2012 Event Reviews

This was my first year at this haunt and it was beast!!! It was not some haunt that was just thrown together to make a couple of bucks. You can tell who ever made this put some thought into what they were making. The haunt took about 20 min to go through. The actors did a good job in my opinion. I rarely seen anything coming before it happen. The bedroom scene was the best I have to agree!!! I seen other reviews mentioning masks. There were some, but the actors made them work!!! Make-up or masks??? Who cares!!! I just wanted to be get the crap scared out of me and they delivered!!! Thank you factory of fear for a fun night!!!

Each year my family and I attend The Dark Side.This year was by far the best!Its a different set up then last year and they have alot more! After buying the tickets you have to wait until they are ready for the next group which took about 10 minutes after that they tell you a story about the place and you begin to walk up the hill. When you get to the top your group will be split up and will have to go in 2's.There is much more that you do at this haunt but I dont want to give any away.It took my group and I around 30 mins to get threw maybe a little more because we got lost in the maze

I went to this haunted Attraction on there first day of operation ever. Got there at 07:30pm on September 28th,2012. i went with 9 other people we all drove from Illinois. I plan a big Haunted House Trip Every year and this year since this was a new attraction wanted to check it out. when we got there it was hard to see the sign the only way i found it was my GPS and a big frankenstin on the side of the rode wsaying the hills have eyes open today. you have to drive on this creepy back road which is awsome, saw this i thought this was going to be a very creepy haunt, cause its set at a old Ski Hill, no lights in the parking lot very awsome atmosphere for a haunt.

To get your tickets and go to the attraction you had to go down this steep hill like a quarry, when you get closer to the tickt both, its get more of a creepy feeling atmosphere quiet cool creepy night. and they made you sign a waiver which i thought was interested thinking they could touch you the actors would be a more interested haunt but it was jus tin case you trip or hurt yourself on the trail you cant sure

alright we walked past a old set up of a junkyard heading into the first haunt, had to split us up 4 and 5, my group went in first went wth a bunch of people who get scared of haunted houses, when we finally got into the first attraction that when it went down hill. as soon as we walked in there was these two actresses in white dresses, played there parts well wasnt scary they were just fighting who is going to take this gorup then they went back into the spot, next scene was a semi truck, we didnt even reach the truck and this guys says "BOO" really not just tha tpopped out way to soon and had a masked got into one of the girl faces in my group saying boo and rawr, from from there i didnt see no other actors or actresses in rest of trail there were a few scenes but with no actors, u here them talking in the would regular voice, but it was more of a nature walk in the dark then a haunt, the trees were so close to the trail you could of planted so many actors i def would of got scared but no actors until a neaon light area but he just stood there and did nothing, first attraction 2 actors through out the whole trail.

when we got out of the attraction was approached by a staff memeber asking our gorup if we liked it i said there were absolutly no actors anywhere in the attraction just the two when you eneter and one behind the truck that it, he said they were a dozen or more actors in there but mus tof not been in there spot very disappointing.Hoping the next set of attraction was better.

next scene hungery hollow i think it was names, this was alittle better, few good scares and more actors in ther espot, a guy dressed up as hell raiser in the tree awsoem effect, and one acotr got me he was hiding between a to tree stumps in the dark and jump that got me,.

next scare lift, nice 10 min lif up a ski hill great view, when you ge tto the top, there one more attraction underneath a white tent and seriouse the acotrs in there where horrible talkign to each other saying ill scare them over here, and when them come avfte ryou they said rawr and boo and chased you with a battery chainsaw you buy at Sprit halloween,

Thank you haunted barn for a truly awesome experience this year! Creativity runs rampant through this 25 to 30u min adventure. Beetlejuice was as clever as ever as he welcomed at the new entrance that was very neat looking. The actors were cleverly place throughout the barn. The thing i appreciated the most is the improvements to the haunt but more importantly the improvements to the forest. They added more actors in the cemetary and forest. Like i said the creative scares and scenery were amazing! I will say one thing waterfall!

