Features:
✓-Free Parking✓-Restrooms/Porta Potties On-Site✓-Food/Concessions✓-“Old-School” (Low Tech)✓-You will NOT be touched✓-Original Characters✓-Uncovered Outdoor Waiting Line✓-Indoor/Outdoor Attraction
This attraction was reviewed on October 19, 2018 by Team Houdini.
How Do We Get These Scores?
Our Rating System
UPDATE FOR 2022: Our former “Atmosphere” and “Theme” categories have now been combined and renamed “Immersion.” Our intent with this is to give more appropriate credit to attractions that have shown a clear focus on achieving and maintaining better customer experiences (both inside and outside the attractions) and developing creative storylines.
Each of the category scores in this review are calculated using a weighted average of several questions that we rate on a scale of 1 to 10.
The following breakdown explains what these scores typically mean. All of our Teams use this as a reference for providing accurate ratings:
10: “Peak Performance”This score is treated as if it has a chastity belt on it. “10’s” are reserved for the best of the best; those that we feel could not possibly improve on what they’re doing.
9: “Innovative and Groundbreaking”It rocked! Nearly everything seemed to go as planned and it was one of the best we’ve ever seen! These guys are leaders in the industry, and attractions like this are truly hard to come by.
8: “Solid”A high score on our scale. They had a good handle on it and, overall, they knew how to use it well. Most attractions can learn from what these guys are doing.
6 to 7: “Good”We could tell that a good effort was made. However, we’ve seen this done much better at other places, or can detect areas where significant improvements can be made. This is about the top end of what we’d call “Family Friendly.”
5: “Average / Fair”Compared to the competition, they weren’t the best, but definitely not the worst. Scares and Special Effects in this range are usually considered “Family Friendly.”
3 to 4: “Below Average”We could see that a clear attempt was made, but most other professional attractions are doing a much better job at this.
1 to 2: “Poor”It appeared that very little time, thought or effort was contributed to this aspect.
0 (Zero): “Non-Existent”No apparent effort was made to make this a significant contributor to the attraction.
Afterword:This rating system is standardized across all of The Scare Factor’s official haunt review teams. However, keep in mind there will always be minor differences between Teams, as we all have varying levels of experience. Regardless, we do our best to remain true to our core values, which is to promote all haunted attractions!Perhaps the biggest thing to remember is: sometimes the score – in and of itself – doesn’t tell the whole story about an attraction’s merits. This is why we provide detailed explanations for each category… to help you better understand how and why we chose the score/s that we did.We do our best to not let feelings or emotions rule our judgement, while also viewing the attraction through the lens of the typical haunt-goer. But, because all reviews with ratings are inherently subjective, this is nearly impossible to completely prevent. Though, when in doubt, we tend to give slightly lower scores than our original “gut feelings” to account for this, and also give the attraction more room to improve over time.We also do our best to be fair and consistent across all of the haunts that we review. We know that you’ll be looking at these scores and comparing them to other attractions, so we hope this review helps you out in that aspect.Do you have some feedback about our review system? Contact Us Here to let us know what you think!
Hide This
Final Score: 7.82
How Did We Get This Score?
Final Scores:
(15% of Final Score) Cast: 8.73
(15% of Final Score) Costuming: 7.39
(10% of Final Score) Customer Service: 8.95
(10% of Final Score) Atmosphere: 5.87
(15% of Final Score) Special Effects: 7.49
(5% of Final Score) Theme:
(15% of Final Score) Scare Factor: 8.2
(5% of Final Score) Entertainment & Value: 7.77
Hide This
Summary:
Eerie Acres Farm is a newer “professional haunt.” Located in Butler County, it started as a yard haunt then evolved to a barn haunt and now has expanded into a full-on professional Haunted Attraction. With only two years of professional haunt experience, Eerie Acres Farm has a lot of potentials to become one of the area’s top haunts. Focusing on actors over animatronics, they provide an in-your-face experience that is scary and entertaining.
Cast: 8.73
How Did We Get This Score?
