2010 Elements of Fear Event Reviews

Elements of Fear is the perfect haunt to take kids ages 8-12 to. It isn't as gory or scary as the haunts that I am used to. However, they did a good job at putting it all together. Every actor kept in character and made the scenes really come to life.

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Elements of Fear sounds like it would be pretty scary, but it you are looking for something more to the mild side of haunting this might be your ticket.

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I'll be upfront. This is not the type of haunt for those that really seek to be scared. It appears that the haunt was more focused on younger viewers or those that want an entertainment only haunt. To sum it up in one word, it was, simple. This is not an entirely bad thing, however. It provided a few effects that I actually have not seen in a long time. As a whole, though, the haunt left a lot to be desired.

When my father and I arrived at the haunt we were required to take a number and wait in a small room that left little in ways of entertainment. The idea of taking a number would not have been so bad if there actually appeared that there was a line.

When we were finally called we had another wait outside the doors to the haunt. One time I actually entered early as the actors were re-setting due to the lack of instruction. After we were finally admitted we were quickly whisked away to a room where they had a séance (I was able to really "take in the first scene".) The whole experience of the séance would have been a lot more enjoyable if I had not heard all the actors talking and coughing in the background.

This interference was so bad that the actor who was doing the séance was required to improvise with "what the spirits were saying." I will say, however, that I saw some neat effects in the room but they just could not make me forget about the interference.

From there we were moved out of the room by the unrested spirits and through the rest of the haunt. Again some pretty cool effects but a lot was left to be desired. Decorations, and scenes were minimal. Further as we walked along I caught several actors that were late in their scares or that were not ready.

All in all it was an interesting haunt and for a charitable purpose had a good cause and provided a, however short, form of Halloween entertainment.

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Caution! All who enter this haunt may not leave!! Admittedly, adults may not find Elements of Fear to be the scariest haunted attraction they attend this year but there’s a good chance that younger haunt goers may feel differently. I had the opportunity to interview 3 boys ages 10-12 prior to entering Elements of Fear. All 3 were talked wildly about the fun time they had but none were willing to admit to being scared. (…interestingly though, there were 2 girls sitting close by….)

I was very pleasantly surprised to find that my tour group for Elements of Fear consisted of just 2 adults and 2 younger teens who were attending this haunt for the first time. While the sizing of the group may have been purely coincidental or perhaps due to the logistics of some of the rooms it definitely helped maximize my immersion into the Elements of Fear found at this haunt. Surprisingly, while talking with the 2 young boys in our group I was able to get them to admit to being a bit nervous prior to embarking on our journey. While I have my doubts that they’d ever admit to being scared I did catch them jumping on quite a few occasions during our adventure. Of course I had every intention of interviewing them following our tour but in an odd twist I completely lost track of them in the fast and furious action of the final room. Did the Elements of Fear send them racing home….or did they perhaps fall victim to the ghouls chasing us through the last room. Of course when it comes to haunts, the words I live by are “he who falls behind gets left behind!”

What I particularly enjoyed about this haunt was how some very simple household items (mirrors, cloth, curtains...etc.) were used to create some really creepy effects and scares.....it really captured my dreams of someday creating my own haunt. I also really enjoyed was the enthusiasm and energy the actors put into their roles. Many of the actors were youthful but there were also a few adults sprinkled into the mix to support some of the more interactive rooms.

This haunt was a challenging one for me to rate. My inner youth definitely would place this haunt at a 5 out of 5 for the fun and fear factors. The adult haunted connoisseur placed it at a 2 out of 5 for the following reasons: For the fun factor there were only a few rooms that allowed you to interact with the actors/scenes via a skit and in those instances there were quite a few distractions (screams, yells, loud bangs) from other parts of the haunt. For the scare factor while there are some parts that have the potential to make you jump most of the scares are geared more towards a younger crowd.

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Elements of Fear is a good choice if you are younger, or not into gory in-your-face haunts. Before we entered the haunt, we had to wait in a small bingo hall, with no entertainment, it was kind of boring. We were directed to many different workers that would show us to the entrance. Finally a very young girl in a princess costume escorted my friend, two younger teens, and me to the haunt. Things seemed disorganized in the beginning; we had to wait outside for about 10 minutes before we were let in.

The first area was a séance, there was a few good effects in this room, but the walkie-talkie that kept going off distracted me and focused my attention elsewhere. The rest of the rooms were all different, but had minimal props and decorations. The actors were young, none seemed excited to be there, and relied heavily on screaming as their major form of spooking. The one exception was a creepy crawler, she really made me jump. The vortex was fast and amazing. The haunt took no more than 5 minutes for us to get through. I would have liked to have seen more. In all, Elements of Fear is a fast-paced jaunt through a charitable haunt.

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