Factory of Terror OH Review (2015)

There were approximately 100 actors the night that we visited FoT. Aslyum, Massacre on Mahoning, and House of Nightmares were all packed with eager assailants, but we felt that Industrial Nightmare was a little understaffed, resulting in multiple dead zones. The Labyrinth of Darkness’s maze section had and needed no actors, and the remainder of the attraction was adequately-manned. We experienced a lot of impressive performances, with M.o.M.’s crew being the standouts. One particular actress near the beginning was very believable as a faux-animatronic, banging her head against a wall, which provided a perfect scaring opportunity. The Asylum was a mixed-bag. There were some genuinely creepy, interactive characters, but we noticed multiple times that immediately after the actors had finished engaging with us, they began an out-of-character conversation with each other while we were still in the room. Additionally, there was an interesting emphasis on discussing going to the bathroom. Being an asylum, I suppose it’s not illogical that a few fecalfeliacs may be running around; the theme just caught us off-guard and provided a good laugh. The performers in the mirror maze were also especially good, exhibiting a proper blend of madness and mayhem. There were several, let’s say : “acrobatic” actors scattered throughout the attractions and they interacted well with their environments. The performance of the night was definitely provided by an actress in the Labyrinth of Darkness, crawling around just after the maze section. There’s some internal debate here, but the closest approximation of her name that we can agree upon is “Ha Ktiktita.” Though not scary, per se, she was the most entertaining. Speaking of the L.o.D., there was an actor in the “birth canal” who apparently didn’t realize we were coming and received a bit of a head injury when I was charging through, so… sorry. I’m not sure exactly what he was doing in there, because he wasn’t doing any scaring. Just put some ice on it, champ.

We normally review “line haunters” in customer service, but I do want to give a special mention here for them, though, because they were all quite good – very colorful and interactive (and numerous), and even helpful when necessary. Some of the best haunters in FoT are roaming around OUTSIDE of the attractions.

Asylum: 7.65
Industrial Nightmare: 7.90
Labyrinth of Darkness: 8.43
Masacre on Mahoning: 8.80
House of Nightmares: 8.65
Line Haunters: 8.72

With a large cast of actors, as Factory of Terror has, there will undoubtedly be a wide variety of costumes. Some of the haunts, such as the Asylum, Industrial Nightmare and Massacre on the Mahoning, featured various monsters with good, quality outfits. Some of the makeup/masks in Industrial Nightmare were pretty incredible – very elaborate and frightening. Unfortunately, sporadically throughout most of the haunts, and somewhat commonly in House of Nightmares, we saw a lot of “stop at the waist” costuming – decent face paint and adornment for the upper body, but then normal pants and Chuck Taylors or UGG boots. Everyone needs to have something on their feet, obviously, but quite a few times we found the outfitting of actors to be distracting. Frankly, it’s hard to take a monster in UGGs seriously. Again, much of the mask work throughout the attraction was very good (one scarer looked to me to be the younger cousin of “pyramid head”, which I greatly enjoyed), and in most of the haunts, added to, instead of detracting from, the experience.

Asylum: 8.45
Industrial Nightmare: 8.89
Labyrinth of Darkness: 8.24
Masacre on Mahoning: 8.58
House of Nightmares: 7.68

Can you miss a gigantic factory, emblazoned with “Factory of Terror”, as you drive by? I’ve never met anyone THAT near-sighted. There were three spotters on the night that we visited to direct us to our parking spot, and plenty of police-as-security around to watch over the premises. Monster and mortal alike, everyone that we spoke to was very helpful and friendly (if applicable – no one likes a well-mannered ghoul) The Factory is a big place, so we needed to enlist the help of a random beast or two to point us in the correct direction. A cadre of customer SCARvice monsters were at the front of the building, and entertained us before we entered the haunt. A unique facet of the Factory of Terror experience is that you receive a complimentary photograph of your group in a horror scene (aliens vs predator this year) before you begin the attractions. We found this to be a really nice touch and was very appreciated. Between attractions, roaming monsters interact with you, sometimes appearing seemingly out of nowhere, and are very entertaining as well. The middle “hub” area of the location (near the entrances of the Labyrinth and Massacre) has several additional themed photo op locations (these ones you take yourself, if you wish), as well as a concession stand. It feels like an indoor equivalent of a haunted midway and is a lot of fun. *Pro Tip – After you’ve (hopefully) escaped House of Nightmares, there is another concession stand; this one sells dessert. Make sure to save room! Chocolate pretzels, marshmallows, Oreos and caramel corn serve as a self-congratulatory reward for a successful haunted forray, and they are all reasonably-priced. We may have indulged…a bit… a lot.

With your first step into the building, you realize that you’re in for a wild ride. The waiting line establishes that quite plainly. The combination of design work (corpses and carnage a-go-go), and the natural mechanized malevolence of the building greet you at the door, places a warm coat of unsettled nervousness around your shoulders, and ushers you along. A great deal of effort has been utilized to produce a wonderfully creepy ambiance as you wait for your opportunity to enter each attraction. Understand that there is a lot to see BETWEEN attractions, with the entrance to the House of Nightmares being the cream of the crop. If you visit on a slow night, make sure that you wait around the entrance long enough for it to “wake up” (trust us). The hub area between Massacre and the Labyrinth is fantastic. The animatronics and set design surrounding the line of the former is of creepier than the guts of many haunted attractions! Leave yourself plenty of time because, in addition to the 1-1.5 hours you’ll be spending in the attractions, you’ll want to allow yourself a little “wander time” through these exterior scenes as well.

