2012 Event Reviews

“Gruesome!” “A disturbing display of gore!” “Nightmarish! …closing my eyes won’t be easy tonight.” These were comments made by the members of my crew of 6 haunt goes following their journey through Oblivion. All 6 of us attended this Haunt in 2010 for its inaugural season. Hands down we all agreed that this Haunt has made vast improvements since 2010. (…although we really missed the Puppeteer.)

If you’ve got a keen eye for special effects there’s a lot to checkout at Oblivion! The immense and intricately detailed gateway to Oblivion and an opening corridor with swarms of spiders crawling on the walls really set the tone for visual treats that lie ahead. The Sisters room was exceptionally well done and left me questioning whether what I saw was real or just an illusion. Many of the rooms featured gruesome effects with the smell of death violating your nostrils at some points. In fact, the smell of death was so intrusive that after departing Oblivion I was convinced I had taken some of the carnage with me as I could still smell the distinctive aroma of death! The maze within Oblivion was clever and fun. Not pitch dark like some haunts where you accidentally bash your head into walls and the person in front of you but rather visually and intellectually stimulating where the only head bashing occurs when your stumped about which door to open next.

My group attended Oblivion on its opening night so there’s a good possibility that this haunt may be scarier than what we experienced. Effects were certainly top notch at Oblivion but it appeared that the in your face display of blood, guts and gore were presented at the cost of maximizing scare factor. The hellhound was amazing but the lighting which allows you to admire this impressive effect also diminished the surprise for our group.

SIGNAGE / VISIBILITY / LOCATION:

Directions found on this website are easy to follow. The signs/banners leading to this haunt were flapping around in the wind and did not have a dedicated light on them when I attended so they weren’t the easiest to spot. Convenient, plentiful, paved and well lit parking can be found at this haunt.

WAIT AREA / LINE ENTERTAINMENT:

When we arrived there wasn’t a line so we didn’t have an opportunity to check out the “fully themed indoor waiting area”. Unlike when I attended in 2010, I did not see a concession stand outside of the complex but perhaps it was in the “fully themed indoor waiting area”. The costumed clown that greeted us when we arrived was fun and provided great photo ops. Oh…and did I mention that this haunted advertises a “fully themed indoor waiting area”? Check it out and include what you think of it in your review so I can read about what I missed.

ACTOR'S PERFORMANCE:

Performances were brief but effective. Creepy, gruesome, shocking…consistent with the unique theme of each room but not as interactive as much as they were a ghoulish vision on display for your journey through Oblivion.

SETS / SCENES / PROPS / FX:

Some sets could use a little more polishing (…although I did attend on opening night…) Others were exceptionally done with an outstanding attention to detail. Some unique special effects that I haven’t seen any place else. Not the most elaborate, sophisticated or numerous props I’ve seen this year but executed with precision.

LENGTH:
Our tour lasted 12 minutes. Of the 5 haunts I’ve attended so far this year this was the shortest.

This was my 5th year going to the burial chamber & I think it is scarier every year. Lot's of improvements in Insanity much better than previous years. One thing that I would suggest is that the actors be more proactive in scaring you before you are upon them & see them. They could take more advantage of the surprise factor. All in all well worth the money for the amount of the scare you get.

This is not your normal haunted house. or even haunted yard. It is an incredibly large yard that is in a rural location. Definitly worth the ride.

Dr. Scary's was fantastic! The house itself was huge compared to what I was expecting, and the maze was really awesome. I loved it and will be going back again

Going on a Sunday there was no line to wait in. I'm sure it is busier on a Friday or Saturday night.
The Staff was very friendly and helpful getting tickets and guiding you to the entrance.
I thought the "pathway" (not to give anything away) to the front entrance of the haunt was very interesting and unique.

The acting was pretty decent overall, we thought we were at the end though and the actors made us play some childish games, not sure what the intentions for that was. But entertaining to say the least. We had two males and two females in our group, females leading the way of course ;) They got almost all the attention which was amusing :).

The haunt has a lot of detail in the rooms but having to wear 3D glasses took a lot of that away, most of the rooms it seemed unnecessary to wear them.

Very cool special effects, room designs, and overall length was pretty good.

This site is located in Berlin, Wisconsin, in an apparently "Haunted Tannery". I had the opportunity to go on Friday night with a group of my fellow haunted house enthusiast friends. We were less than impressed, to say the least.

Apparently this is the first year that the haunt is in the Berlin Tannery (a 75,000 square foot facility that has paranormal societies from all over coming to investigate.) It is obvious that it is the first year that the production is within the building. Many things were lacking and there were parts of the haunt that were simply bare, open, and completely unfinished.

Given-the owner had only secured the building the week previous because the local fire marshal was giving him a lot of grief...still... If you are not entirely ready to open to the public then you should not or you should offer a walk-through at a discounted price. As it was, the haunt cost $20 to enter and it was nowhere near being worth the price.

Inside of the haunt, some of the props were well placed and added overall effect. However-the actors were very inexperienced and it was incredibly easy to predict exactly where they were coming from and what they were trying to do. Beyond this-there simply was not enough to entertain and/or scare the hugely experienced haunted house enthusiast.

Something that shocked me was how open one part of the haunt was. More walls were needed to make the haunt seem more enclosed and more claustrophobic. If others were going through the haunt at the same time as my group (which they were not-in fact, we were the only ones there for probably over an hour)...we would see the groups and it would lessen the effect of the haunted house even more.

