As we’ve already noted, the sets were next-level awesome. Everything was 360-degree immersive; they used every inch available, and no matter which way we turned, something was there to look at, sometimes marvel at! The hyper-detailing led to super-realistic scenes.
We break down music and sounds in each attraction below, but know that Fear’s notoriety for its audio is justified, and we felt like this year it sounded better than ever. It’s also had a reputation for being painfully loud in the past, and we’ve sometimes felt like we had to check our ears for bleeding or popped drums after leaving. It seemed like there was more of a peaks-and-valleys approach this time that resulted in better dynamics, more of what we will call listenability, and less distortion.
Fear Columbus also excelled at setting up color schemes to match the themes. The broken-hearted mortician’s depressing funeral home was mostly cast in drab shades of gray, brown, and earth colors, occasionally shot through with blasts of reds, oranges, or electric blues. The high school opened a wider palette and brightened things up with striking use of whites and silvers, well-suited to the celebratory event at its heart. And then, Oddballs very aptly looked like they just dropped a fully loaded Sherwin Williams truck in the middle of things to explode everywhere.
Dearly Departed: In the funeral home, we walked through a room with a rattling coffin lid and down a hallway of windows whose curtains were being blown about by a storm. Spirits floated on the walls, apparently the same apparitions that rearranged chairs into untidy stacks. Mr. Spencer had been neglecting maintenance in favor of his necromantic experiments, evidenced by the state of disrepair with exposed wall slats, broken windows, and tattered old-fashioned heavy draperies used as room separators. Standout sets included the science lab with brightly sparking electrical coils leading into a cadaver and the cemetery with statues, gates, and ivy and skeleton-covered walls. The soundtrack here included selections of old-timey jazz/big band/torch song music, and toward the end gave way to operatic chanting.
Fearwood High: The home of the Devious Devils contained a locker room, trophy room, nurse room, an art room featuring several grotesque pieces, a car that crashed through a wall, and two dance floors, both with disco balls and one with a girl who floated into the air a la Carrie. We also took a tour of the town, into stores, and through the jail. The fun and awesome sounds here included PA announcements for the students, class bells, a student who maybe drank too much from the flask declaring “somebody call me an Uber!” in recorded dialogue, a thrumming bass we could feel in our bones, and dance hits like Toni Basil’s Mickey and David Bowie’s Let’s Dance – from 1982 and 1983 respectively, so we figure this was supposed to be set in the early 80s, seemingly confirmed by the old-school Galaga console video game stuck in a corner of one of the stores.
Oddballs: The wacky carnival kept us busy and entertained while visiting a sickening snack stand with rotting caramel apples, a cannonball act belching smoke, an ‘exploding’ box of TNT straight out of a Wile E. Coyote toon, a giant crocodile chewing up a little kid, and a dressing room full of colorful costumes and hiding places. Pro tip: This is the last place you’d want to visit the kissing booth, you’re welcome. The no-less-outstanding soundscapes in this attraction centered on carnival music played on a calliope, replaced near the end by a pounding rock version, a fun snacking song whose chorus was ‘yum yum yum,’ and cartoonlike bonks, squeaks, and cannon fire, plus a fine assortment of screams and yelps.
Overall and accounting for everything, Fear Columbus put on a jaw-dropping tour de force of effects masterwork. Look (and listen) upon it and be amazed.
See Less
