Ebola crisis incorporated into Halloween themes

The Ebola scare came along right on time for some Southern Nevada costume seekers. Haunted house designers, however, already had solidified their plans when Ebola fears hit a fever pitch.

Costume shop operators have served a few customers who wanted to create an Ebola effect this year. Michelle Pignatello, who owns Black Cat at 2350 S. Rainbow Blvd. with her husband, Brian, said she has helped a handful of shoppers wanting to look like either an Ebola health care worker, covered from head-to-toe in protective wear, or an Ebola patient, something akin to a character from the movies “Outbreak” or “Contagion.”

A combination of Black Cat items — medical garb, gloves, masks — can create the Ebola look, Michelle Pignatello said, but the store does not have a specific Ebola costume.

A variety of Ebola costumes are available from online retailer brandsonsale.com, including an Ebola containment suit for $79.99 and Please Put Me In Quarantine: The Sexy Ebola Costume for $59.99.

Spirit Halloween stores across the valley offer a hazardous materials suit patterned after the “Breaking Bad” television series. Joanna Griffin, the store manager at the Spirit Halloween at the intersection of Decatur and Charleston boulevard, said no one has asked her about creating an Ebola look this year, but the hazmat suit creates such an effect.

You won’t see the Ebola motif in haunted house designs this year because the hysteria over the virus happened too late. Freakling Bros. is in its 23rd year of operation in Las Vegas, and an Ebola health care unit with jaundiced and bloody patients could have been part of the horrors visitors encounter had the health crisis happened earlier.

“We were already designing and getting up and running by the time the Ebola scare hit,” said J.T. Mollner, who manages the “Trilogy of Terror” shows at Flamingo Road and Grand Canyon Drive with his father, Duke. “Ebola hysteria happened after our train was already out of the gate.”

A Dallas man raised hackles last week when he decorated the exterior of his home with yellow caution tape, barrels marked “biohazard” and signs reading “quarantine.” Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas was the facility that treated Thomas Duncan, the first patient diagnosed with Ebola in the United States, and nurses Nina Pham and Amber Vinson also got sick with Ebola after caring for Duncan. Duncan died, and Pham and Vinson have recovered and tested Ebola free.

Costume shop owners said it’s too soon for Ebola to have made much of an impression on Halloween this year. The most popular costumes have been characters from the movie “Frozen” and any of the “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.” The National Retail Federation estimates some $7.4 million will be spent on costumes, decorations and candy this Halloween season.

Michelle Pignatello at Black Cat admits she has limits to how far she will go to help customers create a look intended for maximum shock value. She would not, for example, help someone who wanted to look like a terrorist.

“I think Ebola is borderline bad taste,” she said.

Mollner has no such inhibition when deciding on the content of his show “The Gates of Hell,” which provides an R-rated trek through depictions of gore, terrorism and animal sacrifice.

“With Halloween, all bets are off. We just want to scare you,” he said. “During Halloween, I don’t think anything is sacred.”

Of course, there’s a difference between a haunted house attraction where people go expecting to see wanton depravity, and a costume worn to the office or a party. People creating a shocking and one-of-a-kind look have to know their audience.

And for people seeking an even more proactive action, Freakling Bros. offers “The Victim Experience,” which Duke Moller describes as an extreme psychological obstacle course.

“There is a niche audience for almost anything extreme,” he said.

Contact Steven Moore at smoore@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4563.