S.S. Frightanic was a haunted house from Universal Studios' Halloween Horror Nights 1998, located in the Earthquake queue. It was two houses in one building with the premise of a haunted sunken ship. The first house, Fear in First Class, consisted of the fancier, upper parts of the ship with the ghosts of the passengers while the other house, Carnage Crew, consisted of the lower parts with the ghosts of the crew. The facade was a large ship with one entrance on either side; one leading to Carnage Crew, the other leading to Fear in First Class. The ship was located in a harbor also containing a building with the words "Harbor View" on the sign, a few crates and barrels, and another, small building with a metal roof.
The first room of Fear in First Class consisted of a reception area with a female scareactor in a summer dress standing in front of a desk. There were fine furniture such as a stool and a mirror scattered in the background. After this was a baggage area with another scareactor jumping out from behind a trunk.
The guests passed a room simulating the outside of the ship, with a metal railing and chain, water flowing into a pool, and a spotlight with a ghostlike scareactor behind it. The name "FRIGHTANIC" was written on the ship.
Further into the house was a room with a scareactor jumping out from behind a large piece of wood. From there the guests entered a wooden corridor with scattered furniture and large pieces of cloth hanging down from the ceiling. This corridor led into one of the cabins.
The guests then entered a ballroom with mannequins portraying guests waltzing around and orchestral music in the background. Among these mannequins were a female scareactor in a ripped ball dress portraying one of the dead passengers. The guests proceeded into another corridor lined with cabin windows with the outside filled with water.
From there the guests entered an entertainment area with paintings on the walls and a human head spinning around on a plate. In this room was a billiards table with a scareactor portraying an undead croupier. The guests continued into another corridor with barred windows, one of which had another undead scareactor behind it. They exited through a dilapidated room with old furniture covered in spider webs.
Concept art also shows a treasure vault containing safes and a large security guard scareactor wielding a weapon of some form.
Less is known about Carnage Crew. At one point guests walked through the crew quarters, with one man laying dead on a bed, impaled by a sword. Human bones and other remains were scattered over the bunkbeds, and there was a scareactor portraying a zombified crew member.
Another room was the bridge, with cracked walls, pieces of cloth hanging down from the ceiling, and another zombie scareactor manning the wheel.
Tropes used in S.S. Frightanic include:
- Affectionate Parody: The facade of the attraction featured two corpses standing on the ship's bow with their arms outstretched, a clear parody of the famous scene with Jack and Rose in Titanic (1997).
- Alliterative Title: Carnage Crew.
- The Dead Can Dance: The ballroom in Fear in First Class had ghostly passengers dancing with each other.
- Ghost Ship: The premise of the houses was guests touring a haunted ship.
- Jump Scare: Two showed up in Fear in First Class.
- One scareactor jumped out from behind a trunk in the baggage area.
- Another one showed up before one of the corridors, yelling at the guests.
- Rewatch Bonus: The house had two different paths you could go down: Fear in First Class and Carnage Crew.
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Spiritual Successor: 2003's Ship of Screams house was one to this, being also themed around a haunted ship.
