Midsummer Scream, Hyde Street Massacre, Home Haunt, Haunt, 2018, Convention, Halloween Hall of Shadows Haunts Hall of Shadows Haunts

Midsummer Scream 2018 Brings The Best Hall of Shadows Haunts Yet – Video & Review

Below are short, bite-sized reviews of the fourteen haunts from Midsummer Scream’s 2018 Hall of Shadows. Accompanying this review is a video teaser of seven randomly selected haunts. Read and watch–and then add these haunts to your Halloween Season calendar!  Thank you to Taylor Winters for helping with this article, Kevin Hsu for filming the walkthroughs, and Jon Kobryn for editing the video! 

 

 

Midsummer Scream offers haunt companies, both large and small, the opportunity to bring a taste of upcoming attractions to the public, to beta test it to an eager audience, and adjust as needed for the ever-growing Halloween season. This also offers haunt-goers a sneak peek at some of the most antiticipated haunted attractions (haunts) of the 2018 Halloween season. This year’s Hall of Shadows gave bite-sized looks at fourteen individual haunts, from home ventures like Twisted Minds Productions to large-scale attractions like Fright Fest, and here’s what Haunting thought of the tricks and treats on display:

Donnie Darko – The Opechee Haunt

A tribute to the film, the Donnie Darko solo haunt by The Opechee Haunt – a home haunt in Glendale run by 15-year-old Sam Kellman – incorporated creepy scenes many fans will recognize. Beautiful set design and some fun lighting – like Frank the Rabbit standing at the end of a hallway backlit by a bright light – put individual participants in the uncomfortable role of Donnie. While only a few actors lived in this space, the atmosphere alone was worth the visit. A fun photo op in the classroom at the end provided a wonderful memento from this world.

 

Midsummer Scream | Donnie Darko Haunt

 

Hyde Street Massacre – The Bloodshed Brothers

Hyde Street Massacre, from Temecula’s Bloodshed Brothers, was the perfect marriage of vintage Halloween decor with modern scares. With a party setting, complete with an entire hallway lined with lit pumpkin trick-or-treat pails, this haunt was incredibly fun. To set the tone, the actors at the start playfully interacted with us, taking photos and allowing us to knock on the door and ask to come in. We walked through some of the best set designs in the convention, from an unsettling living room to a horrifically gory kitchen set with a glowing and smoking fridge. Hyde Street Massacre amped up the experience by including disturbing scents and great actors, providing one of the best haunts at Midsummer Scream.

 

Midsummer Scream | Hyde Street Haunt

 

Camp Calavera – ScareVentures

Camp Calavera, by San Diego’s haunt rental company ScareVentures, welcomed guests to a summer camp where monsters lurked in the woods and bloody campers warned us of our impending doom. Bunk beds, tents, and a forest set helped elevate the great atmosphere of a haunted campsite. One of the best aspects of Camp Calavera was the use of touch–some of the actors made us feel uncomfortable by lightly grazing the back of our necks or getting in close to elicit fear. Finally, the use of bones and deer heads made this a memorable experience.

 

Midsummer Scream | ScareVentures Camp Calavera Haunt

 

#VIRAL – Phobia Productions

Phobia Productions’ #VIRAL found guests victims of the HP18 virus. Brought to a military-grade decontamination site, we went through several chambers of black plastic-lined walls where we waited for various lighting- and fog-driven effects. While we thought the virus would produce some sort of monster/zombie creatures, it felt like we were just generally sick. Some of the actors could have used a bit of work on interacting with the audience, but some stood out in a good way – the military man walking the line out front, the woman behind the intake desk, and the bloody patient who intentionally coughed all over my friends. While it could use some fine-tuning, #VIRAL was nice haunt from the charity-driven Phobia Productions.

 

Midsummer Scream | Viral Haunt

 

 

Asylum – Shattered Realm

A home haunt from La Verne, Shattered Realm brought guests into a bloody Asylum. Shattered Realm included all the medical accoutrements one would find in a haunted asylum, but had only one or two actors, leaving the scares few and far between. The small and simple sets were covered in blood creating an unsettling feeling, as we waited in anticipation for something to pop out at us. The actor checking us into the Asylum wore an effectively creepy mask, which I enjoyed. With a full cast, the sets and imagination of this haunt could make this one to check out this Halloween season.

