Haunt Tour 2012 - Day 7

The Boneyard
Fort Worth Texas
www.theboneyard.org

The Boneyard Haunted House is located in an empty department store.   I stumbled upon this haunted house purely by accident.   I pulled into the parking lot .at 7PM and ask the security person outside when the haunt opened.  He told me it was open now - "Come on in".   After buying a ticket, I waited in the general admission line.   The problem is that the line did not for 45 minutes.   I have a real problem with a group that represents itself as open at 7PM when it really does not begin to operate until 8PM.  The upside to the long wait was that I made some new friends.   Four girls and guy of early college age were a hoot to hang out with.   During the haunt the girls formed a screaming human chain with heads down and eyes closed.   'Uncle Steve' was nominated to lead the group,  my shirt tails now have permanent clutch marks.

Detail level in the haunt was low, most of the haunt made up of black plywood walls.  Much of the haunt was too dark to see.  The exposed framing on the walls made feeling your way painful.  The actors were well placed and worked multiple stations effectively.   The liquid sky room was used very effectively by one of the actors.

At $25 this is a fairly long haunt is a decent deal.   There is nothing ground breaking to be found at this haunt but if you are in the area it is worth a try.


Haunt Tour 2012 - Day 6

Hangman's Slaughter House
www.weslaughter.com

Hangman's Slaughter House has 4 attractions.  The main haunted house, a 3D walk-through,  a chain link labyrinth, and bayou walk-through.  The main haunted house starts with an orientation talk in a mini drive-in theatre.   After the talk concludes the movie screen parts and you enter via a vortex tunnel. 

The level of detail of the sets is average.  The actors were motivated but needed to work on their timing a bit.   The haunt lacked a coherent look and feel with 2 or 3 rooms sharing a consistent theme followed by a room that seemed unrelated.  

 

The Alice in Wonderland themed3D haunt was solid.  The theme supports a very good use of the 3D effect.   The paint work was good which helped to create very strong 3D separation effects.  As I've mentioned at every opportunity, I'm not a big 3D fan.  In this case I really liked the 3D haunt. 

 

The chain link labyrinth is a throw away attraction.  It is nothing more than a maze made up of chain link fencing.  No lighting, no music.  It took about 5 minutes to walk through.

 

The bayou walk-through had a lot of amusing details as you enter through a country store loaded with humorous items.   You progress through the the back room complete with a butcher shop and demented granny.   You exit via a junkyard inhabited with a chainsaw wielding crazy man.

 

At $25; with some of the proceeds going to charity, this is a haunt worth visiting.

 

 

 

Haunt Tour 2012 - Day 5

Graystone Haunted Manor
www.GraystoneHauntedManor.com
Longview - Texas

Graystone Haunted Manor is 3 haunts plus a midway.  Graystone manages to pull off low budget ambiance which makes this attraction work.   The venue is located outside of Longview in a semi rural area of low rolling hills.  The result at night is a much darker dark than a city boy like me is used to.   They use this darkness to great advantage.   The site is grassy with a few huge old oak trees.  Add to this real burning torches as the primary source of light and layer of light fog everywhere and you've got a great backdrop to build a haunted attraction.

The midway, which acts as a hub to the 3 attractions has a photo op station, a fortune teller and an outdoor movie theatre complete with concession stand.   (Young Frankenstein was playing on the big screen.)

Oak Raven Cemetery is an outdoor walk-though attraction.    The trail meanders around tombstones and tombs while the occasional zombie and ghoul molests you.   There are a couple of animatronics that are well place.   I like the use of 8 dollar LED solar lawn lights sprinkled around the haunt.  The chopped off the mounting stem and just tossed them on the ground behind small features as accent lighting.

The Manor is the highlight of the trip.  This is mostly an indoor 'granny has gone crazy' walk-though.   The tour starts with an introductory visit with a projected talking head bust.  The level of detail was good, the passageways a bit narrow.  It almost felt like a trailer haunt size wise.  You exit the Manor via the back door and have to walk around the house to get back to the midway.  The best  scare was the guy in a camo suit that rustled around in the crawl space of the house and burst out after a distraction from the other side.  Nicely done.

