5700 S. Archer Road, Summit, IL
years: 2013
NOTE: There are no photos allowed inside Dark Summit (the inhabitants will eat your cell phone or camera if you try), so we unfortunately have none to show you. You'll have to go see it for yourself!
One of the five haunt rating categories that we Horror Tourers use is actor enthusiasm. Put simply, this is how much effort haunt actors put into the part. To us, it doesn't matter if the actors are adults or children, professionals or amateurs. What matters is how much they "sell" the role. In our view, Dark Summit is a haunt that could teach some other haunts a thing or two about just what actor enthusiasm means. The haunt building is located a short walk from the ticket area, inside a park and recreational area. From the very moment you get close to haunt entrance, you are surrounded by various live actors, all of them with individual personalities and seeming lives of their own. While visitors stand in line waiting to go in, and while they are told some rules, the live actors hover around, often commenting on what's being said, asking odd questions, or simply talking to themselves and each other, as if visitors are simply an interruption in their daily lives. This sort of attention to detail is not often seen at haunts, and while there are many haunts with great actors, often their acting involves interactions with visitors, whereas those at Dark Summit just do their thing whether people are involved or not. |
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For example, as we are standing in line, one of the actors came along and took a cell phone from the staff person and starting biting it (as the story is they eat peoples' cell phones if people try to use them in the haunt) - the acting was natural and fluid, and really put the question in our minds of whether or not that cell phone would be devoured - extremely clever!
On the inside of the haunt there is another rules section, and while rules are necessary, they are often given in a perfunctory manner or are oversold by the live actors, which actually sometimes makes me (Bryan) a bit embarrassed for the actors. However, in Dark Summit, the rules presentation had to be the best rules presentation I've seen - highly entertaining. Basically, the ringmaster oft he circus of freaks (which is what Dark Summit is) stands on a lighted plinth and tells everyone the rules while his "children" hover around him. Like children, the other actors get into mischief and argue amongst themselves, forcing the ringmaster to scold them. For example, at one point, the ringmaster mentioned there could be no light, and one ofthe other actors came up and turned off the light that lit him up, laughing at his cleverness - very well done! Again, it all seems as though they would do this anyway, whether anyone was there or not. Rather than wanting to leave the room out of embarrassment, I found myself enjoying the entire presentation. The fact that a rules presentation had me smiling boded extremely well for the haunt itself.
As mentioned, the haunt itself is themed as a kind of freakshow/circus, and all of the rooms are designed with that in mind. First up is a voodoo themed room, in the spirit of New Orleans and Mardi Gras. An actor walks you through, introducing you to his mother (a voodoo priestess) who in trun introduces you to her "children" - all of whom are zombified freaks of varying types, most, but not all in cages that visitors must then walk past. Whilst we see a lot of zombie type characters in haunts, these freaks were all very into the act, reaching through the cell bars, screaming, howling, and climbing over each other to try to get at us. There was even one guy who had his arm folded inside his shirt so it looked like he had just a stub which he then waved at us from inside his cage - a nice touch!
Along the way we encountered creepy girls in chains, a very eerie looking female actor just standing in a hallway (who then showed up ahead of us again in another room), a room full of jesters, some cannibals waiting to have us for dinner, and a large room filled with homicidal clowns. Again, while most of these themes are ones we have seen often in haunts, in Dark Summit the actor performances really put them in another category. The actors were funny, creepy, loud, obnoxious, and unnerving (sometimes all at the same time), but never crossed the line into embarrassing territory or descended too much into simple repeated screaming.
Special mention must be made of the actual freakshow inside of the haunt - there is a section with a ringmaster and live exhibits in cages, including a werewolf, creepy girls, and a guy who can contort his body into very odd shapes. We loved him last year, and this year he was up on the wall when we entered the room, twisting his body into seemingly impossible positions. Good stuff!
Also, Dark Summit had a couple of things that were unique and new, including one we have never before seen in a haunt - a spinning door like a revolving door at the entrance to an office building that a live actor forced us to get into one at a time. We were in one section and the actor was in another, facing us while he spun us around and separated us from everyone else. A clever trick, and another of those little things that really sell this haunt. As final fun moment was a large jester figure who asked us why were were leaving so soon as we exited - again just the right mix of sarcasm, humor, and menace.
And the live acting didn't stop there - even when we were done and outside talking with the people who run the haunt, the actors still kept coming up to us and doing things in character. Not one of them broke character at all - simply excellent!
