The Basement Attractions — Attraction in Aurora Township

2018 Review: Basement of the Dead is such a great Haunt it has been a part of our family tradition for the past 6 or 7 years; right along with Halloween decorations, pumpkin carving, and watching Halloween classics both family friendly (Hocus Pocus, Nightmare before Christmas, Halloweentown) and horror (Halloween, Jeepers Creepers, Silence of the Lambs, Strangers). Basement takes the phrase, “things that go bump in the night” and uses it to their full advantage with great costumes and actors, fantastic sets, and perfect use of lighting and noise to disorient the thrill seeker. In fact, Basement is the only Haunt I’ve ever been to that gives you the same feeling as watching a great horror/thriller film all alone at night in a dark and unfamiliar house—that feeling of someone always watching and following you, yet you don’t see them until it’s too late. The originality and care they put into this attraction is phenomenal, and they achieve this terrifying experience WITHOUT the need of “waivers/contracts” in order to use physical torture tactics to scare you. If you only have the time and money for one Haunt this Halloween, no other location even comes close to giving you more than your money’s worth than Basement of the Dead.

2017 Review: Basement of the Dead is the most thrilling haunted house I've ever been to. From the outside-in, these guys put a lot of thought into making sure your experience is like no other. Creatures lurk around the outside, music, concession stands, and a mini bus and hearse that decked out in Basement theme. All the workers we encountered were excellent, and the price is fantastic,; especially for 2 haunts! What makes these two haunts so terrifying is their understanding of what people are truly scared of, and that's their own imaginations and not knowing what's ahead. The props are great, but they don't rely on the props to be what scares you like most haunted houses I've been to rely on--they use the actors, the darkness, and "things that go bump in the night" to scare you. Every scare is unexpected and sudden. After the main haunt, you're led to Shattered, the most perfectly themed haunt of the century-clowns. People already hate clowns, but with the recent chaos of scared clowns showing up randomly around the nation so much so that big box stores are pulling clown masks off the shelves, this haunt--armed with only a flashlight and 3D glasses to mess with your mind--is terrifyingly good. I highly recommed going to Basement and seeing both haunts, you'll...

2+ hour wait to get in unless you shell out extra money for VIP. The DJ plays outdated and irrelevant club and pop music from the mid 2000's that you wouldn't expect or want from a haunted house, which does not contribute to a scary atmosphere. The one positive of the wait to get in is the crowd/line actors. They are probably the most positive part of the whole experience. Once inside, your ears are greeted with an overbearing ambiance of banging metal, eerie music, and various other things, which generally isn't a bad thing, but in this case it was too much. It was so loud in there you couldnt hear any of the actors and you could only get scares visually. Speaking of scares, it seemed that most of the actors inside only just stood there and stared at you and really didnt attempt to scare you too much except for that cheap initial jump scare if youre in the front of the group. Some actually tried to scare you, but most just stood there. The worst thing in the house though, had to be the generic truck and horn that seemingly every haunted house has, despite the scene for this place being a "cavernous, hellish, basement of the damned" which did not fit in at all. On top of that, the horn used was set to sound at way higher than the safe decibel limit which causes you to leave the house with minor hearing damage and nothing but a splitting headache. Seriously, that horn is WAY too loud. On a positive note though, I think they utilized other means to scare or set you off than other houses do. Their use of angled floors, weird flooring textures, and differing width corridors added a positive element that made it feel like you weren't just walking just hallways. It was subtle, but enough to just set you off enough to where you were more focused on your balance and less on being prepared for a jump scare, which they did well in these instances. Overall, this house is not the "Number 1 haunted house in the world" like Buzzfeed (an obviously reliable source) claimed, but its still decent enough for...

Wasn't what I was hoping or looking for. Not what I was expecting after reading about the hype and "awards". It seems like it gets so much attention because of what makes it different, which is also what makes it less scary, and I think scary is what people actually want. This is more of an "entertainment" haunted house and a house party where you spend more time having fun and laughing than actually being scared. They have a DJ, a concession stand, people dance outside, some of the actors roam around. They let you in groups of 7 or so, so unless you're in the very front, there's really no scare or shock factor, you already see what's coming and you're just kinda walking around and looking. A lot of reliance on mechanical / electronic props. It's in a nice downtown location which is nice but kinda throws off the mood. I've had much better experiences at lesser rated haunted houses, even free ones, as far as the scare factor, and even staging. There was some parts where the sound effects were way too loud and left a ringing in our ears later. There's also the "3D" haunted house but that's pretty lame. Again more of entertainment. If you're looking for a truly scary experience for the fright thrill, I wouldn't...