To add to their existing product line, Dark Raven Designs brought some nice snake and vine animations. The snakes hissed, slithered and swung out at spectators with realistic, fluid motions.  One of the vine animations turned and twisted with a winding motion, while another popped out of holes in the wall.        

Inhabiting the Dark Zone, Dead House Designs had some nicely distressed cemetery and morgue wall panels on display.  They also had a computer programmable projection system that simulated the look of hundreds of roaches crawling on a wall.  Unlike DVD-based projection set-ups, where you are limited to projecting the content contained on the DVD, this system was fully programmable, with the capability of changing the number of roaches and even programming the movements of each individual roach, if needed.  

The tall archways and the fireplace hidden exit were some of the more prominent items seen at the Edge Designs booth.  The archways, available in both gothic and industrial styles, emitted bursts of fog as attendees walked underneath.  The faux marble fireplace had a mantle that moved upward, revealing the hidden exit underneath.  This would be great for an attraction that wanted a fireplace as a hidden exit that didn't require their patrons to duck or crawl, to get to the next scene.        

As usual, Gore Galore came to the show with a wide variety of new haunt products, including numerous actor costumes, costume sanitizer, a giant animated Goathead prop, an actor-operated Mollusk creature, oversized Rot Zombie and Village Rat costumes, spooky wall hangings and more, to enhance their ever-expanding product line.  Gore Galore has always impressed me with their innovative ideas, fine craftsmanship and attention to detail.  

Midnight Studios displayed an extensive collection of pale static figures, with characters including vampires, lycans, gremlins and assorted winged creatures.  These figures were highly-detailed and very realistic.  According to their catalog, many of them are available as static characters, animated characters and costumes, as well.   

Pale Night Productions expanded their line of props which combine the elements of video sequences played on flat screen televisions, synced with real blowing wind, blasts of air/mist and the movement of animatronic props.  "Slaughter Blades" and "Chainsaw Havoc" were effects that really caught my eye at the show.  Slaughter Blades featured a girl falling into the spinning blades of a large industrial fan and Chainsaw Havoc showed a sequence of a victim trying to escape the attack of a chainsaw wielding maniac.  Both effects featured surprising finales.        

As usual, Scarefactory filled the majority of floor space in the Dark Zone.  Some of their new animated props included a rotating bed, living Grandfather Clock, attacking German Shepard, and numerous floating spectres; however, what stood out the most was their new line of clown props, which glowed under black light.  The bright neon colors of the towering clown facade and assorted clown characters lit up the Dark Zone and were quite a departure from the drab brown and gray tones that make up the lion's share of their standard product line.