882 Anita Street, Antioch, IL
year: 2013
On our final night of haunt visits for the 2013 season, we Tourers headed up north, close to the Wisconsin border, to check out some professional haunts. On of those we visited was a first year haunt in Antioch, IL - The Haunted House of Macabre. Just the name itself was interesting, so we were curious as to what was in store for us inside.
As we waited to get inside, a creepy live actor greeted us, growling in our faces and dragging a pipe across the ground. He was clearly into what he was doing, and never broke character, even when we were finished with the haunt and talking to people outside. He even went towards the road and did his thing for passing cars. It was a nice touch. The inside waiting area featured a girl inside a coffin, who came to life and stared at us with one blank eye - it was creepy and entertaining at the same time. The haunt itself consisted of numerous rooms separated by long dark corridors. While we are usually not fans of dark spaces in haunts, Haunted House of Macabre featured a different spin on them. Most of the corridors ended with either a blast from an air jet, a strobe, or both, usually followed by some type of surprise. After the first couple, we figured out that "something" was waiting for us at the end of a hallway, which tended to up the creepiness factor. Many of the rooms riffed on the standard haunted house themes, including a "surgery"/butcher shop area, a creepy mirrored room with live actors, a clown room, and a room with odd zig-zag patterns on the walls. |
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Despite the similarities, however, each room was clever it is own way. For instance, the clown room featured numerous clown-headed dummies along each wall, as well as a live actor who jumped out at us from in front PLUS a creepy clown actor who came out from behind the dummy displays.
In fact, Haunted House of a Macabre did an excellent job at distracting visitors, only to then hit them with a startle scare or with live actors appearing from multiple locations. One of our favorite bits featured a dark corridor (surprise!) illuminated by a strobe, with what looked like a mirror at the end. It was only once visitors got close to the "mirror" that it was actually revealed to be plexiglass, with a crazed live actor behind it. The deception was executed very well, and it didn't end there, for while we were distracted by the crazy guy behind the plexiglass, a spider like character jumped out from the side of the room as well, leading us into the next room. Very well done!
One thing we have to mention is that Haunted House of the Macabe "got" both of us (Laura and Bryan) at least once, and got me (Bryan) twice! By "got" we mean a complete surprise scare that were were not expecting. We must stress that this simply does not happen often. We've been Horror Touring for almost 15 years now, and we see a lot of haunts. While we do occasionally get startled, and we often find a lot of clever scares and pop outs from live actors, it is pretty rare when we are actually startled so much that we would consider ourselves genuinely startled. In fact, in all of our haunt visits this year, I (Bryan) have been "gotten" only three times, and two of them were in Haunted House of the Macabre! Extra points for that alone!
Specifically, was "gotten" within the haunt by a prop, and a static one at that (not even a live actor at all), and I was surprised by a live actor in the zig-zag room as well as a live actor being electrocuted. While neither of these scares were ones I've never seen before, it was the way they were done that was unusual. For instance, in the zig-zag room (which featured a pattern of stripes on the walls as well as on sheets hanging throughout the room, I was expecting a live actor to come out from in between the sheets to startle me. When no actor appeared by the time I found the black curtain that led to the next room, I was no longer expecting anyone, but lo and behold I moved the last striped sheet and there he was! The second "gotcha" came in another dark room - while navigating, I hit a wall with my feat, so I assumed it was a full wall and turned to move in another direction. Before I did, though, a horn went off and the room lit up and I found myself almost face to face with an electrocution victim. It surprised me so much I actually stumbled backwards a bit. Very clever and well done!
Often, just one clever scene can make or break a haunt for us, and Haunted House of Macabre had a number of clever twists on the standard haunt set up, which we really enjoyed. For instance (without mentioning any names), while we enjoyed the other haunts we visited that night, neither was a personally entertaining to us as Haunted House of Macabre was.
