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www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver Weekend, Saturday October 28, 2006 - 3 RON KUZYK / OAKVILLE BEAVER WELCOME TO SCARSDALE MANOR: Creating the perfect haunted house for Halloween is a year-round activity for Andrew Grant of Scarsdale Court. This year he has cooked up a few treats for visitors including a dead jogger, werewolf, ghosts, witches and much, much more. "It's the best time of the year," says Grant. Andrew Grant scares his neighbours silly By Krissie Rutherford OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF A dead jogger, a werewolf dog house, rats, bats, fog machines, a graveyard, grim reapers, ghosts and witches stirring cauldrons are just part of what Andrew Grant has planned for Oct. 31. Neighbours know his home as "That Halloween House," and better still, it's on a street called Scarsdale Court. "People also call it Scarsdale Manor," said Grant, smiling. And this year, its front lawn is going to be scarier and busier than ever. "I've had people walking by that see me working in the garage and tell me they can't wait to see what I've come up with this year," he said. They won't be disappointed. Grant has even more displays and tricks up his sleeve this year, including his new favourite ­ a scary monster he made that his son named George. Since June, Grant has been out in his garage at least a few times a week fine-tuning details and making new props for Halloween ­ his favourite day of the year. film and television computer animation spe"My calendar year runs from Oct. 31 to cial effects studio in Toronto, which he calls Oct. 31," he said. "And my birthday is the "a crazy way to get paid." next day. It's the best time of He worked on the Disney year." movie, The Wild, and is now "I'll spend four This is Grant's third all-out directing a children's show months collecting Halloween display. He would called Urban Vermin, which is have been doing this longer, stuff. That's the trick, slated for YTV next year. but he rented a home before to find it as cheap as After creating all day, he moving to Scarsdale Court possible and find a comes home and creates more with his wife and two kids and place to store it." in his garage. didn't have the storage space "Computers can get so frushe needed for his Halloween Andrew Grant trating, it's so much better to projects. make something here because Even though he has a douyou can just grab it and change ble garage, storage is still a problem. it," he said. Grant's first project of the sum"I'll spend four months collecting stuff. mer was George, a duct-tape monster That's the trick, to find it as cheap as possible dummy he made after being covered with and find a place to store it," he said, sur- duct tape to get a desired human shape, cutrounded by the many props in his garage, ting it open and stuffing it with newspaper. including random limbs, painted heads, "He'll be hanging from a cage in a tree black lights, coffins and torches that will be this year," said Grant, who added, "I can't flaming on Halloween night. wait to get everything set up." "There's stuff everywhere, pieces of creaA member of an online group called the tures, projects I'm working on," he said. Ontario Haunters Club that "goes to pretty "Making everything is the part I enjoy most." good extremes when it comes to Halloween Grant works for CORE Digital Pictures, a displays," Grant has loved Halloween since he was a kid. "Every kid loves Halloween, and my mom was a seamstress, so anything my imagination came up with, she could help me make it," he said. A "horror movie fanatic" in high school, Grant and two friends decided they wanted to work on horror movies for a living and learned to make cast-face masks and other makeup tricks. That passion continued into Grant's adult years. Not only will his house be decked out in Halloween displays, Grant will also be dressed as a werewolf on Hallow's Eve ­ so be careful. "I'll scare the bigger kids," he said. "I'm not out to terrify the little ones." So what does Grant have in store for next Halloween at That Halloween House? "I want to do a huge Satan hanging over the front door with a pitchfork," he said. "I have a lot of ideas, the trouble is finding the space to store everything and the time to make it." -- Krissie Rutherford can be reached at krutherford@oakvillebeaver.com · Wood & Vinyl Shutters, Supplied & Installed · High Quality at Affordable Prices · Customer Satisfaction Guaranteed · Serving Oakville with Shop at Home Service Authorized Vinylbilt Dealer www.shuttersetc.ca Shop at Home Service FREE