In Manhattan, big spenders craving a scare can fork out $30 and wait in line for one of several big budget haunted houses. In Staten Island, an elaborate haunted cornfield and slaughterhouse costs $25.

Brooklyn, on the other hand, features “The Gravesend Inn,� a labor of love made by students and faculty of the CUNY entertainment technology program, and costs only $6 a pop.

The almost entirely animatronic fright-fest built inside of a CUNY building winds through classrooms and closets before finally spilling out into a theater where visitors who made it through can finally catch their breath.

Last week on opening night, jittery teenagers and a few courageous kids waited in line while keeping an eye on the undead bellhop guarding the entrance.

Beside the ominous doorway is a monitor counting down the seconds until the next victims can be ushered in. Once the timer reaches zero, visitors to the Gravesend Inn are met in a dark hallway by a cursed pirate who makes it clear there is no escape (unless you absolutely must use one of the exits). The entire haunted house is wired to a high-tech computer program also used in theme park attractions like the Haunted Mansion in Disney World. As visitors slowly peek their heads around the next corner they unknowingly activate the animatronics through motion sensors.

In one room, a run-of-the-mill mirror suddenly shatters, revealing a ghoulish face where once there was only a reflection. In a cramped hallway, the mounted head of a bear clacks his jaw as you pass by.

Sue Brandt, one of the CUNY professors coordinating the Gravesend Inn, proudly noted that one of her students had designed the creepy example of taxidermy gone horribly wrong.

Behind the scenes, it is mostly students who coordinate the scares and monitor the elaborate computer system. Two freshmen, James Palermo and Victor Laroche, kept an eye on numerous camera-feeds to make sure no one froze in their tracks. “I feel a bit sadistic, but it’s kind of fun,� Palermo said as another shriek echoed through Gravesend Inn.

On one of the monitors, Palermo and Laroche had a laugh as a group of teenagers hesitated to take a step into the nauseating “upside down room� (a clever highlight of the Gravesend Inn best left to the imagination).

But the haunted house is not just all about entertainment. It is also an excellent teaching tool. From the start of the semester in September, students devote two days a week to preparing the Gravesend Inn. Freshmen conduct mock interviews with upperclassmen crew chiefs and learn how to design sets that can be assembled with ease.

Palermo estimated he had devoted well over 100 hours to preparing the haunted house. “It’s a lot of hard work, but it’s definitely worthwhile seeing people have fun like this,� he said.

Brandt, who managed the Jurassic Park ride at Universal Studios in California, said that the haunted house serves as a great way to teach how a professional theme park attraction is operated while also getting students out of the classroom. “It demonstrates it’s worthwhile to keep studying math because you might figure out a ratio to create a new special effect,� Brandt said.

The Gravesend Inn also is the best possible advertising for the entertainment technology program. The faculty makes a point to illuminate the scaffolding above the theater so young people get a look at the inner workings of the production. Once emerging from the haunted house, visitors have a full view of the sets so they can gain a better understanding of all the work that goes into the scares.

John Huntington, another professor who has been managing the Gravesend Inn since he helped create it 11 years ago, touted the unique nature of CUNY’s entertainment technology program, which is perhaps the only one of its kind in the country. “My friends at other schools are jealous,� Huntingon said, “they say ‘oh man, we have to do another Shakespeare production.’�

The Gravesend Inn is located in Downtown Brooklyn at 186 Jay St. and is open Thursday through Saturday. For more information, visit www.gravesendinn.org

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