House of The Dead-“A Re-Animated Masterpiece”
Last year’s haunt of the year returns bigger and better than ever with rooms and effects you’ve never seen before. House of The Dead is the epitome of a great haunt and only seems to getter better with age. Are you ready to experience one hell of a haunted ride? This is our review of “House of The Dead”
Length-9: Your tour through the dark and decrepit house of the dead will take 15-20 minutes to complete depending upon your pace. There are very few dead spots and there is always something waiting for you in the darkness.
Props/Animatronics-10: House of The Dead is unlike any other haunt in Ohio since it incorporates all of your senses when you progress from one scene to the other. You will feel the cold burst of water from broken pipes. You’ll get drenched by falling maggots from above. If the smell of rotting flesh doesn’t get to you, the intense odor of piss will make you gag as you walk through the haunted bathroom. Many haunts don’t take advantage of sinister scents, but Terror Town uses them to their fullest to create realistic rooms that come to life in front of you.
Some haunts have high end animatronics and others have props that will make your jaw drop. This is the case with House of The Dead. Before you ever enter the haunt you will be experiencing anxiety, sorrow and fear while you wait in line. House of The Dead uses a unique prop known as the Fear Generator. The Fear Generator uses extreme bass waves or vibrations known as Infra sound. The frequency is so low that it can’t be heard by the human ear. While customers wait in the queue line they won’t even suspect that the creators are already playing with their senses before they even enter the first scene.
But once you enter House of The Dead you will be blown away by the amazing high tech animatronics that you won’t see at many haunts. These include ghostly steps, animated puppets, a shaking Hellevator, a massive Slayer Beast and so much more. If you aren’t already screaming you will be stopping to admire the plethora of Hollywood style animatronics that few haunts can match.
Design-10: There’s not much else to say, but wow. The variety of detailed sets and rooms is awe inspiring to say the least. Thankfully many of the scenes have been illuminated with what are known as Mini Spot lights. These are small LED lights that can light up large scenes or props while being almost hidden from the naked eye. They use less energy and are very reasonable. Scenes include a hall of heads, a creepy graveyard, disgusting bathroom and much more. My personal favorite is the “Deadly Silence room.
You’ll enter a room where you’ll suddenly see an animatronic of Mary Shaw reciting a frightening poem as her mouth moves similar to a puppet. Suddenly the puppets on wall begin to come to life and start chanting “Kill, kill. While you are distracted by the demonic puppets, an actor dressed in black and with a puppet jumps out from the scene while the puppet strikes with his knife. It’s a startling effect and something we’ve never seen at another haunt. This is the case with many of the rooms you’ll venture into at House of The Dead.
Acting-9: House of The Dead’s primary focus isn’t acting, but the actors we came across made scenes their own. Characters pop out from drop down pictures, hidden doors and even have set pieces attached to them so they can become one with the scene and emerge when you least expect it. House of The Dead relies mostly on their amazing sets and animatronics, but the addition of more actors to fill scenes would make this a perfect haunt.
Money needs to be spent on an acting coach so characters appear more realistic and in the end it would be an overall more frightening experience. There are a few actors who stand out such as the creature who welcomes you to House of The Dead or the army general who is with you inside the Hellevator.
Scare Effect-10: Every which way you turn you will experience some type of animatronic or effect that is sure to have you shaking in your boots. House of The Dead is a very unique haunt that attacks all of your senses with fear.
Fright Value: $11 is an incredible deal for a haunt of this quality. There are haunts that charge nearly twice the admission price as House of The Dead, but aren’t half as good. Please make sure and print out a $3 off coupon so you can enter 4 haunts for the ticket price of $17.
Final Stab-9.6: House of The Dead is truly one of those haunts that is nearly perfect in every way. If you don’t walk away impressed by this haunt, then you’re either too picky or don’t like haunted attractions in the first place. Make sure and take a trip out to Maumee, OH and experience one of the best haunts in the nation.