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Geek Dad
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Geek Dad
Highway to Halloween: The Haunted Hill Farm ‘I Scream Clown' Halloween Animatronic Prop
As a brand, Haunted Hill Farm has been around since 2019, providing affordable animatronics, props, and inflatables to Halloween enthusiasts. Some of their higher-end props come from well-known manufacturer Tekky, and the I Scream Clown is one of those, new to market for 2025 and just in time for Summerween. It's also the first Haunted Hill Farm prop that I've reviewed. Will this clown bring a smile to your face, or a frown? What Is the I Scream Clown Halloween Animatronic Prop? The I Scream Clown Halloween animatronic prop is a 6.9 ft. indoor/covered outdoor prop manufactured by Tekky and distributed under the Haunted Hill Farm brand. It retails for $329.99 and is available through Amazon and other stores where you can find Halloween decor. Here's are the highlights of the prop: Premium life-size animatronic: frighten guests and trick-or-treaters with this premium quality spine-chilling Halloween decoration. Includes volume control: featuring spooky sounds that will surely frighten anyone who crosses its path. Eye-catching lights and sounds: a combination of chilling sound and lightning effects creates a dramatic atmosphere. Sound and motion-sensor activated: this animatronic activates with sound or motion, ensuring it surprises everyone who gets too close. Battery-powered: outlet not required; simply add four AA batteries to power up this terrifying decoration for long-lasting Halloween fun. Animated motion: the animatronic features a moving jaw, rotating eyeball ice cream cone, and several chilling phrases to frighten your guests. Human sensor (PIR): detects body heat (infrared), similar to motion-activated lights or security sensors, it has a lens cap (usually white or black, but customizable) and is more advanced than the older. The I Scream Clown shipping box. Image by Paul Benson. Assembling the I Scream Clown Halloween Animatronic Prop As with most animatronic props, you start with the base and build up. The I Scream Clown is no exception, with the lower legs clipping into the base, and the oversized plastic clown shoes fitting over. Beginning the build. Image by Paul Benson. Every part is clearly labeled, and the instructions are very clear. Unfortunately, adding the upper legs led to the first and only snag in the entire build. That step has you attach the two upper legs to the two lower one, matching 'B' to 'B' on both. However, as I soon discovered, the upper leg parts are not identical. And as luck would have it, I originally put them together wrong. This led to the legs bending outwards, which I didn't notice at first. These hips really shouldn't be this wide…Image by Paul Benson. When I later attempted to connect the hips, I immediately realized my mistake and simply swapped the upper leg pieces. However, that additional step wouldn't have been necessary had Tekky simply used additional letters for the leg pieces to indicate which piece attaches on the left, and which on the right. Despite that one hiccup, the rest of the assembly went by without a hitch. This slideshow requires JavaScript. Everything fit together well, and it took me about 15 minutes total before I had the I Scream Clown fully assembled. The last step was to connect the wires from the head, right hand, and sensor to the control panel, and then plug him in and turn him on. The completed I Scream Clown. Image by Paul Benson. The I Scream Clown's mouth and eyes light up, and he's got two different mechanized motions: the jaw opens and closes along with his dialogue, and the eye on top of the ice cream cone turns back and forth. Here's a look at the I Scream Clown in action: I Scream Clown Halloween Animatronic Prop – Final Thoughts The I Scream Clown is the second animatronic prop from Tekky that I've reviewed for GeekDad, following the Haunted Sea Diver that I covered earlier this year. Much like the Sea Diver, the I Scream Clown has a lot of great details that really helps him be a truly terrifying clown. The melting ice cream cone dripping all over his head is a great touch, and of course the missing eye socket and the eyeball having relocated as the 'cherry' on top of the ice cream cone really sends this one into body horror territory. And, of course, the fact that the eye moves seemingly of its own volition raises the creepy quotient quite a bit. Apparently ice cream is bad for you…who knew? Image