By Alex Costello
Rick Cinetti, his lips curled into an evil grin, exposing what appear to be rotted yellow teeth, revels in it. The owner of a house at 39 Davison Ave., Cinetti is responsible for orchestrating the ghostly chaos. And as long as people are screaming, he has that toothy grin plastered on his face.
At least until he takes off his mask.
“It’s brutal,” said Cinetti, who crafts a haunted hallway in his backyard each year, which is open to the public. “We had teenagers crying to get out. I don’t mind the little kids, I feel bad for them. But the teenagers you think are big and bad, but they were like girls!”
This is the fourth year that Cinetti, with the help of his family, friends and neighbors, has set up a fright-fest inside a hallway he constructs in his backyard. Each year it features different horrific attractions, and each year the crowd has grown.
This year, Cinetti’s backyard has been turned into a morgue that leads into a Hallway of Horror — a pitch-black winding hallway where monsters jump out at unwitting visitors. After the hallway, people make their way through a ghostly, fog-filled graveyard (complete with zombies) and then get some candy at the end.
“This whole thing is completely different from last year. There’s nothing the same,” Cinetti said. “Last year there were two hiding spots, this year there are about five or six hiding spots. So, [there are] a lot more monsters.”
Since Cinetti could not run a show like this on his own, he has 15 to 20 people helping him — all of them trying their hardest to scare those who are brave enough to enter. “It’s fun for us,” said Rich Cinetti, Rick’s father. “It’s not money. It’s the fun that we make out of it.”
Even Cinetti’s 5-year-old son gets in on the fun. He dresses up as Chucky from the “Child’s Play” movies and walks around the graveyard.
“It’s so much fun, it really is,” said Cinetti. “We’ve been talking about this already for months. I didn’t sleep last night in the anticipation.”
Cinetti and his family are really hoping to turn up the scares this year. He had someone who makes masks for Hollywood movies make him one that is particularly terrifying, and he has a few other scary ones for the people hiding in the hallway.
It’s so scary, in fact, that they are warning some people to not go in. “If you have a bad heart, don’t go through this thing,” said Rich Cinetti. “Seriously. It’s that frightening.” There is a sign on their front lawn, advertising the times the hallway is open, and it also says that those with heart problems and pregnant women shouldn’t go through.
“He usually makes it pretty scary, but this year I think he’s trying to kill us,” said Cinetti’s neighbor, Josephine Puglisi, with a laugh.
In addition to the extra hiding spots, Cinetti has added a “chaser,” a friend dressed as a monster who chases visitors who are too scared to move forward. That way, the flow of people is continuous, and more people have a chance to go through. Cinetti said that last year there were a few problems with people getting so scared that they simply crouched down and didn’t move, refusing to go any farther, which caused traffic jams.
Cinetti puts a lot of himself into his backyard decorations. And they aren’t cheap. “One prop was $1,000 this year,” he said. “So, adding it all together ... I’d have to say [it cost] about $15,000 between all the wood and these [props].
“I think I paid $150 just for that,” he added, pointing to a particularly gruesome prop. “Just for one rotted body.”
The cost notwithstanding, however, Cinetti doesn’t charge anyone to get in. However, he does accept donations. All the money collected goes to the Oceanside PTA.
When Halloween is over and everything is packed up, Cinetti relaxes — but not for long. "All year long I dream of creepy stuff," he said. "I think next year we’re going to have a bunch of life-sized zombies with a bunch of mixed people zombies. And we’re going to extend the maze next year, make it longer. Kind of double it.
"When you’re in there," he added, "you’re going to pray to God you’re going to get out of there."
Comments about this story? ACostello@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 207.
Photos By Jeanine Schroder/Herald
