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Dubai expat gets Halloween-ready with 'house of horror'

Meet the Dubai resident who toils on decor to get spooky this Halloween

Published: Sat 29 Oct 2022, 12:28 AM

Updated: Tue 1 Nov 2022, 12:26 PM

  • By
  • Nandini Sircar; Visuals by Shihab

Halloween may be a one-day affair for many, but a Dubai resident — who takes the day to heart — has been working through the summer to get her 'house of horror' up and screaming. And she does this year after year!

Meet Christine Quartier La Tente, a Springs 5 resident, who toils through the summer months to transform her carport into the perfect spook-spot each October 31. She says she spends close to Dh5,000 on various knick-knacks, while using recycled material to amp up the whole experience.

La Tente’s labour of love — and thought-provoking themes — are quite the rage in her neighbourhood. And each Halloween her house turns into a magnet for family and friends — and her many little fans in the neighbourhood.

Christine, who works single-handedly to renovate the massive structure from scratch for D-day, says: “It takes anywhere from two to three months to create this set up, depending on the complexity of it. The French expat, a self-taught creator, is the brain and the brawn behind the unique themes that she showcases in her carport. Each year, she dreams up some wacky theme to rejig her garage through room theming, and oodles of creativity. Fake spirits, meme parodies, Halloween projection screens, bugs and pop culture, all pop up in place weeks before October 31, as her garage turns into a ‘haunted house’.

Talking about this year’s theme, she told Khaleej Times: "My husband and I wanted to explore Tim Burton's movies. We love his art, and I realised most people don't know about The Nightmare Before Christmas, a movie about Halloween. The adventures in this movie are poetic and I am projecting this in my carport so that everyone can relate to the movie while walking around the place.”

Complete with tombstones, terrifying skeletons, megabats, spider webs, loads of quivers and chills, visitors will get a first-hand look into the nocturnal world and how animals find their way in the dark.

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Upcycling materials

Working mostly with recycled material that she collects during the course of a year, Christine says her friends and neighbours collected and handed over discarded materials to spruce up her Halloween artwork. “All the tiles of the mausoleum are made of boxes and lids of frozen foods… the Noon boxes.

"Then the base of the tomb is made of styrofoam. It's painted and I put the stone effect on it. For the stage we have a spiral hill with the moon — it’s a staple of the movie. I wanted to create it so people could recognise the movie, and so that kids could climb on stage and take pictures with their family.

“I have gone from putting up simple decorations down the years to making a full storyboard now,” she said.

Pointing at a ‘witch’ standing in front of a cauldron, she said: “Last year she was a pirate. I put a beard and made it look very masculine. You have to use your imagination to be able to recycle the same things year after year. I check in the markets to see what is less expensive, but (despite recycling) I do need to put in at least Dh5,000 to buy new things,” said the one time fashion designer specialising in luxury products. She adds, “I never do things that are too scary because I don't want to scare kids. I keep the classics, the pirates, the vampires, the ghosts and the pumpkins.

Christine perseveres for long hours in the summer heat, sometimes only going in for a quick grub. For her, the most rewarding part of this labour of love are the expressions on the faces of her family, friends and the little kids who come decked up in their nocturnal critter. “People come all dressed up with very good vibes and they enjoy the decor, and they own it. This is what I am most proud of,” said Christine.

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