by Paul Benson. The splatters of ice cream on the clown's shirt, pants, and drips of ice cream on just his right shoe really reinforce the story of the I Scream Clown. I also want to draw attention to the fabric strips used inside of the I Scream Clown's mouth. Speaking of creepy, they really give the illusion of meaty redness inside of the clown's mouth, giving it an even more horrifying appearance as it speaks. A closer look at the monstrous mouth. Image by Paul Benson. While the I Scream Clown is a really fun and well-designed prop, there are a couple of small issues worth pointing out. First, I would have loved to have seen some velcro in the prop for attaching the cuffs of the sleeves to the hands so that they don't accidentally pull back and expose the arm poles. This, of course, is an easy enough thing to add yourself, but with a $300+ prop, it really feels like an oversight. Hopefully, along with the labeling issue with the upper legs, Tekky will correct this in the future. And second, as you can tell from the video, the motor for the mouth is somewhat louder than I would like. However, it certainly doesn't prevent you from hearing the dialogue, which is crisp and clear. There are some technical features of the prop that I quite appreciate. I love that you have a built-in option to power the I Scream Clown either by AC or with batteries. This makes him easy to locate wherever you want, regardless of whether there's an outlet available. There's an outlet for an external speaker, though I doubt most will need it as the clown gets plenty loud just from the speaker built into the control box. And, you also have the option of connecting a footpad to the prop, so that he'll only activate when you want him to. Standing just shy of 7 feet, the I Scream Clown will loom over visitors to your haunt on Halloween. If you've got a creepy carnival or circus theme going on, he'll fit in just fine, ready to shock and delight. He certainly drew a lot of approval from my neighbors, who delighted at his horrific visage and that moving eyeball. He's well-constructed, and should hopefully last through several seasons of scaring. The I Scream Clown is a fun and frightening animatronic prop ready to bring the scare factor with his not so sweet treats. For more information or to make a purchase, head over to Amazon. Haunted Hill Farm provided a unit for evaluation, but had no input into this review. Liked it? Take a second to support GeekDad and GeekMom on Patreon!
Geek Dad
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Dad
Highway to Halloween: The Lowe's Haunted Haunted Sea Diver Animatronic
We just passed the 'Halfway to Halloween' date, which landed midway between April 30th and May 1st. And so it's about time to start sharing with our readers some of the great ways you'll be able to decorate for spooky season! You may recall that I reviewed a couple of Lowe's 12-foot animatronics in 2024: the Bone Collector and the Scarecrow. While Lowe's will be releasing a bunch of all-new animatronics later this year (including a 12-foot vampire!), to mark 'Halfway to Halloween,' they re-released a few of their more popular 2024 pieces. One of those is the Haunted Living Haunted Sea Diver, part of their Haunted Harbor collection. What Is the Lowe's Haunted Living Haunted Sea Diver Animatronic? The Lowe's Haunted Living Haunted Sea Diver Animatronic is a 72″ indoor/covered outdoor prop manufactured by Tekky and distributed exclusively at Lowe's. It retails for $349 and is currently only available at Lowe's website (though it may become available again to purchase at stores this Fall). Here's the overview from Lowe's: IT came from the bottom of the deep dark sea…to terrify the company! Life-size Animated Haunted Deep Sea Diver includes elaborate steampunk diving suit with harpoon gun and seaweed details, LED lights and cinematic sounds. The Haunted Deep Sea Diver makes the scene this Halloween as a premium animatronic, engineered for maximum fun and fright by Lowe's Haunted Living and Tekky. Deep Sea terror comes alive to reveal it's gruesome, green glowing skeletal face! Realistic side-to-side movement, scary sounds from the sea, and terrifying LED lighted skull face reveal! Sound, human, or footpad/button activated (footpad/button sold separately). Easy to assemble, battery-operated 'fright prop' for convenient display — no wires to trip over (4AA batteries included). Or power your prop with the 6V 2A DC adapter — included — when a standard outlet is available. The shipping package. Image by Paul