ScareHouse — Attraction in Frazer Township

First, I would just like to express my gratitude for the Cast and Crew of the ScareHouse for putting the safety of both their employees and their customers at top priority. Their ways of handling this pandemic are clearly organized and followed, strictly enforced, and in return, surely made me feel safe from the moment I entered the building to the moment I left. Kudos to keeping your heads strong in your beliefs on this (even through the haters and bad reviews) and thank you for caring about the community.

It is truly impressive the type of show ScareHouse has produced through this crazy year we are living. Considering the fact that this is a brand new space, in a mall which I've never seen done before, I have to applaud the challenge that was taken and the success that came out of it. The level of immersion is insane as production design through set pieces and props and sound completely transforms you from a nearly abandoned mall to a real-life horror movie. The attention to detail has always been a strength ScareHouse has over haunts in the area, this year continues to prove that. Each different haunt carries a unique atmosphere full of sensory overload, whether rooms that seem alive in darkness, special effects that take you to another dimension, or you literally find yourself saying your prayers in the middle of an apocalypse, ScareHouse's show doesn't skip a beat in pace and flow. The new use of animatronics and special effects to fill some gaps for more COVID-friendly tighter scares is brilliant...and extremely effective!

I've seen reviews commenting on a lack of live actors and actresses and honestly I'm confused. I could barely catch my breath, and neither could my boyfriend, from the talent that continued in each and every room, there was still an abundance of live talent through the show. The actors and actresses as well extended every once of energy into well-timed scares through triggered sounds, screams, jumps, etc. I was insanely impressed by their improvisation skills when I would seem to find myself interacting back with them (from a distance of course in a blubbering about to pee my pants scared mess.) Kudos to well-trained and excited cast this year.

From a dancing bunny and clown duo in line, to friendly CSA workers, to a haunt that made me drop to the floor and loose my voice, talent that made me have nightmares that evening, COVID guidelines making me feel safe...ScareHouse continues to uphold their title of being a pretty darn awesome place filled with some awesome people. You don't want to miss this show. Thanks for keeping Halloween normal this year, I...

This was my first visit to Scarehouse. My friend and I heard about it through Horror forums and decided to get a group of us together and made the 9 hour drive from Connecticut to make a weekend out of it. Given everything we had read and seen on video, we had high expectations. Parking at the zoo and the shuttle was convenient and well organized, as well is the outside waiting areas at the haunt itself.

My friend and I hit The Basement and were part of the first group of the night. The Cult concept of the Basement was great and had so much potential to run with and turn into this beautiful, horrific (in a good way) experience, but we were left with a feeling of disappointment. Let me start off by saying set design and animatronics were awesome! Everything LOOKED nice. For having to sign a waiver of consent, we were expecting some intense in-your-face full contact action. What we got was the opposite of that. For our group, the actors' performances were underwhelming and consisted mostly of screaming nonsensical things in our faces. It was very difficult to get immersed in the experience and to get even remotely scared. The experience felt awkward and forced at best, both on our side and the actors'. There wasn't a very smooth transition to the end of the Basement experience and it was a sudden and jarring ending. Standing outside, you could hear people saying "that's it? Seriously" as they calmly exited the Basement. Not a good sign.

The Upstairs portion was a way different story. There wasn't really a cohesive story or theme, but it was enjoyable to walk through. Makeup, costumes and set design was awesome and the animatronics were sensibly used. Again, like the Basement everything LOOKED nice. The jumpscares were admittedly better than anything we experienced in the basement despite the Upstairs costing significantly less and supposedly being the less frightening of the two.

Overall for our group, the Haunt, time it took to complete both sections, and the cost definitely weren't worth the trip. Aesthetically, a nice walk through to take your time and check out the intricacies of the sets but other than that it's a pass.

So much space and solid a story went to waste and there was so much potential that just didn't come to surface and led to a...

The Scarehouse itself was, decent. I would rather be able to see the set a little. (more up lightning) I feel like if they are going to put the money and energy into decorating the haunt they should let the guest see it a little more. Secondly, as with the scarers, I don't think any place has enough workers in there haunts. I understand that people don't want to work, but if you do have workers maybe you shouldn't have them grouped together so there are more scarers through out the haunted house. I liked that I wasnt forced on top of the group in front of me unlike other haunted houses in the area. All in all I give the trail itself a 7 out of 10.

The escape room on the other hand... Where do I even start. First off, if you are going to buy an escape room set up from another local company I feel like there should be a disclaimer saying that you did so. Obviously this is not the first time I did this room. I hated it the first time, and hate it even more now doing it a second time. I have personally done over 100 escape rooms all over the United States and pretty much every single one in the Pittsburgh area. This is the first room I have ever walked out of before my timer ran out. As a general rule of thumb you do not reuse clues in an escape room, and on the rare chance that you do, it is definitely not multiple(at least 5) times. I get that this escape room is at a haunted house, but the lighting in there also is way to dim and the half dead flashlights did not help. The gamemaster insisted on walking us through the puzzles that we did not finish but even she seemed confused on how one would get the correct answer. I'm not saying that I'm the best escape room enthusiast out there but this room made absolutely no sense to me. I'm sure I could sit here and knit pick the room completely apart but I will not go that far into it. My rating for this room would be a 3 out of 10. Only because the decor of the room looked great,...