PINCKNEY

TERRORFIED FOREST & MANOR

245 Swarthout Road, Pinckney, MI 48169

(734) 878-3737 or www.terrorfied.com

ZIOPTIS SEZ 2018 - NEW SHOW FROM AN OLD FAVORITE!

This haunt changed hands a few years ago, securing its future to great relief for the Michigan haunt scene...

A dynamic duo of young but highly experienced haunt operators is at the helm now, and shows no signs of letting up.

This has always been a PREMIERE FOREST HAUNT with a walk thru too (the MANOR) that mixes it up big time.

Much has changed, but one awesome feature from the past is still in place. It’s a GIANT BLACK HOLE right in the middle of the forest!

Add to that countless hiding spots, awesome ambiance and a blackout maze and you have an outdoor/indoor haunt that delivers the goods big time.

ROMULUS

REALM OF HAUNTED MINDS

Huron Turkey Farm

18910 Merriman Road, Romulus, MI 48174

Corner of Sibley, entrance on Sibley.

(734) 753-9187 or www.myspace.com/huronturkeyfarm

ZIOPTIS SEZ 2018 - FANTASY MEETS FEAR HEAD ON!

A magical oasis of fantasies awaits you here.

Besides a fabulous haunt, there’s a maze and a miniature city that you can explore and become a part of! A variety of buildings have been constructed with authenticity, like a school with desks.

The buildings are just big enough to actually enter. But once you do, watch out! You may fall victim to monsters who roam the grounds here...

You can even become CAPTAIN OF GHOST SHIP or a train conductor, and then delight in the on premise animal farm too.

One thing however, is that you can’t tell animals what to do or not to do. During our visit, 2 of the adorable alpacas were engaged in some decidedly X-rated activities!

On top of all that, there’s mini museum of famous horror creatures in the ticket building. They have so many of these life size characters that they swap them out each year for a fresh display.

Also in the ticket building you’ll find amazing home made baked specialties and fresh Michigan cider. A happy tummy makes for an enhanced haunt experience!

If you haven’t been here yet, you’re missing out! 

ROMULUS

DERANGED HAUNT

35560 Goddard Road, Romulus, MI 48174

(734) 626-9006 or www.DerangedHaunt.com

ZIOPTIS SEZ 2018 - NEW HAUNT FINDING THEIR LEGS

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step,” according to an ancient Chinese proverb.

DERANGED has taken that first step, going public with their passion for haunting with a listing in THE HAUNT GUIDE.

They couldn’t afford a big splashy ad like the established big boys on the scene, but that’s okay. It’s hard not to admire anyone who has the guts for even trying this.

Upon arrival, a spooky feeling hits you as fog spills from a large custom facade bearing their name...

The covered waiting room features powerful overhead black lights, a really nice touch. One guy in line had a florescent paint shirt on, and it popped! He said he washed the shirt using LIQUID GAIN BRAND FABRIC SOFTENER, which makes any garment glow under UV lighting.

Your journey starts with a forest walk, then leads to the structure you see when you arrive.

We made 2 visits to this haunt, at the start of the season then later near the end of the season.

During the first visit it was clear they weren’t quite ready, and it was a little rough around the edges...

So we went again, and the difference was like night and day! They delivered a solid haunt experience, with good surprises and interaction throughout.

Our favorite characters here were “Brother” and “Sister,” who may be just a little too close! GREAT STUFF.

We look forward to a bright future for this up-and-coming haunt. They have 5 acres to work with, plenty enough to do some amazing things.

After all, the sky’s the limit for haunts in DETROIT, THE WORLD CAPITAL OF HAUNTED HOUSES.

DERANGED has planted its magic seed, and the potential is there to soar like Jack’s Beanstalk!

