421 W. Rollins Road, Round Lake Beach, IL
year: 2013
In describing the Realm of Terror experience we are reminded of the theme from the TV show "The Facts of Life," which starts out with "You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have..." That phrase perfectly sums up Realm of Terror for us.
Realm of Terror was one of those haunts that have been on our list for several years, but one that we never made it to until 2013, both because it is in Round Lake Beach, which is quite a distance from Horror Tourer home base, and also because it is a haunt that is hyped quite a bit, and anyone who knows Horror Tourers knows that extensive hype from a haunt throws up a huge red flag for us. While some haunts certainly do live up to the hype, many do not, and we often tend to leave such visits until the last days of the season or, quite often, simply exclude them in favor of other, lesser known locations. However, we had three new haunts to try in the same area, and we also had a $10 off coupon, which helped bring down the rather steep $25 admission price. Thus, we thought we'd give it a shot. When we arrived we saw that Realm of Terror was held in a Family Fun Center. While we have seen a number of haunts held in such locales, it definitely showed that some of the hype might have been a bit over the top. Nevertheless, we went in to see what it was like. |
Commentary |
The haunt's theme is one of some sort of biological experiment gone wrong, with individuals sealed inside a secret lab filled with various scientists and experiments. It starts out in an elevator. As visitors watch a movie about the "lab" there is an accident, and they find out that something has happened down below. Naturally, before anyone can escape, they wind up in the middle of it. A decent premise to start, and the elevator scene was quite well done. We were expecting some type of monster of creature to jump out at us at any moment. Following the announcement of the "emergency," visitors wind their way through the underground lab, which is the portion of Realm of Terror that really shines.
For a haunt held in a Fun Center, there was a lot of effort put into the set design. The lab scenes are elaborate, with many featuring sparking, blinking, or otherwise moving machinery, and the actors are top notch. They run the gamut from young to old, male and female, large and small, humorous to creepy. Each has their own personality and, like actors in the best haunts, each acts as though visitors are simply interrupting their daily routine, as if they would act the way they do without anyone watching. This makes for a more realistic experience overall.
Realm of Terror excelled at placing actors in unusual places as well. There were numerous actors hanging from the ceilings and crawling up the sides of walls, or popping out of fake doors or from under props. Some standouts included the two actors suspending themselves from the walls of a long, strobe lit corridor, the actor swinging from the ceiling singing "Cabaret," and a crazy older doctor who was very into explaining his experiments to us.
Perhaps the best scene in our opinion was an operating or autopsy table with a lower torso on it. The upper portion of the torso was hanging from the nearby wall, and the two were connected by stringy guts. We were trying to figure out how to get past the guts, which were blocking our path, when suddenly the upper torso on the wall came alive - a live actor was somehow hidden in the wall above the fake (or what looked to be fake) torso. It was a very clever and effective scene - one of many surprises in the main lab portion.
Ok, so that's the good. But what about the bad? Well, the first 2/3 of the haunt really exceeded our expectations. It was a 5/5 for us, and we were thinking of naming Realm of Terror as one of our favorites haunts of 2013. However, this story has a rather disappointing ending. The last 1/3 of the haunt consisted of a dark/light maze and - well, that's it. After all of the great, elaborate scenes in the main portion, the final sections consisted of stumbling through a mainly totally white maze with strobe lights that served to completely disorient you. We had no idea where anything was, not even the walls or floors. There was no ability to even make out where the walls ended and the floors began, so we wound up baby-stepping our way along whatever wall we could find until we bumped into a dead end and had to turn elsewhere. It was not fun at all. In fact, it was the complete opposite of fun, and quickly brought the 5/5 rating down.
