Once again, Halloween is nearing and you may or may not have already made plans to get completely wasted and stagger the streets in search of a party or anyone willing to throw candy at you.

If you thirst for something a little different from your average Halloween experience, making a trip to one of the Sacramento area’s haunted houses could offer a much-needed change of pace.

Fright Planet at Cal Expo is not just one haunted house, but five haunted houses with 150 cast members and a 3-D film shown in the Fright Plant “ScreamMax” theater.

Cast member Domani Backer, 13, acts in the “Blackout” haunted house, a pitch-black labyrinth that clearly states at the entrance: “Not for the claustrophobic!”

“Usually I wait at the exit,” Domani said. “When I hear people screaming, I head toward them and listen for people’s names. I like to whisper names because you can really tell they are getting freaked.”

To help get into character, cast members practice different walks and faces, said 49-year-old roaming zombie Steve Hartley.

“We consider ourselves a theatrical group who love to scare people,” said production and marketing director Krystie Bolton. “We have each of our actors attend a very intense actor training week called ‘scare school.’ Here, they learn how to talk, walk and act like a zombie, clown, inmate and so on.”

Even participating a cast member could offer a fresh alternative to trick-or-treating or clubbing downtown, said Fright Planet cast member Shaun Hallet.

“I have done homemade haunted houses in the past,” said roaming pirate Trez Rivas. “This is my first year at Fright Planet, and it’s a lot different than the homemade houses. At Fright Planet, we have make-up artists who are mostly pretty good, instead of doing our own.”

Pirate Janice Rohrke said being a part of the cast is fun because you meet new people and you get to see customers at their weakest moments, when they are running for their lives.

“I have been doing haunted houses for five years,” said roaming zombie Dan Ford. “Fright Planet is much bigger than I am used to. My past experiences have been at night clubs, so there is more opportunity to scare people here.”

If traveling outside of Sacramento works with your schedule and budget, there is also the Haunted Hagan “Scream Park” in Rancho Cordova, as well as the Callson Manor Haunted House in Roseville, both presenting their own version of a haunt to the public.

The Haunted Hagan Park is themed around an Old West back story and decorated to match.

According to the website www.scaredyou.com, an overly violent bounty hunter named Cyrus Lynch was killed by his undead victims 126 years ago on Halloween while chasing down fugitives.

The Callson Manor’s theme is set around a family-owned funeral parlor that was shut down and sealed more than 75 years ago after a mysterious fatal fire, according to the manor’s website, www.callsonmanor.com.

“On any one night we could have over 60 actors participating, ranging from an 8-year-old all the way up to people in their 50s,” said Haunted Hagan Director Joel Watson.

Like Fright Planet, Haunted Hagan also provides training for cast members, but rather than a week of training the “Scary U” program lasts for four months, starting in July.

“I think we have two things that set us apart from other haunted houses: the haunted train ride and the ‘Scary U’ program, which insures well-trained and very enthusiastic actors,” Watson said. “We have a blast every year and our audience seems to agree, with many attendees coming back every year with more friends and family.”

For more information about the individual haunted houses, go online to statehornet.com/features.

Benjamin Dewey can be reached at [email protected].