Field of Screams — Attraction in Mountville

I went in this place thinking it was just some family-owned run of the mill horror attraction. Boy was I wrong, everything about this place was awesome and scary! The music and food were also great. We arrived at 5:30 so we were able to do all the attractions and get food in between in a reasonable time, we got done with all four around 9ish. The actual attractions are long and is much bigger than they appear, each one is about 15-20 minutes and there are no breaks in each one. Beware though as the later it gets the more crowded it becomes, by the time we got to the Hayride and Den the lines were out of the que and the hayride was even backed up to the entrance of the park, but both of those lines move really quickly. But when we went around to loop the Asylum again we were in line for over an hour and ended up just leaving the line so we wouldn’t get home past 1 in the morning. The earlier you get the better since you can stay all the way until closing, also I would recommend the VIPs if you plan on doing an attraction more than once and we’ll definitely be buying them next time we go.

If I had to rank them in order of which I liked (even though all of them were amazing)

Frightmare Asylum (We did this one first and since I wasn’t expected anything bad this one caught me WAYY off guard, the actors/actress were really convincing)

Haunted Hayride (Who doesn’t love a good hayride, especially when they jump on the tractor and put you in a chokehold. This feels like it goes on forever but every minute of it is filled with something, either a scene or someone jumping out at you)

Nocturnal Wasteland (This one got me the worst, I was on the ground multiple times and most of it is outside in the woods, I got so scared at the ‘toxic water’ part I jumped over the rope to block you from going into another section. Also there’s a part that intertwines with the hayride so that’s cool)

Den of Darkness (This was still cool but after doing everything else it just didn’t pop put to me like everything else did, still really good though!)

Though if I had to rank them in the order of scariest:

Nocturnal Wasteland (Hands down the scariest walk-through I’ve been on, maybe because we did it at night and it was in the woods annd I was forced to be at the front. But as I said, this one knocked me to the ground alot)

Haunted Hayride (Only reason why this isn’t number one is because it’s a hayride. But in the multiple indoor and outside scenes alot of people will jump onto the thing and rough you up, one guy even caught his chainsaw into my side and another one put somebody into a headlock type thing and said some stuff into their ear. Dont be fooled by the hayride part, this still is scary)

Frightmare Asylum (In this one you can usually see the people before you get to them which takes some of the shock factor off, but it is still disturbing and they really seem like they’re crazy and talking to you. Like in one section on guy came to me with a knife and told me to smile or else ‘I’ll be next’ and multiple another places where they just seem crazed. Also they have children in there that will grab your legs out of nowhere)

Den of Darkness (Again, just didn’t really jump out to me. But they still have some pretty good parts where the actors hide behind some stuff and get you, and even when you see them you thing they’re fake since they’re so stationary and then they just jump out at you, even one hidden above you jumps out at you. Though again this is just my experience but I’ll make sure to do it again since I know this one is considered to be the best)

And with all that said I had a blast here and would recommend for anyone (not small children since the things are pretty scary and there’s some parts they’d be better off not seeing.) But if you love to get scared check...

I just went to FOS last night! I used to go every year, but it's been about 15 years since the last time. It has changed quite a bit. I had fun, but it lost some of its magic. The lines were insane, but that VIP upgrade let me skip all of that.

I liked the addition of the chainsaw bar, and I could tolerate the stadium pricing on the beer. The grounds are well designed, cramming as much as they can in a small space, and the props are spooky. The giant tesla coil in the atomic wasteland was awesome, but something was missing: ACTORS!

We noticed a severe lack of actors on all 4 attractions. They were operating with a skeleton crew on a Saturday night in mid-October! Many rooms were empty that clearly should have had actors there to scare us, leaving the freights to inanimate props or, at best, cheesy animatronics.

After the first attraction, I thought everyone was on break. Then I saw a sign seeking scare-actors. Halfway through October is not the time to start staffing up, guys. And it's no wonder they have trouble keeping people; it's not paid gig!

You read that right. The scare actors are volunteers! So this place that rakes in at least a quarter million dollars in profit every weekend in October (that was before adding $12 beers) can't afford to pay actors so we have a fully-staffed attraction?

