Terror Maze (Springfield, OH)
“Old School Scares For 26 Years”
By Noah Wullkotte: jollypumpkin@aol.com
Terror Maze in Springfield, Ohio is one of the first haunts City Blood reviewed back when we first started reviewing haunts in the early 2000s. Fast forward 16 years and Terror Maze is celebrating its 26th season of screams. Just think about that. So much has changed in 26 years and so has the haunt industry in general. What was impressive back then isn’t so much now. We arrived at Terror Maze on a Friday night and the crowd was small, but the weather was perfect. There were so many stars in the sky and we were ready to get scared to death.
As we entered the queue line, we were tormented by various characters. Twisty the Clown from American Horror Story: Freak Show stalked his victims as he waited to attack. This is a very creepy character. Another clown with red hair and a black hoodie cracked jokes and took selfies. The queue line actors were entertaining which helped pass the time before we entered the haunt. There was no way you could ignore the man behind the fence who kept asking to be let out.
The queue line features a shed with a zombie hanging from chains. There are pumpkins, skeletons, caskets and more that decorate this scene that’s illuminated by red lights. Terror Maze is 5 acres and 15 minutes long with most of the haunt taking place outdoors. This is definitely an old school haunt without a doubt. Many would call it a backyard haunt in fact. Most of the scenes are very traditional. You’ll even find an old school Friday the 13th room. A dark room is decorated with glow in the dark Jason masks and one of them is an actor. Unfortunately the actor wasn’t even trying to hide and was instead walking around inside the room. Other scenes include a guillotine decapitation, a hanging at the gallows, a clown electric chair execution and even a live birth. There are even interactive elements including a hearse that you must crawl through in order to escape.
There aren’t too many high tech props, but there’s some eye candy here and there. Static zombies have red lights shining on them and there are some weird creatures. My favorite was the alien head that would lunge at you. The severed heads roasting on an open fire was just nasty. The acting is a mixed bag at Terror Maze. There are quite a few actors who resort to screaming or just blindly staring at you. One girl popped up and proceeded to scream in my face. She seemed disappointed that I didn’t jump out of my skin. Some of the actors were unprepared. The live birth had to be my favorite scene which had me cracking up. The newborn baby was called a butt head. Yes, it’s juvenile but it doesn’t take much for me to smile.
Terror Maze hasn’t changed much since we last visited 16 years ago. It’s still old school and has traditional scenes that will appeal to a broad audience. This haunt loves clowns. So, if you have a fear of clowns (aka Coulrophobia) then you’re more likely to get scared at Terror Maze. Tickets are $13 and you can find a $2 off flyer on their Facebook page. Ten dollars would be a more appropriate price considering the quality of this haunt. Their 5th annual Pink Out Night takes place on Saturday October 19th from 5 PM – 7PM and it benefits breast cancer. There will be raffle items, bake goods, a food truck, shirts, koozies, stickers and more that night. Profits made go towards paying for chemo bags used for breast cancer survivors at the Stefanie Spielman Breast Center.
There’s a lot of room for improvement at Terror Maze. There are too many characters who wear cheap masks and the scenes could be much more detailed. The location is very convenient for those who want to visit more than one haunt that night. Right across the street is Horror Acres which is the polar opposite of Terror Maze in terms of high tech props and set design. If you live nearby then you might as well visit Terror Maze. It’s old school horror with lots of variety.
Length-8 Design-5 Props/Animatronics-6 Acting-5 Scare Effect-5
Final Stab: 5.8
www.terrormaze.com