Ok heres a toughy for you all. As some of you may know I am working at a local haunt this year and I intend to make it the best I can. One thing they want to do is have a "last stand" type of town. It should be noted that the theme is zombie out break. So what I'm asking from you guys is to help me design one. It's for a hayride and the space I have is about 100yards long. I want the town to be realistic as possible but within a reasonable budget. I would like most of the buildings to be 2 stories. no taller. I Guess What I need from you guys is to give me suggestions for a street design for a ransacked town. Man power wont be an issue but a reasonable budget is crucial. any help or suggestions are much appreciated.

Just remember that patrons are only going to see a limited view of your work at night. Over all details are fine but, smaller things won't necessary be seen from a distance dimly lit.

With that said...

 old beatup cars, 55 gallon drums scattered around the area. Some of them could be tipped over or even have glowing residue from the fallout. A couple of corpses scattered amongst potential zombie victims. Or even people in various stages of becoming a zombie, begging for help. For a urban backdrop go with faux stores, apartment building, video store, pet store, cell phone store.

Wow building an entire Town Eh?? Now thats adventurous....

Do a youtube search for Walt Disney talking about the buildings on Mainstreet USA. he talks about how they are built and that they are actually narrower and not to scale on the upper stories of the buildings... I think you might find some inspiration there...

Another thing to think about is just building the facades of buildings... The fronts.

Keeping them even simpler you could do the framing out of wood then cover them in canvas and faux paint that to look like wood grain. Go on a search for peopld throwing out old shutters, gates doors... 


Ideas for buildings might include:

The Last Stand Saloon
The General Store
Blindshot Barnabys Guns
The Casket Makers etc...

Ahh... maybe I'm way off ... I thought of a Western Gun Stand off... when I read "Last Stand" and that was before the other haunters posted replys...

I don't watch a lot of scifi modern horror... so that probably explains my misconception.

graveyard_ghoul1031 wrote: xXFright_SyndicateXx wrote: Ok heres a toughy for you all. As some of you may know I am working at a local haunt this year and I intend to make it the best I can. One thing they want to do is have a "last stand" type of town. It should be noted that the theme is zombie out break. So what I'm asking from you guys is to help me design one. It's for a hayride and the space I have is about 100yards long. I want the town to be realistic as possible but within a reasonable budget. I would like most of the buildings to be 2 stories. no taller. I Guess What I need from you guys is to give me suggestions for a street design for a ransacked town. Man power wont be an issue but a reasonable budget is crucial. any help or suggestions are much appreciated. hmmm... I guess I don't quite understand what you mean by "last stand" type of town. Are you looking for a modern city street that has been abandoned look? Something similar to this scene in 28 Weeks Later? Or am I way off on what kind of town you're looking for?

Your pretty much dead on just there needs to be a house thats fortified where some citizens would hold up have a pint and wait for this whole thing to blow over.

Will the people going through the haunt/hay ride be somehow involved with the 'last stand' house? Will they leave the hay ride and enter the house with the "survivors"? Or is it just something they will pass by on the ride? Will they watch the zombies attack the house? Or if they get off the ride and enter the house, will they themselves be chased by zombies? 

1. the hayride i stopped by at a checkpoint on the edge of town. After a armed guard Checks the survivors the ride continuse. (I've been contimplating having an actor be  injured "bitten" and then escorted off the ride and exterminated behind a white med tent.

2. The ride goes down the street of this town broken building wrecked cars fire damage bullet holes etc. there is also a number of armed personel behund makeshift bunkers and in buildings.

3. At the end of the street there is a military bunker with large doors. while these doors are slowly opening a voice shouts "contacts" which is followed by gunfire. Suddenly 12 or more "fast zombies" charge up the street twoard the ride and "overwhelming" the military forces.

4. the doors to the bunker open the ride goes in and then the doors close just befre the zeds get there.

I think that a couple of those fake fires made from silk fluttered by fans would look good scattered around.  Use real fires only if you can do it safely.  Also flickering lights like the power is going in and out, sparks from cut electrical lines, dying cars, etc.. Abandoned shopping carts and bicycles.  Sirens, maybe a dead police car with a flashing light on top, I don't think you want the lighting too dim, cause folks won't be able to see what's going on.

The idea of building only facades is good - don't waste money and time where it won't matter. However, you also want to secure them from turning into sails if the wind kicks up - make slashes/holes  in strategic places so the wind can blow through without knocking everything over.