ALUMINUM FOIL ROOM
A tried and true effect is to cover the walls with shiny aluminum foil and add one or more strobes. To keep the customers from removing the foil it is in turn covered with a wire mesh. The rooms of this type that I have seen are done with flat walls and no more than two strobes. Actors may be placed in this room, but basically it is used for entertainment and to partially blind customers in preparation for a scare.
I offer this variation. Add some dimension to the room with two and three-dimensional geometric shapes covered in foil applied to the walls. Also, change the angle of the walls by tilting them in or out and use wall angles other than 90 degrees. Create a path through the room with additional objects, like boxes, covered with foil. Yes, I know this will complicate assembly; however, it will improve the effect. Do not forget the ceiling. Foil shapes and even a rotating mirror ball adds light reflecting surfaces to tease the viewers' eyes. Use more than two strobes and try different rates of flash for point … counter point. A light fog creates beams of light off the mirror ball. Use too much and the foil effect is lost.
The boxes can have an air ram added to one or more to pop the lids or have something pop out of a box. The effect can be random, actor controlled or sensor triggered.
SKULL CAVERN
A more elaborate variation is my event called "Skull Cavern." The room is a cavern created from hydracal, burlap, wire mesh and 4x8 frames. Skull Cavern has four 20' long corridors that switch back and forth. Stalactites and stalagmites divide the corridors. Passage between corridors is through arches. Customers can see from one corridor to the next, but not clearly. The room is portable. Bolt the sections together and fill the cracks between units with burlap strips soaked in hydracal. Paint the room bright white. Position three slow pulsing strobes equally and staggered in the corridors for a total of twelve strobes.
Skull Cavern appears to be alive. The stalactites and stalagmites appear to move. The continual changes in sources of illumination create an animation effect. Customers walking through the room become disoriented, have trouble walking a straight line and some turn around and exit. We place no actors in the room. Instead we blast customers from above with jets of air or C02 as they pass beneath the arches between the corridors.
The room is basically entertainment. The bright strobe lights cause the customers' iris to close down and set them up for a scare at the rooms exit. We have an air ram effect operated by the same operator working the arch air jets. An ugly head is thrust up and out towards the customer group from the left as they exit right. This either stops them in their tracks or helps them out of the room.
It is easy to change the room's color, because Skull Cavern is painted white. Add floral wrap to the strobe bulbs and the cavern becomes an Icy Blue or Hot Red. Experiment with two to three colors simultaneously flashing. The animation of the stalactites and stalagmites becomes even more surreal. Use additional layers of floral wrap to increase the color saturation making the color deeper. I recommend floral wrap because it is cheaper than traditional gel and easier to wrap around strobe bulbs. Hold the floral wrap in place with a rubber band.
CHECKERBOARD ROOM
The Checkerboard room uses similar principles. The room is made up of black and white squares. Sometimes the squares are painted in perspective to give the illusion of greater distance. A strobe illuminates the room, usually pointed into the customers' eyes. One or more black squares are removed. An actor can thrust some soft scary object out a hole towards the customers. An error often made is painting the floor with the same design. The ceiling, Yes, the floor, No. Customers will wear a path through the design. You may be able to repaint it nightly, but during crank through it will wear. It then reveals the rooms true nature and a path out. The room is interesting. It is highly over rated and best reserved for a haunt catering to a younger audience.
ADDENDA
I know that some of this sounds strange. I build my own 5vdc strobe lights and use a 12vac theatrical lighting system. This provides many advantages. My light fixtures cost less than $5 each, use 7 watt or 11 watt bulbs (this translates into lower power usage, the 4,000 sq. ft. Castle Dragon is illuminated with 20 amps), the low light levels cause the customer's iris to open wide and wide iris' are easily blinded.