Camp Fear Fright Team Reviews 2009

[Slappy]

Submitted by:  handfulofrubies82
Date attended:  10/10/09

- There may be spoilers - if you want to be surprised, then don't read.

This was my first visit to Camp Fear, and the second of the night. We arrived around 10:45 pm. We arrived in camp and walked up to their covered shelter. I appreciated the free hot chocolate, apple cider and the fire they had going - I felt as if I was camping too. It was the perfect setting for ghost stories. *That would actually be a neat addition. We waited about 20 minutes for the wagon and a scary ghost story would have set the mood perfectly.
I was excited when we boarded the wagon because it's the first one that actually had hay. Upon the end of the ride though, I was a little disappointed. I thought maybe there would be a scare along the way and there wasn't. If the wagon is purely a means to get you to and from the haunt, maybe someone in character on the ride would be entertaining.
At the beginning of the actual haunt, we were next to a large group of 10 and Daniel's mom divided us into two groups of six. I thought Daniel's mom was the best character at the haunt. As an actor, she really knew her story and was able to interact well and improvise with silly questions thrown her way. Daniel was okay, but his role actually wasn't as large as you think it would be.
I was disappointed with the haunt. I don't know what came first, the story of Daniel, or the scenes within the haunt.  I don't think they went together well at all. The scenes that were actually in the haunt were barely mentioned in the dialogue in the beginning. Daniel's mom kept repeating that we were going to see scenes from Daniel's childhood that would explain the way HE was, but I didn't see it.
If you go in a group of more than two, be aware the scares were towards the front of our group. In our group of six, we were the back two.
In my opinion, the actors thought they were scarier than they were . They pretty much stayed their distance from our group and didn't interact much. A scene alone is not going to scare me. For example, we had just exited a scene from the beginning and we were walking along a path lit with little lights, and while at the back I heard a couple of actors coming up behind me and I turned around and they didn't do anything. Maybe they thought I would run, but they weren't scary, and they were just casually walking. I moved over, so they could creep up behind the teens in front of us, but they didn't go for it. We just kept walking and I would glance back, thinking that they would run up and try to scare us. One of them eventually walked ahead of me and came up behind the group but there was no "Ah Ha" moment.
*There were LONG points where we were walking along wooded paths. I would liked to have seen someone coming running up out of or jumping at us from the woods.  I was expecting it, or wanting it, and it never happened.
The asylum actors were decent at acting crazy. I did like the crazy "Laurie"(?) chant, it sounded creepy, but that was about it. The only actor that got in our face was Laurie(?) - the others were at a distance, doing their thing, it just wasn't scary.
I may be harder to scare than normal, but I didn't get scared once.  The only startles throughout the whole haunt were from air horns that went off and left my ears ringing.
I thought the phase mazes had real potential to scare. I was excited, thinking at the twists and turns there might be something lurking in the shadows, but I just ended up irritated at the end. The only thing I liked was the strobe lights. The dance area was okay, but who wants to dance with strangers who aren't your friends, it was awkward. We were with four other people that we didn't know and they weren't looking to make any friends, so maybe that put a damper on the experience. Within the mazes you're supposed to 'work together' and their group wanted to go one way and we wanted to go another and the attendants didn't let us separate, so that was frustrating. I think we took longer than usual, because at the end, our guides seemed to be getting frustrated as well. Within these walls were perfect opportunities to scare, but there were none. I would much rather have had three of the asylum actors scaring us within these mazes.  I know the guides had places to slip in and out to get ahead of us.
At the end of the entire haunt, we exited and didn't know whether there was a wagon coming back or not. Even though the shelter isn't that far away, having not paid attention to it on the ride over, we didn't realize where we were in proximity to it. 

Scare Factor .05/5 - The only time I jumped was at an air horn

Actors 1.5/5 - Daniel's mom is good at delivering the introductions. She was believable and funny. Crazy Laurie was also talented as a crazy, creepy patient.  If the dentist had been more interactive, he could have been a lot more effective. My own real dentist is creepier without even knowing it.

Set Design/Props/FX 2/5 - I understand they are smaller and I don't expect the details of a larger haunt. I thought the house in the beginning needed some help though. *The water, however, did awaken my senses.

Length 3/5 - Good length, but I was ready for it to end

Other - If you're going to visit Camp Fear, be prepared, its out in the middle of nowhere. The road we came in on was a little, two lane road, about 10 miles long. Make sure you have enough gas to get out there and get back. I didn't see any close gas stations.

Overall - I don't want my opinion to stop someone from going to a haunt, as we all have different ideas of what scare us, and different levels of fear. However, this was almost two hours away and I can't see driving that far again.