2017 Haunt Review !

by Josh · Published October 31, 2017 · Updated July 5, 2021

Good evening Boys & Ghost!

With tonight being Devil’s night, I figure I bring to you my complete Haunt Review of 2017 !

We had gone to a bunch of Haunts this year, some awesome, some pure garbage and I know that a lot of people are always looking for Haunts to go to ! This will be based on a max of 5 SKULLS. 5 being awesome. 1 being Garbage !

Haunted Labyrinth – Location : Cranston, RI : This is a must go to Haunt for us every year, as it is well done and all proceeds go to the youth center that it is held in. The great thing about the Haunt is every single year, the theme changes and the kids help scare along with some of the older people ! This year was a Lost Mine Theme and actually it was horrible this year. The theming is pretty great, but the acting was non existent and was way too short for the $13 asking price. We would see the actors and they wouldn’t budge and the intro before actually going in was way too long and drawn out ! Sorry Folks this one is only getting 2 SKULLS – Theming saved it from getting a 1 Skull review, we shall see what next years theme is !

https://www.hauntedlabyrinth.com/

FearTown – Location : Seekonk, MA : This Haunt is located behind the amazing SEEKONK SPEEDWAY ! This haunt takes place in the woods, takes a good amount of time to get thru and actors actually put a great effort into scaring people. Costumes were great, the areas themed very well and we all had a blast enjoying this haunt. If you are looking for a haunt to check out, make sure you head on over to FEARTOWN! I am giving this 4 SKULLS ! It was just shy of 5 SKULLS to do theming wasn’t perfect, but everything else was , as some of the areas were empty without actors or theming !

Home

13th World Haunted House – Location : Cumberland, RI at Diamond Hill Park : This haunt is another one that was in the woods, but had many popular themes such as Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street and the Purge to name a few ! There were some areas that were extremely chaotic and fun ! Three groups go thru 3 different coffins to enter, eventually meeting up, but it was another great haunt to check out, with some surprise elements that even took me by surprise and were fun and worth the visit ! I gave this Haunt 4 SKULLS, due to certain areas and certain actors were not on par with the rest of the Haunt, this almost got 3 SKULLS, but due to one scene in particular and the finale bumped it to 4!

aaa_Coming Soon

* Barrett’s Haunted Mansion – Location : Abington, MA : This Haunted attraction consisted of 2 Haunts – The Compound & The Haunted Mansion : Before we begin, we went on a Sunday and they had a deal for $40, which they call : Bite & Fright ! Next door to the Haunt is a restaurant called The Abington Ale House . Had some neat decorations thru out and not exactly Halloween, but they just decorated the place cool ! They have a menu just for that and actually a ton of options, the food is just OK, but as they say a BITE . Not really flavorful, but if your hungry and want to get to the Haunt early, which I highly suggest ! It is a nice place to chill out, eat, but service is really slow , when busy ! You can buy Bite & Fright tickets at the restaurant, which I advise, there is no savings online or on site , plus you can skip the purchase line and head right to the Haunt. We started at the Compound and got in line about 20 minutes early, but still waited another 20-30 minutes to get in, see the one big issue I have with these two attractions is they are way too short, for the amount of time you wait in line for both of these haunts in each line ! Are the houses awesome? Actually , even though being really short they are. Very well done with theme, props, actors and effort. But really short ! Once we went through that haunt, we went into line for the next one called The Haunted Mansion ! Again way too short for the 90 min wait just for that house which seamed only lasted less then 10 minutes. It did make me want more, in a good way, but the spacing and I understand why, or you would have a Congo line and not a good time as they animatronics are great and how each scene flows together was amazing ! I gave this 4 SKULLS ! It could have gotten 5 if either there was another house or two, or the current houses were longer ! it is a must go to, but be prepared for lone lines and realize they are short houses, but still worth it, if you do the bite & Fright deal on Thursday or Sunday !

