Forest of Screams Haunted Attraction Review (2024)

Cast members at the hayride seemed a little thin on the ground, perhaps a reflection of this early-in-the-season visit; it was only their second night open. We thought there could have been more wagon invasions and that the ghouls who did get on could have been more threatening.

What they did have were several characters with extensive speaking parts. The opening redneck character, a liquored-up sot stumbling out of the saloon, a belligerent sheriff, and the crematorium spokesperson all held forth at some length, often berating us city slickers to watch our step or risk getting hanged or our heads mounted at the taxidermy shop.

We came across a diverse lot on the trail. Besides a series of early hidey-hole pop-outters getting their scream on, they included a pair of creepy graveyard dwellers, one giggly and one incredulous (“humans in my cemetery?!?”). The giggly one followed us down the path while making teasing remarks. We also met an intimidating machete-swinging goliath, a graceful dancer (!), and a black phantom who met our attempts at levity with a pointing finger and a contemptuous and stone-faced whisper of “Go!”

The actors in the house featured a couple of excellent screamers and, in the best physical performance of the night, what resembled a dark nurse from Silent Hill pursued us for a few rooms with a nasty blade and the characteristic herky-jerky movements of the film series. In the bathroom, we met up with a cut-up who gleefully invited us to check out the disemboweled corpse in the tub. When asked if this was their handiwork, they shrugged and told us to go ahead and ask the cadaver.

Appearances on the hayride often were on the simpler side, especially for the Old West/country folk characters: pale face base, perhaps some blood or a scar, plaid shirt, jeans, neckerchief, etc. More advanced ensembles included Leatherface in apron and curly hair wig, the gruesome clowns in colorful circus wear, and the crematory creep had one of the best looks of the night: long curled (demonic?) horns with a sleek black and white outfit and a tipped cane they twirled and pointed for emphasis. We also saw some other dead skin masks aside from Leatherface, but the overall facial application at Forest of Screams called for well-done makeup jobs.

We did not get a close look at most of the quick-hit jump-screamers on the trail, but the cemetery dwellers looked appropriately dead. The black phantom gave off a sinister fashion vibe. The dark nurse boasted hands down the best costume in the house, competing with the crematory creep for the top get-up across all the attractions. This look seriously appeared to have leaped right off the movie screen!

For an idea of the best costuming efforts, take a look at the queue zombie in our pictures – featuring a nicely applied, layered, full makeup job with great eye detail (commonly the most overlooked facial area) and accompanied by an interesting voodoo-ish ensemble accessorized with a chicken bone-decorated top hat, potion container, and contact lenses. That is a good look.

As usual, Forest of Screams came through with a solid effort on makeup and costumes.

Forest of Screams is located in Medina, on the southwest outskirts of the Cleveland metro area. We had zero issues finding the place, aided by a large, illuminated sign by the entrance. Parking attendants guided us into a sizable and free gravel lot.

The way in was obvious and the hub was compact but spacious and laid out well. Ticketing, merch, and concessions, and the first attraction line for the hayride were all clearly delineated and signposted.

Forest of Screams has a good website with all the necessary info on their website and a regularly updated Facebook page. However, plan on buying your tickets on-site as there is no online ordering.

The hayride rolled past exceedingly well constructed structures and sets, including an entire Old West town, backwoods shacks, and a fabulous cemetery. This is one attraction that allows photos and even videos on the hayride, as long as there is no flash or excessive light. Which is a nice policy, but it did pose some obstacles to immersion when multiple people were waving their phones around for pretty much the entire journey.

The trail queue sat in front of a towering, distressed fence stocked with full demon/vampire bat/gargoyle figures. The walkthrough here progressed through believable caves, catacombs, and a rundown tiny house.

The Mortuary presented a creepy haunted house facade and had the best transitions as it portrayed aberrant versions of the various rooms to be found in a real mortuary, with evil nuns literally popping up along the way as a throughline.

The ending of the house led us back to the hub. This year, there is a fry shack and concession stand (serving really good mozz sticks), a merch cabin that is absolutely loaded with high-quality and diverse goods, and a number of props and photo ops. Log benches surround a roaring bonfire near a small lake/pond. It is a really nice set-up.

Special mention to the queue zombie who seemed to get around to all parts of the common areas, harassing guests with a whole grab bag of snuffling, sniffing, croaking, and other bizarre noises.

A good amount of props and photo ops surrounded the box office lines and our way in. The covered hayride waiting area had screens showing horror movie clips and music videos, while a monstrously twisted tree spokes plant (that also serves as the attractions’ mascot/logo) periodically gave a spiel about the corrupted forest where we were about to be trapped.