The Labyrinth of Time is an outdoor black wall walk-through.  I was disappointed with this attraction.   It was a lot like walking through a Spirit Halloween store.   Walls were made with 4x8 sheets of OSB painted black.   Periodically you'd hit a room or open area full of props from Spirit.   The young couple in front of me repeated exclaimed how not scary it was.  In a year of two with some polish this can become  a stronger element of the haunt.

The overall vibe was a fun family friendly event.  At $16 for general admission it was a deal.

Haunt Tour 2012 Day 4 Part 2

Necropolis 13 & 13th Gate
www.midnightproductions.com
Baton Rouge Louisiana

13th Gate
First off, the VIP ticketing worked like a charm.  As the general admission line wrapped around the block; I was number 2 in the VIP line.   Right off the bat I liked the queuing strategy.  There was a short single file queue line that feeds into short mini-queues lined up in front of a series of elevator doors.  This breaks the line in to groups of 6 or 8.   The elevators are a ruse and everyone down a hallway to the left.  The net effect was to amp up the energy level and the groups enter the haunt at a brisk pace.

This is a huge walk-through haunt and the themes range across all the usual stuff such as catacombs, hospital gone wrong, werewolf forest, etc.  You name a haunted house theme, and it probably exists at 13th Gate.  Every scene is well detailed and kinda leads into the next.  Some of the transitions are a bit strained or jarring.   This happens in established attractions where some percentage of the haunt is changed out.  With a haunt this big and and this old, fitting in the new stuff can be a stretch.

I thought the integration of animatronics into the haunt was excellent.   Many attractions suffer from Trade Show Temptation Syndrome.   TSTS for short.  13th Gate definitely does not suffer from TSTS.

Digression for a TSTS explanation....   Every year in spring there are a series of haunted attraction trade shows.  These include TransWorld, Hauntcon, Midwest Haunters Convention.  At these shows the builders of big expensive animatronic props put on display the coolest props and toys.   TSTS happens when a haunt owner falls in love with a particular prop without any idea how it fits his theme.  The 12 foot tall rock troll is just so cool that he'll figure out how to fit it in his zombie apocalypse themed haunted attraction somehow.   TSTS is a symptom of irrational behavior while away from home.  Think of if as an STD for the haunted attraction industry.  You got it while at the show and now you have to figure out how to live with it.

The eye candy just keeps coming and coming at this haunt.   They did a great bottomless pit room on a scale I've never seen before.   Somewhere towards the end of what I think of as underground land; (a series of cave themed rooms that include ice caves, a full size mammoth, cavemen, and creature lairs.) we entered the cave of the submarine Nautilus.  The set was beautiful but I found the transition a bit jarring.  I was won over by the detail inside the sub and the great integration of the giant eye and tentacle anamatronics.

This attraction had the best implementation of air bags that I've seen.  You pass through a room with shoulder high air bags on both sides.  Attached to the bags are various body parts, just back a bit are two live actors portraying ghouls.   The net effect is that you were wading through a cesspool full of body parts.

This is a huge walk-though haunt well worth the $25 general admission.   Given how incredibly busy this attraction was, I'm glad that I purchased the on-line VIP pass for both attractions for $55.

2102 Haut Tour Day 4

Necropolis 13 & 13th Gate 
www.midnightproductions.com
Baton Rouge Louisiana

Midnight Productions operates two haunted attractions in Baton Rouge.  While the attractions sit across the street from each other,  The only thing they have in common is the ticket booth.   Each attraction is a fully themed full-sized haunt.   I mention this to differentiate this attraction from some of the others which are made up of a series of mini-haunts designed to extract the maximum cash for the minimum experience.

Necropolis 13
I arrived in time for the 8pm show.   The queue line wraps twice around a graveyard scene so there are probably 500 people that get to see this theatrical event in the round.   The story line of the show is that a voodoo priestess wants to raise the dead in the graveyard and calls upon a deamon for assistance.   What ensues is a cross between a Hawaiian fire dance and circus side-show.  The show ends with all the dead rising and escaping into the graveyard.  We later meet these characters as scare actors in the attraction.

Groups of 6 or so are metered into a stairway that leads underground (really underground)  after a short stint in the catacombs you spend the rest of the haunt walking through a replica of an above ground Louisiana graveyard.  The graveyard is populated with above ground crypts arrange in such a way to form a maze like path.   This is a brilliant bit of design as it allows high volumes of visitor traffic but tends to break up line of sight.  With all the twists and turns, the actors and animatronics have a chance to reset between groups.  This provides an environment where you can be caught off guard and scared or startled.

