HOUSE OF SHOCK

I lost my haunted house virginity to the House of Shock. I was nervous beforehand because I hate anything scary. However, it seems that haunted houses don’t necessarily mean scary houses.

House of Shock is visually interesting. Outside there’s a festival atmosphere, and inside there’s a lot to absorb. There’s a lot of detail in the props, the make-up and the sets. The graveyard stood out as extremely realistic. But it wasn’t frightening. I admit to getting startled by a few people in dark corners. I also wasn’t overjoyed about the guy in a mask who ran up and fake-chainsawed the back of my leg, but that was the worst of it. At the end, I wasn’t sure whether to feel relieved or cheated of what I thought would be a terrifying experience. I do know this much: if it weren’t that expensive and if people hadn’t rubbed my arm with sketchy wet fur in the swamp room, I’d do it again. Cost: $25

THE MORTUARY

The Mortuary has a “theme” based on the Bloody Mary myth, which says that if you repeat the words “Bloody Mary” three times before a mirror, “Mary” will appear and kill you.

For me, The Mortuary is lacking in the smoke-and-mirrors area. It didn’t look like there were as many actors as in the House of Shock, and the ones they did have just stood there and leered at me.

The props and sets all looked nice, but because there wasn’t a large cast, it just felt like a museum of grisly props. There weren’t any real scares, and I felt disappointed at the end. The commercial for The Mortuary is scarier than the actual haunt, which is a shame since it’s on the site of a real, supposedly haunted mortuary. If the owners would capitalize on that and put more effort into scaring people, then it might be worth the admission. Cost: $25. Oct. 13 is Slasher Night, when tickets are half price. This does not apply online.

Lora Ghawaly can be reached at [email protected]