Forsaken Forest Review (2024)

Walking apprehensively through the entrance, it didn’t take long for my group member and I to encounter C.U. Splatter, a sort of icon character for the attraction. He provided us with some warning as to what was really taking place within the woods, along with some ground rules for our experience. (He may have also been operating under a pseudonym… let’s just say he had a very tight connection to a famous killer who once stalked the streets of London. I wouldn’t trust him!) Nor was it long until we encountered Cain (please forgive any misspelling), who appeared to be the leader of a clan of vampires.

After we watched him victimize one unlucky lady, the rest of them began materializing from out of nowhere and surrounded us! Progressing to a butcher shop, the female “employee” out front requested my name – only to pass it along to the gruff, aggressive Butcher when he bellowed “What’s the ticket?!” Uh oh… time to skedaddle before I was on the menu! The horde of hillbillies next door were frightfully fun, striking a nice balance between amusing and interactive to crazed and threatening. (We watched one straight-up tackle another! Damn!) This bunch worked their scene well and you could tell it was basically a big playground for them.

At the boat dock, a member of our group was enlisted to help generate some chum to feed the “fishes” (a.k.a. SHARKS) and coerced into pressing the button that dropped some poor trapped soul into a meat grinder! Various snarling, hissing, screaming creatures, and entities stalked us at various points on the trail, emerging from the shadows of the trees. A military character barked at us to make haste through the bunker that seemed to have spawned many of these nightmares. Cautiously stepping into the Madame’s voodoo shack, I was personally asked to tap into my soul and select the potion that most spoke to me – too bad the one I selected only foretold “death, despair, disease! Isn’t that wonderful?” Uh… I guess? It ain’t the woods if you don’t encounter a Wendigo at some point, which we did and they were one of my favorite beasties in the haunt! Thankfully, they seemed to pick up on that and chose not to devour us.

The cast was numerous throughout the trail and there weren’t a lot of gaps where someone or something didn’t come at us, including transitions between scenes. I have to throw in some love for the roamers out front, too: Bozo, the red-haired clown, was absolutely hilarious and had a response for anything you said. Other clowns roamed the square, like Crash, who frequently slid about and threw sparks to scare groups. Later in the night, we found The Ringmaster. I would say he was a little *too* charming… he’s another one I wouldn’t trust (as if the fact he carried a big *ss whip wasn’t enough reason!).

From the ones who’d apparently escaped the Forest and were roaming outside to those still trapped within it, most of these lost souls looked as you’d expect them to. Makeup styles varied: some actors wore minimal, like victim characters, while others- such as the clowns- were a little more detailed. The clowns had fun colors and designs painted on their faces, and while he insisted he was not a clown, even The Ringmaster had a little clown paint on. C.U. Splatter had a ghastly, spooky appearance that completely suited his aesthetic. I also liked the Madame in the Bayou, who wore makeup that gave her a voodoo shaman/swamp witch look. Masks were used effectively, with the actors’ eyes properly blacked out and the base of the masks tucked in where appropriate. The Butcher wore a pig mask, one of the roamers had a great scarecrow mask, and Bozo had a custom latex cap with red clown hair and his name carved into the forehead.

Touching on the costumes, I’m going to give C.U. Splatter some more love here because he looked so dapper in his coat and top hat, and he had a lot of jewelry and other accessories going on too. Posey, another one of the clowns, had a lovely red dress. Victims and zombies on the trail wore street clothes that had visible blood splatters and a few rips and tears. As expected, most of the vampire clan were elegantly dressed.

Several characters incorporated props and weapons into their look. Another one of the roaming clowns carried an old grimy doll. The Ringmaster brandished a real bullwhip, which he cracked to entertain the crowd (and grab the odd scare, I’m sure). Others wielded knives, daggers, or chainsaws.

As the evening set in and my GPS let me know I was getting close, I didn’t notice any signs pointing me towards the Forest. What I did spot, very quickly, was a traffic crew with brightly lit wands – and there was the haunt, clearly visible from the road with two signs out front bearing their name. The helpful traffic and parking crew easily got me parked in their free, brightly lit lot. Staff members were quick to assist me in locating the ticket booth and where I needed to go from there. Once I had my wristband, I was informed at the booth that I’d receive a text message when it was my turn to enter the trail.

Forsaken Forest uses something of a “sliding scale” pricing chart, meaning you will pay more on peak Saturday nights. The night of my visit, General Admission was $25 and a speedier “Instant Access” pass was $75. There were also some neat upgrades and packages – not interested in doing the trail? For $10, you could just hang out in the square, enjoy some concessions, and shop with vendors. Ever ridden on a Monster Truck? Another $10 would get you a rowdy ride on the back of one around the parking lot!

