6725 W. Devon Avenue, Chicago, IL

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years: 2010-2012
tourers: bryan, Paul, laura
costs: $12 ($10 with coupon)
Chainsaws: 3.5/5 (2010/2011) - 2/5(2012)
more info: Hair Razor

Hair Razor is a haunt put on in the basement of St. Thecla's church on the north side of Chicago, one of several haunts in the area, including Scream Scene.

The Tourers first ventured here in 2010, and we found it to be a very cool experience. The full name of the haunt is Hair Razor Haunted Scenes, and as the name implies, they place a large emphasis on creating detailed sets for visitors to walk through. The hall where the haunt is held is very large, and thus has a lot of open space for large displays as well as a lot of space to build walls and corridors. The operators put all of this together very well.

For instance, on our first visit, the opening scene was one of a barnyard area, complete with scarecrows, pumpkins and hay. Of course it was also filled with live actors, but the scene was so detailed that it didn't necessarily even need them. We found the same to be true in many other areas of the haunt, including a detailed funeral parlor setup, a jungle, and a long corridor along which were Egyptian mummies, both live actors as well as animated props.

Rather than build narrow, dark corridors as many haunts do, Hair Razor has larger, more open corridors, allowing visitors to see where they are going and not have to go single file. This opens up the space and provides good patron flow, as well as providing more space for actors and props. For instance, our favorite scene in 2010 was the last one, which was a long passageway lined with fences, tombstones, large statues, and even medieval armor, all complemented by fog and lighting. This led to the final open scene of a large graveyard. While there were no live actors in the passageway and only a few in the final scene, just being able to view the detailed sets and get lost in the atmosphere made the experience very creepy. We enjoyed looking at all of the detail and, as mentioned, didn't really miss the fact that there was not a large amount of actors in each scene.

The actors, when they were present, we all well made up and stayed in character without going over the top. Most were younger kids (8th grade or so), but still did a good job, particularly our jester greeter, who stayed disconcertingly in character the whole time.

Overall, our 2010 visit ranked right up there with our favorites for the year. Unfortunately, though, our 2011 and 2012 visits weren't as good. For 2011, there was a deceptively long line, and we wound up waiting much longer than we thought we would. We're never fans of lines, but we don't hold that against the inside of the haunt, which was decent enough to warrant a return in 2012.

2012, however, was a different story. Although we got there early to avoid the line (and it was indeed much shorter than our 2011 visit), it still took an inordinate amount of time to get to the entrance to the haunt. By the time we got there, Laura had an issue at home that she needed to get back to, Bryan was tired and ready to go to sleep, and Paul had a bad experience with a security guard, who saw him taking a photo and began to follow him through the haunt for unknown reasons.

Although there were many good scenes in 2012, the long line and our frame of mind didn't make for a great experience. Also, it seemed as though the haunt was shorter, with fewer detailed scenes in favor of smaller scenes with more live actors. Since the elaborate scenes were what attracted us to Hair Razor in the first place, we were a bit disappointed.

There was one really cool scene in 2012 that did help, they had a big room set up ala Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds", the room was decked out with birds all over appearing to break out of cages and set to attack passers by, these were all idle but it was still a very cool and unique display.

Overall, Hair Razor is one haunt that we might go to if we were in the area and if there was no line. While 2010 was great, we're not sure if the setup in 2012 will remain, and we'd rather not take the drive and wait the wait to find out. However, if you can avoid the line it's still a decent haunt and oneo f several you can visit while on the North side, so pick a few and make an evening of it!

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