Their business is a scream, for one month of the year

Bone-chilling, gut-twisting, intense: not descriptors most people want used for their business. For Chris and Katie Corman, owners of Scream Theme Studios in Fort Collins, those words are creepy music to their ears.

To say their business is seasonal is not an overstatement: The Cormans’ business is all Halloween, all the time. The self-professed “Halloween nuts” are the evil geniuses behind some of the region’s scariest haunted houses, open only one month of the year.

Their current October venture involves two haunted houses and a laser challenge staged at the Foothills Fashion Mall in 40,000 square feet of the old Mervyn’s location.

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The first house serves up the traditional haunting. “The concept this year is an olde English theme like dockside London after dark complete with werewolves,” explained Katie Corman.

The path through dark, winding streets into the gruesome little village of Morbund Crossing, complete with a butcher shop, an old pub, the casket shop and the Dead Man’s Diner, is eerie enough. But add in pneumatic props and 25 live actors in costumes lurking about in the shadows, and the scare-o-meter jumps up to 9.5 out of 10.

The proof is in the candid photos taken at different points, showing visitors in full scared face, available for purchase, along with other photo ops in the Scare Studio.

The second house has an extraterrestrial theme that encourages spook hunters to explore unknown regions in Dark Space, while the laser maze challenge, Unit 13, offers a full-size video arcade game as the prize for the fastest time logged during the month.

Chris Corman calls it family fare, although it’s definitely not for the weak of heart – or bladder.

“We’re not a splatter house with blood and gore. I’m more into Lon Chaney stuff,” he said. “But we don’t cater well to age eight and under. It’s a bit intense for kids that young.”

Labor of love

Scream Theme Studios is a sideline for the Cormans. By day, Chris works as a field tech for Coin Star, an automated coin counting system for retail stores; Katie, a registered medical assistant.

When the first of August rolls around, however, they assemble a crew that begins working about 35 hours a week on nights and weekends to build sets for the elaborate temporary production.

“It’s very high tech. We spent a lot of money designing this and have perfected it over the years,” Chris Corman said.

This is, in fact, the 18th year they’ve scared the bejeezus out of Northern Colorado.

“A majority of the shows have been in Fort Collins, but the last three years we’ve been at the outlet malls in Loveland,” he said. “We were really happy to have the opportunity to be back in Fort Collins and have that much square footage to use. And the support of the Foothills Fashion Mall has been unbelievable.”

A $17 ticket provides entry into both houses; $50 family night tickets admit a family of four.. Tickets for the laser maze competition cost $4 per try.

While the Cormans decline to discuss the financial aspect of their business other than to say that the annual extravaganza of fright does slightly better than break even, it’s obviously not an inexpensive undertaking, involving semi-truckloads of props, insurance, rent for the facility and other costs.

It takes a lot of work and a lot of people, Katie Corman said. “It wouldn’t happen if it weren’t for our Scream Team.”

The actors – all volunteers – come from all walks of life, she explained, from doctors to construction people to professional actors. A majority of them come back year after year, just for the thrill of it.

“Our actors never break character,” she said. “You won’t see our monsters outside smoking with their masks pulled up. And no white tennis shoes – monsters don’t wear Nikes. We pay a lot of attention to detail.”

Lifelong hobby

It’s a long wail from where it all started. Chris Corman got the haunted-house bug when he was 13 years old.

“I was inspired by the haunted mansion at Disneyland, so I came home and built my own,” he said.

Although it was July, he decided to put a haunted show together as a fundraiser for the local fire department – and they came. “I raised about $500,” he recalled, and he was hooked.

Chris Corman dabbled in haunted houses as fundraisers for years. In 1989, he took it on as a serious avocation, with Katie joining the venture in 1992, and they’ve been living creepily ever after since.

And there’s still the charitable component.

“Our primary focus is the Food Bank of Larimer County,” Chris explained. “We take $2 off the admission with a can of food. We’ve been doing that for a long time and we get thousands of pounds every year. I like supporting charities with no strings attached.”

While the major focus is around Halloween, Scream Theme is also available for special events, such as bringing the mobile laser maze to graduation parties. But don’t distract them during the build-up for Halloween.

 “The fun part would be just coming in and enjoying it,” Chris Corman said. “But it’s the old story: Everyone wants to ride on the float but no one wants to build it. People always tell me how much fun they think this would be, and I love it, but it takes considerable work. The payoff is the kid saying, ‘I come every year and it’s the coolest thing I do.'”

Hauntings run Friday and Saturday nights from 6:30 to 11 p.m. through the end of October, with additional shows on Oct. 27 and 28 from 5 to 9 p.m. and Halloween week, Oct. 29-31, from 6:30 to 10 p.m. Visit www.screamtheme.com for more information.