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.