Walk through a darker version of the Enchanted Forest tonight in Kapahi at the Spooktacular Haunted Yard in Kawaihau Estates.
Witches and ghouls, fairytale villains and undead heroes have gathered in the Cantu family backyard — and it takes an even scarier turn after dark.
For 35 years, the Cantus have hosted the themed haunted house on Halloween night and invited the public for some free fright night fun. Every year the theme is different. For 2018, it was “Jurassic Park.” Tonight, it’s “Villains.”
As always, the front yard is a cornucopia of family-friendly figures. This year, you’ll catch glimpses of life-size characters from “Nightmare Before Christmas,” “Cars” and other popular movies. Watch out for the dinosaurs, too.
Step through the archway into the backyard and enter a maze peppered with the imagination’s more nefarious creatures. Be prepared to meet fairytale villains like Maleficent and Ursula.
“It’s kid-friendly in the front yard, but it does get scary in the back when the sun goes down,” said Ismael Cantu, who coordinates the scary scenes with his wife Stacie.
They start the work in July and spend three months pulling together materials and making props, characters and costumes.
A mason by trade, Ismael Cantu molds mannequins for each character made out of clay, plaster of Paris, and latex.
New to the set last year was a six-foot version of Jabba the Hutt. In the months leading up to Halloween, the Cantu family has been busy working on other characters, like The Red Queen from “Alice in Wonderland.”
“I had a few other mannequins that I wanted to make, but I guess there’s always next year,” Cantu said.
Setup was in full swing Wednesday afternoon. Family members flew in from Oahu to help, and were busy hanging last-minute decorations and building props.
Their work was briefly interrupted by heavy rains, which are forecast to continue intermittently today. Stacie Cantu had to move fast to rescue some of the props from the rain.
“It seems to rain a little every year, so we should just be prepared for this by this time,” Stacie Cantu said, pointing out she had to lay some towels down by her front door to prevent flooding. “And we always still have a lot of people, even if it does rain. Last year, the line was around the block.”
The Spooktacular Haunted Yard is at 5112 Ioana Street. Park on Ohu Street and walk from there.
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Jessica Else, reporter, can be reached at 245-0452 or jelse@thegardenisland.com.
