Great Horror Campout San Diego 2014 (Part Two)

Great Horror Campout San Diego 2014- Behind The Scenes

Welcome back! This is the second part to my review of the Great Horror Campout which was held in San Diego on August 16th, 2014. As I mentioned in the first part of this review, not only did I attend the event as a camper, I was allowed backstage. The people who work at the stellar production company, Ten Thirty One Productions, gave me the opportunity and I ran with it. At the conclusion of the evening I found that I simply had too much information to put in a reasonably sized article. If you haven't read my first review please feel free to follow the link below to catch up, the event itself lived up to every expectation. If you're thinking about attending next year...do it! It was worth every penny.

Great Horror Campout San Diego 2014 (Part One)

Well as many of you know, I started doing these reviews for a multitude of reasons. The primary reasons being that I love to travel, write and in cases like these be spooked until my hair stands on end. Another, and more important reason, is that I want to give my little girls the idea that no matter what stage of life you are in, you can experience something new. Life doesn't end at twenty nine or when you have children. You can be a Super Mom, go to work, go to school, keep the house clean, cook, bake, run the errands, find time for a social life.....and find a way to follow your passion. It's a balancing act, sometimes a tricky balancing act, but it's doable. The reason that's so important to me, is that for a great many years I simply wasn't doing it. Like a lot of moms out there, I could find time for every person  in my life except for myself.

My final reason for being an Adventuress is that my entire life has been an exercise of getting passed a somewhat crippling case of shyness. It's hard for me to talk to strangers....but doing these reviews helps me with that. It forces me out of my hermit shell and frankly I love it....even as it scares the holy heck out of me.

Back to the story at hand, I had just completed my almost nine hour drive and was sitting in my car in

the parking lot telling myself not to be wimp. Before I could let myself dwell too much on the fact that I was a single adventurer this trip, I tend to be far less shy when I have people I know around me, I grabbed my camera bag and headed out across a field towards the production trailer. And promptly realized that I had forgotten all the paperwork that I had printed out so desperately that morning in the front seat. Sigh. Back to the car. Ok, round two. No one saw that....just be cool....well as cool (insert air quotes) as I ever get. I am a nerd and proud of it.

I spotted a group of actors hanging around the front of the production trailer and asked if they could direct me to a person named either Justin or Trisha based on an email that I had received from their marketing coordinator Renee.  They led me to a nice young woman who asked me to wait for a moment why she went to find Melissa Myers the COO. When she came out of the trailer I immediately felt a sense of relief. She struck me as efficient, dedicated, and busy but completely approachable. It's hard to be shy when you're faced with someone who is making it exceedingly easy to do your job. She gave me permission to take pictures inside of the make up trailer, speak to whoever would allow me to talk to them, to seek out special interviews through her and basically said have at it. The only caveat was to try to stay out of their way, especially as it grew near time for the actors to go live. I remember how hard it was to get myself to that point in my old acting days so I agreed readily. The first thing I did was head over to the props, one to get a few stock photos....and two to get myself ready to talk to everyone.

I also found myself chatting with one of their production crew members Jonas who made me feel more at ease by questioning me as much as I was about to question everyone else. He asked me what became the number one question about myself during the course of the night. What is your blog about? Changes by the adventure my friends, changes by the adventure.

Feeling more at ease I walked into the make up trailer and was instantly floored by how hard the make up artists were working. As well as by the actors that were sitting still for so long to have their makeup and masks applied. Speaking from experience, just let me tell you that latex makeup can be very uncomfortable at times. Especially if you are wearing it for long periods of time, as all of these actors would be. It takes dedication to your craft to not only wear it, but for the people who are applying it. Remind me to dig through my old scrapbooks sometime and get out pictures of me in corpse makeup and contact lenses. The result was exactly what we needed for the scene, and I was only in make up for about a half hour at a stretch but I remember wanting to rip the itchy material off my face and burning lenses out of my eyes pretty darn quickly. Skills, these people have amazing skills.

There were a few people just sitting down as I made my entrance, and I quickly introduced myself

and found one of my patented goofy smiles on my face. For all intents and purposes this reminded me so much of a Green room that I felt the residual traces of my unease vanish immediately. One thing I will say about this experience is that it made me miss my acting days, yes I gave it up for a good reason....but it used to be a very big part of my life and it left a mark.

The first person I spoke too, turned out to be the same person I spoke to first at the Sacramento event. The charming and very talented Ram, also known as Tanner. I asked if it was alright if I took pictures and he and his amazing make up artist readily agreed. He impressed me right off the bat with how at ease he was with the whole process, cracking jokes with the artist and including me in the conversation at the same time. I was also surprised to find that once I mentioned the sunflower he remembered who I was. They have no reason to remember me, I mean they see hundreds of people every show, and I blend in. I guess my runaway smart aleck mouth can leave a bit of impression.

