Hellbox

JMU students, graduates create horrifying Halloween experience

Imagine all the scariest parts of all the horror movies you’ve ever watched. Now put them all in front of your face, screaming at you grabbing you, bleeding on you and feeding on your worst fears. Welcome to Hellbox — a Halloween haunted house created by JMU students and graduates.

By the time most people reach college, haunted houses are predictable and passé. It can be hard to find a haunted house that is ambitious and sick enough to really give anyone a good scare. The people at Hellbox are out to challenge that notion with their second annual charity haunted house.

For the other 363 days of the year, the house at 135 Campbell St., known as "The Toolbox," is just another place where JMU students live. But on Oct. 28 and 29, it will become a little slice of hell on earth as it transforms into an interactive experience that traverses scenes set up across three-story house.

Originally an idea of Nathan Havasy and Matt Schnable (both ’04) and their roommates, Hellbox was born from a love of horror movies and a disdain for the unoriginality of many of the haunted houses they had experienced in the past.

"We knew how corny and uninspired ‘professional’ haunted houses normally are, and we knew we had a pretty creepy house, so we figured we’d just do it ourselves," Havasy said.

From an idea, Hellbox grew to be a true undertaking, involving dozens of people and countless hours of planning.

"The planning starts with a series of house meetings," resident Dan Hagen said (’04). "We build our ideas from each other, brainstorm, throw out what we don’t agree on and hopefully have a quality product by the end.

Three weeks ago, we spent two minutes a day for planning," he said. "Last week it was 20 hours a day. This week it will be 50 hours a day."

But the commitment pays off when visitors experience a new level of horror. Sophomore Travis Tucker attended last year and was shocked by how interactive the experience became.

"People would constantly be grabbing at me, hanging from the ceiling or throwing stuff at us," Tucker said. "Hellbox is a great place to get a good scare. They really go all out in making the house scary as hell."

At the premiere of Hellbox last year, no one knew exactly what to expect.

"It was completely nerve-wracking to the last minute... because none of us had ever done anything like it before," Hagen said. "We opened at 7 p.m., and by mid-evening, the line was backed out to the street. It stayed that way until we decided to cut it off around midnight. In total we passed through about 48 groups of 10, ending the night with about 480 people."

Some people waited in line for more than two hours to get into the house. But volunteers make the wait as bearable as possible by selling hot chocolate and cookies while playing a selection of horror movies for the waiting crowd.

"If you want to be scared out of your mind, it definitely is worth the wait," said senior Christina Tiffany, who attended last year.

The horrors found at Hellbox do have the potential to offend some visitors due to the graphic details and psychological nature of the design. All of the promotional materials for Hellbox have been very careful to mention that the experience might not be for all audiences. "There is always going to be someone who doesn’t understand that it’s all in fun," junior volunteer Rachel Pryor said. "But we’re definitely not doing anything to deliberately offend anyone."

For a person who likes to be scared, Hellbox is a unique experience that would be regrettable to pass up.

The $4 that is charged at the door also goes to a worthy cause. After paying back all the expenses that went into getting the house ready, Hellbox donates all of its profits to a local charity.

"Last year, we were able to give a pretty good amount of money to First Step Domestic Violence Center," Havasy said. "This year, all the profits are going towards Our Community Place, the free soup kitchen put on by The Little Grill for needy people in the area."

This year, the volunteers at Hellbox are hoping to up the ante and improve on last year’s success.

"The rooms are all completely different," said volunteer junior Lauren Futrell. "There are some new people involved who bring new ideas. We also know what did and did not work last year, so we can only improve."

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