There is so much to recommend Dark Summit - everyone involved seems to really want to put on a good show; the set design is excellent, using good props and lighting to invoke a creepy mood; the rooms are varied and unusual, and the haunt seems much longer than it is in reality. It's just an enjoyable experience overall, even if you don't go into the haunt. Oh, and if you go in and then chicken out, you may get out of the haunt, but you won't get out of being harassed and taunted by all of the live actors as you exit. They have a special punishment reserved for those who leave early. We've seen it happen, and honestly you're probably better off just forcing yourself to go through the entire haunt!
Added to all of this is the fact that Dark Summit is only $10, which is eminently reasonable for a haunt of this type. If you love quality haunts and don't want to spend a lot of money, or if you can only do a few haunts this season, do yourself a favor and check out Dark Summit. You'll have a great time, and the carnival of freaks will surely be happy to introduce you to their dysfunctional family. Just play nicely and you won't get hurt - much.
On the inside of the haunt there is another rules section, and while rules are necessary, they are often given in a perfunctory manner or are oversold by the live actors, which actually sometimes makes me (Bryan) a bit embarrassed for the actors. However, in Dark Summit, the rules presentation had to be the best rules presentation I've seen - highly entertaining. Basically, the ringmaster oft he circus of freaks (which is what Dark Summit is) stands on a lighted plinth and tells everyone the rules while his "children" hover around him. Like children, the other actors get into mischief and argue amongst themselves, forcing the ringmaster to scold them. For example, at one point, the ringmaster mentioned there could be no light, and one ofthe other actors came up and turned off the light that lit him up, laughing at his cleverness - very well done! Again, it all seems as though they would do this anyway, whether anyone was there or not. Rather than wanting to leave the room out of embarrassment, I found myself enjoying the entire presentation. The fact that a rules presentation had me smiling boded extremely well for the haunt itself.
As mentioned, the haunt itself is themed as a kind of freakshow/circus, and all of the rooms are designed with that in mind. First up is a voodoo themed room, in the spirit of New Orleans and Mardi Gras. An actor walks you through, introducing you to his mother (a voodoo priestess) who in trun introduces you to her "children" - all of whom are zombified freaks of varying types, most, but not all in cages that visitors must then walk past. Whilst we see a lot of zombie type characters in haunts, these freaks were all very into the act, reaching through the cell bars, screaming, howling, and climbing over each other to try to get at us. There was even one guy who had his arm folded inside his shirt so it looked like he had just a stub which he then waved at us from inside his cage - a nice touch!
Along the way we encountered creepy girls in chains, a very eerie looking female actor just standing in a hallway (who then showed up ahead of us again in another room), a room full of jesters, some cannibals waiting to have us for dinner, and a large room filled with homicidal clowns. Again, while most of these themes are ones we have seen often in haunts, in Dark Summit the actor performances really put them in another category. The actors were funny, creepy, loud, obnoxious, and unnerving (sometimes all at the same time), but never crossed the line into embarrassing territory or descended too much into simple repeated screaming.
Special mention must be made of the actual freakshow inside of the haunt - there is a section with a ringmaster and live exhibits in cages, including a werewolf, creepy girls, and a guy who can contort his body into very odd shapes. We loved him last year, and this year he was up on the wall when we entered the room, twisting his body into seemingly impossible positions. Good stuff!
Also, Dark Summit had a couple of things that were unique and new, including one we have never before seen in a haunt - a spinning door like a revolving door at the entrance to an office building that a live actor forced us to get into one at a time. We were in one section and the actor was in another, facing us while he spun us around and separated us from everyone else. A clever trick, and another of those little things that really sell this haunt. As final fun moment was a large jester figure who asked us why were were leaving so soon as we exited - again just the right mix of sarcasm, humor, and menace.
And the live acting didn't stop there - even when we were done and outside talking with the people who run the haunt, the actors still kept coming up to us and doing things in character. Not one of them broke character at all - simply excellent!
There is so much to recommend Dark Summit - everyone involved seems to really want to put on a good show; the set design is excellent, using good props and lighting to invoke a creepy mood; the rooms are varied and unusual, and the haunt seems much longer than it is in reality. It's just an enjoyable experience overall, even if you don't go into the haunt. Oh, and if you go in and then chicken out, you may get out of the haunt, but you won't get out of being harassed and taunted by all of the live actors as you exit. They have a special punishment reserved for those who leave early. We've seen it happen, and honestly you're probably better off just forcing yourself to go through the entire haunt!
Added to all of this is the fact that Dark Summit is only $10, which is eminently reasonable for a haunt of this type. If you love quality haunts and don't want to spend a lot of money, or if you can only do a few haunts this season, do yourself a favor and check out Dark Summit. You'll have a great time, and the carnival of freaks will surely be happy to introduce you to their dysfunctional family. Just play nicely and you won't get hurt - much.