The staffing strain didn't just affect the rides. The actors themselves were obviously overworked, stressed out and aggressive, and not in the fun, horror-movie sense.

Between rides, my ten year old nephew was trying to put a glowstick bracelet on his wrist and it popped off, hitting an actor dressed like an evil clown. The clown yelled at him, then confronted me like he deliberately threw it. We just walked away because, frankly, that was an unhinged level of aggression to throw at a child because a piece of plastic accidentally bumped your shoe. That man was clearly overworked and underpaid. And if that was "the act," it needs work.

That aggression was all over. I saw a young girl run from the den of darkness being chased by a chainsaw-weilding maniac. That's normal, but then she fell in the gravel and the actor kept charging until he trampled her, stomping on her back! Then he walked away like nothing happened, leaving other patrons to help her up (she was not ok).

Suddenly, that new, extensive waiver they make you sign makes so much more sense. Overall, I would say the actors were not enjoying themselves, clearly under tremendous strain to manage the massive crowd.

We each paid $83.50 for all 4 attractions with the VIP upgrade. Compare that to Jason's Woods 20 minutes down the road, $65 dollars for 5 attractions VIP, with a much larger grounds. And because they actually pay their actors, your hayride will be fully staffed. You can tell the difference; the actors there have more fun.

So we've decided to go to Jason's Woods from now on. Hopefully, they add their version of an overpriced chainsaw bar soon, too.

That was the best part of last night, I would go back to FOS just to get a drink at their horror-themed bar, but the attractions are not worth it at that price. It would work if they invested in their staff, but relying on props and mostly tacky animatronics for the scares (along with a few borderline-psychotic volunteers) leaves the attractions...

My original 2016 year review: Staff was friendly, although they lost the VIP puncher and we had to wait about an extra 10 minutes in line while trying to get VIP. The cast was great, very good at scaring my girlfriend, however it seemed like there was less "scare" during the 2016 year than other years and by that I mean it felt like there was less staff overall to get horrified from. Food is also amazing, a very fun fair atmosphere to take friends to.

Edited 2023 Review: Coming here years later, it definitely felt more premium. They have Auntie Anne's as well as the Chainsaw Bar, so it's nice to have options. Carnival games are fun and really make the "fairground" atmosphere. The lines felt faster, except Haunted Hayride and Nocturnal Wasteland. The actors were able to touch you and back when I used to come here, that wasn't the case. I looked at it as a good thing to make me more scared.

Den of Darkness is probably Field's bread and butter. I didn't have VIP for this and the wait was about five minutes on the last weekend of October. The rooms were decorated really well and everything felt really well done. I was going to give Den of Darkness a 5/5, however I watched an actor grab my girlfriend's butt while he was hanging on her shoulders so I'm going to rate this one a 0/5.

Haunted Hayride is the most relaxing out of all of them. It's predictable with the vehicle stopping whenever actors will come out, but still nice to sit down after waiting for a while. I don't think people should be in the middle row because the people in the middle row get less enjoyment and engagement from the ride while the people on the sides tend to get actor engagement more. Adding the different areas and garages make for a more immersive experience, but also make it more predictable. 3/5

Frightmare Asylum was a quick line. Presentation is fun. Chainsaw at the end is visible and predicted. It felt more like "don't forget we have a guy with a chainsaw" than anything else. Overall, the building felt very empty with actors missing in places that they were supposed to be. I always look forward to the black and white tiled room featuring a strobe light with someone in a matching costume that is hard to see. I was expecting it and it missed. 2/5

Nocturnal Wasteland... I would say that Nocturnal Wasteland felt more like you're walking through the park at night rather than a horror attraction. It suffered from the same issues that Frightmare Asylum did. Empty. There were cool effects, but barely any actors. I found myself searching for things to get scared of rather than getting scared. The line for this attraction feels more like a way to convince people into getting VIP due to it having a line that you wait in, only to get a photo taken followed by another line and then another line. VIP is advertised throughout and it just feels like the reason it's created is to get people to purchase it. 1/5

Maybe it's me. Maybe Field of Screams is a one-time thing and I'm better off searching for a new attraction in 2024. I wanted to have an amazing time, but I think the scariest thing about it was how much it's...