Nigel Collins This is Me

 Web References

1. 1. LA Daily News - Frightening for a good cause

   www.dailynews.com/antelopevall - [Cached]

   Published on: 10/22/2006   Last Visited: 10/23/2006

   The brainchild of 19-year-old horror movie fan Nigel Collins, a 5,000-square-foot haunted house erected in a west Palmdale neighborhood puts Freddie Krueger, Leatherface, vampires, clowns and other teen movie nightmares into a maze running through hundreds of feet of plywood-walled corridors.
   ...
   I want to scare some people," Collins said as he directed a dozen teen volunteers recently in where to spread mulch or plant posts. An Antelope Valley College student, he has built haunted houses at his home for years.
   ...
   Nigel expects the horror cast to number 25 to 60, depending on the night, with Halloween's show to expand outside the maze.
   
   The haunted house is not recommended for children younger than 13, he said. The kids' day on Sunday will tour them through without scaring them, Collins said.
   
   "We walk them through and tell them what we're doing. It's really like a workshop," he said.
   
   Collins' Halloween productions started nine Halloweens ago with decorating his front porch and lying on the lawn pretending to be a dummy. He would sit up and shout as trick-or-treaters walked up.
   
   "I couldn't scare anybody," he said.
   ...
   My mom's not going to let me dig holes in her front yard," Collins said.
   
   Collins and friends began setting up in September.
   
   "I think we're going to start earlier next year," said Jack Muns, a 17-year-old Highland High School student who has helped with Collins' haunted houses for five years or more.
   ...
   "Most of my paychecks are going to this," said Collins, who works for Palmdale's parks and recreation department as a program leader.

2. 2. AV Press: Terror built from scratch

   www.avpress.com/n/27/1027_s9.h - [Cached]

   Published on: 11/2/2006   Last Visited: 11/2/2006

   "You can't miss the white hearse," noted Antelope Valley College student and creator Nigel Collins, 19.
   
   Admission requires a donation, and proceeds will go to ProCare Hospice in Lancaster.
   
   "It's something productive for kids to do," Collins explained.
   ...
   Inside this year's "Twisted Torment" maze, however, Collins said a different horror movie theme will be found in every room, including scenes from "The Grudge," "The Ring," "Saw," "Hostel," "The Hills Have Eyes" and "Texas Chainsaw Massacre," which may change each night.
   
   "We cut it down to what people are actually afraid of," he said. "We want to scare Palmdale, we really do."
   
   Small groups will enter the maze with a guide, confronted by at least 25 fearsome actors, though Collins said, depending on the night, guests could encounter dozens more.
   
   On Sunday afternoon, less frightening children's tours will offer workshop-type explanations rather than shocking surprises, as well as activities such as face painting.
   
   On regular nights, however, Collins said the team discourages children younger than 13 from entering, noting that they attempt to turn away the many parents who inevitably bring small children to the main event.
   
   "We've already had one crier this year," he said.
   ...
   Remembering successful fright fests of past years, Collins noted, "We had a mom drive off without her kids once, with the door open.
   ...
   Collins remembers dressing up and posing outside his home to surprise trick-or-treaters with a bit of extra fright since he was 10 years old.
   
   "I didn't really scare anyone really," he said, laughing.
   
   The haunted houses, however, started with a high school project - the first one four years ago benefitted an environmental organization.
   
   Things got progressively bigger each year at his home, moving from the front yard to the garage, to the side yard and back yard, until he eventually moved the operation to the Sanchez ranch home, though the site has faced some challenges from the fire department this year.
   ...
   Collins said of his friends, "It's a bunch of kids, but we're really good at what we do."