Under the pitch-black sky on the cliffs above the San Clemente beach, I have found myself an unintentional guest at a grotesque wedding. A distraught bride with a tattered gown and a face both pale and bloody holds her hands out as she slowly steps in my direction. I glance at the pews on both sides of me to see skeletons and people who look dead in every single row. Just as the bride reaches me, at least one person in each row suddenly stands up and I flee as a wail escapes my throat. casa creepy haunted house

Photo: Thea Rivera

Casa Creepy Haunted House is a yearly event created by the Casa Romantica Cultural Center and Gardens for San Clemente residents and other Orange County guests. Originally created in 2016, this one-weekend haunted house is part of Casa Romantica’s ongoing series of events designed for fun and for the cultural enrichment of SoCal. For Casa Creepy, the Gardens are transformed into a massive haunted house that fills the 2.5 acres of both outdoor gardens and indoor spaces with a family-friendly scary experience. It’s an impressively long experience as well and can last from 10-20 minutes, depending on how quickly you run from the monsters inside.

If you’re the type of person who thinks ‘family-friendly’ can’t also mean legitimately scary, this haunt will change your mind. Casa Creepy is one of the best independent haunted houses in the SoCal area. Its structure is basic and moves from one vignette to another, focusing more on creating creepy or scary moments than on generating a specific story or narrative throughout the entire experience. The success or failure of a haunt like this one depends, then, on how effectively each of those moments and areas turns out to be. Casa Creepy succeeds on all fronts.

Photo: Thea Rivera

First, audiences are intentionally kept small, no more than 4 people at a time. This limitation means that each group encounters every area separately, with scare-actors and automated effects having time to reset before the next participants appear. It’s a great thing, too, because there are some incredible animatronics here that have either been created by hand or modified from store-bought specifically for this haunt and, when they trigger correctly, they cause massive jump-scares. When a 4-foot-long spider springs nearly 3 feet toward you from the darkness underneath a bush, your heart rate is guaranteed to skyrocket.

Photo: Thea Rivera

The scare-actors are equally impressive here for two reasons. First, the actors are great at their job. For those who enjoy haunts, it becomes easier over time to figure out whether a full-sized figure hides a person inside or is just comprised of stuffing. Casa Creepy’s actors are good enough to catch even that sort of participant off guard. For a haunt comprised entirely of volunteers, these actors are nearly perfect in their ability to freeze and appear to be only a mannequin. Even better, they get a chance to do that an amazing number of times, because this haunt has one of the largest number of actors I’ve ever seen in a haunt, including many of the professional theme-park ones. There are monsters everywhere. A jump-scare from the left might prompt a second one from the right and two more from the front and the back. One scene that displays a dinner party that has been invaded by a vampire has almost a dozen other figures seated around the table that are all actual actors. It is very clear that this haunt is something that people are proud to be part of doing, and the sheer number of people working inside this event in costumes or wearing undead faces creates an unexpected addition not seen in most haunted houses – a real sense of joy and excitement from the monsters scaring the audience.

Photo: Thea Rivera

Finally, the location itself plays a large part in the success of this haunt. The first half of Casa Creepy leads participants through the outside gardens. It’s rare to experience a haunt where the sky is open above you and you can hear the waves of the Pacific Ocean crashing in the distance. The path through the gardens is also narrow and twisting which allows for a startling number of scary moments to occur. At one turn a haunted tree promises destruction to trespassers, while the next turn offers a sudden howl that reveals itself to be from a werewolf hidden amongst the branches of a tree just off the path. The outdoor section makes a welcome change to the claustrophobic nature of most haunted houses.

The indoor segment of the haunt adds a different sort of charm to the event. Because this event is created by the actual Casa Romantica Gardens, Casa Creepy has access to the entire space and uses that access perfectly. The largest room becomes a banquet hall while a circular room is transformed into a witch’s ritual space. The strengths of each room become part of the design for the scares within and it works very, very well.

Photo: Thea Rivera

Special mention needs to be made of the costume and makeup design for the scare-actors. Both aspects were done very well and are as good – if not better – than most professional haunts.

Casa Creepy is a model for what a haunted house should look like. With great design, costumes, scare-actors and animatronics, Casa Creepy is one of the most enjoyable haunts I have been to this year. It’s scary, beautiful and so, so much fun. The dedication and the joy put into this haunt shows throughout the experience and I cannot wait for it to return next year. If you love the classic type of haunted house, Casa Creepy should be at the top of your list. It’s that good.

Photo: Thea Rivera

Casa Creepy has currently finished its one-weekend run. For more information on Casa Romantica and their upcoming events, see their website and follow them on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Check out our Event Guide for more Halloween and horror entertainment throughout the year.

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