Scare fare

When the Haunted House at St. Joachim Parish and School in Costa Mesa transforms its gymnasium into a Halloween “tour” de force Friday night, frightful fun — minus the blood and gore — will be the order of the day.

Visitors entering the gym can choose from two different haunted tours, each taking visitors through six rooms.

One tour features an Old English medieval theme with a “turn of the century Jekyll and Hyde” feel.

The other entrance takes guests through a castle, complete with a moving bridge and cemetery.

Parent volunteers, along with a professional set design company volunteering its time, have been working like mad to erect facades and build props needed for the rooms.

This is the second year for St. Joachim’s Haunted House, and Werner Ovalle, a St. Joachim parent, is overseeing the event once again.

It’s a huge undertaking, Ovalle said, with parents spending endless hours planning each tour’s events, building the elements of each set and organizing cast members for the tours.

Parents and parishioners will be filling all the acting roles, and with 18 parts involved, Ovalle needed to split approximately 30 volunteers between two shifts.

Last year, Ovalle asked for help from his friend Tony Vasi.

Vasi had been “playing around” building elaborate sets, decorations and props with friends for Halloween for years.

The guys gave Ovalle and St. Joachim Halloween props and decorations they had, and Ovalle said the event was a huge success.

When Ovalle called just to get some advice for this year’s event, Vasi told him his new company — Fratelli Studios — would be glad to help out, and wanted to do more than just give them stuff.

Vasi, his brother Chris Vasi, Chuck Casella and Jim Quinlan have been friends for years and decided several months ago to quit their day jobs and devote all their time and energy to what they love to do — design and build sets and exhibits.

Fratelli is Italian for brothers, and the guys say that at Fratelli Studios, “clients are treated like family.”

So are friends.

Throw in a cause like St. Joachim trying to raise money for its science lab, and Fratelli Studios was eager to join in the volunteer effort.

Pieces of the castle, an Old English house and a graveyard scene complete with foggy mist and a working bridge, were built in the studio’s new Irvine location.

Everything was transported to St. Joachim Wednesday, where Vasi estimated they would spend the next three days setting up and getting everything ready.

The company wants people to experience “the sights, sounds and smells of the Halloween season.”

“While there might be some scares with the bridge creaking, and the smoky, foggy stuff,” Vasi said, they’re really creating an atmosphere, and “blood and gore doesn’t impress us.”

Sister Kathleen Marie is the principal at St. Joachim School, and Ovalle said she has been “absolutely supportive.”

“She’s really found the lighthearted fun in this. It’s a way for kids, parents and the parish to all work together and have fun.”

Ovalle said last year, parents put their heart and soul in to the event, but this year they’ve managed to “take it to a whole new level.”

“Tony and his team are so talented, and the parents are working really hard,” he said. “It’s been a lot of fun, and I can’t wait till it’s done to see it.”

IF YOU GO

WHAT: St. Joachim’s Haunted House

WHEN: 8 to 11 p.m. Friday

WHERE: 1964 Orange Ave., Costa Mesa

COST: $5 Adults; $3 Children; Children 3 and younger get in free

INFO: Food and beverages will be available for purchase. Frankenstein will take photo-booth shots for $5. For more information, call (949) 574-7400.

SUE THOENSEN may be reached at (714) 966-4627 or at [email protected].