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Jump Scares
"Scream tourism" at the nation's more than 1,200 haunted attractions generates around $300 million in revenue annually, including at one of the nation's most popular haunted house destinations. Site Selection Lead Designer and lead Halloween and horror celebrator Richard Nenoff joined fellow Lead Designer Sean Scantland (who took the image above) for a tour of Netherworld, located outside Atlanta. It's open tonight … and beyond. Here's Nenoff's review:
Now celebrating its "28th year of screams," Netherworld Haunted House in Stone Mountain, Georgia, is once again open to terrify your spooky season. As always, it features a midway, a number of smaller attractions and two main haunts to sate your need for fear.
With a name like "Wake the Dead," you'd be forgiven for expecting a room full of Walkers shambling toward you. Don't get me wrong, there are definitely zombies on display in the larger of the two Netherworld haunts, but the theme is decidedly more eldritch than Romero. Think "necromantic Lovecraftian death cult" as opposed to "The Walking Dead."
Like last year, this attraction is definitely the longer of the two, with a more circuitous route offering around 35 minutes of frights (provided you don't run screaming through it). And special credit should be given to whoever was responsible for designing this route, which often takes you in and out of settings only to have you re-enter them from another side later, offering fun, different perspectives on the same scene. As with previous years, certain areas of the path feature floor textures designed to trip you up, which unfortunately creates accessibility issues for those with mobility challenges. The haunt does provide wheelchairs on demand, but small sections of the haunt may need to be bypassed.
While some of the haunt's animatronics have been reused and repurposed to fit the new theme, this year's new displays are quite impressive, with fleshy walls designed to make your skin crawl and creepy ancient temples to elder gods and demonic deities. The production, as always, is top notch, but perhaps a bit jumbled. I found myself losing the theme along the way, to the point that afterward I couldn't remember exactly what it was and had to be told by a cast member.
Not so with Netherworld's second haunt this year: Mr. Grendel's Birthday Party of Horrors. That mouthful of a name is slightly misleading, so I'll give the coulrophobic among you a head's up: It's a veritable killer clown paradise. The story is about a jester who realizes eating cryptids gives him superpowers, so he decides to raid a secret government facility full of supernatural beings (as one is wont to do), but the main takeaway is clowns. Lots of them. Big ones, neon ones, ones covered in blood — did I mention there were clowns? This theme is more cohesive and nigh impossible to forget. While both haunts are great, it was a nice change of pace that this one stole the show a bit this year.
In addition to the two main haunt attractions, Netherworld features a midway with multiple photo opportunities, games and treats. Flavored popcorn, topping smothered donuts, and various brats were highlighted at the food stands, while green screen photos taken in the line of Wake the Dead are available for purchase in both standard 2D & 3D variants.
Additional attractions include paintball, laser tag, the ever-popular Monster Museum, and a 3-minute escape room near the gift shop. However, if you really want a true escape room experience, Netherworld offers five of the best one-hour puzzle experiences in the country.
The haunts will run through this Sunday (November 3), then be closed next week, but their final two days will be Friday and Saturday, November 8-9. Other parts of Netherworld are open year-round by appointment. — Richard Nenoff
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