How to Turn Your Garage Into an Awesome Haunted House

You can do it.

Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

By now you should be well past the point of trick or treating. We know, it's sad. All of your neighbors no longer want to ensure you have a great night by filling your pillowcase with chocolate. Now it's your turn to pass down the happiness. You can easily do this by buying a few bags of assorted candy and waiting for your door to ring. But do you really want to do the bare minimum?

If you want to be the neighborhood Halloween hero, you should convert your garage into a homemade haunted house. This might sound like a daunting task, but it actually isn't that hard. All you need to do is create a route and fill it with decorations. Next thing you know, that hot, single mom down the road thinks you're the man for entertaining her kids. She might even want to jump your bones (sorry, we had to). We're giving you a step-by-step guide of How to Turn Your Garage Into an Awesome Haunted House.

Clean Up

First things first, you gotta pick up your shit. Clear out as much space as possible to allow for the biggest layout. If there's somewhere else you can store your stuff, move it there. If not, just put everything against the walls. Once the temporary walls are up, nobody will know any better.

Draw a Floor Plan

We suppose you could wing it, but things almost always turn out better when you have a plan. You're going to want a series of hallways and rooms that weave around your garage and form an entrance and exit. Decide what works with your space and let your imagination run wild. Each room should have a defining scare. Maybe one room will feature a body that drops down from the ceiling and another will have a caged madman. It's your call. Whatever options you go with, make sure you save the scariest for last.

Hit the Halloween Store

Here's where you'll get everything scary. Go wild! There are countless options at your disposal as soon as you walk into the store. You can hang skeletons and spiders from the ceiling and place bigger props on the floor or on tables. If you're going to have actors, which you totally should, you'll also need some costumes.

And the Hardware Store, Too

Your haunted house won't be all monsters and smoke machines. You're also going to need to build some walls. The easiest way to do this is with black plastic sheeting. You'll also need some thick string and hooks to hang the walls. While you're at it (and if you're feeling extra handy), feel free to get some sheets of plywood to build things like a coffin, a mini crib for that possessed baby, or some sort of trap door. Have fun with it, and be creative.

Build the Walls

Now it's time to get your Bob the Builder on. Your walls are going to be hanging from the garage door (while up) and the ceiling where it's not covered by the door. For the walls under the door, tie up the sheeting to tracking. And for the walls where the ceiling is exposed, install those hooks and tie the sheeting to them.

Decorate

This part is pretty self-explanatory. All those decorations you bought: put them up. Make sure everything is spread out. You don't want patches of clutter and then spaces of emptiness. Everywhere you look there should be something interesting. Even a wall full of fake spider webs is better than nothing.

Don't Forget Outside

Do you think anybody will notice your haunted house if your yard still looks like it's September? No way, dude. Decorate outside too. Your yard should be the lead up to the real fright.

Make a Soundtrack

Install speakers around your garage (they don't need to be Bose), find a CD full of scary songs, and put that monster mix on repeat. You'll be golden.

Cast Some Friends

Like we said before, actors are the way to go. Have a few friends dress up in scary costumes and post up throughout the haunted house. All they need to do to scare someone is pop out from around a corner or through one of the plastic walls. You don't need the next DiCaprio.

Game Time

It's game time, bruh. Invite the neighbors and tell a friend to bring a friend. You might want to be inside the haunted house doing the scaring, but the best way to make sure things run smoothly is by keeping an eye on things at the entrance. In other words, be the door guy. You want everyone to have a good time. Otherwise, why'd you go through all the trouble?