FRIGHTFUL FEMALES, GHOULIE MEN SOUGHT.

Byline: Carol Rock Staff Writer

VALENCIA - It was the young woman bouncing off the wall that got them.

A panel of eight talent coordinators watched as wave after wave of screaming wannabe ghouls ran into the room, trying to make them jump out of their chairs. Keeping their game faces on, they looked at each candidate and made notes about their volume, enthusiasm and special talents.

But when a young woman flung herself against a wall, got air off a bounce and landed flat on the floor, their somber expressions unanimously cracked. It's a good chance she will be among the 250 extras hired to work the park during the month of October for the 10th annual Fright Fest at Six Flags California's Magic Mountain.

``I came to Fright Fest last year with my boyfriend and thought it looked like fun,'' said Collette Schmidt, 20. The business law student said she especially enjoyed the fact that her birthday and the scary holiday both happen in October.

``I love Halloween,'' she said. ``It would be cool to get in on the magic.''

``I don't scare very easily, but I like to be scared,'' said College of the Canyons student Matt Selle, 17. A veteran of high school plays, Selle said he hadn't prepared for the audition, but ``he'd pull something together'' by the time he was called by the judges.

Selle came through, twitching and jerking his way across the floor making maniacal noises as he approached the table. Schmidt wailed and screamed convincingly when her turn came. Both got favorable reviews from the judges.

Jody Hutchinson, talent supervisor for Magic Mountain, said ghouls who survived last year's Fright Fest need only fill out paperwork and they're back in the coffin. But every year, the park has to audition about 175 warm bodies to fill openings at Brutal Planet, Carnage E. Hall, Blood Falls and Willoughby's Haunted Mansion as well as to play the undead wandering the park grounds in between the mazes. A new maze, ``The Asylum,'' will take advantage of agile actors who aren't afraid to climb chain link and scream at the top of their lungs.

Most of the applicants are high school students or people in their early 20s willing to give up their average good looks for sunken cheeks and wounds oozing with post-mortem fluids. Some of them get a workout as ``sliders'' who run at guests, then take full-metal falls to the ground, leaving sparks and shrieks in their wake. A lucky few will hang from bungee cords in Jokester's Hangout and Dead Man's Bog.

But they're not all teenagers, either. Hutchinson said one woman in her 80s has worked every Fright Fest in Willoughby Mansion. This year she's slated to return as the old woman watching TV with her cat who yells at visitors to the mansion.

Most of the monsters go through an hour to an hour and a half of makeup every night before they wander the park's underworld; a large number of the bit players become what Hutchinson called ``Five Minute Ghouls,'' on whom white face, sunken eyes and hollowed cheeks are speedily applied.

``We've timed them,'' she said, laughing.

Chad Keller, who is staffing the new Asylum area, warmed up the applicants by giving them some information on the event and areas where they might be working.

``In the Asylum, guests may find themselves backed into a corner with the crazy inmate,'' he explained. ``It could be fun and very terrifying. So when you come in, be scary.''

``There are good ways and bad ways to scare us,'' he continued. ``Be loud and energetic, don't touch anyone and, I can't believe I have to say this one, keep your clothes on.''

A quick demonstration of that last rule came when a group of four entered the room. Asked to do an improvisational sketch that involved a lot of movement, one of the applicants' baggy jeans fell down to his knees. The judges were relieved that he was wearing yellow silk basketball shorts underneath.

``This happens all the time,'' one judge sighed.

Fright Fest will open Oct. 9 and will run weekends through Halloween. Special attractions, which are all included in park admission, will feature six haunted mazes, backward and darkened roller coasters and general sensory overload for every range of fear. Hours are 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Carol Rock, [phone]

carol.rock(at)dailynews.com

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