PopHorror Let's Get Scared
Many moons ago, horror fandom was not embraced the way it is today. There weren’t circuits of conventions, there were minuscule amounts of merchandise catering to the demographic, and the idea of an interactive theme park celebrating all things spooky was a fledgling one, to say the least. But thanks in large part to the enormous popularity of films such as Halloween, Friday the 13th, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and The Exorcist, the appeal of horror flicks exploded; setting off a burst of energy that we can still feel to this very day.
David Bertolino, who began his career inauspiciously working for his father in the family joke store, eventually rose in the ranks with Rubie’s Costumes – the largest manufacturer of Halloween costumes and accessories in the world. Bertolino noted the expanding horror fanbase and calling upon his own longtime fascination with the illustrious Vincent Price, the ambitious “hauntrepreneur” set in motion the beginning stages of what would become America’s first Halloween theme park, Spooky World.
With a plan, a loan, and an abandoned dairy farm with a few acres of land several miles outside of Boston, Massachusetts, David Bertolino hired a ragtag group of friends and locals to help create the first generation of large-scale haunts in 1991.
Spooktacular! sheds a fascinating light on how Spooky World turned from a small local hayride haunt in Berlin, Massachusetts, into a nationwide spectacle hosting horror heroes Kane Hodder, Elvira, Linda Blair, Gunnar Hansen, Butch Patrick, Tom Savini (who also serves as the documentary’s executive producer) and more. Fans and Halloween revelers would converge on the tiny town every fall, for what became a seasonal highlight for nearly ten years.
Told through interviews with former haunt employees – who forged a meaningful, tribe-like connection with one other – and celebrities like Adam Green (Hatchet, Frozen), Tom Savini (Dawn of the Dead, From Dusk Till Dawn), and Daniel Roebuck (The Munsters, 3 From Hell) as well as news footage, and some candid admissions from Bertolino himself, Spooktacular! Is a heartfelt trip back to the glory days of Spooky World.
Quinn Monahan’s Spooktacular! had its world premiere at Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas on Saturday, September 23rd.