While we understand that many haunts have dark or white mazes in them, we are not fans of when they are simply used to disorient and provide some confused filler space within a haunt instead of other scenes. In Realm of Terror there were no actors or creatures within the white maze, and no real explanation of why we were there. Were we supposed to find the exit? Was this just a small section? We didn't know. It turned out to be quite a long section, which made it worse. The only bright spot was, when were were nearing the end, we could finally hear the sound of a heart monitor beeping - as we got closer to the end it beep louder, which was a nice touch. At least we felt we were working our way towards something.
Overall, we still liked Realm of Terror very much, but to be honest, the white maze at the end turned it from a "must do" for 2014 to a "maybe if we are in the area." While it was decent for $15, we certainly wouldn't pay full price ($25) for another visit. Our suggestion? Make the white maze a white corridor - no twists or turns, just a short corridor leading to the exit. Keep the heart monitor beep that gets louder as you get closer to the end, too. The first part is outstanding and with some changes, the last part could be much better. If you want to check it out for yourself, be sure to look out for discounts on the web or on the Realm of Terror web site.
For a haunt held in a Fun Center, there was a lot of effort put into the set design. The lab scenes are elaborate, with many featuring sparking, blinking, or otherwise moving machinery, and the actors are top notch. They run the gamut from young to old, male and female, large and small, humorous to creepy. Each has their own personality and, like actors in the best haunts, each acts as though visitors are simply interrupting their daily routine, as if they would act the way they do without anyone watching. This makes for a more realistic experience overall.
Realm of Terror excelled at placing actors in unusual places as well. There were numerous actors hanging from the ceilings and crawling up the sides of walls, or popping out of fake doors or from under props. Some standouts included the two actors suspending themselves from the walls of a long, strobe lit corridor, the actor swinging from the ceiling singing "Cabaret," and a crazy older doctor who was very into explaining his experiments to us.
Perhaps the best scene in our opinion was an operating or autopsy table with a lower torso on it. The upper portion of the torso was hanging from the nearby wall, and the two were connected by stringy guts. We were trying to figure out how to get past the guts, which were blocking our path, when suddenly the upper torso on the wall came alive - a live actor was somehow hidden in the wall above the fake (or what looked to be fake) torso. It was a very clever and effective scene - one of many surprises in the main lab portion.
Ok, so that's the good. But what about the bad? Well, the first 2/3 of the haunt really exceeded our expectations. It was a 5/5 for us, and we were thinking of naming Realm of Terror as one of our favorites haunts of 2013. However, this story has a rather disappointing ending. The last 1/3 of the haunt consisted of a dark/light maze and - well, that's it. After all of the great, elaborate scenes in the main portion, the final sections consisted of stumbling through a mainly totally white maze with strobe lights that served to completely disorient you. We had no idea where anything was, not even the walls or floors. There was no ability to even make out where the walls ended and the floors began, so we wound up baby-stepping our way along whatever wall we could find until we bumped into a dead end and had to turn elsewhere. It was not fun at all. In fact, it was the complete opposite of fun, and quickly brought the 5/5 rating down.
While we understand that many haunts have dark or white mazes in them, we are not fans of when they are simply used to disorient and provide some confused filler space within a haunt instead of other scenes. In Realm of Terror there were no actors or creatures within the white maze, and no real explanation of why we were there. Were we supposed to find the exit? Was this just a small section? We didn't know. It turned out to be quite a long section, which made it worse. The only bright spot was, when were were nearing the end, we could finally hear the sound of a heart monitor beeping - as we got closer to the end it beep louder, which was a nice touch. At least we felt we were working our way towards something.
Overall, we still liked Realm of Terror very much, but to be honest, the white maze at the end turned it from a "must do" for 2014 to a "maybe if we are in the area." While it was decent for $15, we certainly wouldn't pay full price ($25) for another visit. Our suggestion? Make the white maze a white corridor - no twists or turns, just a short corridor leading to the exit. Keep the heart monitor beep that gets louder as you get closer to the end, too. The first part is outstanding and with some changes, the last part could be much better. If you want to check it out for yourself, be sure to look out for discounts on the web or on the Realm of Terror web site.