Horror Escapes LA — Attraction in Los Angeles

UPDATE:Came back to try out the Doctors Office (their hardest room). The set design for this one was still on the bland side but I did like it more than the Zombie Lab room design. The actor in this one was good, still not scary, but I liked the incorporation in this room better than the other one still. Our game master (GM) Landon was very good in helping us along and suggesting to us that we not take a clue since we were not he right tracks. I'm still not a fan of the GM's walking in the room for time checks and clues, it brings us out of the escape room mode. As suggested previously, this could be fixed with a simple walkie talkie system. We finished the room with 15 minutes to spare and my group found this room to be even easier than the Zombie Lab. We've done 20+ escape rooms Overall, we felt our experience at Horror Escapes LA was worth our Groupon cost. I still take off 1 star for the hint/time check system, lack of horror, and bland room decor. I recommend this place for escape room beginners and first timers. If you are more experienced and looking for a challenge, I'd skip this place.

ORIGINAL: Just finished the Zombie Lab tonight and let me begin by saying, the pervious reviews hyped the room so much, but when we got there it was a big dissapointment. I am an escape room enthusiast and this was my 19th room. First off parking is hard to find but I suggest trying to find it on the street or at the lot at 11th and Olive. If you pass by that it will take to about 10 minutes to circle back around due to the one way streets and traffic. When we got there the host was by the door which was very nice because we were slightly unsure where to go. We entered and were told that there were going to be 6 other people in the room with us (randoms). Our first impression for the room was that it was fairly bland and lacking in decor. We got through the room fairly quick but we escape with 8 min to spare because we got hung up on a puzzle and because one of our locks was being finicky (The Game Master(GM) had to come in and help us with it since we had the correct combination in it and it still wasn't working). This room is a Gen 1 room, meaning the there is no technology puzzles in the room, just combos, locks and keys. The Zombie aspect of the room was one of the most hyped in the reviews but when we experienced it was sub par. The whole "encounter" is probably about 3-5 minutes since the zombie ends up leaving through the door (which didn't make sense in the plot line). I had thought that the zombie would be super scary and be with us until the end of the game but I was wrong. The actor playing the zombie did a good job for the time that they were in the room, I just wish they would have stayed in the room instead of leaving. The Hint System: You get 3 hints in this room, if you so close to take them. The are offered at the 30min mark, 15 min mark and 10 minutes mark (if i'm remembering correctly). During these time checks the GM would open the door and say "The doctor will see you in _ minutes." I did not like that form of hints/ time checks at all, it really takes you out of the zone and pulls you out of the game mode. I think it would be so much better if they either had a screen with the clues and timer on it or a simple walkie talkie system. I give this room 3 out of 5 stars because I felt like they could do so much more. The decor in the room was lacking and I honestly feel as though most of the room was wasted space. There were such few actual puzzles to solve in the room and the atmosphere in the room could have been better. The actor should stay in there room for longer, even stay the until the group escapes as that would add a element of rush and fear to the game. The hint system needs to be improved. I would only recommend this place to people who have never done an escape room before. After doing so many I just wasn't very impressed...

Everyone is going to have their own opinion about horror. I'm tricky. I like most horror movies but HATE anything that is live action horror. I did not realize that when I booked this! The only other "horror" event I went to was in Vegas, at the Fear the walking dead attraction. Oh and after the escape room I tried Universal Studios walking dead attraction. I can now say FOR SURE it's not for me lol! Watching a scary movie is one thing cuz u can turn down the music, turn on the lights, or look away during jump scares. But real life, (live action) yeah that's different. It's terrifying and in your face and you can't hide! My husband hates jump scares and horror but likes horror video games. So why in the world did I think a horror escape room would be a good bday surprise for him? No fricken clue! Took me FOREVER to find parking. This was LA so it was a nightmare to find parking. I ended up finding a parking lot where u have to pay to park. Now bear in mind that the website said you have to get there in a certain amount of time or you could miss your reservation. I was freaking out! Finally I run to pay and the stinking meter took my money and didn't work! I did this twice cuz I was running out of time and it took my money again. I didn't think I'd make the appointment. So then I finally saw another meter in another section and paid it and it worked! We ran to the escape room. The room I booked was meant for 4 ppl but nobody else was there. As soon as you walk in its very creepy and dark and has scary music. My husband immediately didn't want to go! The lady convinced him to stay. She led us to our room. There was a bed with a dummy half covered. Very freaky. My husband only stayed because she turned on a couple lights and said there were no actors. The clues were very hard. She came and gave us clues a few times. To my horror we discovered later that in the next 2 rooms they had actors! So. Many. Jump. Scares. We were terrified!! It was so bad. I wanted to cry lol when it was all over I realized that I will never book another horror room. It's not their fault though. They did a good job being scary. The actors were great. It would've been way better in a group. If you like horror I think...

By far the worst escape room I've ever been to. There was no where near enough puzzles for 8 people. I don't think there would have been enough puzzles for 2 people... Probably only 6 puzzles for the entire hour. Plus, when the host led us in, she basically told us where the first puzzle was.

With that amount of real estate (separate rooms) and large props they clearly put some money into this. So supplying only a few puzzles, almost all solved by combination locks, is just a huge let down.

Our group kept walking away from the few puzzles there were, not because they were extremely difficult, but because there were simply too many people trying to solve too few puzzles. This has never happened to me before and I've easily done 20 escape rooms.

The theme was inconsistent. Like it's a doctor but he's curing zombies... But the actor is dressed from the movie the ring and the puzzles in the room don't seem to feel related majorly to any of those things.

I got the distinct impression a couple of the puzzles had to be visually verified by the actor and manually triggered. I totally get this workaround and I know maintenance isn't easy on these things, but when there's so few puzzles this feels very sloppy... And whoever has to verify needs to be on top of it. We had a puzzle solved multiple different times before the actor saw it and suddenly left the room to let us know we solved the room.

It was poorly thought out and needs more diverse types of puzzles that align to a clear concept and narrative. The puzzles should be challenging but satisfying to solve.

This escape room has maybe 4 extremely simple puzzles solved by combination locks or extremely basic clues, then 2 puzzles that have the most obscure and totally unsatisfying solves that have to be verified by the actor in the room.

Not a fan of the actor in the room but I get some people could like it. That's sort of the least of the...