It was a definite pleasure to experience the wide range of environments and special effects that Factory of Terror had to offer. The Asylum’s stand-out remains the mirror maze, a reflective nightmare, made even more frustrating as you find yourself continuously taunted my the mad heckler roaming the maze with you. The rest of the attraction utilizes an interesting blend of homemade design and animatronics. Was that a real dragon or was I so bedazzled by the mirror maze that I imagined it? Industrial Nightmare kept us constantly on our toes, with a real sense that anything could come at us at any moment. The animated “head-crushing” portrait was a personal favorite. There were a lot of good, unexpected environmental startles, but we felt that the falling boxes/barrels were overdone a bit. In addition to its eerily-effective namesake (sporadic blasts of bright light to keep eyes from adjusting is a nice touch), the Labyrinth of Darkness possessed the best man-amatronic of the entire haunt – believe me: freeing yourself from the maze is just the beginning of your troubles. “I have to walk through THAT?” only to be given the second worst high-five of your life (The first? You may have just experienced that in the maze…) Good luck with that. Massacre on the Mahoning amps things up even further. Have you heard the expression “one step forward and two steps back?” Prepare to live it. Set-wise, the best section of the Massacre is definitely the graveyard-crypt section – the digging skeleton is a great touch. Oh, and I hope you like spiders… really, really big spiders. Your paranoia may start to make it feel like the walls are closing in. No, literally – there is nowhere safe in the Massacre on Mahoning, and everyTHING is out to get you. Fittingly, House of Nightmares rounds things out with the single biggest “bang”, an unsettling humanamatronic that surely must provide this extreme House with its chilling namesake.

Asylum: 9.28
Industrial Nightmare: 8.87
Labyrinth of Darkness: 9.56
Masacre on Mahoning: 9.74
House of Nightmares: 9.13

Adherence to theme is one of F.o.T.’s strong points. Industrial Nightmare is top dog here, a rancid combination of decaying machinery from the location’s former factory days and modern animatronics and set design. The integration of the two is seamless to the point that it can be extremely difficult to differentiate. What better place to host an industrial-themed haunt than an abandoned factory? The Asylum’s actors stood out as being the most true to their environment. Dozens of crazed, cackling, and violent inmates certainly fit the atmosphere of a warped insanatarium, with the mirror maze being an interesting visual extrapolation of the chaos existing in the minds of the Asylum’s demented denizens. The Labyrinth of Darkness certainly had an apt title – it was a maze and it was very dark. Its actor-infused second half acts as an extension of the theme – you may have escaped the Labyrinth, but you’re far from safe. Massacre on the Mahoning also stays true to form, being a VERY surreal guide through a maniacal mansion, where even the building, itself, is out to get you! Lastly, House of Nightmares really does feature the most gruesome of the Factory’s residents – and there are MANY of them. “Nightmare” barely scratches the horrific surface. We appreciated that the themes of the individual attractions were a little different than we are used to. The background story of Massacre on the Mahoning, even more than the others, really gave it a unique, chilling demeanor.

Asylum: 9.44
Industrial Nightmare: 9.56
Labyrinth of Darkness: 9.38
Masacre on Mahoning: 9.47
House of Nightmares: 9.10

Within one elapsed minute, I was electrocuted, startled by a monster as I plodded through a very tight passageway, and then grabbed by a giant… something. I’m not sure that I could envision a more varied slate of scares. One of the Factory’s facets that really stuck with us was how well-placed their “human-atronics” were (animatronic monsters that are still manually controlled by people) – always tucked into that little bend, hidden back from the path just far enough that you don’t see it coming, but near enough to the haunt-goer that its sudden activation triggers the appropriate “danger approaching!” reaction. Additionally, there are A LOT of these humanatronics; more than any other haunt we’ve seen. They are varied (a little bit of something for every common fear), spaced-out, and they are, most importantly, effective. In fact, throughout all of the attractions, animatronic and environmental scares were absolutely top notch and abundant. You can legitimately expect scares to hit you from every possible angle; realize that NOTHING is to be trusted, not even the floor or walls. Mildly disoriented after emerging from one hallway in Massacre, I definitely was heard uttering the phrase, “I think that wall just attacked me.” The actor-scares are largely hit-or-miss. “Where ya’ going?” or “Hey!” over and over aren’t particularly frightening, but many of the actors did manage more meaningful dialogue, and provided very unnerving, extended interaction with the two females in our group on several occasions. There was an even dispersion of scares amongst our group, and with so many actors, and so much space to cover, there were PLENTY to go around.

Asylum: 9.33
Industrial Nightmare: 9.12
Labyrinth of Darkness: 8.95
Masacre on Mahoning: 9.76
House of Nightmares: 8.65

This season, a standard pass to visit the Factory and experience all five of its attractions is $27 or $37 for a VIP fast pass. Interestingly, there is also a $100 UNLIMITED access pass that lets you visit Factory of Terror as much as you want for the entire haunted season! Our total time spent exploring the Factory was around 80 minutes, which means that we received almost 3 minutes of entertainment for each dollar spent. This is an INCREDIBLE deal for a haunted attraction. Frankly, had Massacre on the Mahoning been the entire experience, it still would have been worth the price of admission. On Sundays, you can get a 4-pack of tickets for $75 and in all of September, tickets are $23, so there are plenty of ways to make your trip even cheaper… which is great, because, again, you’re going to want some of their delicious chocolate-covered Oreos. After all, you owe it to yourself : you just survived one of the longest haunted attractions in the world! Factory of Terror is one of Northeast Ohio’s truly premier haunted attractions, and with good reason: a great experience for a great price is absolutely a great value. And when you’re finished, you even have a free souvenir photograph to keep on the fridge to help to hold you over until next season! Highly recommended.