SOUTH ROCKWOOD

WOODS OF DARKNESS

11665 Haggerman, South Rockwood, MI 48179

(248) 413-9647 or www.haunts.com/woodsofdarknesshaunt

ZIOPTIS SEZ 2018 - DELIVERANCE US FROM EVIL, BUT TAKE US TO HELL TOWN!

This is a double attraction haunt, with a walk through haunt and a forest walk. We only had time for the walk through, but still left with that satisfied feeling you only get after getting lambasted and blasted with haunted magic.

The haunt greeter wears a top hat and carries a cane. We asked, “What’s your name?” and he said, “I’m Cane, ready and willing and he was Able!”

MIX WELL / LAUGH AND SCREAM

The actors lines range from humorous to horrific, and the scenes take you on an emotional roller coaster. The rooms are expertly accented by extremes in lighting from sensory blasts to the darkness of death.

We really liked the bewildered girl on the floor rocking back and forth, and the suspiciously friendly clown girl “Fooey” who’s obsessed with “lots of red paint!”

Good misdirection / surprises, and excellent makeup throughout.

KICKIN’ IT OLD SCHOOL / GIVE ME THAT OLD FASHIONED RELIGION AND NOBLE GAS, IF YOU PLEASE

We really liked their XENON GAS STROBE LIGHTS, mostly set to a slow flash rate for a stop motion effect.

***Nowadays, PAR lights are often used as strobe lights. But they use LED’s which have a much longer duration per flash than Xenon strobes, which produce a duration of 1/1000 of a second per flash!***

KICKIN’ IT NEW SCHOOL WITHOUT THE MOLLY

This haunt features TWO awesome LIQUID SKY rooms!

The first one has a green flat beam laser projector at waist level, accented by an interesting musty-type smell and fog. Throw in another slow flashing Xenon strobe, and VOILA! PRIMO.

Later, another liquid sky room takes it to another dimension totally!

A high mounted laser projector is set to an oval shape, producing a spinning tunnel effect that’s stunning.

NOT YOUR FATHER’S LASER

This laser is unlike any we’ve seen! It has the green and red beams we first saw years ago with the American DJ Micro Galaxian, but it also has BLUE AND PURPLE BEAMS for a rainbow of haunted happiness! Air currents can be clearly seen on the edges of the beams - try dragging your fingers through them and you can literally see the disturbances! TRIPPY.

After a short jaunt outside the first building through the woods, we entered another building. It had the feeling of an old Western town, but with a wild mountain man giddy with excitement and gyrating to banjo music playing.

He  gruffly exclaims, “This is Deliverance! Welcome to Hell Town, boys and girls...” GREAT STUFF.

Later, a GIANT PROPANE BLAST gives way to sensory depravation as you get lost in the dark before even more SLOW STROBE ASSAULTS.

Also features a BLACK HOLE, and we really liked the padded cell room with a slow strobe lighting a girl running back and forth and a guy who LOST HIS GUTS, LITERALLY!

They have a whopping 80 acres here to work with here!

Our only regret was not having time to explore more of those 80 acres in the forest walk. But that gives us the perfect excuse to go again next season. Hey, meet us there...we’ll be the ones right in the middle of hundreds of happy haunters!

TAYLOR

THE SCREAM MACHINE

23131 Ecorse Road, Taylor, MI 48180

(734) 309-0756 or www.TheScreamMachine.net

ZIOPTIS SEZ 2018 - DOWNRIVER FAVE RE-INVENTS ITSELF AGAIN

We started our haunt tour here this year, anxious for that special thrill that only haunting gives...and got a big surprise.

We barely recognized the place! Only a few key elements from the past remain, like THE HELLEVATOR and THE BLACK HOLE, two proven big winners.

Oh yeah, the queue line area is the same too which is to say it’s primo! The deep, thunderous sound shakes your body and a special actor works the crowd to great effect ensuring a great experience from beginning to end!

We were worried a few years ago, when THE SCREAM MACHINE failed to appear. But then they reemerged at the strip mall on Ecorse Road near Telegraph, stronger than ever.

