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Faces of fright

In its third year of operation, the Chamber of Chills has obtained nationwide recognition and larger crowds.

When traveling through the 900-foot maze, it is impossible to miss the artwork of Al “Airbrushin’ AJ” Mendez Jr, as it is all around from ghoulish faces to scenes on the walls.

“I’ve been an artist since I was a kid. I was always sketching things,” said Mendez, who by day is a framer at the Ice House Framing & Gallery.

Mendez has expressed his artwork through airbrushing for about 20 years, he said.

Prior to being a framer, Mendez was one of the illustrators for Brocks Department Store, formerly located on Chester Avenue in downtown Bakersfield. His free-hand artwork appeared in the Brocks daily advertisements that were sent out to potential customers.

“This was before when they weren’t doing any photography, it was all illustration. So I was doing all those,” said the 48-year-old artist.

The Chamber of Chills runs nightly starting at 7 p.m. and an admission of $10, will get you a 15-minute walk of fright.

The opportunity to have a 900-foot canvas showcased to the crowds coming to the Chamber — which Bakersfield resident David Enloe began as a neighborhood Halloween haunt at his home in Westchester — sounded really appealing to Mendez.

“It’s a lot of fun. I look forward to this every year now,” he said.

Growing up, Mendez said it was Halloween, not Día de los Muertos — Day of the Dead — that was celebrated in his home.

“We, because of my grandfather, he’s pretty much had us Americanized as far as American traditions. I really wasn’t all that familiar with Hispanic traditions,” he said. “The Día de los Muertos, I didn’t really become familiar with that until, you know, high school.”

For Mendez, airbrushing on live canvases — i.e., the actors at Chamber of Chills — is a fairly new experience.

“The makeup thing was kind of an incidental. I just happened to be there with my airbrushes and they asked if I could give them a hand with the makeup,” he said.

This year, much of the makeup by Mendez is seen in the “Fortress of Fiends” section of the Chamber of Chills.

“The story behind this section is you know they’re half man, half animal and they’ve been experimented on,” he said.

One of the crowning achievements in that section for Mendez is turning Travis Talley, 15, into “Reptile Boy.”

“I think the first night I tried painting him as a tiger cat, and I just felt like it wasn’t scary. So, the next day I decided to try something reptilian,” Mendez said.

The secret behind the realistic scales on Talley’s face and arms is holding a fishnet close to the skin while Mendez airbrushes over it, he said.

“I was going to sit there and draw them (the scales) out and he (the head makeup director) told me to get a fishnet to make it quick and easy,” Mendez said.

Talley got involved with the Chamber of Chills when a friend asked him to help unload the trailers used for the maze itself and for storage. Set-up for the maze actually begins in July.

After helping to build the set, Talley earned a place as an actor who hides in one of the barrels near the toxic ooze.

Talley arrives to the Chamber of Chills site a couple hours before “showtime” to get his face and arms airbrushed by Mendez.

“It’s like sticky at first, but afterwards you start to get used to it,” Talley said. “At first, it’s really cold. Like when he’s doing it on your face, it kind of makes you flinch a little.”

All of the hard work by the team at Chamber of Chills has paid off.

This Halloween season, it was voted “No. 1 Haunt in America” by Haunted Media Magazine. Additionally, the Discovery Channel recently came out to film the maze; it will be featured in a special on the Travel Channel, “America’s Scariest Halloween Attractions,” 9 p.m., Friday, Oct. 27.

Check your local listings for additional showings of the episode.

“We’re one of several featured haunts in America that are considered the top in the country, so that’s really neat to be involved in something like that,” Mendez said.

Chamber of Chills
-Location: 3201 F St., corner of F street and Golden State Highway, in the parking lot of the Golden State Mall (formerly Montgomery World Plaza)
-Cost: $10, or $9 with a discount coupon. To get a discount coupon, go to: www.chamberofchills.com
-Open 7 p.m., Oct. 27,  28, 29, 30, 31