This is a really smart haunt -- it plays off other senses in addition to seeing and hearing, and doesn't just go for the cheap gore or startle response; ghouls take their time in their scenes and seem both very creative and professional. Someone was very thoughtful in putting this together, and in scenes that seem standard to a typical haunt (prisoner behind bars, severed body parts, etc), they give things a little extra oomph, while at the same time keeping everything right on the edge so it doesn't get so exaggerated it becomes boring (for example, the gore is used only when it makes sense for the scene, and since it's used sparingly and paired with smell, it's more effective than it might otherwise be). And I have to say, the disorientation/misdirection with the clown was top notch and THANK SATAN there were no clowns with chainsaws or Killer Klown masks; that's so cliched at this point. Haunt proper took about 25 minutes to get through, and miracle of miracles, we never ran into another group while there, so they must pace things well. This is probably the best haunt we've been to this year; only criticism is that there sometimes seems to be a good deal of dark space between scenes, though this was also taken advantage of at times and never devolved into a boring maze. My hat (scalp?) is off to the House of Darkness.

HOT TIP: Interact with the ghouls! Some of them seemed awfully clever...