***** - Awesome!! Get in line for it immediately!!
**** - Very good! A must see.
*** - Pretty good. Could be better.
** - Dull. I’ve seen FAR better, yet the attempt was there.
* - Crap-tastic!! Avoid at all costs. Save your money for a real Dark Attraction!!!
Terror on Rural Street (****) - It was refreshing to see the whole show completely revamped. Even the facade at the beginning was changed. Gone was the ornate, effects laden Castle and drawbridge. In it's place a more subtle and very creepy alley way to a Coffin Company. Once again Terror on Rural Street does a wonderful job in the dark attraction business. Many incredible effects and dark mazes. The only things I was a bit disappointed about was the facts that they relied too heavily on dark mazes. It almost felt that over half the time you were feeling around in the dark, which is very frightening at first but can get old pretty quick. The other thing was that they didn't seem to have as many dramatic scenes as they had in the past. However, the effects and scenes that they did have were all excellent!! The surprise in the wax museum scene was definitely worth the price of admission itself.
Hartford JC’s Haunted House and Trail. (****) - This was all around good fun. The short haunted trail on your way up to the spooky old house is right out of a classic horror movie. The house itself was heavy on scenery and scenarios that were put together very well. Lot's of little details that made this Haunt lots of fun. Not having that many dark mazes to trod through was also a plus. Most of the house was utilized very well. It could have been a tad scarier with a few more unexpected scares and more of a climax at the end, but it’s definitely a worthy Haunt!!!
Lindner Farm Haunted Corn Maze (*** 1/2) - Sometimes simplicity can be as scary as an effects driven haunt. That’s what I found out at the Linder Farm Haunted Corn Maze. Admittedly, this was my first haunted corn maze ever, so at this time I don’t have a lot to compare it to. But as a stand alone haunted attraction, it was quite good. The haunted maze’s main inducement of fear relied heavily on two things, surprise scares and creepy atmosphere, both of which were executed relatively well. The actors were really into it! If you’re looking for Hollywood type effects and hydraulics and tons of gore, you may want to go elsewhere. But if you’re looking for the simple, cheap thrill of being scared, look no further. The whole idea of wandering through a very large (it took us about 30 minutes to get through) corn maze at night with freaks a plenty waiting in the corn stalks to leap out at you works well here. There are a few points that the creators could work on a bit. The whole thing needs a little drama. Perhaps a creepy back story about the cornfield (was it built over an old forgotten cemetery?) would help it along. Also the very few scenes that they had (most of the haunt was the cornfield maze) could have had a bit of a better production value to them (most butcher shops don’t use plain white cardboard as walls…at least the very few corn fields that do have butcher shops in the middle of them). Perhaps instead of a cheap butcher shop set, a spooky cabin-like façade could be built with the meat hanging off the walls. This would fit better into the haunted cornfield theme. Costumes could be a little creepier. Torn up clothes look far creepier than the typical, simple black hooded sweater that nearly all of the actors were wearing. But I’m getting nit picky now. The haunt is fun and scary and with a little more creativity, imagination and a drive for detail, this puppy could get far more word of mouth praise than it already probably is.
Splatter Haus (*****) - I’ve heard a lot of good stuff about this puppy in the last few weeks. Heck, it seems to have been a staple in the Wisconsin haunted attraction business in the last few years. Two years ago it sprouted up and I heard excellent things about it, then last year I heard so-so things about it. This year I heard nothing but wonderful things about this haunt that is located up in Sheboygan Falls. If me and my fellow haunt fans are going to travel an hour, a couple days after Halloween, on a very cold day and pay $10 to get in, it had better be DAMN good!!! Rumors state that if you don’t have your ticket by 7pm (it opens at 5:30pm) then you’ll be turned away due to the massive capacity of people who travel from all over the state to attend this infamous “Haus”. Well, it was all completely worth it!!!!
With a pumping, non-stop, Metal soundtrack, you traverse your way through, dark mazes, slides, ladders, moving ramps, fog, and tons upon tons of wild surprises around every turn. Many of the scenes are pulled right out of popular Horror movies and you feel that you are right there on the actual set (especially the Hellraiser room!). There’s no theme or rhyme or reason to this Haunt which actually makes it cool and heightens the fact that you have no idea what’s going to happen around the next corner. Although many local haunts are relying on constant dark mazes, Splatter Haus gives a good balance between mazes, effects and scenes. There are some scenes that we were completely blown away with (the Aliens scene rocked!!!). I think the only quibbles I had with the house was that one or two scenes had a bit of timing problems where the first half of the group would see an effect that the last half would miss and vice versa. There was also a point where an actor was completely missing from the scene. And it was what seemd to be a crucial part of the house (the room - or bus - before you exit the house). This would have been REALLY effective if someone were in there hidden in the dense fog.
Part Haunted House, part obstacle course, the Spatter Haus is definitely the best Haunt I went to in 2002!