When it was time to take on the trail, the entrance was super obvious. There was adequate lighting on the trail to help you find your way and it wasn’t too confusing; just follow the lights as you’re instructed. I did not notice any safety hazards that didn’t come with the territory of having a haunt in the woods, and out around the square there was a visible security presence.

The colorful lights and animatronic wolves with glowing red eyes by the ticket booth were a pretty strong hint you’d just arrived at a scary place. Other pieces of decor were visible in the square before you entered the Forest. A DJ, with their booth completely decked out for Halloween, provided music to entertain patrons while characters roamed to scare and interact. Next to the trail entrance, a towering skeleton presided over the whole scene. Forsaken Forest is known for hosting special events during the season and when I was there, they had a Jeep event where people were rolling in with vehicles covered in spooky lighting and props. Very cool!

It still felt kind of random, but they did have a loose storyline to tie everything on the trail together. The military’s experiments were turned loose from the bunker when a gigantic plant monster, Audrey- who you do encounter on your walkthrough- destroyed the laboratory and sent them all fleeing into the woods. Rambunctious rednecks, cannibalistic clowns, vicious zombies, chainsaw maniacs, and other threats awaited us throughout. Each scene was believable enough, with some including more detail than others but it was fairly easy to figure out what they represented. The haunt also tried to limit visibility when it came to show lighting, fog machines, and other things that might take groups out of the show briefly. Sometimes you can’t help but notice them as it can be hard to avoid, but they weren’t just stuck out in the open either.

Once we were finished listening to Mr. Splatter, the trail got off to something of a whimsical start with strings of pretty LED lights illuminating the opening scene… too bad things didn’t remain that way for long! A nice amount of additional lighting was used to illuminate each consecutive scene we walked through, with varying degrees of detail in each. The butcher shop was a ramshackle wooden building with busted windows, no doubt from previous victims. A maze of wooden fences, metal signs, and other props was home to the redneck clan. We encountered some impressive and beautiful props and animatronics on our adventure, including a giant winged demon along the trail, statues in the vampire scene, and even a freaking octopus (!) lurking in the waters of the bayou. Balloons, and body parts from less fortunate visitors, were scattered about the floor of the circus tent. In the bunker, the cryochambers glowed and some were visibly busted open from experiments fighting to get out.

Sensory effects were used at multiple points too. The wood chipper we had to send a poor victim through got us spritzed with “blood” – gross! We were also asked if we wanted to try some “blood” from a pool of it. (I was impressed when the actor actually let me dip my hand in it. Don’t be surprised if a customer actually tries drinking it…) The voodoo shack was surrounded by a foggy green laser swamp.

As for audio, some scenes had it and others didn’t. There was a nice heartbeat effect where the hillbillies were. Sirens and a recorded warning went off in the bunker. The barker posted outside the circus tent used a microphone to amplify their voice and call groups over. Inside the tent, various tracks played (“Darkside” by Neoni was a great choice!).

Freed from the facility that created them, the evil experiments dispersed through the woods to do as they pleased. Anyone who entered would become their newest playthings – as my group member and I swiftly found out!

Many of the actors we encountered were loud, unafraid to get in our bubble, struck walls or props to make noise and startle us, victimized other actors to instill a worry that we’d be next, and used weapons as props for further scares. Some deployed LOUD horns. In the doctor’s office, he came storming in a fury and dragged his unfortunate, terrified patient out of there right before our eyes! I shudder to think what “treatment” he had in store for them… we beat feet out of there pretty quickly.

The barker summoning us to the circus tent wasn’t the only one there ready for us – before we knew it, a crew of sinister, giggling clowns appeared one by one and began circling us! (That scene had to be the hardest to get out of. Those clowns were running amok through the tent and came at us around every turn!) The cast came at us from nearly all directions; “above” was about the only one they missed, and they also did a perfect job of dividing their attention equally among the group.

Not all of the threats we faced came in the form of real people either. “Audrey” took the form of a carnivorous plant puppet so large it could nearly shut its jaws around a whole person – and there were *two* of them. Most scares were actor-based though and I’d love to see Forsaken add more in the form of animatronics, fog/air blasts etc. for variety.

Escaping from this forest of freaks took an impressive 27 minutes. At a base ticket price of $25, that brought Forsaken Forest’s MPD (Minutes Per Dollar) rating to a solid 1.08. Not only did that match the full minute per dollar I typically look for in a haunt – it exceeded it! Additional entertainment was included with my admission as well: roaming actors to interact and take photos with, photo ops, a blazing fire pit to warm up by, and the option to purchase concessions or shop with the vendors. They had merch for sale too- various tees, beanies, keychains, and drinkware- so if you were lucky enough to make it out as we did, you could take home a souvenir from your visit.

In closing: this was a very strong start for an attraction that’s only in its second season. If you think you’ve got the guts to take on this haunted hike, venture to Richmond and discover the horrors and lost souls that await you within the Forsaken Forest.