There’s a Serial Killer in the Haunted House

Haunted houses have earned a reputation as repeatedly trying to trick us into being scared of the same fictional horror fantasies because we’re only reminded of them once a year: Brad Pitt-Tom Cruise hybrid vampires, ghouls and goblins straight from Cartoon Network and Wolf-men whom our grandmothers could put to shame.

This year, the haunted house revolution has arrived. On the Lower East Side is a den of horrors based on real-life murders, where you’re offered a drink at the bar before being accosted by creepy escorts in lab coats and strait jackets painting X’s on your forehead with a questionable red substance (quite possibly real blood). It’s called “Killers: A Nightmare Haunted House” and it’s bringing a much-needed dose of realism to what’s become a predictable and clichéd holiday.

Co-directors Timothy Haskell and John Harlacher have collaborated this Halloween season to bring a fearless New York audience “what they’ve been asking for years, a serial killer haunted house” said Harlacher.

Haskell and Harlacher, along with producer Steve Kopelman, have created a “horrifying, immersive haunted house experience about our obsession and fascination with serial killers both real and fictional,” declared a statement on the Killers website. Sitting in the lobby of the house, by a pop-up Serial Killer Gallery, Harlacher said that the vision for this haunted experience was to portray these “monsters” as they really are, terrifying, although most of society has come to treat these serial killers as celebrities in light of the atrocities they’re known for.

Haskell is the creator of the annual NIGHTMARE series, which themed haunted houses based on polls where the directors asked potential audience what scares them the most. While past years have included themes like “Ghost Stories” and “Superstitions,” the serial killer theme has been a recurring request by polltakers each year, but Haskell has been reluctant to consent due to the controversy he was sure would pursue. This year Haskell put aside his hesitations, decided this is the story of American culture he wanted to tell, and “Killers” was finally created.

This 25-minute installation invites audiences into the lives of notorious serial killers, with replicas of their creepy homes or wherever they happened to handle their dirty work. From joining the dinner table of Ed Gein and his defaced guests, and listening to the pre-sentencing speech by the infamous Jeffrey Dahmer while he performs a decapitation, to sympathetically wishing the best of luck to a sprawled out young lady crying for help as her wounded thigh is eaten apart by a man who looks like he is after your leg next. “Killers” is nothing short of “get me out of here quick I just peed myself, three times,” as patron Jenny Vance nervously uttered. If that doesn’t make you ever want to look up from under your blankets again, not much else will. Oh wait, being chased by a manic axe-wielding child with severe posture issues while wandering down a blood stricken hallway, only to end up in a pitch black room where some human-creature may or may not have grabbed your feet, won’t make sleeping any easier. Get ready to dig up that stuffed animal you haven’t slept with since 1995.

“Killers: A Nightmare Haunted House” runs until November 3 at the Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center, 107 Suffolk Street in the Lower East Side.