Fright Dome brings screams and terror in 15th anniversary celebration
KILLER CLOWNS IN 4D
via Fright Dome
Description: Enter the neon, luminescent world of crazed clowns in this nightmarish world of painted freaks and jesters gone wickedly wild!
Thoughts: I know I just mentioned clowns being overused, but I do have to give credit where credit is due. I notoriously hate 3D houses; they typically never do anything for me, as I feel like they detract from the scares, but Fright Dome has managed to pull it off in ways that few haunts can. The 3D glasses give off a disorienting feel as guests are guided through the labyrinth maze filled with actors dressed as clowns, neon colors, and animatronics. This haunt is definitely made to confuse you as you wander through but luckily there is so much to look at and be amazed by that it doesn’t deter from the experience. I’m glad that Fright Dome was once again able to impress me with their use of 3D tricks to make for a fully entertaining maze.
ZOMBIE CITY
via Fright Dome
Description: As one of the largest haunted houses in Fright Dome history, ZOMBIE CITY will put you at the heart of all that is evil. Doctors could not save them… Law enforcement could not stop them… can you escape them or will you become the next human they hunt?
Thoughts: Again, I know I mentioned how tired I am of zombies, but really, out of all the overused horror tropes, zombies definitely take the cake. I can understand why newbie horror fans love them, and I respect what “The Walking Dead” has done to modernize zombies, but for me, I’m pretty much over them as a whole. This is not towards just movie, but to haunts as well, as they are so often seen, along with their chainsaw contemporaries, that they have become a caricature of themselves. Zombie City isn’t bad, not by a long shot, but it is a tired subgenre that needs to be changed. I appreciate the lengths that the team went to in creating the world that we were immersed in as it was definitely an improvement from last year, but I hope in the years to come there will be a departure from using the iconic un-dead for more unique monsters to haunt our nightmares.
HEX
via Fright Dome
Description: Hidden deep within the Adventuredome in the mountainside, chants and spells abound in this backwoods lair of voodoo. You’ve heard the stories but didn’t believe in black magic. Will you escape this demonic labyrinth or forever be damned when a hex falls upon you?
Thoughts: One of the newest mazes for 2017 was the voodoo-inspired Hex. The voodoo theme can be a hard nut to crack at times, but I really love what the Fright Dome team created with their version. Human sacrifices, rituals, cannibalism, swamps, it was all there for us to experience. This haunt was one of the few that I felt had an actual cohesive story from start to finish. Our guide led us down narrow paths where foliage hung from the ceiling to create an atmosphere of being in the Louisiana swamps. I wouldn’t necessarily call this haunt scary, but it did have an eerie presence that lent itself perfectly to a feeling of discomfort by all those who dared to go through.
LIGHTS OUT
via Fright Dome
Description: Separated from everything and everyone – all you have for survival is yourself and a flashlight. Will it be enough….? Or will the next visitor find your remains in Fright Dome’s famed isolation-style house?
Thoughts: Out of all the haunts that I went through Lights Out was by far the best at Fright Dome. Not only do you go through the maze alone, which I absolutely loved, but you are given a faulty flashlight as well as one hell of a surprise ending. As someone who has a fear of dolls, Lights Out perfectly encapsulated that fear for me while legitimately making me feel uneasy through ⅔ of the experience. However, my favorite part was definitely the end. I don’t want to give it away in case they bring it back next year, but man, they hit a home run with this haunt. No other maze of the night even comes close to the expertly crafted design of this haunt and I have to applaud the whole team for pulling this off so successfully.
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Overall, Fright Dome really brought their A-game and impressed me with their creativity and passion for scaring their fans. Though I think it’s time to retire the zombie and chainsaw scares, there is still a lot of good to be said about Hex and Lights Out. Hell, I would even go so far as to say keep the clowns, as that house continues to be one of my favorite 3D houses ever. I’m super proud of what the Fright Dome team put together this year, and if it’s any indication of what the following year will bring, then haunt fans are going to be in for one hell of scary good time.
Find more horror genre coverage from Shannon McGrew at her website Nightmarish Conjurings.