As you can see below, the handsome Tanner, progresses slowly but surely into the mutant Ram. I stood in that trailer for about two and a half hours grand total and I never heard a complaint from a single person. These are the people who should be hired by everyone. Dedication like this can't be found in every casting room.

Also in the chair was a young woman who had a real sense of old fashioned beauty about her. I watched as they got her dolled up for her role as one of the hillbillies (she helped me immensely later in the evening) and couldn't help but be impressed by the level of care that was being taken with her makeup. Her visage wasn't anywhere near as complicated as the counselors would have to be, but that didn't stop her artist from making sure that she was perfect.


I also got to watch as they began the process of turning the very energetic phenomena that is Micah into Long Hair the Mutant Counselor. I know, I know that's not really his name but it serves the purpose.

He and his artist promptly began swapping quips that had me giggling and blushing within a few moments of his sitting in the chair. He also kept managing to bump into me and my camera bag which prompted him to introduce himself. I remarked that we had met before but that he wouldn't remember me, which got him to apologize promptly for being a jerk and forgetting me. Which made me feel like a jerk as that was not the way I meant it. We spent the next minute or so apologizing back and forth until I saw a rather mischievous glint in his eye that let me in on the fact that he most likely yanking my chain. I shut up and snapped a couple of pictures before I could find myself apologizing for something silly....again. One thing I can say about Micah is that beside his very obvious comedic talent, he also happens to be a good writer himself. I found his blog after the event and I realized that besides having a smart mouth, he's also be a smarty pants.

About this time I realized that there was about an hour until the gate opened and that I should probably let them finish getting ready without an outsider crowding their space. Before heading back to the car to pick up my supplies, I arranged with Melissa to take pictures at the final SCAG collection and then to come back behind stage after the 4:15 AM wake up call to watch as some of the actors got out of makeup.

As I walked out of the trailer I caught sight of a familiar leather jacket and found my eyes narrowing. Was this my arch nemesis Leather Face? Wait....nope...it didn't take me a moment to realize that the pleasant faced young man before me wasn't the right body shape to be the same actor. Plus he didn't immediately bring out my 'kick you in the knee' instinct. This Leather Face was actually fairly polite and I liked him immensely. Hear that Sacramento Leather Face? Even a kidnapper can have good manners. You should take notes.

I left for the event and although many of the actors throughout the night recognized me from taking pictures, they didn't let that keep them from razzing me just like the other campers. In fact in some cases it seemed to bring out a little extra sass. Sass I know what to do with, I am the Mistress of Sass.

When the final moments of the hunt came to the end I ran back to get my camera and hurried to take pictures of the crowds turning in their loot. How often do you get to see people so excited for having found creepy items like a human ear? Outside world, found human ear equals extreme trauma. Great Horror Campout world, found human ear equals squee. I also arranged with Melissa to meet up with the actor who had given me so much fun through out the night, my buddy Thirst.

I was on hand after most of the campers had made their way back to their tents and Micah and another one of the female counselors, Frances,

began to sort the boxes of SCAG. I couldn't help but be charmed as the lovely mutant became visibly excited about getting to sort out the Mardi Gras beads. I find myself getting that way about organization sometimes. Hey! No judging over there. I'm the mother of a seven and a two year old. Organization is a hard fought battle in my camp.

I will say that I felt like a complete ass standing there watching them work while I stood there taking pictures. If ever I do something like this for the company again they need to put me to work in some capacity. Otherwise I will feel like a heel....capiche?

While I was standing there being a lazy butt, it came out that the group liked to play Cards Against Humanity in their off time. I literally danced around at that. That's one of the games that we play at our Potlucks and last time we played it we discovered that there were quite a few people who are the worst people in the world among our group. Colleen literally laughed until she cried at something that was put before her. We've even gone so far as to add Leather Face and Cruckle to our cards. As well as Fernando (sung in a falsetto)....but that is a tale for another day.

I also had a chance to talk with the amazing Turtle. He's another sweetheart. Funny and sharp as a tack, but a genuine sweetheart. We got to talking about what I was doing there for the review and I mentioned that he had been mentioned in my Sacramento article. He asked to read it and it was then that I realized that I had left my cellphone in the tent. Sigh, seriously in this day and age who doesn't have their phone on them while it's got a charge? Me apparently. It has to be mentioned that even though I knew he had to be tired, he stayed on point with his character the entire time. There are people you meet as you wander through life that you know immediately that they are extremely good at what they do....Turtle is one of those people. This production company has hired some serious talent.

