Thread: Is it just me or are these commercial "haunted" houses a waste?

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Most of the haunted houses around here have pretty good crowd control. You go in with your group of people only, and usually you don't run into any other groups unless you move a lot faster or slower than normal. I have read bad reviews of a few where people were just shunted through like cattle in a long line but most don't do that. I have run into a group once or twice, once was when they had a chain link maze and the group ahead of us was lost in it so we saw them in the maze when we entered. A few times I've also had a group come up behind us because I like to go through haunted houses really slowly so I can see everything, all the details etc... That is one reason I always like to go first in my group, so I can slow the rest down because some people will get scared and want to rush through. That and I like to go first because you get the full impact of everything that way.

I agree I also like the atmosphere and the creepy type rather than just people jumping out at you and gore. Unfortunately those seem to be the top 2 features in most haunted houses, although some do try to incorporate a spooky atmosphere as well.

I like going first too I remember last year I was in the back at first and I noticed my friend kept getting all the good scares, so I was like, ey let me go in front u keep getting all the good scares! haha and he didn't mind so we switched and it was more fun in the front.

@Dark Passenger

I used to work at the Great America haunt when they were first starting up. They still send me emails when they have casting calls haha, but I live in a different city now. When I worked there we only had one house but it was pretty good. I remember them saying that the next year they planned to have 2. And I assumed they would keep expanding, and as you described it seems they have improved a lot. It sounds like a lot of fun, and if I'm ever up that way around this time of year I will have to check it out!

Originally Posted by DannyDanger

I like going first too I remember last year I was in the back at first and I noticed my friend kept getting all the good scares, so I was like, ey let me go in front u keep getting all the good scares! haha and he didn't mind so we switched and it was more fun in the front.

Three years ago, I went to Eastern State Penitentiary with two different groups of friends. Now, I'm a big guy -- and it was cold, so I was wearing a heavy leather coat. All my friends wanted me to go first, which I did both times. But I noticed that most of the scare actors would actually let me walk past them, and instead pulled their scares on those who were behind me . . . which I found highly entertaining.

My wife's family has several acres of nice, dark, woods in Middleburg, FL that we looked at turning into a haunted woods attraction throughout October, with all custom-made costumes and props, but then we hit the beauracratic wall of liability issues, employment issues, and other regulatory hurdles that just made the whole effort impractible.

Originally Posted by DannyDanger

I like going first too I remember last year I was in the back at first and I noticed my friend kept getting all the good scares, so I was like, ey let me go in front u keep getting all the good scares! haha and he didn't mind so we switched and it was more fun in the front.

Yeah that's the other reason I like to be first in my group! Most of my friends don't want to go first anyway so it works out. Personally I'd rather be first than last...if you're first at least you know who is behind you. If you're last anyone could sneak up behind you and you wouldn't know it! I find that idea much scarier than the guys jumping out in front of you. I remember one haunt I went to we were going through and we didn't even notice that this girl dressed all in black was following us... She didn't make a loud noise or anything, just followed silently behind which I thought was a lot more spooky than all the other 'scares' they had.

I think I tend to disappoint the actors when I go first though... I probably look easy to scare since I am a rather small female and I look really young, but I almost never get scared by them jumping out at me and I never scream and sometimes I start laughing or commenting on things I recognize from Fright Catalog or props I like...
Sometimes it's fun though because the actors will try extra hard to scare me.
I also have some friends who will talk to the actors in haunts and say things like, "Can we be friends?" or once when an evil clown asked us to stay with him my friend said "Can we, please?"

Originally Posted by HauntedHorror

Yeah that's the other reason I like to be first in my group! Most of my friends don't want to go first anyway so it works out. Personally I'd rather be first than last...if you're first at least you know who is behind you. If you're last anyone could sneak up behind you and you wouldn't know it! I find that idea much scarier than the guys jumping out in front of you. I remember one haunt I went to we were going through and we didn't even notice that this girl dressed all in black was following us... She didn't make a loud noise or anything, just followed silently behind which I thought was a lot more spooky than all the other 'scares' they had.

