Written by Kris Manfredini:

It’s that time of year again where the weather gets cooler, the leaves start to change and fall, Halloween is in the air, and the Haunted Houses start to pop up!

Now an annual tradition, I attended Rob Zombie’s “Great American Nightmare” in Chicago. The good news is that it was infinitely better than last year. There are three different, brand new Haunted Houses, the third one inspired by Zombie’s new movie, 31.

The houses were new themes but not all that different. First we went through a makeshift door into a room where we took a picture with a zombie. We did two poses and can buy one for $17 or three for $35 (with different special effects added to the pictures) but don’t have to buy one.

We then entered the pitch black maze wearing a hood to ensure it was the blackest of blacks. It is a good way to get you back to where the houses are without just boringly walking through the area. We then went through the first Maze, “Captain Spaulding’s Clown School” in 3-D. The paint scheme, the walls, floors, even the character’s make-up is painted with colored paint that makes the visuals pop. If you went last year, it’s very similar to the “El Superbesto” maze – only it’s not as light-hearted or fun if you have a healthy fear of clowns.

The second one, “The Devil’s Rejects,” was very cool and was an all-out assault on all five of your senses. You are pretty much walking through the Firefly house and witnessing the torture and murders as well as seeing the bodies stacked up (and stinky!!!)

The third one, “31,” was very cool and got me excited for the movie. The best part is walking through all this meat that is hanging and swinging (think a meat locker like in Rocky) and someone yelling “Don’t touch his meat. He’ll kill you if you touch his meat!”

I’ve been to enough haunted houses where it’s hard to be original. They all kind of have the same creepy feeling to it, though different storyline. Still, Zombie’s “Great American Nightmare” is on par with the ones I have been to.

As for the concert, Rob was firing on all cylinders last night. He was in the moment, in full command of the audience, and just on with every little thing. John 5 held his own and really impressed me. His costumes and gimmick guitars were a perfect added touch. Ginger Fish was amazing on drums. He has a lot of energy and just killed it! At 8pm until 8:30, he was up there DJing playing songs from NIN, GnR, Pantera, Motley Crue and everything in between. He had on a creepy Halloween mask and was jamming and dancing with everyone. Of course the houses were open during this time so you were able to go through if you did not want to catch his show (last year they closed them and it caused a huge traffic jam).

Speaking of…to address some of my complaints from last year, they did a complete 180 as things ran so much better. The staff and security were very attentive and helpful. And when I made a comment about how much smoother things were going this year, the security woman laughed a replied “We learned A LOT from last year”. They also kept the attractions open until the last person was able to go through.

It was a lot of fun last year and even better this year. Go check it out for yourself. For me, I can’t wait until next year!

And if it helps, there is a Groupon to save 5 bucks!