Home

* Six Flags New England Fright Fest – Location : Agawam, MA : I have posted a review already, but I wanted to touch more about this event, especially after going to other Haunts and seeing other things ! If you want the in-depth review, its in the news on SFNEOnline.org ! I honestly feel that SFNE could do a better job with Fright Fest. I love it for what it is and will always go and enjoy. After seeing other Fright Fests within Six Flags and going to other Haunts , I really feel it could be better ! The Scare Zones seem stale and I know every year they keep adding more and more to the areas and try , CARNEVIL is the best SCARE Zone in my opinion and they should really up the stakes and go for bigger ! The amount of actors when I was there was fine, The make up needs some major work ! you will see this in an upcoming Six Flags Great America Video for their Fright Fest that Luko took while there last week ! The Haunts are really the same except Slasher Circus 3D . The Lost Laboratory is refreshing compared to total darkness . I think Zombies Revenge, Wicked Woods & Midnight Mansion either need a new them or a complete over haul. Maybe I’m over thinking it? I go every year and I totally support SFNE and their Staff because they are truly upping their game every year ! IM finding Fright Fest at SFNE to be boring and stale these days , especially with so much more out thee to explore and enjoy ! When you do, you find there are better things out there. For the price, especially with the insanely cheap season passes , its still a good deal ! Now one thing I hate is that it costs money to go thru the haunts, most of the other parks, the Haunts are included, as well as Cedar Fair Parks ! I know Six Flags charges and their claim is to improve Fright Fest, but lately there hasn’t been too much improvement that for the years of paying should be a master piece compared to what is there currently . In my mind the haunts are stale and if it wasn’t for our lovely Scream Queens Jessica and Danielle , lets just say I wouldn’t have enjoyed the haunts much ! Before you agree or disagree, I do not judge haunts based on how they scare me , I judge them based on theme, props, actors ability, them actually trying to scare me, the layout and things like that! Six Flags does have great props and theming, but when its been the same since 2008, its a turn off ! I know the park reads and listens when we talk ! I hope they are reading this ! I also want them to know that my criticism is in their best interest ! The GP loves Fright Fest and that is their core audience, but they also need to start pleasing even just a little bit of their hardcore fans ! They need to bring the thunder, If they need to hire someone new and creative , maybe tis time for a change, maybe they need to do something, but the one spot light that I will say is refreshing and awesome is their live show in the Rockville Theater – Graveyard Groove ! Awesome show and done very well ! I watch it every single time I go !!! Another great show is Creepshow Freak Show ! Who doesn’t love Fire and sword swallowing ! I am hoping as time goes on they change the themes, the layouts and come with new and refreshing haunts because time is ticking before their fans say NO to Fright Fest ! This year I’m only giving SFNE Fright Fest a 3 SKULLS ! It lacks new themes, only has 5 haunts , needs a refresh in scare zones & Haunts ! They could fit at least 2 more haunts in the Picnic Grove and could easily refresh everything even if they did one scare zone and haunt a year , it would keep me excited and making sure I came back another year !

www.sixflags.com/newengland

- Lakeville Haunted House – Lakeville, MA : This was by far the worst attraction that we did this year. A 2 hour wait did not help it either. They claim it takes 45 minutes to go through, which it really took us maybe 20 min, after a 5miunte hayride to another line to get to the haunt through the woods. IT was decked out in Spirit Halloween decorations, I counted on one hand how many actors we came across. All they did was walk around and just scream, they probably hated they were not getting paid and donated their time to scare! It was just not that great honestly ! I would save your money and skip this ! Also when we were done and came out of the woods, a lady in a cowboy hat asked us what we thought, We also said not really that good, then she said go enjoy Factory of Terror, we laughed and said that ones not that good either hahaha! Yes I’m pretty much a haunted house snob , but my opinions are pretty much a lot different then anybody else’s ! I guess we were the wrong people to ask because that lady needs to learn to take criticisms and learn that they aren’t as great as she thinks that place is ! It gets 1 SKULL, I really want to get it a negative 5 SKULL review, but we will go with 1 SKULL !!

