The door bends under the weight of the bodies, oscillating back and forth. Through the window, I see them: patients of the ward—but they look more like zombies to me. Bloodthirsty and ravenous, they see me—and they’re trying to break down the door to get to me. Luckily, it’s barred, but I have no idea how long that will last. The door groans and cracks—it’s about to break. Bang! I can’t look. But there’s no arms on me. There are no teeth sinking into my skin. Bang! I open my eyes and see blood and brains splattered against the shattered glass. Shotgun blasts directly into the skulls of the undead. I’m safe—but for how much longer? Bram Castle is Elm Street Productions first Home Haunt.

Bram Castle is Elm Street Productions’ first home haunt—and an incredible foray into the medium. After attending a haunt convention in April, they decided they wanted to try their hand at a home haunt and decided to join the passionate community of LA home haunters. Running at 8 to 10 minutes and located in Hawthorne, CA, this experience leads you through a castle setting full of zombies, torture chambers, and more, until you exit into a full cornfield maze that audiences can navigate, complete with multiple dead ends.

The sets, décor, and theming here is an absolute highlight. While thirty of their handcrafted castle wall panels were stolen just weeks before they opened, they prevailed and created more panels to ensure they were ready for the season. And these panels don’t feel like your traditional panels in a haunt; they combine almost seamlessly to create the illusion that you are actually in a castle, traversing its narrow corridors and exploring its laboratories and morgues.

They were able to create such a massive undertaking even though this is a new home to Elm Street Productions. Moving only six weeks ago, they assembled the entire haunt in just a month’s time. Bram Castle takes you up their driveway, through their entire backyard, and into their garage. It’s a great footprint, reminiscent of something like Pirate’s Cave, and the length and scope give you the time to feel fully immersed in the world they have created.

A large part of the immersion comes from their talented actors. While the number of actors may vary day to day, on the Thursday night we attended, they had six actors and a slider. Yes, I said actors. Not all of the people hired are scare actors, but rather, they are trying to place you in theatrical scenes and allow you to be a part of their castle. Of course, there are monsters lurking in the cornfield, including a Michael Myers, meant to scare you—but there’s also doctors in the morgue to progress your story.

There are also some great special effects to further scare you and increase the realism. One of my favorite moments was a video panel of zombies on a door that bent in perfect synchronicity with the video. And when the Deputy enters to kill the zombies, by shooting them in the head, air cannons are fired so that I feel the blast of his weapon. It’s a powerful moment and the combination of it all together makes it feel more real than any other experience in which video projectors have been used.

Elm Street Productions has set a high bar for themselves with Bram Castle. An impressively complex home haunt that excels in its technology, its strong theatrical acting, and its gorgeous sets, this first-year haunt has earned a place at the top of our haunt list for 2021. This could be the next Pirate’s Cave, combining immersive storytelling with great sets and scares. We’re eager to return to the castle to find out more of its secret chambers and labyrinthine corn fields.

For more information on Elm Street Productions, check out their Instagram page. For information about similar events, check out our Event Calendar.

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Elm Street Productions is a home haunt in Hawthorne, CA who presented Bram Castle for the 2021 Haunt Season.