BEHIND THE SCENES

The Hill Has Eyes

By Maredithe Meyer, staff writer

2020 has been a scary year, but The Rock Sports Complex in Franklin is aiming to level up with its annual Halloween event, “The Hill Has Eyes.”

Set on 45 acres of The Rock’s wintertime ski and snowtubing park, dark wooded trails take attendees on a 60-minute tour of four terror attractions where they encounter mutant cannibals, zombies and monsters, played by a cast of 98 local actors.

Despite the real-life threat of the coronavirus, this year’s event is expected to attract 15,000 people over eight nights. Safely managing a crowd of that size means limiting capacity to 55%, enforcing face masks and proper social distance, eliminating enclosed and high-touch features like compression tunnels and the ski lift (also known as the “scare lift”), and training actors on the new do’s and don’ts of COVID-era scares.

“There’s been great scenes where two or three actors come together and they create this really cool scare moment,” said Mike Zimmerman, chief executive officer of ROC Ventures, operator of The Rock. “We just can’t do that anymore.” n

1The Rock negotiated for months with the City of Franklin Health Department to bring “The Hills Has Eyes COVID-19 Edition” to life this year. 2 Actors Michelle Borrero-King, Jessica Jefferys, Mohammad Mustafa and Luke Summers select costumes.

2

3Danielle Gallagher applies fake blood to fellow cast member Reagan Meyers’ costume for a dress rehearsal prior to opening night.

4

4ROC Ventures CEO Mike Zimmerman discusses the event’s COVID-19 safety plan with actors during a training session and dress rehearsal.

3

5

5An actor’s face covering was designed to blend in with his creepy clown disguise.