We can count on Forest of Screams to have our backs on the SFX front. It’s one of the prettiest hayrides we regularly go on, with plenty of top quality sets like a fabulous Old West town, an assortment of dilapidated killbilly shacks, a gorgeous foggy cemetery, a spastic clown house, a couple of murder barns including one inspired by The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and a flashing, metallic sci-fi-horror stage. We got warmed up by blasts of pyro, watched a body twitch on the gallows, and went by several excellent, gargantuan-sized animatronics.

The trail featured a bunch of crypts and caverns, a Pumpkinhead-packed tunnel system, yet another foggy cemetery, decrepit shacks, an arch of skulls, lots of impressive animatronics including a way cool slowly rising angel of death, and a pack of werewolf beasties prowling over the entire new last part of the trail that replaced the old military-base-under-zombie-siege section.

In the Mortuary, we passed a Phantom of the Opera-like figure hunched over an organ, walked by an occupied casket in the visitation room, and observed the funeral director sprawled over his bloody desk with a big old hole in his head. Dr. Satan from House of 1,000 Corpses staffed the embalming lab. Pictures and props of evil nuns appeared frequently, along with some disturbing nun animatronics.

We heard plenty of notable sound effects on the trail, in a distorted soundtrack filled with screams, hooting owls, and chirping bugs, while organ music filled the house. Each attraction showed a firm grasp of lighting techniques and moods. Forest of Screams put on quite an effective display of effects.

What is your fear? The forest will poke at it. Take your pick from whistling past the undead-populated cemetery (actually two of ‘em!), being torn apart and/or devoured by savage critters, getting run over by a car, numerous nefarious implements of stab-stab, hanging by noose, giant flames, murderous carnies, being a stranger in a strange land (yanks threatened by country folk), and not least of all that damn nun. So, let us run it down by attraction:

We usually find it difficult to get frightened on a hayride. Something about sitting down and passively being pulled around just seems to get in the way of becoming scared. And that is what we found here. The best scares came from sudden startling blasts of pyro and forcefully propelled animatronics – especially one that sprang out of a darkened container after we had written it off as ‘nothing’s going to happen here.’

The chainsaw massacre barn started things off with a piece of John Larroquette’s tension-filled opening narration from the original movie. Then it moved on to a sequence of spotlighted prop victims taking their turns getting mauled by saws and other implements, and finally Leatherface himself taking a dummy’s head right off. The purposeful pacing paid off. The clown shack also built some suspense with quiet/noisy and dark/light dynamics.

It was a bit jarring to go from the hayride to several quick jump scares early on in the trail. Sinister whistling noises coming from the darkness instilled a sense of wariness, as if unseen hunters were tracking us. Similarly, a blast of vision-obscuring fog as we entered the cemetery quickened the pulse, and the pair of actors there made for a disconcerting tag team with lingering effects being felt from the giggler following us. The machete giant was really intimidating, and the black phantom conveyed a sense of menace and doom. High-intensity animatronics also got us pretty good.

Hidden screamer actors and some totally crazy animatronics dominated the Mortuary, making it a fraught walkthrough that was short but intense. The dark nurse’s slow pursuit with its inhuman gait had to be the biggest creep-out of this visit. We noticed that one of the elements from the old, quite effective finale, which had been in place for our past couple trips through, had been moved to a little before the end of the house. It was less effective there and did not get replaced by anything better, so the adrenaline-pumping finale we were expecting failed to materialize.

Forest of Screams gave us a long time to enjoy its wares. We rode the hay wagon for 28 minutes, traipsed the trail in 12 minutes, and spent a quick but entertaining 5 minutes in the house, making for a generous total of 45 minutes. Against the $35 general admission, the MPD (minutes of in-attraction entertainment per dollar spent) came out to 1.29, a respectable amount above the baseline of 1.0 we typically look for.

It is a fun haunt and presents a good amount of additional no-charge activities around the hub, hence pretty solid value. For an additional charge, escape rooms are at the same address and they offer a coffin ride simulation at $6 per person or $10 for two.

Speed passes are $45. You can get a $3 discount on general admission and speed pass prices on Sundays (Sunday open dates start in October) and on Halloween night. Special rates are available for groups of 20+, contact the haunt.

Forest of Screams is one of those names that is right on the money. It is just what you’d expect: in a forest with lots of screams. Cannot wait to see what they’ll have cooking for their 10-year-old birthday celebration!