Haunting on the Highway Review

Category	Skulls	Notes
First Impression		As the name implies, the haunt is right off the highway, although it is shielded from the highway by trees. The parking area is a well lit field (the lighting was even better than last year, eliminating some of the dark spots while maneuvering out there.) The queue line and ticket sales has also been moved up to the edge of the parking lot, which lets a wall of trees work as the facade for the haunt, with only a small trail leading further ahead into the darkness. I thought this was a great change for several reasons. The ticket area is now much more accessible and visible, and the queue line has more room so it won't be cramped where it used to be closer to the house. The trees blocking the haunt give it more of a sense of unknown and mystery, with only occassional screams indicating what lies ahead.
Actors		The first thing to point out with this haunt is it's a guided haunt, meaning that someone from the haunt will go with each group to help direct them through the twisted mazes and dark corners. They actually "lead" from the back however, so that they don't give as much of a safety zone as if they led from the front. An improvement in this area would actually to have the guides play more of an acting role portraying a character instead of being a sort of "out of character" addition to the haunt experience. The scares are pretty much all actor based in this haunt. Costuming isn't overly elaborate, and the parts generally don't include a lot of dialogue. The timing was usually pretty good on scares, and groups were spread out enough that actors were able to spend a little extra time working on some of the weaker links, really giving chase. (The guide really tried to keep the group movng at a good clip though.)
Audio/Sensory		The haunt doesn't indlude a lot of touch and smell effects, but it does have a lot of sounds throughout the haunt with loud bangs for scares, a talking animatronic, and various other sounds.
Special Effects		The haunt uses various classic haunt effects like black lights and fog machines, as well as some animatronics. The most memorable effect however, was the electric fence with an actor caged within running a rake along the fence to create a shower of sparks, with a close second likely being a car ready to run guests over.
Theming and Storyline		There really isn't a theme to the haunt, with the costuming and rooms being pretty random. I'd love to see the indoor and outdoor scenes tie together into a more coherent theme, espcecially if the outdoor portion were to start even before entering the house. An extended outdoor graveyard with either a mausoleum or funeral home theme for the interior would work great with the current setup, and it would take advantage of many of the props and effects currently in place. A zombie night of the living dead type feel might be a variation that would work with that setting.
Fright Factor		Scares are mostly actor based startle scares, although you will get some "gross out" style scares, and a few other surprises. They have pretty much what you would expect to see in a haunted house for scares.
Gore Factor		Although I would still rate this as the bloodiest and goriest haunt in the midsouth, it was actually toned down a bit from previous years. There seemed to be a bit less blood and less body parts, although there still is quite a bit for those slasher flick fans out there. (Most years I would rate this haunt 3 skulls for gore, but with the toned down levels, 2 is more appropriate this season, making it slightly more child friendly than in the past.)
Value		At $8, the 4 to 5 minute run time (combined for the indoor and outdoor portions) is a bit short. The outdoor trail portion was shortened this year due to the huge ammounts of rain that have been a headache for all haunts. Portions of what made up the trail in previous years was under water for much of this season, limiting building to the high ground. For haunt fans looking for more gore in their haunting experience however, this is the one you want to look to. (I know there is a big demographic of enthusiasts where that is one of the biggest, if not the biggest element for them.)

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