200 N. Spring Street, Elgin, IL
year: 2012
NOTE: Psychosis does not allow photographs, so all photos in this review come from the "buried alive" attraction that was featured in the waiting area.
Psychosis is one of the brand new haunts that the Tourers visited in 2012, and it happened somewhat by accident. For the first time, the Tourers made it to the farther northwest suburbs and as we happened to be ahead of schedule (having encountered light lines) we were looking for other haunted houses in the area. As it was early in the season, not many haunts were open, but we happened to notice that Psychosis, which is located in Elgin, was not only open but was only a few minutes away from where we were. Being in the haunting mood and not wanting the evening to end too early, we took a chance and visited. Normally, the Tourers tend to be very selective when it comes to the bigger pay haunts. In our experience, major pay haunts often equate to long lines than can suck up precious haunt time and sometimes wind up being nothing more than elaborate (and expensive) hype machines that surround mediocre haunts. At $16, Psychosis was one of those pay haunts that we were skeptical about, as it could have turned out to be a long wait in line for a short, dull experience, leaving us unsatisfied and $16 poorer. Fortunately, though, this turned out not to be the case, and our chance visit to Psychosis wound up being a good one. Most notably, and probably since it was the first weekend of the season, there was no line. In fact, we were basically the only people there. I don't know if this made for a better experience, but it certainly took away the issue of crowd control (or lack of it), as well as the problem of a long wait. |
Upon entering, the waiting areas was designed like a downtown area, with mock storefonts and even newspaper kiosks. It was an odd choice for a waiting area as it really had nothing to do with a haunted house, but nevertheless the detail was very well done. The "rules" part of the haunt took place in a simulated church at a funeral service, complete with wooden pews, coffin, and minister. The minister character read the rules to us in an exaggerated Southern accent, asking us to shout "amen" with him after certain parts. Personally I (Bryan) get embarassed at such audience participation type things, but this time was a bit different as Paul would up being a target of the minister's wrath (and attempts at humor) so it was mildly amusing and not necessarily embarassing. I will say that the scene went on too long and was too exaggerated, but at least the actor did have some acting chops and put some effort into it. I kept expecting someone to jump out of the coffin in the scene, so there was a bit of tension, too (it didn't happen).
Following the rules we entered the haunt itself.The entire routine came off as cheesy, long, stupid and unnecessary. I mean, in order to avoid this whole, pointless thing, the person at the front door could have simply said “don’t touch the actors, no swearing, no cell phones or lighters…” and it would have been over in 15 seconds. But, instead, I sat in a pew with some guy telling me to scream halleluiah, warning me not to be like “Bob” or whatever he named the unseen body in the coffin, and rambled on and on and on with unnecessary dialogue.
.
Following the introduction, we found ourselves in a restaurant setting, complete with bored waitress and plates of food full of roaches. The waitress led us into the kitchen area, where the "chef" was waiting for us. He did a lot of interacting with us, including banging pots and pans around, making us look into pots, and even making us sing a song. I can't remember the song, but I do remember thinking that the haunt seemed extremely lame, and hoping that this type of scene - the one with actors who tell stories and force participation - was the exception rather than the rule. Turns out it was the only one like that, which was good!
After finally getting out of the kitchen, we found ourselves exploring a number of detailed scenes, including a stone-walled area with multiple coffins, one of which we had to choose to go through, catacombs, a freezer with full size hanging bodies, and a giant Egyptian tomb scene, complete with pyramid facade and elaborate Egyptian mummies. No live actors were in this portion, but the set detail actually rendered their presence unnecessary and heightened the creepiness factor.
Another cool room was the laser light room, where a bright laser light shines down from the ceiling and visitors have to walk towards it. Although many haunts have this type of room, usually the laser is confined to a corridor that visitors have to walk down, This room was very large and had a half wall creating a maze from start to finish. The laser served to both disorient visitors and to guide them through the maze. It was a nice twist on a commonly used idea.
Another standout was the Phantom of the Opera room, which was another half walled maze that visitors had to make their way through, all the while being taunted by an actor dressed as the Phantom, who ran and jumped along the walls, incessantly talking about how visitors had entered his domain. He was entertaining, though, and since the walls were only halfway up, we were able to get through without much effort.
Overall, Psychosis took about 20 minutes to get through, which is definitely on the high end of a professional haunt. While there were not many actors, the elaborate and large sets really did make up for that, and we found ourselves taking the time to examine the sets in details while moving from room to room. All of the actors had good costumes and make up and, with the exception of the awful chef character (who was bad enough to be embarrassing) and the over the top[ preacher (who was amusing but with an overly long schtick) the acting was decent, too.
All in all, we were impressed y the scale of the haunt and by the detail put into it. While not all of the actors were great, and while there weren't that many in the haunt (which some might find a negative), we enjoyed the experience, and would recommend a visit. The owners/operators all seemed very sincere in their desire to provide a quality haunt, and that seemed to come through during our visit.
Following the rules we entered the haunt itself.The entire routine came off as cheesy, long, stupid and unnecessary. I mean, in order to avoid this whole, pointless thing, the person at the front door could have simply said “don’t touch the actors, no swearing, no cell phones or lighters…” and it would have been over in 15 seconds. But, instead, I sat in a pew with some guy telling me to scream halleluiah, warning me not to be like “Bob” or whatever he named the unseen body in the coffin, and rambled on and on and on with unnecessary dialogue.
.
Following the introduction, we found ourselves in a restaurant setting, complete with bored waitress and plates of food full of roaches. The waitress led us into the kitchen area, where the "chef" was waiting for us. He did a lot of interacting with us, including banging pots and pans around, making us look into pots, and even making us sing a song. I can't remember the song, but I do remember thinking that the haunt seemed extremely lame, and hoping that this type of scene - the one with actors who tell stories and force participation - was the exception rather than the rule. Turns out it was the only one like that, which was good!
After finally getting out of the kitchen, we found ourselves exploring a number of detailed scenes, including a stone-walled area with multiple coffins, one of which we had to choose to go through, catacombs, a freezer with full size hanging bodies, and a giant Egyptian tomb scene, complete with pyramid facade and elaborate Egyptian mummies. No live actors were in this portion, but the set detail actually rendered their presence unnecessary and heightened the creepiness factor.
Another cool room was the laser light room, where a bright laser light shines down from the ceiling and visitors have to walk towards it. Although many haunts have this type of room, usually the laser is confined to a corridor that visitors have to walk down, This room was very large and had a half wall creating a maze from start to finish. The laser served to both disorient visitors and to guide them through the maze. It was a nice twist on a commonly used idea.
Another standout was the Phantom of the Opera room, which was another half walled maze that visitors had to make their way through, all the while being taunted by an actor dressed as the Phantom, who ran and jumped along the walls, incessantly talking about how visitors had entered his domain. He was entertaining, though, and since the walls were only halfway up, we were able to get through without much effort.
Overall, Psychosis took about 20 minutes to get through, which is definitely on the high end of a professional haunt. While there were not many actors, the elaborate and large sets really did make up for that, and we found ourselves taking the time to examine the sets in details while moving from room to room. All of the actors had good costumes and make up and, with the exception of the awful chef character (who was bad enough to be embarrassing) and the over the top[ preacher (who was amusing but with an overly long schtick) the acting was decent, too.
All in all, we were impressed y the scale of the haunt and by the detail put into it. While not all of the actors were great, and while there weren't that many in the haunt (which some might find a negative), we enjoyed the experience, and would recommend a visit. The owners/operators all seemed very sincere in their desire to provide a quality haunt, and that seemed to come through during our visit.