People love to build haunted houses in locations that are creepy, twisted, and wrong in some way.  They make them in old asylums, prisons, places where the damned wander and dreams have died.  Las Vegas Haunts has chosen a place that truly represents the corruption, downfall, and decay of America… the parking lot of a mall near an old JC Penny. 

As odd a choice as that may seem at first glance, it makes a lot of sense on reflection.  Real estate in Las Vegas is at a premium, with suitable locations costing tens of thousands of dollars a month.  High winds in the desert make temporary structures a risky endeavor.  Las Vegas Haunts chose to solve this problem in a very unique way by building their haunt into semi-truck trailers to make a semi-permanent structure that can be iterated and built upon while shifting from place to place.  They’ve been located in the same parking lot for nearly a decade but can easily be moved to a new location if the need arises.  You’d think this would lead to a drop in quality, but their set design is truly top-notch, rivaling and beating out many other haunts that don’t need to work within their unique limitations. 

Asylum and Hotel Fear are a great time for any haunted house aficionados in the Las Vegas area, easily competing with the glitz and glamor of Vegas to make for a solid choice for your outing.

Each of Las Vegas Haunt’s two attractions tends to sport roughly 30 cast members each, easily filling out the somewhat cramped environs.  At no point do you feel like somewhere is empty or void of surprises; they’re always watching and waiting.  The cast gave it their all, throwing themselves into their roles with absolute gusto and clearly having fun.  Overall, they tend to be very believable in their roles, with the insane hotel staff absolutely dedicated to their hotel and welcoming us and the asylum staff acting delightfully unhinged.

One area in which could do a slightly better job is in the variety of behaviors they display.  It wasn’t universal, but the vast majority of the staff liked to start quiet and then startle us with a sudden scream, devolving into ranting.  It was really effective at first, but when there isn’t enough variety, it loses some of its punch.  A bit more menace or quiet threat mixed in with the screaming would be wonderful. 

This goes towards their interactivity as well.  Many were yelling too loudly or were too into their roles to even notice when one of us tried to banter.  This wasn’t across the board; one notable patient in the asylum did a wonderful job of it.  I asked her what game she wanted to play, and she proceeded to follow me across the room and into another, describing how we’d play freeze tag, and I’d freeze when she caught me because she’d tear out my entrails.  That sort of dedication was great to see and really added to my enjoyment.

I really wanted to love the costuming and makeup at this haunt.  Someone clearly put a lot of work into it and did it with love, and that makes me automatically enjoy it.  There are little details missing, however, that could take the entire thing from good to amazing.  Whoever is handling their makeup is great at making little cuts and wounds on people.  They were universal across nearly every cast member, and all looked awesome.  What was missing, however, was grime.  These little wounds and scrapes were all set against a backdrop of clean skin.  Clean heads, mostly clean hair, clean necks, clean arms, clean hands menacing us.  It’s not something that I think your average haunt-goer would notice consciously, but it’s a small detail that will subconsciously pull people out of their immersion.

Costumes were similarly handled.  A lot of the costumes looked great, they were grimy and tattered and perfectly suited to their scene.  Rich, the owner and operator of the haunt, is nearly pathological in his devotion to everything fitting the scene, and I love to see that.  However, several of the costumes, especially in the Asylum, were obviously sitting on top of clean street clothes.  It’s again not something that everyone would notice; the panicked other members of my group didn’t seem to, but subconsciously, it tells the viewer that this is fake.  Replacing street clothes with something dirtier and more ragged or adding extra props like bandages could hide that bit of artifice and make things seem more dire and real.

I have truly nothing to complain about in the customer service of this haunt. It’s easy to find and navigate, and there is plenty of parking.

Every staff member I spoke with was almost too polite and helpful. They were clearly there because they loved being there and wanted to be there. The website is great and tells you everything you need to know. Other haunts should try and follow suit here; it’s nearly perfect.

Haunts like this are always going to be at a disadvantage because there’s nothing inherently scary or creepy about a parking lot.  It’s hard to really get into the zone standing on blacktop a few hundred feet from a department store.  Las Vegas Haunts does its very best to handle this with decent, albeit not perfect, results.  They have a small cemetery set up and speakers that play creepy music.  A screen next to one of the lines shows trailers of horror movies.  The actual haunts themselves look almost reminiscent of one of the haunted rail rides that you see in traveling carnivals, spooky adjacent, but not actually all that spooky.  This makes it really difficult to get immersed in the moment before and after the haunt.

During the haunt, you are fully immersed, and all those doubts go away.  Their set design is absolutely top-notch; they do a great job from beginning to end of surrounding you with spooky art and furniture, and every piece of it is carefully crafted.  Each haunt has a fantastic intro that gets you right into the mood and a bit of special effects magic that draws you completely into their world.  It’s brilliant, and I loved what both of them did. 

I recommend they go for a slightly more creative story. There is a story, but it’s “haunted hotel” and “insane asylum,” both of which are very well-trod ground. Adding some specificity to the haunt, an actual storyline, could help make the leap from good to great.

Las Vegas is the home of spectacle in the United States, and both Hotel Fear and the Asylum do an admirable job of keeping up this tradition.  The set design is phenomenal, with every piece of furniture showing intent and creativity.  They even managed to get the floors right, which is generally an afterthought in most haunts.  They have small Easter eggs here and there, great setups for scares, and some really strong use of props.

I loved their gags, especially in Hotel Fear.  Having a hallway suddenly open up to almost engulf the audience is a great touch, as is having a rack of clothing suddenly swing at us.  There aren’t many animatronics, but what animatronics they have are used to great effect.  They also had fantastic use of a fog swamp, making it the condensation found in a freezer to blur vision and suggest a much colder temperature than the 80 degrees we found ourselves in.  The only reason this isn’t a higher score for this category is length. Everything was very effective, but there just wasn’t enough to completely wow me.  It’s a side effect of the limitations this haunt is working under, and it’s amazing that it’s as good as it is within those limitations.

Scariness is a very difficult thing to measure, but we do our best to give an approximation.  Neither Hotel Fear nor the Asylum truly managed to scare me.  They did their best, but ultimately, I didn’t jump or startle once throughout the process.  Scares were a bit too predictable, with the cast members or gags being set up and executed in very similar ways throughout each haunt.  Hotel Fear really loved to have a window suddenly bang down and a cast member scream; Asylum leaned too heavily in a patient muttering to themselves and then screaming.  Mixing this up would help lean on this haunt’s strengths.  They also need to do a better job of providing scares throughout the group.  I was in the back of both groups I traversed the haunts with, and just about every surprise or gag was set off in front of me.  Hotel Fear had a particularly large cast member following us from room to room, and with me in the back, I saw him coming up behind us.  That was pretty much the only thing that targeted me specifically.

What they do an excellent job with is the arc of the haunt, something that too many places seem to neglect completely.  There’s a deeply satisfying and immersive start; you go through a series of rooms and trials, and then you end on a climax.  It leads to a feeling of a full and complete experience, and it’s something that I really appreciated and enjoyed.

I spent just over 16 minutes combined within Hotel Fear and the Asylum.  At a $40 ticket price, we’re left with a Minute Per Dollar score of .4.  That’s not the lowest I’ve seen, but it’s far from the best.  Overall you will be satisfied by the main attractions.  You won’t be upset about spending the money, you will have a good time.  Just make sure that you want to go see a haunted house; the value is definitely good enough for someone who enjoys haunts, but it likely won’t be enough to win over somebody who’s on the fence.