Spookers: A Haunted House Documentary With Big New Zealand Heart
Photo credit: Shudder/Madman Productions
Spookers is a family run haunted house located in New Zealand. It operates every weekend in a former psychiatric hospital. It is the biggest haunted house in the Southern Hemisphere. This documentary tells the story of its evolution, and its actors.
The Watsons
Andy and Beth Watson started their journey into haunted house fame with a corn maze. Beth had been diagnosed with a mysterious illness, and through her convalescence, the first corn maze was born.
Expanding
The family realized that they could only run the corn maze from January to April, and wanted to expand the scares.
They found a former psychiatric hospital in Kingseat. Of course, the fact that the hospital is supposedly haunted didn’t hinder the Watsons.
The attraction now covers thirty acres of land, with more than just a haunted house.
The Ins and Outs
Photo credit: Shudder/Madman Productions
The documentary covers the ins and outs that most haunted house goers don’t consider-like where the employees can touch guests, and do guests really crap their pants(answer: yes)?
Trying to Be Respectful
The actors worry about their portrayal of the mentally ill. It is difficult to show respect when your job is to frighten people for a living. Their fear is that they will add to the stigma. Former staff and patients are both interviewed to give another perspective.
The Monsters are People, Too
Photo credit: Shudder/Madman Productions
What I like most about this documentary is that the actors and owners are family. Through battles with depression, an HIV diagnosis, coming out, and a suicide attempt, the core of this documentary is people who feel like outcasts finding a safe space, another family. These haunted house actors love each other, and don’t care what each others’ sexuality is, what their teachers at school told the kid with ADHD, or if one of them has a disease with a social stigma. They just want to scare people, period.
Spookers is available to stream on Shudder.
