9531 S. 52nd AVENUE, OAK LAWN, IL
Year: 2015
This year we paid a return visit to a first year haunt from last year, Midnight Terror in Oak Lawn. This is a former home haunt turned professional, which debuted last year. We liked it, but felt that it was missing a lot, as if it couldn't expand to fit the new, larger space. Thus, this year, we hoped that it had improved. We're happy to say that it has improved and expanded enough to fit into the space it now occupies.
Located in an old lumber mill, Midnight Terror now consists of two separately themed haunts under one roof. Visitors pass from one to the other, with short introductions for each. The first is a factory run by a demon and the second features a hospital theme. Together, both run about 15 minutes, which is considerably longer than the running time for last year. Much of Midnight Terror has bee improved upon, particularly the sets, which seemed somewhat spartan last year, with small set pieces connected by long empty corridors with no distinguishing characteristics. This time around all of the scenes and the corridors themselves were detailed or at least textured to give visitors the impression that they were walking through one continuous location as opposed to disparate, unlinked individual set pieces. The factory setting had some well-designed scenes, including a boiler room, a tiled shower which sprayed water at visitors, and a wooden-walled and roofed enclosure where actors could stalk from all directions, including from above. The hospital setting was more traditional, with mostly the standard hospital room sets, although there were a couple of clever scenes, including one with two nurses suspended on pedestals by "strings" made of tubes of their own blood. Nicely done. Both the number of actors and the acting had also improved as well. Last year actors were few and far between, but this year there were at least two in each scene, as well as actors in the corridors leading from scene to scene. Acting had improved from almost all screaming/shouting/jumping out to say "boo" or "raar" last year to more varied performances, ranging from creepily silent, to pleading, to whispering, although there were still a number of actors who did the screaming/shouty thing, particularly in the hospital portion. Costuming in many cases was simply more along the lines of clothing specific to a given scene, such as scrubs for the hospital or overalls for the factory. Makeup was mostly that, just makeup, rather than prosthetics or elaborate masks, although there were some of both, particularly in the case of Malum, the giant demon who operated the factory, who stood on a large pedestal and spoke in tongues while two female Furies lured you into his domain, and the face of Midnight Terror's marketing campaign - the masked guy with the giant sledgehammer - who menaced visitors by banging his hammer on hanging walls on either side of the corridor he occupied. Other standout costuming/makeup included a very effective doll room filled with fake (and real) masked doll characters, a church scene with covered forms sitting motionless in the pews, and a creepy doctor character who was operating on a "patient" who was a real amputee - in this case missing his right arm. It was a bold and clever move that upped the reality quotient for Midnight Terror for us. Overall, we'd say that Midnight Terror has made some very good improvements over last year, which make it much more entertaining. There are some points which could still be improved, particularly in terms of actor characterizations, with a few scenes (such as the factory office scene in the beginning) being a bit dull and perhaps not necessary, and the aforementioned propensity of some actors to be of the screaming "get out!" variety, but the new scenes, longer length, and creativity help to mitigate them. |
CommentaryMAP
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Perhaps the best part of Midnight Terror comes at the end, where visitors think the haunt is over. After exiting the hospital, visitors make their way towards what looks like the exit. However, they are surprised by a chainsaw wielding maniac. While this is not at all new in haunted houses, what happens next is. The maniac chases visitors to a maze made up of wire walls, around which and through which multiple other actors with chainsaws move, surrounding the visitors as they try to navigate the wire corridors while avoiding the chainsaws. It's a cacophony of sound and movement, and it's also shrouded in fog, making for some great end of haunt entertainment in the form of watching screaming, shrieking patrons desperately trying to find the real exit. It's something we've not seen in any haunt we've been to before, so some extra points for that!
Midnight Terror continues to grow and expand into a premiere haunt in the southwest suburbs, and we're sure it'll continue to improve in future years as well.
Midnight Terror continues to grow and expand into a premiere haunt in the southwest suburbs, and we're sure it'll continue to improve in future years as well.