Haunted Review - Industrial Terrorplex

So, for those of you that don't know, I freakin' LOVE Halloween season. Partially because it's in my favorite season, partially because I get to dress up like a moron and hand out candy to kids that will likely rot their teeth out before they hit puberty, but mostly for the haunted houses. I love being scared out-of-my-mind-stupid while running breathlessly and screaming like a mad woman. It's fun and exhilarating, and it gives me something to really look forward to.

I just got home from visiting the Industrial Terrorplex, that houses not one but four separate haunts: Industrial Nightmare, Dementions, Infected, and Carnevil 3D. My best friend Aly and I splurged on the $28 Combo ticket for all four attractions, and here's what we found.

Initially, you have to purchase your tickets from the side entrance. Don't let the lines out in front of the building fool you like it did us! Go up the steps on the side of the building, in the set of doors, up a few more steps, and purchase your tickets. Then, they tell you to go to the back of the room, choose left or right, and you're on your way. I won't say what happened, but we chose left, and we'll just say it took us a while of running into walls and tripping over one another to find our way to the room where the line forms!! It was fun, though, and when we finally emerged, we were already starting to get a bit sweaty and breathless. Then came the wait. We got there at around 9:30pm (ish) and were in the 4th row of turnstiles from the front. Not too shabby, especially since the line moved pretty quick, but when you're hyped up and already off to a small start, you wanna keep going, and waiting was a bit hard to do. Or maybe it was the Red Bull...

Finally, you enter Industrial Nightmare. On a scale of 1-5 Ghosts, with 1 being "Boring enough to complain and definitely not worth your time" and 5 being "Peed my pants, sore throat from screaming, won't sleep for a week" kind of scary, I'd actually give this one a 3.5. It grabbed my attention from the very start, and while it was entertaining and fun, I wouldn't say it was the scariest haunted house ever. It did have several surprises, though, and the actors stayed in character, really making the haunt a lot of fun. It just needed a bit more scare factor. Oh, and the last couple of rooms...yeah, here's your heads up. If your timing is off, you're going to end up pretty cold when waiting in line for the next haunt!

Up next was Dementions. After you exit Industrial Nightmare, you follow the turnstiles to the next haunt, and wait outside in the cold air. You should probably bring a sweater or jacket, maybe more as the weather turns colder later into October. The line seemed to move quite a bit slower here, but this one was well worth the wait! My throat was sore, the actors still did a great job, and the ending was a twist. I had a lot of fun with this one, and on my Ghost scale, I give it 4.5 because I screamed like a little girl and Aly took off running at one point. Pretty good entertainment there!

The next part had an even longer wait, and it was actually Infected and Carnevil combined. Remember how I mentioned the line out front and how not to be fooled by it when you first get to the Terrorplex? Yeah, this haunt is what that line out front was waiting for. It was the longest wait by far, because once you get up the ramp and into the building, you have to go back down some really steep and dangerous steps and wait again in a smoke-filled room that kind of hurts the sinuses, eyes, and throat. We finally got to enter, and the next few minutes were spent screaming, butting heads trying to huddle together in fear, and cowering in the corner. Infected was off to a great start, and while the actors were still fairly good, it didn't have the scare factor that Dementions or Industrial Nightmare had. I still had fun, of course, but I didn't really get scared too much after that intro. They set it up to be badass, but didn't follow through. I give it 3 Ghosts.

We didn't even realize that we were transitioning from Infected to Carnevil, because we actually thought we had gotten behind the scenes and were somewhere we weren't supposed to be. Infected was super short, and there was just no real definition between the two haunts. The lady there just handed us 3D glasses and sent us on our way. It was like one really big acid trip (or at least what my mind would imagine as an acid trip) in Carnevil. Psychedelic colors with the 3D glasses really made for some interesting artwork. Again, though, it just didn't have a lot of scare factor, the actors here didn't really interact as much as with Industrial Nightmare or Dementions, it was super short like Infected, and I wasn't overly impressed. I'm absolutely petrified of clowns, and I screamed maybe once. I laughed the rest of the time. While I like to laugh, I paid to be scared, and Carnevil just didn't deliver. I feel I'm being generous by saying 2.5 Ghosts on this one, and the only reason they scored that high was because of the acid trip that was pretty sweet.

All-around, if I had to score the whole Terrorplex, we'll round it to 3.5 Ghosts, but if you drop off the last two, it would be 4 Ghosts. They do have a combo ticket for just Industrial Nightmare with Dementions, so if you're short on time or just looking to be scared, I would probably just go with that. If you are just looking for an experience or really into zombies and clowns, you can still purchase just those two or the all 4 combo ticket. If I go back, I will probably just buy the 2 haunt combo ticket and leave off Infected and Carnevil.

All in all, it was a good first night to the opening weekend for haunted houses in Louisville. Next weekend, Aly and I are headed out again, and while we're still debating where to go, we're thinking Baxter Avenue Morgue and Haunted Hotel, since their both within driving distance to one another in Louisville, but we'll have to see. Our moods change like the wind!

Until next week, have a SCREAMING good night!!

-Ash