Slate Park Haunted Tunnel – Pawtucket, RI – Slater Park : This was a last minute place for us to go one evening on a Friday ! I was surprised that it was half way decent and for the $8 price tag, wasn’t bad at all and I enjoyed it ! it was cheesy, it was fun and I give it 3 SKULLS ! Its worth the price, I didn’t expect much and I had fun ! You could tell the workers were having fun , one thing that kept it from a 4 SKULLS was a couple idiot workers and some areas were hard to follow as it was not clear which way to go !

https://www.facebook.com/hauntedtunnelri

* Ghost Ship Harbor – Location : Quincy, MA : This was one of those haunts that was refreshing to see, since it does take place on the top deck of a retired battle ship ! It was honestly one of the better haunts we did this year. I didn’t really care for the very steep walkway to get on the ship and the VIP line was a bit odd and actors did a great job, it had 4 themed areas all flowed with their story of a zombie outbreak and you were to go on this ship to get to safety and well, we all know how that goes !!! I gave this Haunt 4 SKULLS ! It was unique and different and I actually want to go back ! It was worth every penny and the actors did a great job , the areas were well themed, the actors scared the pants off the girls ! What kept it from a 5 was, for the fun we were having the areas were too short and wished it was longer , some areas didn’t have actors and some of the areas were actually dangerous to navigate with the going up and down stairs , thankfully no actors trying to scare you while on the stairs, if they were wet I could imagine some nasty falls ! This place is well worth the visit, The parking fee of $5 bucks sucks , but I say go check out this haunt !

http://ghostshipharbor.com/

Canobie Lake Park – Screamfest : Location : Salem, New Hampshire : People of New England hold this Haunt dear to their heart ! People love it to death , they rant they rave, I think most of you are nuts ! I’m only giving Screamfest 2 SKULLS ! Here is why : I hard a hard time enjoying the Haunts, the way Canobie paces guests thru the line, well there isn’t any, Now people will say, well its busy, and I say, so what ! You let so many thru, you wait a little, then let some more ! That’s how great attractions do it ! Hell even Six Flags does it ! The best Haunt was their new one called The Culling ! It was pretty awesome! Hotel & The clown one, themed very well, but the constant Congo line killed all love I would of had for them ! The pirate one they have by the water park area they have , is themed very well, but again , the Congo line killed it ! Now this isn’t a total bash fest and this is what saves Canobie Lake Park’s Screamfest ! They had Michael Jackson : Ghost, Its tribute to Michael Jackson and was bad ass ! The other thing that saved me from totally hating Screamfest was tow more things, the props around the park & the end of the night Dance party with their monsters ! Video form Canobie Coming soon ! Canobie needs to learn even on busy nights , pace the guests, not send them all in a free for all ! It made me even hate the Village and I loved that one ! I think if Canobie can fix the Congo lines , Screamfest might actually give Six Flags New England a run for their money for Halloween event at a park, but its not there yet! Maybe next time they will fix these issues ! Though The cool bracelet for $20 which also lets you skip the line at each haunt once, also gets you digital pictures delivered to your email all for $20

www.canobie.com

- Lake Compounce – Haunted Graveyard : Location : Bristol, CT : This is one of my favorite haunts this year ! It’s getting 5 SKULLS from me this year ! Here is why ! it actually takes 45 minutes to go thru the haunt, The actors and every single one is on their A GAME ! This haunt is beautifully designed ! When I got a tour of it this year and saw everything in the day time, the way the light was shining off of windows and the way things were done was out of this world, this is one thing all the haunts I went to did not capture. Great theming and props for other sure ! Names are historically accurate and everything flows. The owner who runs it is named Ernie and talking with him , you realize that he actually loves doing haunts, he isn’t just a guy to make a buck and a cheap haunt and go here enjoy then it sucks ! Next time you go through The Haunted Graveyard , Pay attention to detail, there is tons of it ! Things are so well hidden with secret doors and passageways to scare people , there is a lot to see and take in! Trust me you all know out of all the haunts I have listed tonight this is the grand daddy of them all, I’ve been to a ton of haunted houses throughout my life all over the place, some are more aggressive then others and I like some more then others and I know I have a ton more haunts to visit ! This year for me Haunted Graveyard was the best one ! I cant wait to go back again !