Cast Scores (15% of Final Score):
(20% of Cast Score) Did it seem like there were enough actors?: 8.67
(30% of Cast Score) How creative, believable and convincing were the actors?: 8.5
(20% of Cast Score) How interactive were the actors (verbally and physically)?: 9
(15% of Cast Score) How creatively & appropriately did they use dialogue?: 9
(15% of Cast Score) Was there a good variety of characters?: 8.67
Hide This
Eerie Acres Farm focuses solely on actors for scares and interaction. This places a lot of pressure on the actors to provide a good show and deliver a scary experience. Lucky for us, they did a wonderful job. We faced around forty-eight enthusiastic thespians. This is a good amount for the size of the haunt with most scenes containing at least two actors and as many as nine in one scene. There was a slight amount of downtime between scenes which gave us time to relax for a moment before entering the next area of fright.
The performers did a great job of staying in character and providing an immersive experience. From “boo actors” to scripted and interactive dialogue, the deliveries were well-timed and on-target. We must say, their interactivity was some of the best we’ve encountered this season. They were also good at ad-libbing.
When we entered the pirate area, we encountered two pirates with good “non-proper English” accents. One pirate said he “liked the handsome fellow in the front,” I was quite flattered. The other pirate said he wanted the frumpy one. Our team member jokingly asking, “What kind of pirates are you?” The pirate replied back, in his dirty, British accent, “Oh you know what kinda pirates we are.” The usher in the movie theater informed us the movie was just starting. I mentioned aloud the room is full of “People!” A girl popped up and continued, “It’s full of people” and said her name was Kelly and asked us to watch a movie with her. These quick and witty comebacks provided more complexity to the experience. Offering an in-the-moment connection with the customer instead of rehashing the same script.
The most disgusting character was found in the bathroom area who “had taco bell for lunch”‘you can use your imagination as to what that room looked like. There were some screamers, growlers, sniffers, and more individuals with great dialogue as well.
Costuming: 7.39
How Did We Get This Score?
Costuming Scores (15% of Final Score):
(15% of Costuming Score) How complete / finished did the costumes appear to be?: 7.33
(25% of Costuming Score) How creative / detailed were the costumes?: 7
(20% of Costuming Score) Was their makeup creative? Detailed? Realistic?: 7.33
(15% of Costuming Score) How effectively did they use masks (if used)?: 7.17
(25% of Costuming Score) How appropriate were the costumes for their scene/s & theme/s?: 8
Hide This
Costumes were well done but we didn’t notice anything that knocked our socks off. They were realistic enough and they fit the characters and scenes appropriately.
A person in the nuclear area was wearing a gas mask and hazmat suit, Dr. Wisdom wore a blood-covered apron and a mask of skin and teeth that were quite unique, the clowns had good makeup and masks, the hillbilly had appropriate overalls, the butcher had a pig face mask, and the zombies had tethered clothes and makeup that provided an undead appearance.
Customer Service: 8.95
How Did We Get This Score?
Customer Service Scores (10% of Final Score):
(25% of CS Score) How easy was it to locate the attraction, park, and navigate the premises?: 9
(30% of CS Score) How safe was the attraction?: 8
(25% of CS Score) How professional, helpful and friendly were the staff members?: 10
(20% of CS Score) How easy was it to find their information before* arrival?: 9
Hide This
Eerie Acres Farm was easy to find using GPS. There is a light and sign pointing towards their free parking.
This haunt takes place on a farm area with uneven ground, grass, and mud. It also consists of a mixture of indoor and outdoor areas. On a rainy night, like our experience, it could be a little slippery. The staff we spoke with were very nice and helpful. The website and Facebook page provide answers to most questions.
Atmosphere: 5.87
How Did We Get This Score?
Atmosphere Scores (10% of Final Score):
(60% of Atmosphere Score) How obvious was it that you were at a haunted house before entering?: 6
(40% of Atmosphere Score) How well did the atmosphere prepare you for what you experienced inside?: 5.67
Hide This
As we headed from the parking lot to the haunt, there wasn’t too much to see. A bonfire was across from the entrance to the haunt. The haunt is surrounded by huge, wooden walls hiding everything from view. There was an obvious ticket booth and a waiting line.
