Erebus Haunted Attraction — Attraction in Pontiac

Let me start by saying that this review is for the 2017 season of the Haunted House (not sure why Google prompted me now to review) but from more recent reviews I'm assuming not much has changed. My husband (who is a paralyzed veteran and uses a wheelchair) and I did some pretty extensive online research AND called ahead to check the accessibility of the venue. We were told that everything was accessible except for a couple "small exhibits", so we decided to purchase the tickets (unfortunately, after 18 years in the wheelchair this is something my husband is very familiar with). Upon arriving and "checking in" an employee came to us and said that since my husband was in a wheelchair we would have to take the "back way" through the haunted house, which ended up being the actual "backstage" of the building...which we were fine with, we truly are very easy going and were just out to have a fun and hopefully spooky night. 😊 But after a few minutes of going through it was very apparent that we were missing much more than a couple small attractions. Imagine this- you go to a "haunted house" attraction and end up viewing it from the eyes of the employees, backstage and walking/rolling through storage areas, garages, etc. 😑😑😑 While we appreciate the effort made to walk us through the few things we were able to see, we would have appreciated MUCH MORE that someone be honest with us from the get-go and inform us that what we would be able to view would probably not be worth the $50 tickets A PIECE. We paid a hundred dollars that night to basically have a tour of the back of the building and it's garage....which was definitely NOT WORTH the money. The employees who told us we'd only miss a "little bit" of the attraction KNEW we were going to miss 90% of it, and just happily took our money anyways. As I said, we are extremely easy going people who chuckled through the entire thing, but we were pretty appalled that after the "tour" nothing was done to maybe refund a little of the ticket price, or something to compensate for the joke of a tour/haunted house attraction we had just seen. The employee obviously knew it was ridiculous as well and boogied away from us as quickly as possible when it was all over with. We went into it absolutely knowing it wouldn't be the full "shebang", but had no idea we'd see 10% of the attraction and still be charged a sh** load of money for it! All in all an absolute disappointment that we laughed our way through- the best thing to come out of the attraction was all the laughs we have had about it since then. 😂😂😂 This is just my humble opinion but, spending an hour at night in an old cemetery would be waaaaaay creepier and more frightening than...

My girlfriend and I had the pleasure of visiting Erebus about a week ago. There were many reasons why we had a good time which I will talk about first. For starters, we enjoyed the uniqueness of the different levels of the building. Walking up stairs may not seem like much, but that part stood out to us compared to other haunts we have been to. In the same vein, the lower chambers we had to duck down to walk through were great as well. We enjoyed the animatronics that touched you or pressed up against you. Those added an extra immersive element to our experience. The sets and props were top quality. All the actors had great make-up or awesome masks, thumps up to that. 5 stars for those portions of the haunt. Now, I would like to speak on a couple issues that watered down our experience. My girlfriend and I started off as our own group. We were enjoying and taking in all the hard work that was put into this haunt at a moderate pace on our own. Somehow two groups caught up to us. The first group was practically breathing down our necks and complaining about the haunt the entire time. This in turned ruined much of our experience because of how rude and obnoxious they were being. Erebus cannot control people’s character and attitude, but my girlfriend and I do wish that groups were spaced out better so others do not ruin hard earned money spent. We would have gladly paid a little extra on an “upgrade” that guaranteed our party would stay separated from others so we could 100% enjoy the haunt and not have it ruined by others. Perhaps, in the future this option could be offered. We were, unfortunately, stuck with this rude couple behind us the remainder of the haunt. Shortly after, we caught up to another group at the rope holding juncture. Some random person grabbed our arm and face, because he let go of his rope. Maybe it is impossible and unavoidable to get cattled through popular haunts. Regardless, it made things less enjoyable. Also, we did try directly reaching out to the owner about this matter. We did not receive a response which makes us feel like we are just another ticket sale. This may not be true, but it’s how it feels. We are just a little discouraged, because we wanted to appreciate Erebus for all that it has to offer. I do want to make sure I highlight that Erebus is first-class, extremely unique, and has so much space that is well utilized. I just wish our appreciation for this haunt was not reduced by costumers that were rude and disrespectful to your actors and attraction as a whole. I hope this information can be used to better an already...

I will begin this review by saying I purchased the general admission pass online, knowing I would still have to wait in line once we got there. That being said, the wait lines were numerous and poorly paced. After waiting outside, some photos are taken inside, then you go to another line to either purchase your ticket (or turn in your pass purchased online), and why there are not two lines to separate these two processes, I do not know (perhaps to add wait times and help eliminate bunching of groups?).

At this point in line, a person with two dogs was brought in by a staff member to meet with the ticket teller (which caused a 10-15 minute additional wait). After this, you stand in another line waiting to get into the actual "haunted house" part. Finally you get into the haunted house with an interesting laboratory spinning room, followed by walking through basement hallways with a few actors trying their best to scare. And then...another line! This was followed up by walking very slowly on uneven floors around in darkness often, some animatronic objects getting close to you (giant hand, T-rex head, a car, and another thing that was broken and concealed in the darkness), and an occasional actor walking kind of quickly towards you. However due to the amount of people there, and the limited hours, you are either bumping into the group in front of you or the group behind bumping into you.

Erebus Haunted Attraction has a lot of potential and some great ideas, but the execution and types of scares provided are cheap and trivial (if you think jump scares in films are the best thing ever, you will enjoy cheap jump scares from actors sneaking out from darkened corners, or in strobe-lit rooms). My favorite part was either the hall of mirrors or a rotating, cylindrical room with a metal walkway that disorientates the guest and provides some interesting visuals.

I am fairly certain the ticket prices are done so to pay for the amount of advertising this place dishes out. $23 for general admission, $30 for speed pass (both prices are variable depending on weekday/weekend/close to Halloween), and $50 for VIP pass (set price) are outrageous. Especially if the extra costs are for avoiding the line, but only the line outside the building. This does not include the numerous ones inside nor does it guarantee not bumping into any other groups due to pacing. In summary, save your money and support a local haunted house/hayride that will have the same amount of scares as Erebus...