 

Midsummer Scream | Asylum Haunt

 

Dark Hollow Cemetery – HallowEve Designs

HallowEve Designs creates mobile haunt attractions, and showcased their newest design with their Dark Hollow Cemetery haunt. A pop-up that is ideal for home haunts, the tent is the size of a trash can and inflates to an adjustable space, offering eight different rooms (four on each side of a hallway made for actors to move between rooms) or one large space if opened. Dark Hollow Cemetery was surprisingly large for how it appeared on the outside, had classic music (the theme to Halloween), and was decorated with several moving tombstones and mannequins wearing disturbing costumes. Although no actors were working the haunt, this was more of a tech demo to showcase this innovative new structure and how it could be a successful option for smaller home haunts, with or without actors.

 

Midsummer Scream | Dark Hollow Cemetery Haunt

 

Cold Storage – HallowEve Designs

The second haunt by HallowEve Designs’ was a mobile Terror Truck: Cold Storage. This was the more intense of the two trucks brought to Midsummer Scream. With a human meat locker theme, the space was utilized extremely well, with many tight twists and turns to make the space feel larger. The start revealed multiple bloody bodies hanging from the ceiling, cold temperature, air blasts and water effects. HallowEve also incorporated electric shocks and a compression tunnel to instill dread for the claustrophobic. While Cold Storage sometimes uses an actor for an opening scene, no actor was present at Midsummer, so we went an alternate, but excellently designed, route. Cold Storage was a blast, and a cool way to make your event stand-out this October.

 

Midsummer Scream | Cold Storage Haunt

 

 

Black Bayou – HallowEve Designs

HallowEve Designs’ other Terror Truck, Black Bayou, was a perfect demo for spooky ambiance. The swamp theme of Black Bayou lent itself to spectacular set designs full of reeds and vines, animals nestled in their foggy environment, a soft mossy floor, green lasers permeating the fog, and a rickety bridge that can shock unsuspecting guests. There was also an actor in a ghillie suit hidden within the reeds in case guests lost their sense of direction in the tight quarters that felt expansive regardless. A simply beautiful addition to the haunt scene, Black Bayou could provide a perfect experience for guests who are a little more timid or not into the gore factor present in Cold Storage – or be made more intense by placing well-hidden actors throughout the space.

 

Midsummer Scream | Black Bayou Haunt

 

Dead Zone 805

Dead Zone 805 is a Ventura-based mobile escape room that brought a haunt to Midsummer Scream. Making effective use of their one-room space, Dead Zone had a handful of guests peeking through a small window into what seemed like a holding room for a monster. Initially chained up, the monster roared and shook the place in fury, translating the scares inside the room through the floorboards below so all guests could feel them. But when the lights went out and came back on, the monster had escaped from his restraints and now was far closer. It was sometimes hard to see what was happening through the window, but the sets and mask used were great, as were the jump scares and feeling of dread when the door protecting us from the monster slowly began to open.

 

Midsummer Scream | Dead Zone 805 Haunt

 

Anneliese – Twisted Minds Productions

Twisted Minds Productions, a team composed entirely of teenagers, presented a short version of their full Anneliese experience. Guests were welcomed into the home of Anneliese Michel, a young girl who has been possessed. Throughout the impeccably designed structure, the use of sound, creepy contortions, blood and attention to details culminated in several brilliant demonic jump scares. Anneliese’s final Exorcist-like effect was innovative and fantastically unsettling. This brief haunt was stellar and memorable by any standards and I can’t wait for the full-length event!

 

Midsummer Scream | Anneliese Haunt

 

Seance: The Nightmare Begins – The Dreich Society

The Dreich Society, home haunters in Ontario, brought a taste of Seance: The Nightmare Begins. Inviting guests into the haunted Wexler estate catacombs, the spirit hunters of The Dreich Society warn us of the dangers to come if we proceed further into the tombs. The simple ghost story had some great set pieces, like a moving wall, and a claustrophobic rotating elevator that was utilized to brilliantly switch locations. Even though the acting varied through the experience and the story came off slightly cheesy, The Dreich Society had some great ideas with Seance, and can only get better with time.