Time flew by and before I was even aware the hour had come upon us, it was almost time for the wake up call. I wanted to be somewhere I could take pictures of the hordes descending upon the tents so I hurried in that direction. Unfortunately...right at that moment my camera decided that it was going to be huge pain in my fanny and have a malfunctioning flash. Arg! I hurried to change out my battery to see if that would get it work the way it needed to, and despite the fact that it did indeed solve the problem, in the time it took to fix it I missed the whole darn thing. That's what I get for my not checking my equipment while everyone else was working.

Shaking my head at my own stupidity I made my way over to the camp fire where it had been arranged that I would meet Thirst. As soon as I walked up he started giggling at the same exact moment I did. I stuck my hand out and introduced myself and he gave me his name as Derick. I complemented his performance of the evening, and then asked him what in the world had caused him to focus his attentions on me through out the night. He shook his head laughing, and said 'You made it very easy for me to keep coming for you. You'd be standing there looking so innocent and oblivious, and then jump a mile when I'd jump out at you. You had the same reaction every single time I snuck up on you.'.

I told him that he had been my hands down favorite part of the evening. Perhaps the character of Thirst is a minor character to the troupe but he made a big impression both times. Good actors in both places.

I followed him back to the makeup tent to watch him get unmasked, and low and behold in the place of the freaky bat was a very handsome young man. Seriously Derick, if you're reading this, you were awesome.

I also got to watch a variety of other actors taking off their faces....both literally and figuratively...and felt a twinge of sympathy as some of them desperately tried to get makeup and contact lenses off and out. Not envious of that part at all. That type of makeup tends to stick to your baby hair and to migrate to places like inside the nose. Shudder.

Walking out of the makeup trailer, I felt the first real stirrings of exhaustion starting to set in. It was a little past five by this time and I was going to need to get on the road again first thing in the morning. However, I had remembered to grab my cell phone out of the tent earlier and I had told Turtle if I found him again I would let him read it. And there he was sitting right outside the trailer. I sat down next to him and handed him my phone. It took him quite awhile to get through it, as I had a lot to say, and somewhere in the middle of his reading it we made a deal that if he enjoyed it he would let me have his real name.

When he finished I looked over at him and said, 'Well? Do I get a real name or do you go down in my review as Turtle?' Brett's a sweetheart.

He's also a gamer just like me and the rest of the adventurers, which led for a very interesting conversation. I love meeting other gaming geeks. We're going to have to teach him Dominion, which has become one of our favorite games at Game Night.

We also discussed me staying to watch he and Micah do the ALS Ice Water Challenge in the morning. They were going to do it in full costume and make up. Good people these mutants.

But first we needed to do closing ceremonies. They had twenty five potential Hell Masters, the most they'd ever had. I got to listen as they plotted out new trivia questions for the potential winners. Apparently they have to do that now because of people like....me. Bloggers. We're such jerks, always giving away the answers.

It also gave me the chance to visit my tent to pack up all the stuff that I didn't use during the night. Like my gore soaked pillow. Actually glad I got to miss out on that experience to be truthful.

I sat over by the big screen and was surprised at how few people actually stayed for closing ceremonies. Other than the people who were up for Hell Master, it seemed like a great many of my fellow campers left early. That surprised me, because in Sacramento it seemed like most people stayed.

Once the final massacre was over....the last questions was a doozy....they crowned ten new Hell Masters. Fairly impressive movie trivia knowledge in this group I have to say. I followed the group of actors back to the production tent and tried not to fall asleep on my feet. It was here that Brett made me pinkie promise not to drive home without taking a nap.

Darn it! How do people always know that I'm susceptible to the binding oath that is a pinkie promise? I made my oath and then followed he and Micah to the back of the trailer so they could dump the icy buckets over their head in the name of charity. They did it right. They donated and dumped the water on themselves.

Micah dumped the bucket on his with a look of bad grace....but it was just him mugging for the camera. Both he and Brett finished the challenge smiling. Truthfully after a night of walking through all that dust and dirt it probably felt good. I know I could have used a shower before driving home.

It was time for me to say my goodbyes and hit the road. I told the actors that they had done an amazing job and promised to see some of them in the upcoming event that Ten Thirty One Productions is going to be putting on in October.

The L.A Haunted Hayride is supposed to be one of the best Halloween attractions in the state, if not the country, and I've already starting making plans to attend mid month. My whole troupe of adventurers is going to make it out for this one. Follow the below link to get tickets of your own!

L.A Haunted Hayride

I want to say a huge thank you to the actors, production crew, make up artist and the marketing coordinator for allowing me to follow everyone around for the evening. I was more than impressed by the level of hard work you all devoted into to putting on a great show.

I drove the 1,057 miles home, after taking my nap of course, and found myself smiling most of the way. I had a fantastic time in the hunt and a great time backstage. I also discovered what exactly my two daughters and my niece will do when they are at home alone with Uncle Dave. Best. Fort. Ever.

On to the next adventure!