Halloween is inarguably their favorite time of the year. As youngsters they set up small horror scenes in the backyards attempting to scare the daylights out of the neighborhood kids. In high school and college they escaped to every hardcore Halloween haunt they could find, including a decommissioned prison in Eastern Pennsylvania; the Forest of Fear at the Renaissance Fairgrounds in Tuxedo, New York; Blood Manor in Lower Manhattan; and the Halloween Horror Nights in Universal Studios, Florida. This year Jeff Fucci of Carlstadt, and Joseph Cutalo of Wood-Ridge, will bring their frightening experiences back to a Carlstadt backyard with "The House on Haunted Hill." The idea grew from a love of the theater, the macabre, a mounting stash of scary props and the need to raise funds for a local charity.
"We developed the idea after our small collection of Halloween props grew large enough to begin setting up scenes," 
said Fucci.
Although the haunting is free, donations will be accepted for Angels’ Attic, a Carlstadt thrift store that services the local needy. Starbucks Coffee Company of Hasbrouck Heights has offered to match the donations.
So far the team has spent hundreds of hours on the walk-through completely wrapping around the house. They have also recruited every "actor" they know to play the walking dead. Although their prop stash is large, the pair drove across the state to gather just right item to complete the scenes.
"In addition to having scenes, we believe the event will be unique for having a number of live actors - mostly friends who were involved in theater or music programs at Montclair University, Rutgers University and Ramapo College," said Fucci.
Those who dare will enter a haunted attic, a graveyard, a macabre carnival, a zombie field, and scenes from the films Freddy vs. Jason and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre complete with sound and lighting effects with which Fucci claims Cutalo is a genuis. Clowns will popup, Jason and Freddie are hidden in trees and a dead lady will come to life. One of the highlights will be the "butcher shop."
Bravery will be awarded with candy, hot apple cider and hot chocolate at the end of the venture. The Borough of Carlstadt will be blocking off Berry Avenue.
"We plan to deal with the groups differently. If there’s a group of kids we’ll be kind of low key, if it’s teenagers we know we can get really into it," said Cutalo.
The pair hopes to make The House on Haunted Hill a seasonal destination.
"We hope to keep it as a charity event (hence the slogan Devils for Angels) and would like to make it annual, whether it remains on the house property or moves into someplace bigger."
