Beach traffic and tourist swarms aren’t the only frights in Kailua these days.
Mummies will be roaming a newly unearthed archaeological site near Hamakua Marsh in a haunted attraction designed by Halloween super fan Jorge Garcia and kindred spirits.
The “Lost” and “Hawaii Five-0” actor crafted most of the props for the walk-through “Mummy: Curse of the Crypt” haunt, which opens Friday and is being produced by Skeleton Key Hawaii’s Kevin Keaveney.
“A lot of actors are into Halloween. It’s the pretend factor; it was our first experience of creating a character,” said Garcia, 44, who calls October “a joyful time of year.”
He said he enjoyed monsters while growing up in San Clemente, Calif., but his family wasn’t particularly big on celebrating Halloween. Then in high school, Garcia became a fan of classic horror movies featuring Frankenstein’s monster, Wolfman, the Hunchback of Notre Dame and other tragic outcasts.
“Any kid who felt like a bit of a freak or didn’t fit in, there’s a great connection that you made” with the creatures, Garcia said. “King Kong was bigger and all he wanted was to be left alone or to find a girl, but he’s a giant hulk of a thing.”
“MUMMY: CURSE OF THE CRYPT BY JORGE GARCIA”
Presented by Skeleton Key Hawaii
>> Where: 171-A Hamakua Drive, Kailua
>> When: 7 to 11 p.m. Oct. 6-7, 13-14, 19-21 and 26-31; keiki-friendly nights, 5 to 7 p.m. Oct. 21, 28 and 29
>> Cost: $15 ($20 fast pass) at the door or skeletonkeyhawaii.com; $12 group rate available for 10 or more people
(Garcia’s lone foray into the genre was in a supporting role in the 2015 horror-comedy “Cooties,” which saw elementary schoolchildren turned into killer zombies by a cafeteria food virus.)
“Once I was older and in control of my own house, I started to let the Halloween freak flourish and was getting more into it,” he said.
Garcia and his girlfriend decorate their Kailua home inside and out. He said he got more involved in building props for trick-or-treaters last year, buying blow-mold figures and other premade decorations and reworking them. He also used yard trimmings to craft a sinister scarecrow.
“When you do something that’s great one year, the next year you have to go bigger and scarier,” he said.
In recent weeks, during breaks from filming “Hawaii Five-0,” Garcia has been wrapping mummies, sculpting sarcophagi, making canopic jars in which the viscera are stored and conjuring other spooky props. He said he also hid a few Easter eggs, or hints, of alien origin throughout the Egyptian tomb — a sci-fi notion Garcia’s conspiracy-obsessed “Five-0” character, Jerry Ortega, would appreciate.
Keaveney also was a childhood fan of classic monster movies and horror comics. He moved to Hawaii eight years ago and has been active in local theater as an actor and director.
When Keaveney and Garcia got together with fellow actors and Halloween fiends Therese Olival and Rebecca Birdsall, they began planning a haunted attraction. Garcia said the theme is a tribute to his father, who as a child was terrified by Boris Karloff as “The Mummy.”
“What’s so scary about the Mummy is that even though he’s slow and lumbering, he’s doesn’t stop and he’s creepy,” Garcia said.
What scares Garcia? “People. Home-invasion plotlines where it’s just human beings — that is scary.”
Keaveney called Garcia “a master of building props” and said “Mummy: Curse of the Crypt” will be a professional theatrical experience. Kamakani De Dely, owner of Hawaii special-effects shop Oncefound FX, is another collaborator.
Twenty-five actors have been hired for the haunt, but Garcia won’t be one of them, although he might pop in during its monthlong run in a 2,600-square-foot warehouse.
The attraction’s scares are intended for ages 12 and up, but Keaveney said special keiki-friendly nights are being offered, when the lights will be turned up a bit and the gorier aspects toned down.
Once Halloween is over, the haunt will be transformed into a horror-based, escape-room attraction that requires guests to think their way out of a series of “locked” rooms by deciphering clues along the way. Keaveney said revenue from the projects will help fund Kailua OnStage Arts, a community theater group he hopes to launch next year.