美国国家公共电台 NPR Professional Halloween 'Haunters' Channel Method Acting To Deliver Real Scares

Professional Halloween 'Haunters' Channel Method Acting¹ To Deliver Real Scares

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The art of method acting has been a popular way for actors to delve³ deeper into their psyches⁵ to perfect a role. But you don't have to go all the way to Hollywood to find method actors. You can also go to Spooky World, a Halloween haunted house attraction. Sarah Birnbaum has more.

SARAH BIRNBAUM, BYLINE⁶: Bil Duchesneau has been scaring the pants off little children and grown men alike in Litchfield, N.H. for more than 15 years. He's a professional haunter.

BIL DUCHESNEAU: Actors are dressed up as various different monsters or ghouls in different hiding spaces. And as the customers go walking through, they'll pop out from their hiding spots and give the people a good scare. You know, in simple terms, that's what we do.

BIRNBAUM: This is not a matter of slapping on some zombie makeup⁷. Duchesneau will develop his character's look, backstory, motivation. He's been a voodoo priest, a demon⁸ biker, a demented surgeon. But this Halloween, he's going for something more high-concept. His character's name is Stitun, short for superstition⁹, and he's the walking embodiment of bad luck.

DUCHESNEAU: If you look at Stitun, he's got a number 13 on his back, and the 13 is made up of black cats. He used to walk around with a rabbit pelt¹⁰, which is like a rabbit's foot but everything but the foot.

BIRNBAUM: Duchesneau's acting techniques have served him so well that he's decided¹¹ to teach them to other actors. On Saturday, two hours before Spooky World opens, the haunted house sound crew is turning on the speaker system.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Who is this? Leave this place.

BIRNBAUM: The animatronics are up and running, unbeknownst to me.

(LAUGHTER)

BIRNBAUM: That is terrifying (laughter).

And about a dozen Spooky World haunters gather at picnic tables to learn the fundamentals of method acting at Duchesneau's scare school. Duchesneau helps one actor, Conrad Metzger, get into his character's twisted mindset. Metzger works in the haunted junkyard attraction. He plays a guy who was killed by a flying wooden pallet when a wood chipper exploded.

DUCHESNEAU: So he's, like, jealous of the living? Is that what's going on?

CONRAD METZGER: Yeah.

DUCHESNEAU: OK.

METZGER: Definitely jealous of the living.

DUCHESNEAU: So when you're out there tonight, now you're going to be thinking, I got killed in this stupid junkyard and now I'm stuck here because some shipping¹² and receiving guy doesn't know how to pack the pallets properly. And now this customer walking through, you're like, I know who you are. You're the jerk from shipping.

(LAUGHTER)

DUCHESNEAU: And now you're going to be like, oh, you jerk, you know?

BIRNBAUM: Metzger vows¹³ to cultivate his rage. It's a process that could take a while. But what if you don't have that kind of time? Brian Chamberlain, Duchesneau's co-teacher, says if you want to scare people when they show up to get candy at your house on Monday, the first thing you should do is distract them with a cool Halloween decoration or something. And then you sneak¹⁴ up behind them and...

BRIAN CHAMBERLAIN: (Snorting) They're going to jump out of their skin. That's the easiest way to scare someone.

BIRNBAUM: You can always work on your psyche⁴ and exploding wood chipper backstory for next year. For NPR News, I'm Sarah Birnbaum.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HALLOWEEN SPOOKS")

LAMBERT, HENDRICKS AND ROSS: (Singing) Halloween, Halloween, ooh, Halloween. Ghostly things are going to happen. Ooh, ah, ooh, ah (ph).

1 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

2 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

3 delve   

v.深入探究，钻研

参考例句：

• We should not delve too deeply into this painful matter.我们不应该过分深究这件痛苦的事。
• We need to delve more deeply into these questions.这些是我们想进一步了解的。

4 psyche   

n.精神；灵魂

参考例句：

• His exploration of the myth brings insight into the American psyche.他对这个神话的探讨揭示了美国人的心理。
• She spent her life plumbing the mysteries of the human psyche.她毕生探索人类心灵的奥秘。

5 psyches   

n.灵魂，心灵( psyche的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• You want to fly to haiti for a quickie divorce just for our psyches ? 你想去海地快速离婚是为了我们的精神健康？ 来自电影对白
• Our psyches are naturally attuned to energetic codes and symbolic language. 我们的心灵会自动地与能量和象徵语言共鸣调音。 来自互联网

6 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

7 makeup   

n.组织；性格；化装品

参考例句：

• Those who failed the exam take a makeup exam.这次考试不及格的人必须参加补考。
• Do you think her beauty could makeup for her stupidity?你认为她的美丽能弥补她的愚蠢吗？

8 demon   

n.魔鬼，恶魔

参考例句：

• The demon of greed ruined the miser's happiness.贪得无厌的恶习毁掉了那个守财奴的幸福。
• He has been possessed by the demon of disease for years.他多年来病魔缠身。

9 superstition   

n.迷信，迷信行为

参考例句：

• It's a common superstition that black cats are unlucky.认为黑猫不吉祥是一种很普遍的迷信。
• Superstition results from ignorance.迷信产生于无知。

10 pelt   

v.投掷，剥皮，抨击，开火

参考例句：

• The boy gave the bully a pelt on the back with a pebble.那男孩用石子掷击小流氓的背脊。
• Crowds started to pelt police cars with stones.人群开始向警车扔石块。

11 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

12 shipping   

n.船运（发货，运输，乘船）

参考例句：

• We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
• There's a shipping charge of ￡5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。

13 vows   

誓言( vow的名词复数 )； 郑重宣布，许愿

参考例句：

• Matrimonial vows are to show the faithfulness of the new couple. 婚誓体现了新婚夫妇对婚姻的忠诚。
• The nun took strait vows. 那位修女立下严格的誓愿。

14 sneak   

vt.潜行(隐藏,填石缝)；偷偷摸摸做；n.潜行；adj.暗中进行

参考例句：

• He raised his spear and sneak forward.他提起长矛悄悄地前进。
• I saw him sneak away from us.我看见他悄悄地从我们身边走开。