By Kris Manfredini
Last night I got to kick off the Haunted House (Maze?) season with Rob Zombie’s Great American Nightmare!
For those who don’t know Rob Zombie brought his Great American Nightmare to Chicago this year where there are 3 houses for the price of one!
Each house is inspired by a different Rob Zombie movie.
First you enter The Lords of Salem house. This one had some creepy, cool effects to start off the haunt before going pitch black as you struggle to find your way around the maze. This has all the fun of walking into walls, bumping into people, and getting screamed at by “disembodied voices” (hey, they could be, it’s pitch black!).
After Lords of Salem, we were ushered into the house of El Superbeasto. This one concentrates on more cool, lighthearted, and visually striking effects. The brightly colored, and over the top characters greet you as you enter the world of El Superbeasto. They hand you 3D glasses that make the experience that much cooler! This one was the one I was most puzzled about upon hearing about, but I think it ended up being my favorite.
Lastly, we entered the ginormous Haunt of 1,000 Corpses maze, where we were greeted by Otis and Baby. It begins in Captain Spaulding’s shop where you are welcomed by the Cap himself, who lines you up for the infamous “Murder Ride”. You then get to go through the famous murder ride where each room is a different serial killer, which was interesting to see Rob Zombie’s take on how each did their thing. It was also pretty damn long, which was pretty great.
All in all, it was a cool, fun night that was topped off by a performance by Mr. Zombie himself, though that was a one night only event.
If you are a Rob Zombie fan and/or you are a big Haunted House fan, it’s worth it. It’s reasonably priced at $25 for all three houses.
*I have to add, and this possibly could have been due to the show, but there were a few hiccups along the way. The houses closed down during the performance. After the show, a line formed for the houses (there were also another two lines for the VIP I and VIP II), which barely moved. They were eventually informed that there was an even longer line upstairs and even the VIP lines were not moving. I’m sure closing the houses during the performance affected this big time. Hopefully people who didn’t get to see the mazes get a refund…