There were a couple of unique effects I like in particular.   They have a what I think is a horizontal scissor prop with a live actor on the end.  The effect is to propel an actor 6 feet or so out of a crypt towards the visitors.  Pretty impressive.    I also really liked the hollowed out statue of a large standing angel that rotates 180 degrees to expose the actor inside.

Set design was excellent throughout.  The actors were experienced and enthusiastic.  All in all a good time was had by all.  Well worth the $20 price of admission.  A great deal if you can catch the fire show on Fri/Sat.

Haunt Tour 2012 - Day 3 Part 2

House of Shock
www.houseofshock.com
New Orleans Louisiana

House of Shock is an entirely unique breed of cat.  It is more of an event than a haunted house.  This place draws big crowds looking for fun.   The party atmosphere is feed by a phalanx of vendors as you approach the entrance.  Food, booze, arachnid rides, and tattoos are the order of the day.   There was a great hard rock band playing when I arrived.

I bought the $50 VIP ticket due to the size of the line which was a couple of blocks long.   The VIP line was much shorter than the general admission line.  I got into the staging area within a couple of minutes and stopped.   The line didn't move a foot for 45 minutes.

Here's how I think things work at HOS.   They put on a hell of a stage show in the queue area.  I'm talking freaks, geeks, pryotechnics, and video.   Over the top acting of scenes.  Imagine a Korn concert with a plot.  What none of us in the realized was that they shut down the haunted house during the show and we were supposed to watch and enjoy the entire thing.  The people around me were just pissed that the line wasn't moving.

Speaking of people in line.   I really enjoyed my 45 minutes next to the five bald tattoo artists.  Hearing about how hard it was to form a really good white power gang really added to the overall experience.  

Once the show was over, everything changed.  The VIP line emptied like a beer bong at a skinhead convention.   There was no queue management at all.  We went through the haunt conga line style with out stop.  The overall vibe was not scary.   To me it was like a forced march through Pirates of the Caribbean.   There was lots of eye candy but how could you be scared seeing the couple 10 feet in front of you confront zombie guy jumping out from a corner.  The other necessary bummer was the placement of a security person about every 20 feet with the mandatory blue polo shirt and flashlight.

Set detail was generally good.  Animatronics few and far between.  This makes sense since there would never be time for a reset.

I'm glad I went and except when skin head told me how cool it was that someone my age would come out and have fun;  I enjoyed myself.   Had I had a better understanding of the experience in advance I would have enjoyed it a lot more.

2012 Haunt Tour - Day 3

Rise: Dark Souls Unleashed

ww.risehauntedhouse.com

Hammond Louisiana
 

Rise is a walk-through haunt and zombie paintball attraction located about half way between Baton Rouge and New Orleans.   I was surprised to find that there were practically no lines when I arrived around 7:30pm.   While chatting with the ticket lady I found out why.  She said I was about 30 minutes ahead to the coming wave of customers...  Friday night High School football was just finishing up and then things would get crazy.

 

This is the little haunt that could.   Only operating 15 days this year, this haunt includes a number of aspects rarely seen outside of long established urban haunted houses.  The haunted house is located in a standard metal building.  What sets it apart is that this haunt has a great facade disguising this fact.  A nice touch.

 

The queue line is partially indoors.  The indoor portion of the queue is a nicely detailed interior scene.  Again, something rarely seen outside of heavy weight haunts.  

 

The walk-through haunt had strong continuity with each room flowing smoothly into the next.  You started in a library that flowed into the parlor and so on.   The sets were detailed and the design felt consistent rather than "we went to the thrift store and threw all the stuff around the room".  The interior reminded me of Dent School House in Cincinnati.

 

The staff was uniformly enthusiastic and it was clear they enjoyed what they were doing.   Actors generally had good timing and a couple actually startled me. 

 

It is well worth the $15 admission price.

 

Zombie paintball makes me happy.  For those of you not familiar with this particular sport; here's a brief intro.   Members of the zombie eradication squad (you)  are loaded into a open sided trailer with benches and paintball guns attached to rails.   You get towed down a path past a series of small scenes of zombie infestation.   Brave actors in heavily padded suits stumble around and get shot by 20 or so patrons at the same time. Not since the Romans threw the Christians to the lions has there been so much fun for so many people at once.   Brilliantly; management stops the trailer for five dollar paintball refills.   Crack cocaine is not this tempting.

