us out with our charity of choice, which is the Chestermere Food Bank,” Koroll said.
Dr. Giggles also sold fast passes on Halloween, which is allocated to the build each year.
Throughout October, Dr. Giggles sold 850 tickets to enter the Theatre of Pain, with many people coming from Calgary.
“Everybody loved it, they said it was the best-haunted house yet, and there was a lot of excitement,” Koroll said. “They said they had been to a lot of haunted houses, and they said ours was right up there.”
For Koroll, hearing people say this year’s haunt is one of the best ones they have done, made the work and time spent building the haunted house worth it.
“That was really encouraging, because we try to raise the bar every single year, and it seems like we’re doing that,” Koroll said. “That was one of the highlights, hearing that echoed over and over, people were just blown away.”
Koroll attributed the success of the haunted house every year to the cast and crew.
“It comes down to being surrounded by a lot of talented people, and together we’re able to make this better each and every year,” Koroll said.
Without the support of sponsors including Eric’s No Frills, McIntyre Crane and Rigging, and Michelle Eldjarnson who sponsored the Purge room, the cast, the crew, and the food trucks, the annual haunted house wouldn’t be possible.
“A big shout out to the cast and crew and thank you to everyone in the greater Calgary area and Chestermere for coming out and supporting us,” Koroll said. “We’re very thankful to all of our sponsors for everything they have done.”