This was our first time ever to this event. In all it was a decent value for the price of admission. I have been to "premium" haunts that cost much more and been very disappointed.First the highlights: The bedroom scene was awesome! I won't ruin the surprise but the actor in this room did an amazing job!
I always get put in front of my group so...
Thank you for performing for me. I am tired of going to haunts where all the actors have been told to scare the middle of he group. This is a good approach except the person in front always gets screwed out of all the action. Again, thank you for giving ME some of the show.That being said, some actors still came out a little early. Some of the scenery was tremendous. Some sets were extremely detailed and set a great scene.
Now for the spots that need a little improvement:
While some sets were amazing the actors in them were wearing masks. I am the type of person that enjoys looking closely at the makeup and costuming. I find that in most cases simple makeup that fits the scene works better than even very expensive masks.
There was quite a bit of light bleed over from other rooms. A simple ceiling (even a black plastic tarp) would stop this and also give a more confined feeling. Also the fog seemed to be pretty much everywhere. Again, a ceiling might help confine it to certain areas. At one point I saw an actor peeking around the corner to see where we were.

Lets start off with the very beginning. Parking! So, when you first some in, there is no lights. Which is fine, but there is no signs either. Very confusing where to get tickets from and where to park/go. Just to mention, I went with a group of 9. So, after we finally find someone to talk to, he directs us behind a house and down a hill. We finally find the ticket booth! As some may know, it costs $23 to get in. As we purchase our tickets, we find out we have to sign a wavier in case of heart attack/tripping in the woods. I thought to myself, this should be great! We have to sign a waiver to get in, should be scary!

So, we go to the first Haunted Trial, "Failed Escape". If you like Haunted Attractions, you usually read up on them and read their back story. Well, this is suppose to be about an abandoned area that held nuclear waste. When we get to the front of the line, the lady asks how many. We say 9. She says, "Okay, groups of 4". We asks if a group of 4 and a group of 5 go through, and shes says that's fine. So my group goes first, and we instantly meet up with the group that was in front of us. Nothing better than seeing the freight before your turn! So we stop and wait. Finally we get to walking, and what the people were saying was humorous. "Boo", "Ahhh", and "Rawr". Last time I checked, those weren't scary. Also, there was no make up, just store bought masks. The theme of the haunt, nuclear waste site, and the theme of the masks didn't match. All of a sudden Pin Face was there... huh? Anyways, walking through the first trail, there was some good things, but mostly bad. It took us about 10 minutes to get through the first trail.

Anyways, onto the second trail! This one is called, "Hunger Hollow". We wait in line about 5-10 min, and the lady asks, "How many people". We say 9. Shes says, "groups of 4". We asks if we can do 4 and 5, like we did the last house. She says, "I don't know, I'm not really sure". So we decide to just do 3/3/3 in this trail. My group was first. This one was okay. Random noises in the woods. However I felt like I was walking through a museum. Instead of people scaring you, it was just scenes. A scene of a butcher, a scene of someone dying, a scene of someone getting their arm cut off. All the same. There were some characters in the woods. One particular laying dressed as shrubs did get us. By the end of the trail, my group of 9 were only 5 seconds apart. This trail took about 10 mins. to walk through. It leads you us to the final attraction...

Scare Lift. This is where you go up the ski hills lift hill. I felt this was the scariest thing for my so far! The sounds as it raddled and creaked, and plus no bar to strap you in. I'm just waiting for someone to fall, because this attraction offers a beer tent, before and after you go through the haunts. Anyways, we get to the top of the hill, its about a 4 min ride on the ski lift. And we see a tent on the top, this could be seen from Rawson Ave if you live in Franklin. As we wait in line, you hear the chain saw stop, its out of gas. It starts again, 5 min go by, and it is out of gas. Finally its our turn and we go in groups of 3 again. This was a fully enclosed tent, so when you walked inside, it was just gas fumes from the chainsaws and it was bad to walk through. There was some good scare moments, but it was just gas smoke and strobe lights with a few monsters behind the walls. This attraction took less than 3 min to go through. As we exited the attraction, they finally opened one end of the tent because it was so smokey in there.

After the last attraction, you walk down the hill, passing the beer tent, and to your car. Your done! As we were saying yesterday, $23 for 23 min of scares. Eh...