The bottom line is that Haunted House of the Macabre is one of those haunts with heart - the actors we all into what they were doing, and the surprised were clever and inventive. It made us very curious as to what was around the corner, and also made the haunt seem longer than it actually was. It also proved to us yet again that a haunt is not and should not be defined by elaborate sets and expensive props. Good haunt experiences involve much more than that. Great sets are one thing, but simply having them doesn't mean that a haunt is automatically excellent. For us it has to be the whole package - an effective combination of sets, creativity, live actors, and enthusiasm. In our opinion, Haunted House of the Macabre had just the right mix of everything, and proved to be our favorite haunt of the evening!
If you're looking to be wowed by fancy lighting effects and sets, you won't find that here. However, if you are looking to have a fun, enjoyable haunt experience, we highly recommend this haunt if you want some good old fashioned scares. Overall, it was an excellent first year haunt, and one that we hope continues into the future, if only to give us a good excuse to make the long drive to visit!
In fact, Haunted House of a Macabre did an excellent job at distracting visitors, only to then hit them with a startle scare or with live actors appearing from multiple locations. One of our favorite bits featured a dark corridor (surprise!) illuminated by a strobe, with what looked like a mirror at the end. It was only once visitors got close to the "mirror" that it was actually revealed to be plexiglass, with a crazed live actor behind it. The deception was executed very well, and it didn't end there, for while we were distracted by the crazy guy behind the plexiglass, a spider like character jumped out from the side of the room as well, leading us into the next room. Very well done!
One thing we have to mention is that Haunted House of the Macabe "got" both of us (Laura and Bryan) at least once, and got me (Bryan) twice! By "got" we mean a complete surprise scare that were were not expecting. We must stress that this simply does not happen often. We've been Horror Touring for almost 15 years now, and we see a lot of haunts. While we do occasionally get startled, and we often find a lot of clever scares and pop outs from live actors, it is pretty rare when we are actually startled so much that we would consider ourselves genuinely startled. In fact, in all of our haunt visits this year, I (Bryan) have been "gotten" only three times, and two of them were in Haunted House of the Macabre! Extra points for that alone!
Specifically, was "gotten" within the haunt by a prop, and a static one at that (not even a live actor at all), and I was surprised by a live actor in the zig-zag room as well as a live actor being electrocuted. While neither of these scares were ones I've never seen before, it was the way they were done that was unusual. For instance, in the zig-zag room (which featured a pattern of stripes on the walls as well as on sheets hanging throughout the room, I was expecting a live actor to come out from in between the sheets to startle me. When no actor appeared by the time I found the black curtain that led to the next room, I was no longer expecting anyone, but lo and behold I moved the last striped sheet and there he was! The second "gotcha" came in another dark room - while navigating, I hit a wall with my feat, so I assumed it was a full wall and turned to move in another direction. Before I did, though, a horn went off and the room lit up and I found myself almost face to face with an electrocution victim. It surprised me so much I actually stumbled backwards a bit. Very clever and well done!
Often, just one clever scene can make or break a haunt for us, and Haunted House of Macabre had a number of clever twists on the standard haunt set up, which we really enjoyed. For instance (without mentioning any names), while we enjoyed the other haunts we visited that night, neither was a personally entertaining to us as Haunted House of Macabre was.
The bottom line is that Haunted House of the Macabre is one of those haunts with heart - the actors we all into what they were doing, and the surprised were clever and inventive. It made us very curious as to what was around the corner, and also made the haunt seem longer than it actually was. It also proved to us yet again that a haunt is not and should not be defined by elaborate sets and expensive props. Good haunt experiences involve much more than that. Great sets are one thing, but simply having them doesn't mean that a haunt is automatically excellent. For us it has to be the whole package - an effective combination of sets, creativity, live actors, and enthusiasm. In our opinion, Haunted House of the Macabre had just the right mix of everything, and proved to be our favorite haunt of the evening!
If you're looking to be wowed by fancy lighting effects and sets, you won't find that here. However, if you are looking to have a fun, enjoyable haunt experience, we highly recommend this haunt if you want some good old fashioned scares. Overall, it was an excellent first year haunt, and one that we hope continues into the future, if only to give us a good excuse to make the long drive to visit!