10/26/2011 - Haunted House Reviews by Shelby Duggan
Dark Chambers
Rating: 3/5 skulls
(This review is for the regular scare, not the light fright scare)
Location: 121 E. 4th Street Dubuque, Iowa 52001
Price:
6-7pm: $5
7-11pm: $10
Pre-scare attractions: There wasn’t any. Granted I got there at 10:40pm and they close at 11pm, there should be an equal amount of entertainment from start to finish. Some suggestions would be actors going through the line and scaring people, playing a scary movie, or playing scary music.
Length: This was a rather short haunt. It took me about 10 minutes to go through the entire scare. Compared to other haunted attractions, $10 seems a little expensive for such a short scare.
Obstacles to consider: Towards the end of the route, you have to crawl through a rather long pathway. Therefore, if you have bad knees or back, are in a wheel chair or are claustrophobic, this is not the attraction for you.
Theatrical performance: This was one of the things I felt Dark Chambers had going for them. Most characters performed well and stayed in character throughout the entire scare. One was even observant enough to pick up on my name and creepily call out to me.
Costumes & props: Overall, the costumes and props were realistic. Some of the masks would have been more scary and realistic if they would have done it in face paint instead (ie. The clown from House of 1,000 Corpses) One scene I was rather impressed with was the man that was cut in half on the floor; I don’t want to spoil it, so I can’t say why.
Things I liked: The costumes, props, and theatrical performance.
Things I didn’t like: The crawling portion, the pre-scare attractions, and the length of the scare.
Overall, I think this was great first year for Dark Chambers. Like all haunted attractions when first starting out, there are a few kinks that need to be adjusted, but I think they are well on their way to being a class act scare. It will be interesting to see the improvements for next year.
Terror at Skellington Manor
Rating: 5/5 skulls
(This review is for the regular scare, not the light fright scare)
Location: 420 18th Street Rock Island, IL 61201
Price:
$12 for all ages and times
$17 for a fast pass
Pre-scare attractions: The line for the haunted attraction was held in the dimly lit main floor ball room. On the balcony in the ball room, a newly married couple dressed in their wedding day attire looked out over the crowd. Only problem was, they were rotting from the inside out. This was very realistic looking and creepy. Scary movies were also being played on a large overhead projector for all to see while standing in line (The Adams Family was playing when I was in line).
Length: This scare was the perfect length, not too long and not too short. Even though I enjoyed the scare, I knew it unfortunately had to end at some point.
Obstacles to consider: There are a lot of stairs to go up and down. Also, some of the things the actors say are a little intense. I’m assuming they tone it down when children go through though. (No actors used profanity)
Theatrical performance: The actors were very believable and almost too believable at times, which is good when it comes to haunted attractions. The clowns were my favorite. They said things such as, “I’m not really part of the scare. I came up the fire escape, and I’m actually here to kill you.” I thought it was very clever for the actor to say because it’s a common fear when going through haunted attractions that someone is actually there to kill you, and that they aren’t part of the haunt.
Costumes & props: The best prop for this haunt was the building its self. The building is very old and eerie in general, so that gives the haunt a little bit of an extra boost of scariness. The props and costumes were very well put together and realistic. My favorite scene was the meat locker.
Things I liked: The building overall. It’s said that the place is actually haunted and workers have said they have seen ghosts in the building. With everyone nowadays obsessing over paranormal experiences and movies, this gives Skellington Manor an edge over the competition. I also loved how well guest groups were spaced out from each other. There is nothing worse in a haunt than catching up to the group in front of you. I noticed that the workers paid close attention to the space between groups. At one point I noticed I could somewhat see the group in front of me and the actors in the next scene made sure to make that scene lasts a little longer so there was more space between our groups. That was one thing I was highly appreciative of. It’s hard to be scared of things when they pop out when you just saw the person pop out for the group in front of you.
Things I didn’t like: Some props that popped out at you were run by an air compressor and sometimes you could hear the air compressor before the prop popped out, so it wasn’t as scary. Maybe playing loud music by those props would cover up the sound.
This was by far the best haunted attraction I have ever been to. It was hard to critique because it was hard to find things I didn’t like about it. Skellington Manor has everything going for them, from the building to the costumes. The sets were well planned out and they have the acting to back it up. I will definitely be attending this haunt next year!
Heart of Darkness
Rating: 2.5/5 skulls
(This review is for the regular scare, not the light fright scare)
Location: 5111 Osage Road Waterloo, IA 50703
Price:
$13 for all age and times
$20 for a fast pass
Pre-scare attractions: There was a DJ playing music (pop music, not scary music). This made the time go by faster while waiting in line for the scare. There was also a booth that had scary props set up that you could take your own picture in.
Length: This scare was of a pretty good size. Not too long, not too short.
Obstacles to consider: There are some very tight spaces to push your way through, so beware if you are claustrophobic. Also, a lot of the haunt is very dark and hard to see in.
Theatrical performance: The actors were believable, especially the chainsaw guys. I felt like there weren’t very many actors in the actual sets though. They were mostly in spaces between sets to pop out at you. Something to consider for next year would be to add more actors to the sets. Yes, an actor popping out at you is scary, but it gets less and less scary the more they pop out. When actors pop out at you, you don’t really get a chance to see what they’re wearing or what they are. All you know is they just popped out at you. But when actors are in a set such as a slaughter scene, they are usually better lit and you get the full effect of what they are. This is what people will remember and keep them coming back year after year.
Costumes & props: The costumes and props were very realistic. There was one section where a fridge was full of blood and organs and there was a counter top full of blood and body parts. This was very well put together and reminded me of a scene from Hostel where the butcher is chopping the people into pieces.
Things I liked: There were things in this haunt that I had never seen in any other haunt, such as a walk way through a spinning cylinder. I have seen something like this at county fairs in the fun house, but never in a haunted attraction. It is lit well so you can see where you’re going, but it will definitely make you dizzy.
Things I didn’t like: The number one things I didn’t like and what ruined the haunt for me was the space between groups. I understand that this happens on occasion because one group goes a little fast or slow, but this was hard to push aside. Usually if I catch up to a group in front of me, I slow down and wait for them to go a little further. In this case, I couldn’t even do that because the group behind us was spaced so closely to my group. This happened right at the beginning too, so it somewhat ruined the haunt for me. It’s hard to be scared by something popping out at me when I just saw it pop out at the group directly in front of me. At one point, pretty early on, I was in the middle of at least two different groups in front of me and behind me. There had to have been at least 12 people going through the haunt at once and I was in the middle of it.
At one point the individual groups were taken into a room where clowns directed you down separate paths from other groups which helped space the groups out, but I ran into another group within two minutes. I paid $13 to go through this haunt and half of the stuff didn’t even scare me because I was in such a large group of people.
Overall, I was somewhat disappointed by the haunt. I traveled from Dubuque, Iowa to Waterloo, Iowa and spent $13 on admission to go through a haunt in a group of at least 12 people. The only thing that saved this haunt was the props, special effects, and acting.