Usually, they have food vendors on site but since the weather was rainy they closed down early. Metal music played in the line queue. There were no line actors or d������cor just some screams and curiosities as to what is behind the large, wooden walls. In the future, I hope that they can add some of the inside enthusiasm to the outside area.
Special Effects: 7.49
How Did We Get This Score?
Special Effects Scores (15% of Final Score):
(20% of SFX Score) How effective were the sound effects?: 7.17
(20% of SFX Score) How creative / original were the scenes & props?: 7.17
(20% of SFX Score) How well were the scenes detailed?: 7.83
(25% of SFX Score) How well did they achieve & maintain the suspension of disbelief?: 7.83
(15% of SFX Score) How effective were the SFX at providing scares / entertainment?: 7.83
Hide This
While traveling through the collection of bad dreams, the soundtracks provided a supplementary atmosphere for some scenes. Organ music played in the body bag room, the fallout room had warning sirens, banjo music was audible in the hillbilly scene, Camp Crystal Lake had dreadful music (that may or may not have been in the movie), the clown room had intense metal music blaring, and Dr. Wisdom was listening to some Frank Sinatra music, and so on.
Most of the scenes are fairly common in haunts but they did provide some original takes on these excerpts. The theater scene was interesting and provided a feeling of anxiety as you wondered who was real and who was not. Dr. Wisdom the dentist had a retro feel to his dentist office. The clown room had an interesting set up that felt like a mini maze where a wrong turn would send you back to another crazy clown. The open zombie area was well done, providing a large space that quickly felt smaller as more zombies appeared.
The sets had a nice amount of detail, some more than others. They provided a good engagement with the performance occurring. Perhaps a little behind other, bigger haunts, that offer more Hollywood-style designs but Eerie Acres is on the right track. (Those haunts did not start out as big and theatrical as they are now either).
Since the actors do a good job I could see people being distracted from more subtle details. Everything worked cohesively. The other thing we noticed is that we didn’t view any scenes that strictly relied on eye-candy and movie-quality set design with no actors, which was much appreciated. Strobe lights, colored lighting, and fog provide additional realism to the environment.
Theme: N/A
How Did We Get This Score?
Theme Scores (5% of Final Score):
(30% of Theme Score) Could you tell what the theme was?:
(50% of Theme Score) How well was the theme carried throughout the attraction/s?:
(20% of Theme Score) How well does their location authenticate the theme?:
This score is left “N/A” when we believe the haunt is trying to target a random variety of themes or phobias, rather than a single overarching “Theme” or “storyline.”
Hide This
Eerie Acres didn’t follow an individual theme. They provided an assortment of scary scenes and acts. Common themes and original scenes are found within the walls of the haunt.
Scare Factor: 8.2
How Did We Get This Score?
Scare Factor Scores (15% of Final Score):
(30% of Scare Factor Score) How scary was it?: 8.33
(15% of Scare Factor Score) How well did they provide scares to the entire group?: 8.5
(25% of Scare Factor Score) How predictable were the scares?: 9
(15% of Scare Factor Score) How well did they provide a wide variety of scares?: 7.17
(15% of Scare Factor Score) How strong was the ending / finale?: 7.33
Hide This
Eerie Acres provided some of the better scares of this season. Since they focus on actors only with no animatronics the scares feel more organic. We encountered lots of jumps scares from screamers and loud sounds. The actors providing jump scares hid well and seemed to appear from nowhere. The action sequences also delivered some horrific imagery. Watching Dr. Wisdom covered in blood performing dental work on a young girl’s face was very horrendous. The crazy, creepy, clowns, chasing us around the big top was unpleasant. Walking through the theater with roughly ten bodies of unknown life was nerve-wracking. The zombie area with a growing crowd of zombies provided a claustrophobic feeling.
The maze at the end, (a personal favorite that has been rapidly disappearing from haunts) had some intimidating situations. Actors led us in the wrong direction bringing us to more characters waiting to attack.
