Summary:
Basement of the Dead
Basement of the Dead
consisted of several graphic scenes, separated by lengths of dark
hallways. Some of the scenes were well detailed, while others were more
basic. Basement of the Dead has always had an old-school vibe and this year
was no different.
My tour of the haunted house started
off with a really cool effect. In one of the first hallways, there was a grid of more than a dozen 5 gallon
water jugs tied together, next to a stone wall. When we walked into the area, an actor bounced
the jugs off the
wall, which made a creepy rattling sound. After that, he charged at my
group.
From there, we continued on through the
rest of the attraction, experiencing a number of scenes that were pretty gory. In
one area, there was an actor slicing up body parts with a meat slicer.
Surrounding him were metal tables, piled high with body parts and
intestines. Another similar scene featured an actor wearing a pig head mask and
a bloody apron. As my group walked by, he was cutting up body parts with a power
saw. There was also a disgusting bathroom that had a grimy sink and toilet, with feces splattered all over the tile walls.
Throughout the attraction, there were
also some undermanned static scenes. In one corner, there was an
animatronic character vomiting into a 55 gallon drum and another hallway had fake snakes and
spiders on display, in cages, behind
chicken-wire screens.
One of the more memorable scenes was the
devil worshiper room. As my group walked in, an evangelist was chanting in a
foreign language into a microphone, while an actress on the other side of the
room pleaded for us to stay. To add to the atmosphere, there was a red spinning
pentagram on the wall and Satan was sitting in a chair
in the corner.
My favorite overall had to be the room
with the Silent Hill nurses. Although it wasn't the most elaborate scene,
actor performance and the quality of costumes / makeup really put it over the
top. The room featured two Silent Hill nurses laying on metal tables. As we passed by,
the actresses stirred, moving toward us with herky-jerky motions. After that,
they stalked us until we had left the room.
While I really enjoyed the haunted house in
general, there was one thing that seemed to ruin the mood, in many areas. In
several scenes, there were cameras with large arrays of infrared LEDs, mounted
in plain sight. I understand that security is important; however, the red
glow of the infrared LEDs was a constant reminder that cameras were in use. This
was pretty distracting and seemed to ruin the mood they were trying to maintain.
Also, the Basement of the Dead
attraction seemed to be smaller than it had been in previous years.
Overall, actor performance was great.
Most of the actors were very animated and had a very in-your-face style.
The scares were on target and they stalked you relentlessly.
There was one
exception, though. In one area, there was a metal cage mirror maze,
illuminated by strobe lights. The actors did a great job when we entered
the scene, but they stopped acting before our entire group had gone through. I
still had one more turn to make in the maze and the actors had already turned
around to reset, looking for the next group. I'll have to admit that was a little
disappointing.
Shattered 3D
After exiting the Basement of the Dead
house, patrons moved on to the new attraction, Shattered 3-D. Inside this
event, customers wore 3-D glasses, and walked through an array of scenes with
all sorts of glowing artwork. Let me tell you, the artwork was phenomenal and
really seem to pop out at you. Throughout various scenes, patrons can see a wide
variety of themes including caverns, clowns, oozing sewer pipes, skulls and
more.
Along with the artwork on the walls, a
number of the scenes contain supporting props like the front end of an
"I-Scream" truck, a candy cart and a puppet show stage with
animatronic puppets.
Various rooms had a mix of static clown
figures and live actors, where patrons had to figure out which was which. This
3-D attraction was a little more lively than some I have been through. In a
number of areas, clowns charged out from around corners, blaring electric
horns. In other places, there were drop windows and other scare
attempts.
While there were numerous scare
opportunities, a number of the scares were off target, since the characters were
out in plain view, which made scare attempts much less effective. There
were also a couple of times when I came around a corner and surprised the actor
who was waiting for the next group to come through. All of this resulted
in a lower scare factor throughout the attraction.
Before I conclude this review, there is
one important issue that I need to address and that is the Basement of the
Dead's increase in admission price. Over the past two years, admission has
jumped from $15 to $25. Did their new 3-D attraction add value to the
event? Yes, but it was a small addition. There definitely wasn't enough
value added to justify such a drastic price increase. The Basement of the
Dead used to be one of the best values around, but sadly those days are behind
us.
Still, price aside, the Basement of the
Dead is still a great haunted house. I
have always enjoyed the
old school nature of this haunt and I still do. The high energy performance of the
actors, along with the fast-paced nature of the attraction, make this event a
lot of fun to go through. The new 3-D attraction was enjoyable, too. Be
sure to check them out if you get the chance.
To find out more about this
event, visit:
http://www.42fear.com/
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