Local magician and illusionist extraordinaire Eli Kerr, who grew up
in Carson City, is the owner and operator of Reno Fright Fest, an
annual haunted house attraction. This year, the haunted house is called
“SlaughterHouse,” and it’s located in Meadowood Mall,
5000 Meadowood Mall Circle. For Halloween weekend, the house will be
open Thursday, Oct. 29, through Sunday, Nov. 1, 7 p.m. through 11 p.m.
$12. For tickets or more information, call 885-6999 or visit www.renofrightfest.com.
So what’s Reno Fright Fest?
Reno Fright Fest is located inside of Meadowood Mall. This
year’s haunt is called SlaughterHouse, and it’s located
inside a 7,000-foot storefront inside Meadowood Mall. It’s one
giant haunted house, it’s actually Reno’s largest ever
haunted house.
What are the scares like?
We have up to 40 actors in there per night that we’re open.
We’ve got a lot of misdirection, a lot of animatronics, and a lot
of unique scares that take place—it’s not just hiding in
the dark and freaking you out. There’s a lot of special effects
and lighting, and some custom pieces that you don’t see in just
any haunted house. Basically, the entire thing is themed around a
slaughterhouse, a thousand ways to die.
So a slaughterhouse like in Texas
Chainsaw Massacre?
More so that than a butcher shop. [Laughs.] There’s some mass
murdering going on. The basic structure of the house is like a burnt
out Victorian-style home. That’s what the façade of it is,
as well. Inside it takes you through different areas of this house, and
there’s a torture room, and living rooms and a bathroom, as well,
like a general house would have, but they’re all filled with
monsters, creatures, chainsaw murders, and all kinds of fun stuff.
Everything you need for Halloween.
Do you perform in the house, too?
No, I don’t actually. I’m the owner, so that means I run
around like an idiot all night long, fixing problems and stuff. I would
love to actually be an actor in there sometime, but I rarely get in
there long enough before I get a call on the radio.
Do you have an age recommendation?
It’s a tough call. As far as admittance is concerned, children
under 5 are free, but we don’t get a lot of small kids. It
depends on each person. It’s kind of up to the parents’
discretions. It is open to all ages, but usually small children are
accompanied by an adult. We’ve had 16, 17-year-old girls refuse
to go in there—like run out of the line before they even get in.
And we’ve had 8-year-old kids love it.
Have you had anybody freak out in
there?
We’ve had to escort a few people out. We’ve had two
people wet themselves in there and one person puke.
When that kind of thing happens do you feel
like it’s an accomplishment or do you feel like you
might’ve gone too far?
It’s actually an accomplishment. Our actor coordinator [Taija
Ferguson] had a bet with everyone, an award thing, if someone could
make somebody pee their pants, and it happened, I think, the first
night.