8408 W. Grand Ave, River Grove, IL
year: 2012
2012 was the first year for this haunt, which billed itself as the only "interactive" haunted house in Illinois. As such, the Tourers were intrigued and decided to check it out.
The haunt is located in a small strip mall and is easy to miss. When we arrived there were no other visitors, but one person showed up and wound up entering with us. All of the actors inside and outside of the haunt were well-dressed, with the demonic greeter being a particular standout. All of the actors seemed quite enthusiastic as well. Upon entering, we were greeted by two animatronic puppets who explpained what was going to happen. They made us look at the ceiling, allowing an actor to catch us unaware from a secret door behind us. The ineractivty advertised came in the form of various switched and buttons that had to be pressed to move from room to room or, in one case, to keep from being electrocuted. This did add an interesting layer to the haunt, but it was obvious that the switches and buttons actually didn't do anything, and things would happen regardless. It was an interesting twist on the standard haunt,. though. One standout room was the electrocution room,where visitors attempted to keep the current from flowing to them, which distracted them from the fact that the electrocution victim in the chair was a real actor. Additionally, this actor had fake hands to keep people from realizing he was not a prop - a nice touch. The fortune telling room was also good, with the fortune teller predicting various futures for visitors, only to have the unlucky one (in this case Laura), get a shock from a ghoul hidden behind a fake wall. Overall, this haunt provided some interesting takes on standard haunt fare, some good actors in excellent costumes, and a few good scares. However, the haunt itself was very short. If the interactive bits were removed, it was probably no longer than 5 or 6 minutes. A decent start for the first year, which could definitely get better if the interactivity was tightened up to move more quickly, and if more rooms were added to the haunt itself. |