Oct. 28, 2016
ENTERTAINMENT
Blueprint 9
Seniors scared to death by The Basement of the Dead By Kylie Schatmeyer, Copy Editor Addyson Wesolowski, Online Opinions Editor It is that time of year where paying to pee your pants is popular again. We decided to join in on the fun. Most haunted houses are no less than $40, but opening night of Basement of the Dead was a small fee of $14 paired with a scare of a lifetime. On a chilly night marking the first official day of fall, costumes are suited up and make-up is painted on. The creatures come out, ready to scare. The Basement of the Dead is open. We pulled up to a parking lot in downtown Aurora that was almost completely full, shrieks could already be heard. We boarded out, bracing ourselves. Our group had visited Basement of the Dead the previous year, so we knew it was a reputable haunted house. This caused us to be even more nervous than those who didn’t know what they were in for. Although it was the first night of the season, the line wrapped around the whole building, nearing a three hour wait. While the wait was long, you could not relax in the line. Actors dressed from clowns to vampires to men with roaring chainsaws chased and harassed customers, making sure they got their money’s worth. Clearly, the actor’s strategy was to pick on the most terror-stricken member of each group. Unfortunately, for Senior Brooke Rychlec, it was her. “I’ve never been so scared. The only reason I made it through was because I was able to hide behind my friends and try to avoid all the people as best as I possibly could,” Rychlec said.
gory hospitals, crowded asylums, old churches and creepy playrooms. We particularly liked this aspect of the house because it was sure to scare everyone going through, due to each room magnifying a different fear. Each room was barely lit with the exception of strobe lights. The whole haunted house was filled with screams, triggered sound effects and the smell of fear. Each member of the cast was well-dressed and had their makeup done in order to make each room feel realistic. Just when we thought that we were in the home stretch, a clown handed each of us a pair of 3D glasses and an LED flashlight as he lead us into the second half of the haunted house. This part of the haunted house was different than any of the other rooms we had visited. Everything was in bright colors and obnoxious carnival music blared On Sep. 23 DGS seniors Jack Thompson, Tyler Tully, Brooke Rychlec, Dana Vaci, Jared Vosicky and Kylie from hidden speakers. Schatmeyer decided to test the scariness of the well-known haunted house The Basement of the Dead. We quickly realized the Photo By Addyson Wesolowski rest of the house would be As we got closer, music blasted from clown themed. The 3D glasses a DJ with a clawed face. He threw group of eight entered a pitch black caused the bright paint to pop out at free candy, t-shirts, frisbees and hall. We felt a surge of anxiety as the us and the house was illuminated. other Basement of the Dead attire to pitch black immediately changed to The Basement of the Dead was defikeep the crowd excited. This touch blinding strobe lights. nitely a memorable experience that enhanced the atmosphere to another This wasn’t a normal haunted house we would recommend. On a cool, fall level. in the sense that it had multiple night leading up to Halloween, getting When we finally got to the door, we rooms offering a spectrum of scary scared was the perfect weekend activwere greeted by a creepy vampire. Our scenarios. Our group traveled through ity.
SPOILER ALERT:Walking Dead premiere stresses viewers By Jessie Fortin Online News Editor Season 6 left us on the edge of our seats when all of the main characters are held at gunpoint by Negan, the leader of the Saviors (who aren’t really saviors at all). SPOILER: This past Sunday, all of our predictions were found to be correct when Abraham Ford was murdered, but it came as a shock to all fans at home when Glenn Rhee died, too. It goes deeper as Negan plays Rick’s group’s emotions against each other as he picks them off through a grim version of eeny, meeny, miny, moe. The way Daryl Dixon copes with situations is different every time, but it still came as a shock when he punched Negan in defense to his group. He must have known that his decision would have harsh consequences, but how he will live with knowing that his action killed Glenn is what I will never know. We all knew that one beloved character was going to die, but making it be two characters was too heart wrenching for my liking. Maggie Greene is pregnant and completely alone at this point. She
has suffered family casualties in almost every season since she came onto the show, but it was thought that Glenn was never going to leave her side. I was prepared for a death of a lesser magnitude and didn’t expect a character so vital to the plot to fall to Lucille, Negan’s weapon of choice. This made the episode hard for me to like. It was a rough wake up call that I knew was due and I was dreading the day it would come. It was clear that all power Rick had on the group had gone to Negan when he ripped of Carl’s hat, tossed it into the mud and forced him to lay beside Rick on the cold ground. Carl wore his father’s sheriff hat with pride because of the connection Rick had to the group in past seasons. It was even more upsetting when Negan forced Rick to choose between cutting
Graphic by Gina DeCarlis and Gabrielle Bartkeviciute
off his son’s forearm, or having another member of the group die to Lucille. Negan did this just to play with Rick’s mind and make it known to all that everything is in his control now. There is much to come with proving how hostile Negan is going to get when he does the most extreme to prove himself. I’m hopeful that the group does what they always do--construct a plan to put a stop to it. Of course the deaths made me not like the episode, but it was more than that. It had a lack of foreshadow
that didn’t give an idea of what is next for the group. I wanted more to come from the episode to explain what was Negan’s plan for them, not just exasperated death scenes. Although Rick’s group has met a wall, they are not pushovers--there is much more to come. You can assume that Negan’s line was directed to the group, and to the audience as well, “You can breathe. You can blink. You can cry. Hell, they’re all gonna be doing that.”