‘Skin Wars’ star comes to area attraction to make the experience even scarier

NAKINA, NC (WMBF) - From face masks to face paint, Panic Attack Haunted Attractions is pulling out all the stops to scare your socks off and keep you safe while you do it.

That includes bringing in world-class talent like Kyle Vest, best known for his appearance on “Skin Wars."

“I’ve been doing haunted attractions for 20 years now and makeup for 16 of those," he said. "It keeps getting more and more as I grow older, so I love it.”

Vest expanded his makeup palate when he competed on the Netflix series, which pits top quality makeup artists against each other.

Now that his season is finished, he’s continuing to hone his craft.

“There’s a clock and it’s really ticking," said Vest. "Just like here, you only have a certain amount of time and you got to go.”

That clock will certainly be ticking the next two nights for Vest, while he tries to get several dozen actors madeup in the scariest face paint he can find.

He’s one of the many professionals that contributed to Panic Attack Haunted Attractions this year.

“We build a scene that you’re walking into," said Eric Pino, the attraction’s manager. "We have people come in that work on the movies down in Wilmington that build sets there that come and help us out while we’re building these sets, so you feel like you’re stepping into another whole world while you’re out here.”

Panic Attack has taken more precautions this year with the pandemic to also make it a safe world to walk into.

Masks are required and will also be provided if customers don’t have them and hand sanitizer stations were placed throughout the attraction.

“A local company, Cat 5 pressure washing, comes through every night at close and they spray vital oxide," said Pino. "What that does is its hospital-grade approved to kill the coronavirus. He comes in and sprays the whole house down because the number one concern for us is customer safety.”

Another concern is scaring those customers' socks off.

Something Vest is looking forward to.

“It’s definitely a state of the art feeling, and you can see that it’s well done down to every detail," he said. "That’s why I like it here.”

Vest will spend the entire final weekend with Panic Attack Haunted Attractions in costume, helping out with the face painting and in his own words, “creeping it real."

Panic Attack is preparing for its final two nights on Oct. 30-31.

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