4701 Oakton Avenue, Skokie, IL
Year: 2014
Halloween night 2014 was a bit of a bust - it was cold and rainy (and even snowy), so we made a point of visiting indoor haunts instead of yard displays and home haunts as we might usually do. One of our favorites was Scream Scene, which fortunately helped turn a gloomy Halloween night into a fun event.
Scream Scene is a haunt we've been going to for years. In fact, it's a tradition to head to the north side of Chicago and Skokie to visit a trilogy of great haunts: The Catacombs of St. Pascal's, Hair Razor, and Scream Scene. This year Scream Scene was the only one open Halloween night, and we're happy to say that it was our favorite visit to Scream Scene so far! Scream Scene is a fairly standard haunt in terms of layout, offering various haunted scenes that visitors walk through, as well as a few dark corridors and one maze section. However, there are many clever scenes within Scream Scene that help put it above your average haunt. Some of our favorite scenes this year included the girl's bedroom with the monster hidden inside the pile of stuffed animals. Several years ago, we saw this trick for the very first time at Scream Scene, and we're happy to see that it's still there (and it still works)! Additional cool scenes included a large room filled with glowing dots, amongst which were hidden two actors, also covered with dots. It's a simple technique we've seen many times over the years, but when it's done well it always works, as it did here. Similarly, there was a room filled with neon colored hockey masks on the walls, which included a live actor who also sported a hockey mask - a nice twist on the dot room theme there. We also enjoyed the room with the girl playing with various life sized "dolls" (actually dead humans) that were hanging from the ceiling and walls. Along one wall was a hanging doll that actually was a live actress - she was cleverly concealed within the wall and made for an effective jump scare when she came alive. And we really liked the forest maze, which was a series of white tree trunks lit by strobes. |
CommentaryMAP
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This is another of our favorite scenes in any haunt, but Scream Scene's had the added benefit of having Mike Myers hiding amongst the tree trunks - we still don't know if he was a live actor of not, and he distracted us enough so that we missed the other live actor inside the forest who jumped out to get us.
Finally, we must mention all of the actors - although many are younger, they all perform their parts well and don't overplay and scream too much (despite the haunt name), which can get repetitive and boring. We really enjoyed the crazy barber shop worker who was busy stabbing her customer in the face with scissors, and the ringmaster outside of the clown area (and her creepy clown friend who was sitting on the floor) - the ringmaster told us we were going to the circus, and the creepy clown whispered we were going to die, so we were confused as to which would happen. The ringmaster thoughtfully cleared up the matter for us by telling us that we'd get to see the circus first and THEN we would die. We appreciate the clarification!
In short, 2014 was our favorite visit to Scream Scene out of all the years we've been going there. It was creepy and funny and enjoyable all at the same time. Kudos to everyone involved for making it a great Halloween night experience!
Finally, we must mention all of the actors - although many are younger, they all perform their parts well and don't overplay and scream too much (despite the haunt name), which can get repetitive and boring. We really enjoyed the crazy barber shop worker who was busy stabbing her customer in the face with scissors, and the ringmaster outside of the clown area (and her creepy clown friend who was sitting on the floor) - the ringmaster told us we were going to the circus, and the creepy clown whispered we were going to die, so we were confused as to which would happen. The ringmaster thoughtfully cleared up the matter for us by telling us that we'd get to see the circus first and THEN we would die. We appreciate the clarification!
In short, 2014 was our favorite visit to Scream Scene out of all the years we've been going there. It was creepy and funny and enjoyable all at the same time. Kudos to everyone involved for making it a great Halloween night experience!