Benson. Assembling the Haunted Sea Diver was fairly straightforward. Basically, if you've ever assembled an animatronic, you should be able to put this one together in just a few minutes. And even if you haven't, the included instructions are easy to follow. They even include batteries! Image by Paul Benson. Several of the components were attached to the cardboard divider with twist ties, so this did slow down the initial assembly. However, the trade off is that the parts were secure during shipping so arrived in perfect shape. All the pieces fastened to the cardboard divider. Image by Paul Benson. I had a nice surprise while unpacking all the pieces: the base came with an attached sandbag! Many animatronics need to be weighted down to stabilize them, so it made me smile to see a sandbag included in the box. The base (and sandbag) right out of the box. Image by Paul Benson. Here's a quick look at the assembly: This slideshow requires JavaScript. The only slight snag I had was with getting the clothing up over the clear shoulder piece. It did take me a few minutes to accomplish that task, partly due to the thickness of the costume. However, that extra padding really helps to sell the diving suit look (though the costume has a very pronounced crease in the right leg that I'll have to try and iron out). Once assembled, all you have to do is connect a few wires, and then plug in the control box. The control box seems identical to those used in the other Lowe's/Tekky animatronics that I've reviewed. The Sea Diver can be activated either by the motion sensor on its front, or using a separately available step pad. Here's a look at the Haunted Sea Diver, all lit up: You don't really see the skull until he turns on. Image by Paul Benson. I took him outside in the evening to shoot a quick video, where you can see him perform his two phrases: Lowe's Haunted Living Haunted Sea Diver Animatronic – Final Thoughts I think that the Haunted Sea Diver is one of the best-looking animatronics that Lowe's has sold in recent years. The thick costume really helps give the illusion of a bulky, old-fashioned diving suit, and the molded plastic gloves and boots look great, both in their sculpt and in the paint work. But the best part of the animatronic has to be that seaweed-covered diving helmet, with the glowing skull inside. That really sells the whole 'haunted diver' bit, and creates a wonderfully eerie effect. This is an animatronic that can certainly be a bit creepy, especially at night. My girlfriend's teenage daughter got a bit of a jumpscare just from walking in and seeing it standing in the living room. But it's also pretty family friendly. There's no gore, and the voice lines are more Pirates of the Caribbean in flavor. And if you're of a certain age, you'll definitely be reminded of Captain Cutler from Scooby Doo . The infamous Captain Cutler. Image by Paul Benson. There are a lot of things Lowe's and Tekky got right with this animatronic. Besides the great overall look, I loved the inclusion of the sandbag and batteries. I would have preferred to have seen a bit more seaweed on the model, but that's something that can be easily, and inexpensively, added. If you watched the video I shot, you're sure to notice something that I discovered right away: the motor is very loud. Granted, I can turn up the voice volume on the animatronic, but that doesn't change the volume of the mechanism itself. I also wish that there was a bit more complex movement to the animatronic than simply turning side to side. I would have loved to have at least seen the jaw move as he spoke. However, the simple motion is still fairly effective in bringing the Haunted Sea Diver to life (or undeath). As a friend suggested, it would look great posed with some tentacles, as if the Diver was trying to escape the grasp of the giant octopus that had doomed him. Overall, the Haunted Living Haunted Sea Diver Animatronic is a great-looking piece, and will fit into your decorations well if you're going for a nautical horror theme for Halloween. Lowe's also has the lighted Kraken lawn decoration and a Steering Captain animatronic from 2024 in their Halfway to Halloween offerings, so you can easily build a horrifying seafaring display that way. For more information or to purchase the Haunted Living Haunted Sea Diver Animatronic, head over to Lowe's website. Lowe's provided a Haunted Sea Diver for evaluation, but had no input into this review. Dead me tell no tales…Image by Paul Benson. Liked it? Take a second to support GeekDad and GeekMom on Patreon!
