A-maze-ing

``You don't know me, but I know you. I want to play a game. . .'' These words were spoken by deranged serial killer Jigsaw in the first Saw movie as one of his many victims tried to find a way out of his horrific trap. It is a scenario not dissimilar to what brave punters will experience when they enter the Saw maze as part of Movie World's Fright Nights running throughout October on the Gold Coast, Australia.

But the Saw maze is just one third of the horrors in store, with A Nightmare On Elm Street and Psycho 3D mazes completing the experience. Combining cutting edge technology with haunted house theatrics, the mazes are the creation of Lynton V. Harris and his team of ghouls at Sudden Impact! Entertainment. Harris and his company have been bringing the biggest movie blockbusters to life for over a decade with live experiences created for hits such as Terminator, Van Helsing, The Mummy and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. He also took over New York's famous Madison Square Garden to create a massive horror maze titled Madison Scare Garden which sold more that a quarter of a million tickets.

It is no wonder the media have dubbed him the `scare master'. But for Harris, the best thing about his creepy creations is watching them take effect.
``Sometimes I will dress in black and just go to one of the mazes to watch people's reactions,'' he says.
``Everyone has a different scare barometer.
``I've see old ladies swear, tough guys who should have gone to the toilet before they went in and mothers push their kids in front of them.
``I've found over the years that laughter is one of the biggest reactions because after you're scared, you laugh.
``You laugh at yourself and you laugh at the person next to yous reaction.
``The thing about scaring people . . .the next big scare is always just around the corner.''

Harris says he understands `it's impossible to scare everybody' but his latest horror mazes are sure going to try. When designing them, Harris says he sat down and went through the films frame by frame.
``I look at the movies first with my production designer then we take key elements from within it.
``Like in Saw, one element that absolutely everyone knows is the bathroom scene.
``It's a game, the concept of Saw is a game, so you're never really sure what traps there are.
``It cool that such an iconic movie has its roots in Australia and although it's very Hollywoodised now, Australian audiences love to get scared by all of the things that go bump in the night.
``I want to be able to give the flavour and essence of the movie.
``Like in the killing scenes in A Nightmare On Elm Street where you see Freddy's hand ripping people apart.''

Although Harris' mazes are renowned for their high production values, they are just as notorious for their Scare School program. Actors are invited to audition and after being selected, they are put through an intensive workshop where they learn the fine art of scaring. Harris says around a dozen actors per maze are slipped into the attraction, waiting for the perfect moment to lurk out and deliver a fright.
``I would also like to have a few Danny's from The Shining on tricycles cycling around out the front and maybe some zombies on skateboards, but we will see what happens,'' says Harris.

Movie World's Fright Nights start on Friday, October 8 and run every Saturday night until Halloween weekend when they run Friday Oct 29, Saturday Oct 30 and Sunday Oct 31. Fright Nights run from 6 to 11pm and prices range.