Issue date: 10/25/06 Section: Features

Inga Bliddal (left) and Kiran Athwal (right), two students in the Global Education Program at Sac State from Germany and England, walk casually through a haunted house unaware of the ghoul waiting to jump out of the darkness at Scream Extreme, a haunted h [Click to enlarge]

The day when you can be anyone you want, eat candy until you explode and get the scare of your life is just around the corner. That's right. Halloween has come again, and with it, the many haunted attractions that the Sacramento area has to offer.

Fear and excitement are the main themes behind haunted houses, but one venue in Carmichael has a very important cause behind it.

The experience is called The Scream Extreme and the organization that created it is the ShadowBox Theatre Company, a non-profit association for children with autism.

Gwendel Rodriguez started ShadowBox in 2004 as a result of her 10-year-old son Emilio being diagnosed with autism. The funds raised from the group's annual Scream Extreme go toward autistic classes in the San Juan Unified School District.

"I've been haunting for over 30 years and I love it," Rodriguez said. "So I figured why not put both loves together. Before we were doing things like asking for cans and recycling them, but we decided to go commercial with it and we could charge admission."

The organization's financial donation is now called The Gift of Hope Sponsorship and is used to brighten the lives of these children by financing class field trips that have dwindled drastically with school budget cuts, Rodriguez said.

"It funds transportation for field trips, meals and the activity of the trip," Rodriguez said. "Right now it's focusing on field trips because, with autism, it's very important that these children get out in society. They're not aware of what's going on around them and we as the world don't know how to treat them." "So through field trips we get to have them go out into the world," she said.

This Christmas, the goal for ShadowBox is to hold a Christmas feed for low-income families with autistic children. In 2007, the group would like to branch out and provide its services to Grant Unified School District. There are also hopes for a group home for young autistic adults in about ten years, Rodriguez said.

However, it's not just the cause that makes this attraction worthwhile. Rodriguez has a very basic philosophy about her haunted house.

"We chose the name 'Scream Extreme' because that's what we hear," Rodriguez said. "We hear extreme screams all over the place. If you take the old community haunts that they used to have and combine it with today's technology, that's us."

Another bonus of the attraction is its low price range. The Scream Extreme's admission is $10 and other haunts in the area can reach $16 or $19, Rodriguez said. However, she is very firm in letting people know that a charity haunt and low admission prices do not mean low quality.

"We're gigantic thrills without pocket book shrills," Rodriguez said. "We give you a lot of screams for your buck."

The Scream Extreme has several unique characteristics that participants can really look forward to.

"We don't concentrate on a lot of blood and gore, we are more psychological," Rodriguez said. "We take you from light to completely pitch black, but there's something in there with you. I like to work on people's psyche."

This venue is also the only one in the area to include a "haunted house" section as well as a "haunted trail." The entire attraction is set up outside but the house portion is made to look real with props and plywood walls. A background story is given in the front room and then patrons are set off on their own self-led tour. When the participants leave the house and head out onto the trail, the haunt continues with a few minutes of pitch dark where the haunted must feel their way forward and the thrills continue from there, Rodriguez said.

At first glance, patrons might think this house can't compare to the enormous commercial haunts of the area, but looks can be deceiving, Rodriguez said.

"Our haunt looks small from the front, but you can't judge a book by its cover. People have no idea what it branches out to in the back. It takes a good 10 minutes to go through it. Some people rush, but others take their time and really admire the details, and I appreciate that. We're small but we're mighty."

Rodriguez has many memories of the times when the attraction was simply too scary for participants. Last year the attraction lost 11 people to the first emergency exit and this year has already seen deserters.

"Anticipation is the worst thing and we know how to build it, so we get you all worked up and everything, and when it comes some people just can't take it," Rodriguez said.

The haunt has grown substantially in what it has to offer and this year, returning patrons will receive an even more realistic show with different forms of animatronics, which is any prop that moves mechanically. This includes a Latex man named Larry who pops out when triggered by an event timer. The individual "rooms" of the haunt have also become much more detailed, Rodriguez said.

The Scream Extreme opened on October 13 at 5616 El Camino Ave., Carmichael, and will continue through Halloween with shows on Friday and Saturday from 7 to 11 p.m. and Sunday from 7 to 10 p.m., with a final show on Tuesday, Oct. 31 from 7 to 11 p.m.

Bridget Jones can be reached at features@statehornet.com

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