Sunny Leone’s love for Halloween is well-known, and this year, she’s taking the celebration to a whole new level with a haunted house built especially for her kids. Talking to us, the actor shares her spooky plans, saying, “This year’s Halloween is definitely going to be the scariest because my children are a little older now,” Sunny laughs. “They’ve been begging me all year for a haunted, house, so I’m building one for them in our building. Hopefully, they don’t get too scared! It’s all about scary movies, being zombies or monsters, or some creature from the dead, that’s the zone we’re in this year,” she adds.
Reminiscing about her childhood, Sunny says her favourite Halloween memory is that of when she was young, as that’s when it all started for her. “The most amazing part was trick-or-treat. We’d go door to door for hours collecting candy. Instead of a pretty Halloween bag, we’d carry pillowcases so we could fill them with as much candy as possible,” says Sunny, adding, “The fun part was coming home, emptying everything out, and figuring out which candies were the best, which were tradable, and how to use them as leverage against your brother or sister. It was always so much fun.”
Now celebrating Halloween in India, Sunny tries to keep the tradition alive for her children. “In our building, because it’s smaller, I was able to organize trick-or-treat last year. This year, since Halloween falls on a Friday, a lot of kids have school events, so we’ll try again next year,” she says. Every year, Sunny and her family go all out with their costumes, and this Halloween will be no different. Ask her what they’re going to be dressing up as this Halloween, and the 44-year-old shares, “We’re going total zombie mode this year. The boys (sons Noah and Asher) are creepy dead twins, (daughter) Misha is a zombie princess in this beautiful gown we’ve destroyed with paint, dirt, and fake blood, and I’m going to be a zombie mommy in white.” Sunny excitedly adds, “I’ve always loved prosthetics and makeup, so this year, I’ve been practicing different prosthetic looks to do on the kids, and it’s so much fun.”
Sunny has even gone a step further to create an authentic haunted experience for her kids at home. “I’ve taken over a smaller floor in our building because the only way to make it scary is in an enclosed space,” she explains. “I’ve got pulley systems and props to scare the kids; spiders that drop, ghosts that move, even arms that shift. I didn’t want to call in a party company because I wanted to make it perfect myself. I’ve also got a few volunteers to sit inside and spook the children as they walk through.”
So, what does Halloween mean to her personally? “It’s about dressing up, being something you’re not, and it’s okay to be messy, dirty, or scary. My whole family loves it. The kids help me decorate every year; we even made a fake dead body with one of the building kids!” Recalling a time when they pranked a delivery guy during Halloween, Sunny says, “We once scared a food delivery guy with the fake dead body. He looked terrified until I told him it was fake. It was hilarious! I even got the CCTV footage; it’s priceless.”
When it comes to her favorite spooky movies, Sunny shares, “The Exorcist (1973), The People Under the Stairs (1991), and the Candyman franchise are my all-time favorites. Candyman terrified me as a child! I could never walk into a bathroom with the lights off. I’d always turn them on first because if you say ‘Candyman’ five times, he appears and kills you.” Adidng, “That movie messed with me for years. And The People Under the Stairs scared me too, as I’d bolt up the staircase at home and always end up with bruised shins!”
Further quizzed on which horror movie character she’d dress up as if given a choice, Sunny is quick to name Ed Gein. “He’s the reason so many horror films exist. Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022) and so many other classics were inspired by him. I find it fascinating how one person’s story could inspire decades of scary movies. I’ll probably wait till my kids are a little older before I go that dark,” she wraps