The hills has eyes was an enjoyable haunt, but not scary. The woods scenery was nice, the trails were awesome, junkyard props A+, but there was absolutely no scare factor. They try to scare you the same way everytime-the jumping out, and its always by a scene never between scenes, and by the 2nd or 3rd time its just not scary anymore. Most of the scenes were people yelling "help me" it was like i was watching the same scene over and over again. The ski lift was fun-would have been nicer if there were zombies runnine around under us or if we went over the haunt itself, and the lights were a different color and not so bright

My family and I attended the haunted woods @ about 8:30pm.It was very easy to get there and had a big sign so you cant miss it.It being their first night there wasnt many people there(which was a plus for my group and I because,we got to go right away!)So we bought our tickets and headed over to the hearse and got in.Having the hearse is pretty cool because, it adds to the "spooky".The only thing about it that bothered us was that the second you got in there was a pretty bad smell of exhaust.After our ride down into the woods we exited the hearse and made our way further into the woods.The actors were always a cue,and did a great job on scaring the heck outta us!The length was about 35-40 minutes.

This is a truly awesome haunt, highly recommended. The trail through the woods was fantastic and winding enough where it'll be hard for separate groups to bump into each other. There was some really innovative scenes in the woods and the actors did mostly a great job with coming up with characters that didn't rely on the stereotypical "get out" trappings. The old trucks and plow equipment really added to a uniquely creepy environment. I was also glad not to have to smell gas or exhaust fumes which seems to be prevalent in these kinds of outdoor haunts. Who would have thought that the ski lift machinery could be so spooky? Great stuff!

*SPOILERS*

Here is some constructive criticism I have to offer. The haunt could use some better signage. As a skier, my first instinct was to walk into the chalet, but the actual trail to the haunt was off to the side with no lights and some really small signs. Also as a skier I'm used to signing the release form, but I can see where this might take some non-skiers by surprise. It might slow the line down if folks want to take the time to read every line. I would recommend perhaps putting up some large posters of the release form inside the ticket tent so folks can read it while they're waiting in line. This could help move the line better when it gets busier.

Some of the ushering staff and ski lift operators could use some haunting make up to help not break the illusion while standing in line or between haunts. Even the manager who seems to have been present giving directions could have used some make up to that end. While in the first trail there were a few empty spots on the trail that I thought could have benefited from having some miscellaneous zombies milling about, I do think that the 2nd trail suffered a bit from an overabundance of them. The boo! tactic of jumping out and getting that classic cheap scare works good the first time around, but it looses its impact by the 5th time. Also many of the actors doing this boo! routine were screaming at the top of their lungs. While I do appreciate the enthusiasm, I would warn that keeping up that kind of high energy all night will be challenging, and could ruin a person's voice box by the end of the night. Some simple soft groaning or even silence when someone jumps out or walks across the trail can be equally as effective if not more so, and a bit easier on the actor as well.

I was disappointed that there weren't any roaming zombies or burial grounds blow the scare lift. But we were one of the first people through so they may not have had that part ironed out yet. I think the scare lift could benefit from a few things. First, the lights on the lift itself would be awesome if they were changed to a red or blue light, either by changing the color of the light bulbs or by placing colored gels over the existing lights. Also, especially if the burial grounds and zombies are established below, it would be great to bathe the hill in some kind of fog, if such a thing is possible with some kind of large scale fog machine. You could also have occasional zombies taking the lift down and passing haunt goers on their way up. A bit of instruction on how to use the lift might be helpful at the bottom as I suspect this haunt will attract a lot of non-skiers.

These are mostly nitpicks. The only really area that could use a haunt make over would be the tent at the top of the hill after the scare lift. There's not much really going on here. One chainsaw in a haunt is always enough, more than that and they lose their impact particularly when they're all in a row. There were no scary decorations in this area either. The walls of the small maze under the tent just looked like they were sprayed with graffiti as the result of teenage mischief. These things can be easily rectified though.

I was also a bit disappointed that the chalet wasn't open, as I was a bit hungry and would definitely have bought a hot dog or a burger and a soda or a hot chocolate or cider. This could be an easy way for the haunt to squeak out a few more bucks, maybe even sell souvenir T-Shirts for the haunt.

Overall though a really great experience, can't wait to see how they improve over the years to come. Thanks for a great experience!