2010 Haunted High presents Dark Carnival Event Reviews

This was a fun haunted high school! VERY clever use of an old school. There was a great deal of creativity and effort put into Haunted High. The actors were very good--good at blending in with their surroundings and then surprising you, good at keeping the pace and keeping groups apart, and very good at interacting when appropriate. Crowd control was good--very organized. We arrived at 7:15pm and waited 75 minutes. It took about 20-25 minutes to get through, and the pace was good. This is a recommended haunt for younger children, too, as it is not quite as scary as some other haunts in southeastern WI.

Not scary at all. In fact there were so many people in the haunted house at once, that we kept running into the groups in front and in back of us. I especially appreciated the lecture I received from one of the monsters telling me I was walking to fast. Kudos to the glow in the dark polka dot persone hiding in the corner...you were the only true scare.

This has to be one of the best haunted houses I've been to in years. The scare factor is high with a live actor (or two or three) around nearly every corner. The makeup and costumes are fantastic (the clowns are some of the scariest I've ever come across). The acting is fantastic. But the true star of this show is the venue.

The old, abandoned high school is left pretty much intact, with some spooky additions, of course. Instead of a maze of tiny halls and small rooms that are hard for even four people to cram into, this haunt uses the cafeteria, the auditorium, the hallways lined with lockers, the boiler room, etc. and lets your imagination, along with the help of live actors and props, work for you. And does it work!

We got there at 7:00 pm and ended up waiting about an hour and a half before getting in; however, it was in the old gym and warm. The haunt itself probably took 30 minutes to go through, but it feels like it takes so much longer. You'll find yourself walking up and down actual school steps and covering all three floors of the school. Unlike the houses where they just trick you into thinking you're going up and down, you literally are in this one.

I have two complaints. In the waiting area, they projected soundless clips and trailers of scary movies, but didn't have any live actors trolling about. The addition of even two (one for the area with tables and one for the waiting line) wandering about in character would really add to the scene. The other is the incredibly loud volume of the frequent announcements. But at least nobody could be confused about when their number was up.

Easily the best haunt I've been to so far as of this date in SE Wisconsin.

The line wait was fairly quick, they sold munchies in the gymnasium where the line gets to wait, and they projected horror movie trailers on the wall to keep one occupied.

The gymnasium though could benefit from some extra simple Halloween decorations on the walls. There's so much wall space to play with here.

The actors for the most part gafve great performances, though one did come out of character to tell me that, "I might want to hold up a bit." Which was one minor problem they had. They seemed to have a problem with keeping groups separated in the haunt. I was walking fairly slow, yet kept bumping into the group in front of me which kept stalling and standing in place. Then at one point the group behind be caught up to me too. So that by the end of the haunt, I think there were roughly 5-6 groups of people all together at once. I think they could use a little help on when to let up on scaring a group of girls, and getting them through so that groups behind don't catch up to them. Also, there are ways to delay other groups without having to come out of character. Coming out of character should really be saved only for the most egregious infractions like violence or something.

The haunt really knew how to use chainsaws to a great effect. And being in a real high school helped the setting quite a bit.

The money for the entrance was well worth it. Many places will charge 13 bucks and last 5 minutes. This easily took us 30-45 minutes to get through. It's really big.

One of the best vortex rooms, and black light polka dot rooms out there. The mirror room was awesome, though It could have been better with black lights I think.

Something more could be done with the auditorium at the end, not sure what, maybe more zombie audience members and some show on stage relating to halloween rather than the Blues Brothers.

Also the security people, in vests and yellow shirts, could have had some simple face paint on at the very least. Same thing with the retired cop at the head of the line. Their presence breaks the illusion and lessens the scare factor at least in those areas.

The stairwells could have benefited from some more weird lighting. Maybe placing a bloody hand-print over one of the light globes so it casts a red shadow or something.

Anyway, totally fun stuff, really scary, this is a Halloween MUST SEE! Do NOT miss it!

Decided to make my first Haunt visit to Haunted High and the plan worked out well. I had brought my sister's kids up for the weekend and brought them and my oldest (ages of 15, 14, 12 and 10) daughter for a great time! I have followed Danny Doble's progress on Facebook and was excited to see it in person.

Car parking is good, seems like there is more than enough parking close to the event. The wait line was great, filling the old gymnasium using caution tape and old school desks. Horror movie clips and video of those already in the haunt were projected on the walls. There was also a refreshment stand. Now let's get to the goods.

Our class session started with the group before us having a youngster too terrified to even enter. Good start in my opinion. For the next 30 or so minutes there wasn't a letdown either. Overall the atmosphere was great, going from pitch dark, to a little light. The best part was that most of the scares weren't predicable, since not all came at the darkest points or from the most obvious areas.

The mirrors area was great, one of the better vortex tunnels I have seen and hats off to our favorite scene with the nurse and patient getting 'treatments'. It was just plain creepy and all the kids wanted to move quickly past it.

The actors were all great (except one got caught texting by my oldest nephew) and had great timing. The group in the kitchen had some good one liners for our group. Overall, I was really brought into Haunted High by the energy of the actors. The atmosphere really was used to their advantage.

So Much Better than last year!!!
less empty spaces and much more of a over all theme than last year, when it was theme by room.
Line wait was pretty good. Loved the webcam screens to watch the people ahead of you getting to crap scared out of them