The crew clearly enjoys the entire process and encourages mayhem at every turn.

Paintball is $15 with one nearly mandatory $5 refill.  There is a combo ticket for $26

Phobia Haunted Houses

Haunt Tour 2012 - Day 2

Phobia Haunted Houses

5 attractions + 3 more zombie themed haunts daisy chained. - $80 per person









The attractions are available ala carte but to do everything will cost you 80 bucks.  I went through almost all of the attractions in about an hour.  (Exile caught fire and I had to leave).  There were virtually no lines so consider my experience speed haunting.

Mind Control Haunt- Asylum themed-walk through.   Very good use of strobe lights in novel applications.   My favorite was a hallway with cleats along the walls allowing an actor to approach you while literally climbing the walls while back lit by a strobe.  Very cool.   Detail was good and the actors were enthusiastic and athletic.  Really good crew here.   Down side is that it was a short experience.

Darke Institute - Another Asylum themed walk-through.  Felt very much like Mind Control.  The crew was good.   Not a lot of animatronics in use.  Both Mind Control and Darke Institute did a really good job of designing the haunt so the actors could cover multiple scares through out the haunt.

3D Clown Phobia - I'm not a big fan of 3D haunts - there I said it.   As 3D haunts go this was a rough one. The paint work was pretty basic.  The high point was the use of some pre-printed textiles to cover walls and to act as curtains.  The actors were spirited but the masks and make-up were pretty rough.

Claustrophobia - A pretty standard walk-through with a deafening sound track.  It started with a vortex tunnel which I found a bit jarring.  Again, the actors worked really hard at putting on a scare.  One of the actors did an impressive The Grudge style floor walk.

Dawn of the Machine - I've saved my favorite for last.   The concept for the haunt was clear from the beginning.   Sort of zombie meets Terminator.  The sets were well dressed and conveyed the story that the machines were taking over the human hosts.  Think evil Borg.   There were numerous animatronics that supported the theme.  These anamatronics were built locally and had a consistent style and feel.   The actors were solid but worn down by the Houston heat and humidity by this time.   I was really impressed with one young actress that did some amazing contortion moves in an elevated cage.  Kinda like yoga on crack.

These five attractons would take 2-3 hours if there were any significant lines at all.

Sometimes the Scares are Real

Haunt Tour 2012 Day 2

Phobia Haunted Houses - Houston Texas

Fire.   A small electrical fire broke out tonight while I was in the Exile: Zombie Apocalypse.  It was late and I was the last and only patron in the venue.   As I came around a corner one of the actors broke character and told me to back away.   There was acrid smoke in the air followed by the rolling cloud of a fire extinguisher blast.  Actors were calling for supervisors.   Another actor with his face covered against the smoke told me that tonight was his second night and this was serious shit that he'd never seen before.

The actor that told me to back off came back to me and calmly said he was going to lead me out of the attraction.  He said there had been sparks and flames from some of the wiring.   We calmly cut through some of the display areas and left the venue.  I looked for and never saw a lighted exit sign.

The actor walked up to two guys that seemed to be charge and explained the situation.  One said he'd check and he entered the attraction.  The other guy just stood there.   Nobody reacted with any sense of urgency.  At no time did the emergency lighting come on.  

Really it was just a short with some burned insulation.  Luckily it did not spread, and the attraction was practically empty.  

Haunt Tour 2012

Kingwood Asylum - Kingwood Texas

This haunt offers a family friendly hour each night where the scares are turned way down.  I skipped the family friendly hour and went for the full scary version.    I enjoyed the haunt but it was small.  The first two visitors were coming out the exit before the fourth group was admitted.  The interior portion of the haunt had good detail and made good use of the commercially available haunted asylum videos.  It was fun to see the classic flying crank ghost at one point during the tour.  In an effort to expand the experience they use and outside area for a graveyard scene.   It felt like tombstones on the front yard rather than a graveyard.   Use of fog and lighting would have gone a long way.  And love it or hate it the last scare was chasing patrons out with a chainsaw.

Full price admission was $20.   Take advantage of coupons or the discount for a food donation to get full value for your money.