Once upon a time, there were a record SIX haunts in TAYLOR and we submitted it as a world record to the Guinness Book of World Records. They turned us down, saying there was no category for it (but then later established a category for the BIGGEST haunt).

SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST IN THE MOST COMPETITIVE HAUNT MARKET IN THE WORLD

THE SCREAM MACHINE is the only of those six haunts that survived the highly competitive DETROIT HAUNT MARKET, and you can see for yourself why when you go to this long-time fave of ours!

WESTLAND

HUSH HAUNTED ATTRACTION

34043 Ford Road, Westland, MI 48185

(734) 502-6026 or www.HushDetroit.com or www.facebook.com/hushdetroit

ZIOPTIS SEZ 2018 - HOLLYWOOD SLICK, DETROIT RAW

This haunt takes makeup artistry to a whole new level.

One of our favorite characters is a dude sporting horns in his forehead who could be the Devil himself, and looks like he just got off the set of a Hollywood movie!

He works the crowd in a most dramatic way, appearing out of nowhere on the roof of the building. The queue line goes crazy as he taunts them, and then tosses haunted goodies down for them to catch.

It gets better. More actors appear also from above on a perch at the upper right of the building. They work the crowd too, also tossing prizes down to anxious haunters hoping to get lucky.

The inside of the haunt is totally on point from start to finish. All of the actors delivered their lines clearly with good diction, with great misdirection / surprises and excellent sound and lighting throughout.

We especially liked the moving room after the train attack / collision, the foot-stomping singing banjo player, and the girl in the kitchen who goes to town on herself with an electric knife. GREAT STUFF!

Also features an excellent LIQUID SKY ROOM with a squishy bridge, and two amazing cave sequences.

Other favorite characters were the girl that pops out in a white outfit, the “Bishop” with his jeweled crown, and the Steampunk guy. PRIMO!

This young haunt came on strong from Day One, and continues to WOW THE MASSES as it evolves towards being a leader of the Detroit haunt scene!

YPSILANTI

NIGHT TERRORS at WIARD'S ORCHARDS

5565 Merritt Road, Ypsilanti, MI 48197

(734) 390-9206 or www.HauntedHouseMichigan.com

ZIOPTIS SEZ 2018 - FISTS IN THE AIR / FAIRIES IN THE SKY

A ROCK CONCERT BROKE OUT during our visit at NIGHT TERRORS AT WIARD’S in YPSILANTI!

From a side angle, that’s exactly what it looked it...music blasting, people rushing the stage shaking their fists in the air keeping beat...

But “the band” was actually the next KARAOKE SINGER and this guy tore it up big time - somebody get that kid on THE VOICE!

HOW’S THE WEATHER UP THERE?

There’s a couple of characters roaming the grounds of WIARD’S that will knock your socks off!

You can’t miss them...they’re both EIGHT FEET TALL!

There’s JUSTINE THE FAIRY PRINCESS and a KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOR that both have custom LED costumes to die for.

This is all before you even go on the hayride or in the haunts, mind you...but it gets better...

There’s one especially stealth actor that is totally genius. It’s a tall slender actor disguised as part of the scenery...NOBODY sees this coming and it’s a GUARANTEED WOWSER GOTCHA MOMENT!

THE HAYRIDE OF THE LOST takes you through an authentic feeling old west town, complete with period clothing and old style justice by maniacs who take the law into their own hands with EXPLOSIVE RESULTS. You won’t just see it, you’ll FEEL IT...BIG TIME!

There’s 5 OTHER ATTRACTIONS besides the hayride here. Describing them all would be pointless...

OMG! Just remembered...we once said something similar about...get ready...drum roll...we usually make a point of NOT comparing haunts to each other... but GHOSTLY MANOR in SANDUSKY, OHIO has 5 attractions so they too received an abbreviated review like this. See Reviews 2014_B.