THIS. I find this the most creepy as well...when they follow you through and you don't realize it. This seems to happen to me a lot. My husband always goes first because I want him too. His 6'2" and I'm 5'3" so they usually pass him up a bit and try to scare me. If I see them coming from the front I don't generally get scared but when they are behind that really creeps me out. LIke you said, they are very quiet about it and even though I will turn around to check every now and again they always seem to surprise me

Unfortunately I have to agree the prices are definitely getting a bit out of control. I live pretty close to Headless Horseman in Ulster Park NY and their prices have been going up steadily in the past few years. I've gone to their haunt several times and do find it pretty good ( love the hayride ) but have found some things that I am not too keen on ( rude employees, rushing you through the houses, etc. ). My husband and I always take vacation time the last week of October and try to do three or four Halloween/Autumn type things. I think this year we will be passing up Headless Horseman due to the price. We do have some other good stuff planned though

Originally Posted by DannyDanger

I hate the people who go in there just to rag on it. The ones who are like "you can't scare me." I mean come on, just have fun with it, or don't go in. I have worked in a few and I got people like that, and I didn't break character I just ignored them, and let them pass.

I hate that too! I worked at the Six Flags Fright Fest in Chicago for 7 years, and one year, I was a zombie babysitter who carried around a big carving knife. My schtick was to stand around looking creepy and mostly stare at people while fiddling thoughtfully with my knife. It might not sound like much, but I was pretty good at creeping people out and I loved it. Anyway, there is a long hill that the guests had to descend on their way into the Necropolis area, and of course there were lots of zombies and ghouls planted along that road to scare the people coming in. I was parked at the bottom of the hill, standing near a garbage can, the big covered kind that theme parks use, and this group of three teenage boys started coming down the hill. The one in the middle of the other two was being a total jerk. Every time a character would come up to scare them, this guy would go directly up to the character and tell him how he wasn't afraid, how they can't scare him and stuff like that. I could see that his friends were really irritated by his macho attitude and that he was taking the fun out of everything for them as well as my fellow actors. So, I stared at him from the bottom of the hill the whole way down, never took my eyes off him, glaring at him while I played with my knife. He caught my eye a couple times but seemed to dismiss me until he got to the bottom of the hill. At that point, he comes swaggering over to me like he's going to confront me, and he says, "You don't scare me." to which I just gave him this evil kind of then-you're-stupid kind of smirk. I kinda did this half glance toward the garbage can as if I was expecting something to pop out of it, so the kid lifts his chin at me daringly and says, "What's in there?" And I didn't say a word, just let my evil smirk widen a bit to suggest that he didn't want to know. So being all brave, he leans in to look into the garbage can... and I kicked the garbage can which made a really load noise, and that kid jumped so high he actually fell on the ground like three feet away. LOL

It was one of the absolute best scares I ever did in my life. His friends were completely delighted and started mocking him immediately, and my fellow actors all gave me a silent cheer. It was hilarious! ... But anyway, I'm with you, I hate it when people try to kill the fun for everybody else by acting like nothing scares them.

I also find it very creepy when actors follow you through the haunt, specially when you don't notice them at first. I used to do that bit of the haunting too, and it was soooo much fun! When I go through haunts now, that still creeps me out. Not that there are any haunts to go through in Sweden, but the idea still creeps me out. lol

I had no idea that haunts were getting so expensive these days! I happened to be in the states a couple years ago just as the season was starting and I went to a couple haunted houses in Denver, I thought $15 was a LOT for a haunted house until we got to the next place and it was $18! And you guys are saying that there are haunts out there that are even more than that now?? That's crazy! How very very sad.

Makes me think that all the neighbors who keep telling us we should charge for our little neighborhood haunted house may be right. lol I'd never do that, of course, but sheesh! I can't believe the prices are that high now!

We don't get to do any of the Haunted Houses, (or woods more than anything around here) as none of them are handicap accessible. You'd think that the ADA would come into play, but nope, if you're disabled (as I am) you're S.O.L. It makes me sad as I used to love to go to them prior to becoming disabled.

Haunted Overlord in Lee, NH

Now THAT is atmosphere. Going to be on the Weather Channel Oct. 17th