kchauntess

Hexed and Psycho Freaks are roaming and tend to stick together in a group along with Overlord, the tooth fairy and sometimes the cymbals monkey. I happened to see them on the train and then on the carousel and laughed pretty hard both times. They were all great as usual. I felt torn over Carnevil. They needed to do SOMETHING with it, but the entire strange sad clown thing was just off. It wasn't scary, but I guess it could come off as a little creepy? I didn't have the same unease that I did when they had the masks and more traditional scary clown act. It was saved by having an engaging group of actors. I was disappointed with them last year. There were a few that had just grouped together and were sitting around talking to each other and laughing instead of working (it was fairly early in the night, but even if it had been close to closing they still should've been doing their job). There was none of that this year. One guy in particular was having a lot of fun teasing my group and I loved the interaction! Zombie High made me sad. I want to like it and I LOVED it the year it opened, but you can tell it's where they stick all the new kids now. The only character that stood out was the lunch lady. They all tried, but zombies can be tricky to really get original with if you don't have experience. It's a good house to get warmed up for the rest of them, just don't expect any great scares. We did Chamber of Horrors after Zombie and basically had the same experience. There were hardly any actors and the few that were there were lackluster. It's another one that had a great opening year, but the actors seem green this season. It's fun to look at and I still do like the sets. I would recommend this one as a warm up as well. It isn't a disaster, but it desperately needs more actors and more energy. After being a little disappointed with the first two, London's Terror Square stepped. It. Up. My friend said it was her favorite by the landslide and I was also super impressed. The actors were phenomenal. I missed the creepy feel of the streets of London, but the story, the sets and the characters made me very happy. It wasn't as fun to look at as London Terror, but it was scarier. This is another one that I'm worried could lose its vibe without the right actors, but for this year, it is one you definitely shouldn't skip. Blood on the Bayou wasn't as good as last year,but it's still great in many ways. The sets are wonderful (I love the swamp!), a good number of the actors were engaging and awesome, but I feel like there was less energy. The characters were mostly successful, but I felt like there was less effort to make that voodoo theme pop. It's still one that I wouldn't skip! Asylum was Asylum. Creepy and wonderful. It was no better or worse than last year. However, I'm afraid it's going to become a little stale soon and I'd love to see them to something to switch it up. Though Lore of the Vampire isn't the mess it was a few years ago, I liked it more last year. The characters need to get more creative and more engaging. Hissing and following for a few feet got a little old. There were two or three who shined. I don't miss Club Blood at all, but I'd like to see them do something a little more exciting with where it used to be. As always, Cornstalkers was awesome. It avoids the staleness that I'm afraid Asylum is starting to develop and I walked out of it just as content as past years. It wins when it comes to overall creepiness and jump scares...those costumes are too good! Last but not least, Bloodshed. For some reason, I always just really disliked it in the past. It's just been a ton of gore and too much fog. The sets are mostly the same (except for the end, they made a logical change there that I liked), but the actors absolutely saved it this year! I feel like there's more of them, they're better, they're scarier, and it had an energy that I've never seen it have before. It was an awesome surprise and I'm actually really happy with it this season! Ed Alonzo changed up his show and I'm very sad to say it isn't as impressive as it was the past few years. He's still very funny and there were moments that were hysterical, but the magic wasn't as good and his dancers seemed a bit young. All in all, it was a good year at Haunt! It wasn't crowded AT ALL Friday night and Saturday was tolerable, nowhere near as insane as it's going to get in a few weeks, but the heat did suck and kind of kill the mood. I recommend waiting until October when it's nice and cool out and splurging for Fright Lane if you can. I chose to deal with the sweat so I could save money and avoid those crazy crowds. Also, if anyone did Skeleton Key, please shoot me a message with details! I'm super curious, especially with the 7 Deadly Sins theme, but I'm a college student who works her butt off but still can't drop all that money of Fright Lane Plus