Castle Blood has one of the most talented casts we have experienced, not for their scares but their incredible acting. So how can a haunted house cast be good but not scary? Let me explain.
Castle Blood is more interactive theater than traditional haunt scares. While a handful of actors provide jumpscares, the main focus of the actors is to guide you through the castle, expanding the story and providing games as you travel. These professionals have not only a line or two of dialogue but several pages to give and back stories to their characters. The actors also have to be on their toes to deviate from the script depending on customers’ reactions, and we saw that this evening. Not to mention that each time we attend an event at Castle Blood, the characters are located in different areas and sometimes even as different characters. It is very impressive how good the actors are with their material.
The startle-scare actors provided quick pop-outs to catch us off guard with screams; “What are you doing” “Where are you going” “Leaving so soon,” “Coward,” and more were unexpectedly yelled at us throughout the residence.
Then we have the story-driven actors and actresses with whom we spent extended time in certain areas. Boris was back harassing the waiting line. Ray from our team commented, “Oh, this clown again.” This gave Boris the go-ahead to berate Ray until we were inside the haunt. Lesson learned; don’t taunt Boris. His strong Slavic accent and sharp tongue repeatedly took jabs at Ray’s intelligence and appearance before turning his attention to Mark and harassing him. He asked Ray if he had seen his face and assumed all the mirrors in the house were broken. He continued, “Let me guess, they were all shipped broken.” He told mark we must not be his friends because we would not have let him leave the house with his hair looking the way it did. He also referred to us as “the weirdos your parents warn you about.” We all had a good laugh; well, maybe not Ray and Mark. Ezra provided the rules and story before entering the house with a mellow tone and dramatic pauses. Once inside, we met many familiar faces and some new characters as well.
In total, we discovered roughly twenty-four denizens inside the castle, ten scare actors, and fourteen main characters, which felt suitable for the setup of the house. It is so hard to mention some actors and not others, as everyone performed exceptionally and provided such unique personalities.
Phineas actually did not play a major role and did not help with puzzles or the story but was used to support flow control of the haunt. He asked if we had any questions. One group member asked how long he worked there, and he replied, “Hundreds of years, but I have lived here thousands as a butler and sometimes in the walls scaring people as it was quite cathartic.” I asked what kind of creature he was after noticing his horns. He stated he was a “Satyre; half man half goat.” He asked us if we ever saw “The Chronicles of Narnia.” Being a fan of the book since childhood, another member and I immediately said, “Mr. Tumnus.” Phineas replied, “Yes! He is a distant Cousin.” He continued talking to us for a few more minutes before we moved forward.
In the gypsy room, Critter helped us contact spirits. Her cool, calm, and confident attitude with a little snarky humor was great. The Librarian, Malevia, did excellent at ad-libbing with us as we were not easy on her, poor ghoul. Josette also did a great job as a vampire looking to see who in our group may have darkness in us. She was stern and sober with us and did not care for our off-color jokes, But she stayed in character and did not miss a beat.
I could write paragraphs about each actor’s performances, although not “scary,” masterfully performing their lines, going off the cuff, and being entertaining. The only thing that, maybe, I would like to see is a little more physical activity from the characters, like the professor and witch, who moved around more erratically.
See Less