 

Midsummer Scream | Séance: The Nightmare Begins Haunt

 

Trick R Treat – Murder House Productions

Murder House Productions, based out of Thousand Oaks, should be on everyone’s radar because they are easily one of the best home haunts in the country. Taking inspiration from popular movies, MHP produced an Evil Dead-themed maze in 2016 and brought their 2017 Trick R Treat maze to Midsummer Scream for those who missed it. With them-park-production quality, Trick R Treat reveals an entire narrative that spans multiple locations within their small facade. Starting in the woods and encountering a ravenous  little Red Riding Hood and wolf, we enter a quaint home–and meet Sam. The beauty of this haunt resides in the details: the sound of shattering glass as a hallway turns dark, props from the movie littering the top of the dresser, the talent of the numerous actors, and a soundtrack that enhances the scares. This haunt is proof of where the future of home haunts is headed.

 

 

Fright Fest – 6 Flags Magic Mountain

6 Flags Magic Mountain brought one of my favorite parts of last year’s Fright Fest to Midsummer Scream, The Witches Lair. The neon, black-light illuminated forest set only spanned maybe eighty feet, but it was a nice little taste of what will be expanded in October. The twisted creatures and statues provided a grim and uneasy take on typical fairy tale iconography. Through the fog, guests could make out a man walking on stilts on all fours, while additional actors haunted guests through the dim, hazy lights. It was a wonderful introduction to the darker parts of the Hall of Shadows.

 

 

Castle Frankenstein – CalHaunts

Castle Frankenstein, by haunters’ society CalHaunts, adorned the entrance to the Hall of Shadows. While not a proper walk-thru haunt, Castle Frankenstein had absolutely stunning sets and props – including an electrified bed where the Doctor’s creation waited for life – lighting, fog and sounds. With several seasoned actors interacting with the audience, playfully sizing up our body parts for harvesting, the experience was quick but potent. Later in the day, an extra actor was added inside the castle to jump scare passersby. CalHaunts packed a lot of brilliance into a short experience; I would love to see a full haunt by them in the future.

 

Midsummer Scream | Castle Frankenstein Haunt

 

For a full list of haunt attractions coming in October, check out our Event Guide. Happy haunting!

Hall of Shadows; Hall of Shadows; Hall of Shadows; Hall of Shadows; Hall of Shadows. Hall of Shadows; Hall of Shadows; Hall of Shadows; Hall of Shadows; Hall of Shadows. 

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About The Author

Lacey Pawlowicz
Ever since seeing Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” music video, Lacey has been obsessed with all things horror and Halloween. Now, she watches, produces and acts in horror films, and is lucky enough to attend haunts/immersive events and write about them. Groovy!

2 Comments

  • Randy on August 2, 2018

    Hello,
    Great article and review! I myself am part of the CalHauntS family in which most run, participate & operate Home, Yard, Garage, Porch, Driveway, Maze or Pro Haunts. We all came together to build and erect this Hall of Shadows Frankenstein’s Castle for Midsummer Scream 2018. It was a pleasure helping build something so wonderfully scary & sinister. A huge collaboration between many members who gave up countless hours, days, weekends and many times weekdays as well. A huge cheers and pats on the back to all my fellow haunt family who lent a helping hand. Thank you to all! Cheers!

    Randy
    Desert Decay Manor
    http://www.desertdecaymanor.com (under construction)
    West Palm Springs Village/Whitewater CA

  • Havoc on August 2, 2018

    Great write up. You are the first I’ve found who reviewed our haunt #Viral. And you got the story line exactly. The HP-18 Virus is a hyped up flu virus that causes fluelike symptoms leading to insanity and death. Our team is a mix of seasoned actors with up to 30 years in professional haunts, including the big parks, first timers and family. This is our first year using the inflatable system alone and we are working out a few kinks but I hope we managed to put on a good show. With the set dressing and props limited by the tent structure we wanted to focus on strong story line. Also it’s very hard to scare the hardcore fans and induatry pros attending MSS. So we let the rookies tell the story and the vets try for a scare here and there. I know we got some good screams and a lot of smiles and a few people wondering if they had caught some virus so I have to say I’m proud of my crew.
    Thanks again for the write up and , so far the only one who got any good video in our dark halls. Hit us up next year and we can set up a video friendly walkthrough.

    Phobia Productions
    “The Fear is Here”

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