Team Brewhaha
Team Members: Austin Metzler (Team Leader), Tino Hererra, Craig Hogan, and Rob PlesKovitch
Experience Level: Apprentice Team (2020 was their 1st Year)
Normal Coverage Area: New Mexico
Background: Based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Austin is joining The Scare Factor for his first year in 2020. Austin was previously reviewing haunted houses for five years in Colorado. If you own a haunted house in New Mexico, then this is your go-to guy! Austin has been a haunt addict since the mid-1990’s. Oh yes… and his only fear, other than his own warped mind, is spiders!
Growing up, Craig always loved dressing up for Halloween and going to haunted houses but never knew how to participate in the industry. It was always so cool to see the makeup, the acting, and the sets.
In 2018, he got his chance. He was invited by a friend to participate as a volunteer actor for Dragons House of Horrors. There, he met the actors and saw all of the hard work that went into making a haunt a haunt. On his first night, he went all out and screamed his head off as a mental patient (although he lost his voice doing it). So he started to learn how to scare in moderation. He finished the season and returned in 2019 as a volunteer. In 2020, The Pandemic hit, and the haunted attraction he was currently working at created a haunted drive-through show. That is where he really started his love of the craft with set design and character acting. He continued acting in haunts through 2022 but has decided to assist Austin in visiting and reviewing them.
Today, he takes that passion into cosplay with characters of his own creation and loves to take inspiration from other amazing artists and FX artists, bringing them to life. He looks forward to seeing what the Albuquerque area has to bring this year.
Tino has been acting in haunted houses since 2010 and ran a haunted house from 2015 to 2023, including NM’s only Rated R full-contact haunted attraction, followed by a career in the film industry as an SPFX technician and set designer.
Rob: The youngest of seven, I think I became a horror fan in the womb. I was raised on Universal and Hammer Horror films and, of course, Svengoolie on WFLD out of Chicago every Saturday night. I began reading Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot in the 2nd grade. My watch lists are dominated by horror films. I still try to watch Svengoolie every Saturday, and I still read SK. From 2003 to 2006, making my yearly Florida visit to my sister’s horror-loving family, I was lucky enough to attend Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights before it became insanely overcrowded. During the 2023 Haunt season, I volunteered as an evil clown for Purgatory at its 4th Street location in Albuquerque under the supervision of Tino Herrera. I will be attending and vending my art at Morgue and Krypt’s Horror Fest in Albuquerque for my, and it’s, 3rd year in a row. I am absolutely giddy with anticipation to be a member of The Scare Factor’s Haunt review team! Happy Haunting!
Contact Information:
