8640 Lake Hills Drive, St. John, IN
Year: 2014
While we at Horror Tourers enjoy going to new haunts each year, we also like that reassuring feeling of going to haunts that we know are consistently good year after year.
Let's face it - haunts aren't cheap, and sometimes it can be a $20 or $30 roll of the dice as you're never sure what you're going to get. Thankfully this is not the case at Lake Hills Haunted House, as the quality is excellent year after year, so you know you're going to have a good baseline experience, and that whatever new surprises they have will simply be icing on the cake. We're happy to say that 2014 was, for us, a huge delicious haunted house cake with tons of extra terroriffic icing. It was simply one of the best experiences we've had at Lake Hills out of all of the times we've been there. The haunt has been redesigned for 2014, adding some new scenes and augmenting others, and upping the stakes with some great actors, costumes, and sets. It makes for a great mix that you shouldn't miss this season. Let's start with the sets - they are all excellent, and many use real old furniture and other props to add to the realism. There are many varied scenes, including a morgue, doctor's reception room, doll room, library, cannibal kitchen, clown room, boiler room, funeral parlor and many more. Also, as the haunt is held in an old abandoned clubhouse, many of the rooms are actual room as opposed to just painted walls, which simply adds another level of excellence. Some of our favorite sets included the funeral parlor scene, which made good use of pneumatics to add to the creepiness, the opening morgue/doctor's office area, and a rather cool painted room with a creepy Clockwork Orangeish clown character standing right in the middle of it. The simplicity of the room itself enhanced the actor's portrayal and the overall experience. And speaking of actors, they really do make Lake Hills a must visit haunt. While sets are obviously a very cool and fun to look at aspect of a haunt, it's really the actors that make or break a haunted house. After all, you could have a series of simply painted wall flats and if you add some good actors you can make a great scene out of that. All the fancy sets in the world can't make up for boring, unenthusiastic or repetitive acting performances. Thankfully, again, Lake Hills excels in this area. Although many of the actors are younger (high school age), they are enthusiastic and varied in their performances, and really give the scenes that extra thing thy need to make them really memorable. We enjoyed every single room we went through - they were all filled with actors and many of them had unique character traits, making each performance an individual one instead of a mere copy of someone else's. Some of our favorite performers this time around included the creepy "doctor" in the beginning and his screaming victim. He was creepy enough in his makeup, but he had an earnestness about him that really indicated that he loved his work. In a really nice character moment, as we were leaving the scene he came up to the screaming patient, put his hand over her mouth and gently said "shhhh" - not to us, but to her. As we turned to go to the next room, we could see the doctor, still holding his hand over his patient's mouth, just watching us go. It was entertaining and unsettling at the same time.
And the great acting continued - the previously mentioned clown character is a great example. He was standing in a painted hallway with no props or other actors. He did little but just stand there, but he didn't have to do more - it was creepy and odd and funny at the same time. Some other standouts included the cannibal cook who reminded us of Matthew McConaughey from the movie Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation who seemed to really enjoy having guests for dinner and the three actors in the library scene (the girl banging her book against the wall, the guy shaking in the chair, and the crazy guy pounding a fake potted tree against the floor). They were all just doing their own crazy thing. Why was that guy beating up a tree? Who knows, but it was hilarious! We can honestly say we've never seen an actor beating up on a fake tree in any haunt we've ever been to! Other standouts included the girls in the doll room, the girl who popped out from the top of a dresser, and the girls in the final room, one of whom provides a great surprise just as visitors exit the haunt. We won't spoil it - just go see it! And of course we cannot mention Lake Hills without a mention of Mike Myers, who provides some great pre and post-haunt entertainment. |
CommentaryMAP
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He's one of our favorite Mike Myers of all time, and he's ALWAYS there - whether you're standing in line or walking through the cemetery after the haunt, or walking to your car in the parking lot, he will find you. We always enjoy it when Mike Myers shows up in any haunt, and Lake Hills has one of the best. Haunt season wouldn't be the same without seeing him there. And one more special mention to the creepy clowns from All American Terrors who made the haunt even more fun! If you hate clowns they'll love you!
In short, Lake Hills is everything we look for in a haunt. It's funny, creepy, creative, and overall it's enjoyable. We love it ever year. While we wouldn't consider it hardcore (so if you like your haunts so intense that they keep you up for weeks afterwards you might not be crazy about it), it's got an almost perfect balance of great haunt elements. It's been a go to haunt for us since it opened, and it should be for you, too. Take your friends, especially if they get scared easily. They won't thank you for it, but you'll get a good laugh, and I'm sure the crew at Lake Hills will be thankful for the new victims!
Congratulations to Lake hills on a great haunt, perhaps the best incarnation yet. We're happy to welcome you to the Horror Tourers Hall of Fame for 2014!
In short, Lake Hills is everything we look for in a haunt. It's funny, creepy, creative, and overall it's enjoyable. We love it ever year. While we wouldn't consider it hardcore (so if you like your haunts so intense that they keep you up for weeks afterwards you might not be crazy about it), it's got an almost perfect balance of great haunt elements. It's been a go to haunt for us since it opened, and it should be for you, too. Take your friends, especially if they get scared easily. They won't thank you for it, but you'll get a good laugh, and I'm sure the crew at Lake Hills will be thankful for the new victims!
Congratulations to Lake hills on a great haunt, perhaps the best incarnation yet. We're happy to welcome you to the Horror Tourers Hall of Fame for 2014!