Robin Cowie Talks Bringing the Frights to Howl-O-Scream
Matt Boiselle
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Let’s face it – some of these theme park Halloween celebrations over the past few years have been dusty, stagnant, and frankly not enough to make even a young child wet his pants and cry for his mommy. Busch Gardens, however, has opted to call in a little professional reinforcement for its annual Howl-O-Scream event in not one or two of its parks, but three (Busch Gardens Tampa, Williamsburg, and Seaworld San Antonio).
Robin Cowie, the producer of such spine-chillers as The Blair Witch Project, V/H/S/2, and Lovely Molly, will lend his talents to bring “Unearthed: Scarlett’s Revenge” to life, and he managed to squeeze in enough time to give us the lowdown on just what he’ll be bringing to the table this Halloween, so settle in and enjoy!
DC: For the people that plan on attending but aren’t aware of what they’re getting themselves into, can you give us a little description?
RC: Howl-O-Scream is something that Busch Gardens has been doing for almost 16 years now, if I’m correct, and it takes place in three different locations. I got brought on, and we did a brainstorm to talk about the event. I’d been to it before as a fan, and one of the things that I love about it is they’re very serious about their scares, so that was very interesting to me. That then developed into me helping them create a theme, and that started to grow, and they’ve never before brought all three parks together where you have the same theme, and that theme flows through everything online, from the marketing message to the experience that happens when you come to the park, all centered on that theme. For me it was the opportunity to go from 2D filmmaking to a 4D surround, terrifying experience.
DC: What did you see as the biggest difference between producing films to now working on something as expansive as this?
RC: There was a lot of material that we delivered in a traditional film sense. We made four fake documentaries, and we created a website that a story was behind, and then a short film, then onto commercials, and then filmed material that will play inside the houses, and in a way that was traditional. The difference was all of the design and set dressing that’s usually contained to what’s inside my camera, it had to be designed with the idea that when you walk into the house, now you’ll be able to look 360 degrees, and you’ll be able to get up close to it, so the story really had to surround you. In addition to that, a haunted house experience is a very different kind of experience than that of a film where you’ve usually got 90 minutes to build up tension and scare people. In a haunted house you’ve got very different demands that have to happen within that space, so it was challenging and so much fun to work these guys that have done haunted house setup for a long time. I was able to bring in people from my film world like cinematographer John Rutland (Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension) and production designer Andrew White (Goosebumps), and the theme park guys could be brought into the film world, so it really worked out well.
DC: You were obviously in close contact with the people at the park on this one – were you allowed full creative control, or was there a point where you had to reel it in a bit?
RC: In any creative endeavor there’s always going to be physical constraints, based on time, budget, geography – all of those types of things, and right from the beginning, I said that one of the things that I love is that you guys go for it – this is a full-on scary thing, and if you’re cool with me going a ways with it, I’m going to push it as far as I can to make it as intense as possible. I can honestly say that in every park we’re doing some crazy things – don’t bring your kids – don’t bring your little ones! We also tried to mix up the scares so that it’s not a traditional house. Yesterday I came from the third house… and I’m so psyched – it turned out really well.
DC: After the Halloween season has passed and this event is over, what can we look forward to from you?
RC: I’m still making films, although I’ve got to say I really enjoyed working in the theme park world, and I’m really interested in that. I’m currently developing a series of 360-degree short films, and I’m really interested in virtual reality and what can be done in the horror world with that. I think that being part of Howl-O-Scream and getting the opportunity to really explore other mediums – I’ve had a wonderful 22 years working in other spaces, but I really love what I’m doing right now.
For all information pertaining to the events, be sure to check out HowlOScream.com for all the details!
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