Mansion of Terra’
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I went up to see the Mansion of Terror last night – my second haunted house since a high school friend’s oddball dad creeped out their basement a few years running. The first, ‘Scare for a Cure’, I saw the night before. I’ll try not to spoil either, but if Scare for the Cure is a kooky arthouse flick with a heart of gold, Mansion of Terror is a fully-produced Michael Bay explosionfest. Skip to about 4:30 below – should give you a good indication of their, um, style.
Both sides of the house were impressive and worth the ticket price. Many of the rooms had an artistic attention to detail, captivating staging, and other elements I had no time to pay attention to while avoiding chainsaw wielding actors, flying steel drums, or jets of blasted gore. There’s far more to their operation than anybody is going to get a sense of their first time through. I especially liked rooms that were too dark to see through – why not bring some sunglasses to add a little edge?
It was a mistake to go on the Saturday before Halloween. While the excitement of the crowd, the line, and sheer number of people added to the anticipation, there were too many civilians in view in most stages of it and I was able to anticipate or avoid most real scares by hearing or seeing the people in front of me. The fact that several Mansion of Terror employees knew me well and knew when I was in the maze almost made up for this though. If you know someone who helps run a haunted house don’t tell them what night you’re going. Also, go on the slowest night you can.
I talked with one of the employees afterword and he said that a few times a night people really do pee their pants from fright. That’s probably as scary as you can make something which is open to the general public. If you’re reading this in Central Texas, go. They’re open through Halloween (duh) and also the first weekend and second Friday (THE THIRTEENTH OMG!) of November.
