The Right Way to Scare Kids During a Magic Show

I love Halloween.

It’s my favorite time of year.

I love spooky imagery. And I grew up on a steady diet of horror movies.

I don’t watch many horror movies these days. Too much gore, not enough scares.

Last week’s article was all about avoiding what I call ‘assault effects’ that run the risk of triggering a phobic reaction in the wrong volunteer.

This week, I’m going in the opposite direction.

I like to add genuine thrills and chills into my Halloween shows, especially those for children.

But you can’t actually frighten children during a magic show and call it ‘fun,’ can you?

I think you can. But it’s a delicate balance.

You see, kids THINK they want to be scared.

I recall many years ago performing my Arm Chopper routine for an evening family night event at a school.

I get the boy helping me to stick his hand in the chopper. He was around ten years old and had the perfect temperament for the trick.

After I slammed the blade down and through his arm, he withdrew his unharmed arm.

He looked at it, looked at me, and said in disgust, “What a rip-off!”

I thought that was hilarious. Because it showed me that kids really do like the idea of fear…in certain instances.

Setting aside phobias of course (see last week’s article), people of all ages sometimes enjoy fear. When it’s safe.

That’s why horror movies, haunted houses, and all kinds of creepy, spooky activities are so popular.

But scaring kids, to get back to the main point, requires finesse. And extreme care.

I’ve had young kids completely freak out during my Axtell Board routine. And I’ve had kids come unglued over the idea of seeing my head shrink when I introduce Bruce Kavlar’s Shrinking & Growing Head.

So if you’re going to do a ‘scary’ routine for kids, it’s gotta be done right.

I’m going to describe a routine to you. I’m going to leave the actual script out and just provide the main points.

I set a large wooden black box on my table. The audience can see a heavy padlock holding the lid in place.

I explain that there’s a terrible, horrifying creature in the box. I’m going to try to get him to come out.

But if I lose control, everyone is doomed.

I nervously unlock the padlock. The audience is so quiet with nervous anticipation that even an audience of 300 people can hear the audible ‘click’ of the padlock unlocking.

I nervously lift the lid to the box, peering inside.

After a few moments, I suddenly slam the lid down. This mini jump scare jolts the entire audience. There’s laughter and more as everyone reacts to my false start.

I finally take the lid off and cover the box with a black cloth.

Sure enough, the creature floats up and out of the box. Despite it being covered with the cloth the creature flies about, darting back and forth, causing children to squeal.

Eventually, the creature peeks over the edge of the cloth. He’s adorable! With big googly eyes and soft fur, he looks cuddly and friendly.

The routine comes to a close.

As you can see, that routine is nearly perfect. There’s the introduction, the buildup of suspense, an escalation of ‘horror,’ and finally relief that it wasn’t as bad as it could have been.

In a nutshell, this routine is essentially a mini horror movie for kids.

And it’s a heck of a lot more interesting than a plain silver ball. Don’t get me wrong. I love a good Zombie routine.

I didn’t create it. It’s the brainchild of a longtime friend of mine. He first showed it to me about 40 years ago. You can learn more about this stellar routine HERE.

But I’ve performed this routine for audiences and then watched my friend follow it with his fancy Zombie routine with all the cool moves. And everyone just sits on their hands.

And I’ve seen it reversed – he goes on first, with his fancy Zombie routine. Then I follow with my black box. And even though the audience just saw the same basic effect, they still react far better to my routine.

This routine works so well because it provokes real emotion. People don’t care about a nondescript silver ball. But they do care quite a bit about a horrible creature inside a box that may wreak havoc if turned loose.

But for kids, it’s perfect. It gives them that neat little adrenaline rush. They get to experience the excitement of the routine and find out at the end that the little guy is really cute and adorable. There was no real danger.

The full write-up of the routine is in my book, Cause & Effects – Volume 3. Check it out. If you perform for kids, it’s a closer.

--Cris

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