How to Create Haunted House AI Art with LilacVenom
To create haunted house AI art, describe a Halloween monster and an unlikely companion facing a strange obstacle inside a specific room. Give their actions a clear purpose, then describe how they react. A haunted kitchen becomes a story when the food starts chasing its visitors.
That’s the idea behind Haunted House on Halloween Street, a Daily Challenge Creator Takeover from Jenny, known as LilacVenom (@Velvetmoss). Her Sir Dracula & Creepy Eyeball stories explore the misadventures of a vampire and an eyeball companion. For this challenge, she invites you to invent your own pair.
Below, Jenny shares two prompts and the NightCafe Templates she used. You can follow her starting points or build a different adventure.
What should you include in a haunted house prompt?
Jenny’s theme asks you to consider four parts of the scene.
Choose your characters. Start with a Halloween monster, then give them an unlikely friend. Think about what makes the pairing interesting. A confident monster might have a companion who spots trouble long before they do.
Decide which room they enter. An ordinary room gives the viewer something familiar before the surprise appears. Jenny suggests a kitchen where the food wants to eat its visitors. Her bathroom idea starts with a faucet and ends with an ocean whirlpool.
Give them an obstacle. Decide what interrupts their exploration. Perhaps the room changes around them, or they have to complete a game before the exit opens. Give the characters something specific to respond to.
Show their reaction. Expressions and body language help explain the scene. One character might be laughing while the other scrambles for the door.
How can you turn those ideas into a prompt?
Use a short description that connects the characters to what is happening around them. Here is an adaptable framework based on Jenny’s theme:
Inside [room] in a haunted house, [Halloween monster] and [unlikely friend] encounter [obstacle or strange activity]. They must [action] to reach [goal]. Show [visible reaction or body language]. Use [visual style].
This framework is an editorial starting point, rather than one of Jenny’s tested prompts.
For a simpler first attempt, choose one main obstacle. Once the scene reads clearly, you can try adding another detail. If the result feels crowded, describe one moment from the adventure instead of asking the image to show every event.
Jenny’s example: a haunted basement escape
Jenny’s challenge example puts Gregory Zombie and Jerry Jack’ol’Lantern in a basement where the furniture is chasing them. Their escape depends on finding magical scissors while avoiding a whirlpool.
Jenny’s original prompt:
Haunted House Visits Halloween Street: Gregory Zombie & Jerry Jack'ol'Lantern are in The Basement and find Living Furniture Chasing the Occupants. In order to escape the The Basement they must Find the Magical Golden Scissors that Cut Through Anything in order to Not Be Pulled Down The Oceanic Whirlpool on the Floor to reach the exit on the opposite side of the The Basement inside the Halloween Haunted House. Use Cuteness Overload as this images Style.
Model Jenny used: GPT Image 2 Low
Template: Haunted House on Halloween
The prompt gives the pair a reason to act: they need to escape. It also asks for a cute visual treatment, showing that a haunted house idea can be playful.
To make your own version, change the room and decide what your characters need to do there. Keep the action understandable even when the setting is strange.
How do you use the Haunted House on Halloween Template?
Jenny created Haunted House on Halloween, a Template on NightCafe, specifically for this takeover. She describes it as a step-by-step, fill-in-the-blank scenario, with the option to create your own adventure using the same approach.
Open the Template and use its prompts to develop your scene. Decide who is exploring the house and what happens when they enter the room. Then choose how you want the finished image to feel.
Jenny says GPT models work particularly well with this Template. She used GPT Image 2 Low for the example above; that is her supplied setup, rather than a requirement to recreate the theme.
A second approach: hide-and-seek in a haunted mansion
For a different kind of adventure, Jenny’s Where Could It Be? Template centers on a main character searching for a hidden companion.
She created it to echo the hide-and-seek scenes in Sir Dracula & Creepy Eyeball, while allowing people to choose different characters and storylines.
Jenny’s original prompt:
It's almost Halloween and Sir Dracula is Flummoxed while searching the Old Mansion for The Creepy Eyeball that is going to be the hit of the Party. Sir Dracula searches in the Old Mansions Bowling Alley but The Creepy Eyeball is too good at Hiding.
Model Jenny used: GPT Image 2 Low
Template: Where Could It Be?
Here, the search is the activity. The contrast between a confused main character and a well-hidden companion gives the viewer something to discover.
To adapt this approach for the challenge, place your pair inside a haunted room and make the search part of the adventure. You can invent your own characters without knowing Jenny’s original stories.
Does haunted house AI art have to look frightening?
No. Jenny’s basement prompt explicitly asks for “Cuteness Overload.” You can use humor or an affectionate character pairing while keeping the haunted setting recognizable.
The important part of this theme is what happens inside the room and how your characters respond. A funny reaction can tell that story just as clearly as a frightened one.
What if the image has too much happening?
Try reducing the prompt to one visible moment. For the basement example, you might focus on the characters reaching for the scissors while the whirlpool blocks their escape.
Make a small change, then compare the result with your original intention. Does the viewer understand what the characters are trying to do? If the obstacle is hard to spot, give it more emphasis in the next version.
Create your own room on Halloween Street
Start with LilacVenom’s Haunted House on Halloween Template and imagine what your characters find behind the next door.
You can read more about Jenny’s creative background in her Artist Spotlight.