The tormentors did a great job of targeting the whole group darting in and out of the areas waiting for the perfect time to pounce on their victims. Even without animatronics to grab your attention, the actors had great timing to produce excellent shocks. Encompassed with the dialogue and adlibbing, the scares were varied.
The finale was a mix of the maze and chainsaw limbo and we’ll just leave it at that.
Entertainment & Value: 7.77
How Did We Get This Score?
Entertainment & Value Factor Scores (15% of Final Score):
(30% of E&V Score) How satisfied were you with the entertainment received during the main attraction/s?: 8.33
(25% of E&V Score) How satisfied were you with the entertainment that’s available with* the ticket price, excluding the main attraction/s?: 5
(30% of E&V Score) How appropriate is/are the ticket price/s?: 9
(15% of E&V Score) Have they effectively used their available space?: 8.83
Hide This
The inside entertainment was excellent, providing good scares, terrifying acts, and hilarious banter. Unfortunately, the inside action did not carry to the outside. Perhaps it was because of the rain and weather but we would like to see some outdoor scares and entertainment.
Standard admission is $15. We clocked our haunt time at 17 minutes, which could be dependent on how long it takes to get through the maze. That puts Eerie Acres at 1.13 minutes per dollar which is a little under the average.
Eerie Acres offers a great cast, adequate scenes, effective scares and a lot of fun. The space they have set up is used well, we did not feel like there are many used well. Upon speaking with the owner and the ops manager, we learned that they have a lot of plans for expansion. Considering this is their second year and the quality is this high already, we are looking forward to what they will create for next year.
How Did We Get These Scores
Our Rating System
Each of the category scores in this review are calculated using a weighted average of several questions that we rate on a scale of 1 to 10.
The following breakdown explains what these scores typically mean. All of our Teams use this as a reference for providing accurate ratings:
10: “Peak Performance”This score is treated as if it has a chastity belt on it. “10’s” are reserved for the best of the best; those that we feel could not possibly improve on what they’re doing.
9: “Innovative and Groundbreaking”It rocked! Nearly everything seemed to go as planned and it was one of the best we’ve ever seen! These guys are leaders in the industry, and attractions like this are truly hard to come by.
8: “Solid”A high score on our scale. They had a good handle on it and, overall, they knew how to use it well. Most attractions can learn from what these guys are doing.
6 to 7: “Good”We could tell that a good effort was made. However, we’ve seen this done much better at other places, or can detect areas where significant improvements can be made. This is about the top end of what we’d call “Family Friendly.”
5: “Average / Fair”Compared to the competition, they weren’t the best, but definitely not the worst. Scares and Special Effects in this range are usually considered “Family Friendly.”
3 to 4: “Below Average”We could see that a clear attempt was made, but most other professional attractions are doing a much better job at this.
1 to 2: “Poor”It appeared that very little time, thought or effort was contributed to this aspect.
0 (Zero): “Non-Existent”No apparent effort was made to make this a significant contributor to the attraction.
Afterword:This rating system is standardized across all of The Scare Factor’s official haunt review teams. However, keep in mind there will always be minor differences between Teams, as we all have varying levels of experience. Regardless, we do our best to remain true to our core values, which is to promote all haunted attractions!Perhaps the biggest thing to remember is: sometimes the score – in and of itself – doesn’t tell the whole story about an attraction’s merits. This is why we provide detailed explanations for each category… to help you better understand how and why we chose the score/s that we did.We do our best to not let feelings or emotions rule our judgement, while also viewing the attraction through the lens of the typical haunt-goer. But, because all reviews with ratings are inherently subjective, this is nearly impossible to completely prevent. Though, when in doubt, we tend to give slightly lower scores than our original “gut feelings” to account for this, and also give the attraction more room to improve over time.We also do our best to be fair and consistent across all of the haunts that we review. We know that you’ll be looking at these scores and comparing them to other attractions, so we hope this review helps you out in that aspect.Do you have some feedback about our review system? Contact Us Here to let us know what you think!
Hide This