The only truly impressive part of the of the haunted attraction was the 3D "Clown Room". They did a nice job with this room...using awesome painting techniques, tubes, and animatronics that were actually startling and impressive. It was the only part of the haunt that I truly enjoyed and truly found impressive.

Overall-the haunt took us only about 15 minutes to get through. It was not stimulating. It was not impressive. And it was only about 2,000 square feet out of the 75,000 square feet that they mention. Also-there is no heated waiting area so don't let them get you on that...not that you would be waiting...

We have been attending this haunted house since it opened. We have NEVER been disappointed! Each Halloween year we go through as many houses as we can. I am always impressed how Oblivian changes everything from year to year.

This years scares really got me mentally. When purchasing tickets, I was chased by some guy with panties. People try to get me to run at other haunts with chainsaws and I screamed like a little girl from a guy chasing me with panties. They really know how to get in your head.

I was disappointed when I saw their poster that they did not have any backstory about the 'sisters' they speak of. When I went it - I was supprised how pleased I was that I did not know a backstory. I found myself looking harder to see what the sisters were and trust me! You cannot miss it!
It is so mentally draining and terrifying I was trying to catch my breath afterwards.

Great haunt! No need to travel for a professional, well put together experience. We were entertained from the moment we walked in to the moment we left. Great attention to detail, an all around fun time. Food and drinks on site, bathrooms, well moving line with music and fun! Take a peek at the line, if it's huge, do like we did and grab the fastbpass option.

Being the opening weekend of the haunt season, the lines weren't that bad to get through. I was pleased to see how well they were timing the groups (2, 4 and 6 people)into the house. They had one really good scarer (evil clown) during the wait in line that kept people on their toes. I enjoyed their creative rooms as I have never seen anything yet that focused on spiders and snakes. Well done!

I highly encourage everyone to pay for both haunts, the second is a maze. Now I have been in my fair share of mazes, and typically I make it through pretty quickly. This one was very different. It used heavy fog, strobe lights and darkness. Each possible exit was either labeled "I quit" or "winner". We were confused to the point of being in there a good 25 minutes before finding the "winner" door.

I would highly recommend this haunt to everyone I know!

We go to The Darkside Haunt every year and Love it, every year they add on to the already great haunt. This year in addition to the haunted mine shaft and haunted wagon ride through the woods they have added other haunts among your journey out of woods; a haunted green house and a crazy lady in a cabin sending you in all the wrong directions trying to get out of the corn maze.
The use of pyrotechnics during the haunt is awesome.

Just went through all three haunts. A ton of fun! Actors were extremely talented! I had a blast thank you everyone!!

This was a professional level haunted house, comparable to what you might see at Wisconsin Fear Grounds, though not quite as large.

A word of advice to haunt goers, if you might be interested in the fast pass, walk around to the left of the building to see how long the line is because the line is directed around the back of the building. When we bought passes, it didn't look like there was a line, but we walked around the building and there ended up being a sizable line. If there would have been someone walking around the line selling the fast passes, we might have bought one.

At any rate these are really first class scenes and actors with make up. I think just about anyone will be pleased with this haunt. The parking lot is a bit dark and there aren't many streetlights so you'll have to keep a sharp eye out if you're going at night. It was a decent length too, I think it took about 20 minutes to a half hour to get through..

*SPOILERS*

Just a few minor nitpicky suggestions for the haunt owners here.

Really appreciated the music while waiting in line. If you're able, you could also project movies on a wall outside. You could project the Monster Channel www.100ymm.com on a wall or something with a digital projector.

I'm glad the fog wasn't overdone because my girlfriend has asthma and fog and asthma don't mix well. The fog was just right.

The search light is cool, but usually when I see search lights I think it's a car dealership. What if you put a red gel over the search light? How many red searchlights do you ever see?

The small waiting area just before you enter the haunted house could use a bit of decoration. This small space could be used to kind of whet the appetite for the main course inside. So much effort was put into decorating every square inch of the place, why leave in this little space untouched? Even some simple classic vintage Halloween decorations or cotton spider webbing would be good enough to help evoke some anticipation and get customers into the spirit right from the beginning. To that end, maybe even some large scale murals could be painted on the walls outside for folks to look at while they're waiting in line.

I knew there was a chainsaw at the end because I could smell the gas from around the corner. Never a fan of the gas smell, particularly when in enclosed places. It usually just elicits nausea and not in a good way.

I think this is just a matter of personal taste, but for me I generally don't get scared from army type scenes. It tends to evoke the Rambo movies to me, but that may just a a product of my age.

I also never care for the inflated hallway you have to push through. This to me seems more of a fun house thing than a haunted house thing. I would have much preferred to see more cool scenery.

I noticed a small house off to the side that might look like it's used for storage? What if you turned it into a small haunted cafe or restaurant? If you did, this thing could go year round cause people would go there just to eat too. Then as people are waiting in the restaurant, you could use the buzzing devices they have at restaurants for when people are ready to go into the haunted house. Just a way out idea.

It was hard to find since it is so dark there. We weren't sure it was open. Once we found the entrance we could here other people in the background screaming. I was really fun! I was so scared in the woods, thought I was going to get lost. I was scared in every room!!!!!