As a local fundraiser for the little league since 1982, Fright Manor puts on a hauntingly good show for the 39th straight year!
Fright Manor is known for its ‘old-school’ style, showcasing several well-known characters from your favorite horror movies, classic fears such as claustrophobia, and quick humor that is sure to keep you on your toes. This year Fright Manor showcases three different themes throughout the attraction: Murderer’s Revenge, Terror in the Woods, and Hell Bound. If you can complete all of these successfully, you may be in luck and find yourself back into the real world. Beware of the monsters lurking within, though. Some seem as though they’re running through the walls and will be with you at every turn’
If you dare walk through the horrors before you, they’ll open the doors and welcome you into the Manor themselves. Who knows if you’ll be able to escape their grasps at Fright Manor.
Here at Fright Manor, you’re sure to see some familiar faces. Although there seemed to be a sweet grandmother outside offering to bake cookies with you, there were several characters from classic horror films scattered within the premises who were up to less good. Michael Myers stalked us throughout several rooms, creeping up behind a member of our group without him even realizing! Jason Vorhees felt like he jumped out of the wall causing a huge scare. Several people mentioned that Freddy Kreuger was a major attraction, however, our group didn’t get a chance to see him.
It seemed as though Fright Manor had a bad reputation for marriages, though. We heard multiple people tell us they had murdered their respective spouses. A husband had been buried in the courtyard and a gentleman was kind enough to bury his nomadic wife in 3 different states (at least he said she’d be happy about that…)
All of the cast of Fright Manor gives you a classic Halloween feel. There were several characters that were well known, mostly wearing solid-colored jumpsuits with some layering underneath. The idea that they were serial killers was very apparent in their grungy makeup and the various weapons they wielded. Several classic serial killers were depicted within the depth of the attraction including cameos from both Michael Myers and Jason Vorhees. There was a great use of lighting and some glow-in-the-dark features in a black hallway that were used very well.
Shredder followed us through a couple of rooms donning a leather mask that we enjoyed very much. And there were two identical clowns at the end of the show that had terrifying smiles that showed just how happy they were to chase you through the final outdoor section.
There were a few makeups that seemed like an average Halloween enthusiast could create, such as the witch in the courtyard, but achieving the granny look that was donned by our favorite grandmother was a much more intricate style that had us looking a little bit closer.
My handy dandy GPS took me right to Fright Manor. We turned into a local ball field that had attendants telling us where to park. They offer free parking in their gravel parking lot. It was apparent where to go once we left our vehicle thanks to the large banner and string lights lighting the path to the ticket booth.
They also had several hand-painted signs around the area that pointed in different directions based on where you wanted to go first. There was a large sign that showed where to go find your tickets, which is located in a well-lit concession stand.
Fright Manor is family-owned and operated and everyone that we encountered was very friendly and willing to help. They answered any questions that we had, as this was our group’s first time attending and you could see their excitement about the attraction on their faces.
Although arriving at this attraction was a very different experience than any our group has had before, you could tell that they were doing their best with their circumstances. They build the whole haunted house attraction in the middle of a ball field and rebuild it each year. So although it was a little harder to know that it was a haunted house when we arrived, the large banner and string lights leading up the path helped tremendously. They had a few large painted murals filled with spooky creatures and a large coffin that showed that some people were just dying to get in there’ pun intended.
Other than the signs and banners, we could hear several screams coming from the attraction, especially toward the ending which is located right next to the ticket booth. You could see firsthand the looks of fear and exhaustion from the victims in front of you and see what you’re about to be put through shortly! We also heard some banging at the walls and the telltale sounds of chainsaws.
Despite the fact that Fright Manor breaks down and puts up their entire production each year, they jampack a TON of detail throughout the entire haunted house. There are several features that some might say are classic and simple, yet they are very effective. There are a couple of claustrophobia hallways that were utilized that made you feel like you literally had to push yourself through the haunted attraction. They also had a crawl tunnel where we literally had to get down on our hands and knees to get into the next scene. In addition to the crawl tunnel, there was another room that closed in on us and we had to crabwalk to escape. We especially liked the utilization of what felt like a wobbly bridge that we had to walk over.
In addition to the surroundings that closed in on us in various ways, they had great use of lighting. With the lighting, they incorporated a glow-in-the-dark room. Inside the pitch-black room, there were several masks that were able to glow bright green. We won’t tell you where, but lurking in those shadows behind one of the masks is a very alive serial killer. It seemed as though they literally jumped off the wall and began to chase us. They were also able to incorporate a glowing green light and some fog to create the illusion of a swamp, and several of their props seemed to come alive. In one of the bathrooms, we wished we had worn a raincoat and a character even placed a wet, bleeding heart in one of our hands!
SFX Effective at Scaring, Entertaining (35% of score): 8
Could Tell What Theme Was Without Asking (15% of score): 7.25
Theme Well Executed, Believable (25% of score): 6.75
Location Authenticates Theme (10% of score): 6.75
How Scary (15% of score): 8.25
The attraction itself is accessible through a single walkthrough and only utilized one queue line. However, inside of the attraction, they break it up into three different sections: Murderer’s Revenge, Terror in the Woods, and Hell Bound. They have brief summaries of each of these themes listed on their website so someone can get a bit of history on what they’ll see inside.
Murderer’s Revenge was the only theme that was actually described to us in detail at the beginning of the haunt. An older gentleman went on to tell us about all of the serial killers that were inside waiting for us, angry, and even went on to tell us about his killing spree that he had of his multiple ex-wives. It seemed as though this theme was carried throughout all three attractions. We encountered someone later on who said that they had killed their husband and buried him in the courtyard we had to walk through as well.
We assume there was some signage on the walls that were supposed to give you clues that we had entered another section. Our group, in particular, missed the transition between Murderer’s Revenge and Terror in the Woods. These two seemed to blend together seamlessly. However, closer to the end of the attraction, when we started interacting with a scene from an exorcism and the killer clowns, we could tell much more that this was the Hell that they spoke of.
There were several loud noises, excited and murderous cast members, claustrophobia (which is one of our group’s greatest fears), several whirring weapons, and pitch-black darkness that were all used together to create a cohesive and frightening show. There were plenty of actors in each room and they all knew how to give a great, traditional scare.
Several of the serial killers wielded power tools. Although an object that you see often at home, when one is being shoved near your head you run– and you run fast! There was a specific creature that we encountered a couple of times that had two small knives. Although not very talkative, when they held up the two knives to their throat and gave slashing movements, you knew exactly what their intentions were with you.
It seemed as though everyone knew the scenes very well. When we began to leave a scene, it seemed like once the character was out of sight, they somehow jumped right back into our line of vision in front of us! This had us constantly looking behind us. Michael Myers, for example, followed us through several scenes, stealthily stalking us like his prey in the night. One of our group members was especially creeped out by his slow and steady approach.
There were only two of us in the group, but we were very satisfied with the level of scares coming from all angles and especially appreciated the different approaches they took with us. While one of us got frightened and splashed with water, the other was chased and cornered while blindly running through the clown maze!
350 Anniston Drive, Indianapolis, Indiana 46227