There is a stark difference in experience between sitting down on your couch or in a movie theater to watch a horror movie and immersing yourselves in those horror stories at a haunted attraction (colloquially called a ‘haunt” for short).
When you’re watching a horror movie there is a level of disconnect, no matter how captivating or enthralling the movie may be. They’re just actors and CGI’d creatures on a screen, and technology has (blessedly) not progressed enough for those spooky things to reach out and grab you in the comfort of your living room.
All those safeguards are gone when you visit a haunt. In a horror movie you follow the camera, it takes you to the darker corners and forces you to stand face to face with the monster. The movies will pull you into directions and areas that you, a sane person, would never tread in the real world.
But in a haunt, you must use your own two feet. Walking through these haunts are against all your better judgment, and yet, you still walk onward. You become the characters you yell at in every horror movie. “Why are you not turning around?!” “How could you NOT know a zombie was going to reach out and grab you around that corner?!”
But that is the fun (Chel note: or for me absolutely gut-wrenching terror) of going to a haunt. The playing field is leveled and no amount of horror movie trivia can protect you from being spooked or screaming in a pitch two octaves higher than normal.
Sure, deep down you KNOW those are actors in very realistic makeup, and you KNOW that the bursts of air and pop out dummies are on a timer to explode right as you’re about to pass. But that doesn’t make the experience any less scary!
The creators of these haunts, as Andrew pointed out during the interview, have tapped into the insurmountable truths of fear that exist within all of us, the ones we never really grow out of or shake despite years of age or knowledge or experience.
Above all, though, for however long you are in the haunt, you are required to do one of the scariest things of all: trust that the passionate and talented professionals in the haunt are serving up scares and spooks and few tricks and treats with only the best intentions.
And as Andrew and Tony and their talented team of scarers have proven, that is the only thing that they care about when you walk into their haunt. They are on your team, all with the end goal of giving you a night of fright that you won’t soon forget.
If an IRL visit to a haunt is in your future, here are a few movies to get you hyped (or even more horrified) to face down the fears that await you there:
- Haunt - A Shudder Original that takes the tried and true trope of the eclectic archetype gang, pulls them out of a cabin in the woods and plops them into a haunted house attraction with sinister motives. As you follow these characters (including the badass final girl) to the end of the experience, you’ll be able to mentally shadow-box and prepare for your own (fictional) fight for your life when you enter the haunt later. Patrons can listen to our review of this film here.
- Monster Inside: America’s Most Extreme Haunted House - This one is on the list solely to show you how haunts should NOT be done. McKamey Manor with its controversial practices including a waiver that permits another person to break your fingers, remove your teeth, and even bury you alive…is not what haunts are about and this house of horrors is not one that the haunt community claims as one of their own.
- The Houses October Built - While this found footage film touches upon what can happen when the horror is taken a bit too far, it is still a genuine love letter and tribute to the people who create the haunts and the fans who love them. It offers a behind the scenes look at the work and care that goes into crafting a good haunt experience while also leaving you just a hint uneasy (in a good way) for what may await you at your own trip to a haunted attraction. Listen to our review here.
- Hell House LLC - This film is for when you really want to get yourself worked up into a tizzy before going out to the haunt. This movie and all its build up will have you keeping a keener ear and sharper eye at the haunted attraction, JUST IN CASE this haunt happens to be the one in a million haunts that’s actually located in a place infested with malevolent spirits. Patrons can listen to our rewind episode covering this movie here.
- Hell Fest - This candy-colored rendition of the “haunt gone wrong” genre is OK for even the jumpiest of friends. With its callbacks to classic horror tropes and a general thread of “What could POSSIBLY go wrong?” running throughout, this one will make you laugh a little, a nice vocal warm-up before the haunt you visit makes you scream your head off. Listen to our review here.
No matter which of these films you use as a pregame, they will all leave you assured that even though you may get spooked a time or two (or three, or four…) they could NEVER be nearly as bad as the haunt experiences depicted in these films.
Are you ready to face your fears? Here’s how!
- Be sure to check out our very special bonus episode of Hack or Slash where hosts Kris and Binx interview the Owner and Art & Scenic Director of House of Horror, a haunted attraction in South Florida.
- BONUS: For those of you living in South Florida (or Swifties traveling here for the tour in October 😉), use promo code HACKORSLASH for 10% off your tickets! Click here to buy your tickets.
