Always lurking in Stone Mountain, Georgia, is one of the most well known scary attractions in the United States. Netherworld Haunted House is enjoying their third year in their new location, continuing their trend of polishing, adapting, and pushing the envelope of what it means to be what they are. This haunt is absolutely huge and eager to wow and terrify you. The winding paths throughout this haunt are stuffed full of amazing props, special effects, and passionate actors that work hard to make you scream and laugh.
This year Netherworld is presenting two haunts back to back. In Halloween Nightmares, you will be hunted by evil bat creatures bent on destroying the cursed town of Whyshburg on Halloween night. Anything can happen in the already wild town on the spookiest night of the year! In Cyborg Shock, try to escape the horror of a robotics factory that’s been hijacked by a mysterious force! Mechanical horrors are being created and unleashed around every turn!
Netherworld has a massive crew of passionate actors and staff that love to entertain. Both in and out of the haunt, actors brought their characters to life through their love of the craft. While many parts were non-speaking roles, the body language these actors used was more than enough to make us believe. The acting styles in each part of the attraction were quite different, lending even more variety to the experience as a whole. Notably most actors were further away than usual, generally blocked by a railing or set piece that they would reach over. This makes good scares much more challenging, and they rose to the task brilliantly.
Halloween Nightmares was full of monsters like werewolves, vampires, animated statues, and murderous bat people. Each was unique and terrifying, waiting for the opportune moment to get that scare. They helped build the overall feel of the haunt being both creepy and wild, sometimes leading us on to build tension and other times reaching out from the shadows to scare the pants off us. Several times we found an actor where we didn’t expect one, and often they weren’t there when we looked again. It kept us guessing and off balance in a wonderful way. Actors with speaking parts were interactive and responded to our replies playfully.
Cyborg Shock was loud and crazy with actors jumping out from behind curtains and spraying us with air guns. The characters were robots and cyborgs and scientists of all kinds, running amok to create a general feeling of chaos that really built tension throughout the haunt. Nobody really stopped to talk to us, but it made sense in the confusion of the setting and the characters present. The actors in the finale were really strong, terrorizing their victims mercilessly.
Halloween Nightmares: 9.28
Cyborg Shock: 9.33
Variety of Characters – (35% of score)
Complete, Finished Appearance – (30% of score)
Creative, Detailed Costumes – (20% of score)
Creative, Detailed, Realistic Makeup – (15% of score)
Netherworld Haunted House has wild transformative costumes. The detail in many of them is exquisite, and in some cases the scale of them had us reeling. Creatures often look misshapen or have inhuman silhouettes that keep you guessing what is a prop and what isn’t. Each scene has its own style, and the costumes for the characters match this very well. Many if not most characters were adorned with wonderful full face masks that added to the inhuman nature of them. Others had safety masks that were painted to be part of the costume, often being missable at first.
Halloween Nightmares costumes were monstrous and creepy. Incredibly convincing statues were made to look like others nearby. Some kind of swamp creature appeared from around vines that it blended in with well, giving me a great scare! Some of the best scares were while I was looking at a costume without even realizing it wasn’t just part of the set.
Cyborg Shock had a more focused theme, being mostly robots and scientists. However, the costumes here were no less unique. We didn’t see any two characters that looked too alike. The creatures became more and more strange and twisted as we got deeper into the haunt, really selling the story of the factory experimenting with cybernetics.
Halloween Nightmares: 9.75
Cyborg Shock: 9.65
If Masks, Effective – (25% of score)
Costumes Appropriate for Scenes, Themes – (30% of score)
Easy to Find, Navigate – (25% of score)
Safety – (20% of score)
Netherworld’s website has all the information we needed to plan our trip. Tickets were purchased in timeslots. Our GPS took us directly to the building, where we were guided to turn around and park on the other side of the street in front of Life Storage. Traffic was pretty tight which was unfortunate, but there was plenty of parking when we got to the right lot. We suggest you arrive a half-hour before your ticket time to make sure you have time to park and cross the traffic at the light to get to the ticket booth before your arrival.
The staff was well marked, friendly, helpful, and numerous. Most wore small speakers to make them easier to understand when speaking through their safety masks. Face coverings are enforced and sanitization stations are frequent.
Staff Professional, Helpful, Friendly – (25% of score)
Ease of Finding Info Before Arrival – (20% of score)
Obviously a Haunt Before Entering – (40% of score)
Prepared for Experience Inside – (15% of score)
Netherworld Haunted House really goes all out with their atmosphere. On arrival, we found a huge building with banners, signs, props, music, and announcements. Actors in all kinds of costumes roamed about, posing with and spooking customers while we gathered and had tickets checked.
As we entered the building, the staff and scenery gradually worked us into the haunt. The queue line had grand obelisks and decorations like some kind of museum, and staff members were more completely costumed. The last leg of the queue is in a spooky house hallway with an actor handling group spacing, doing a wonderful job leading us into the world of the haunt. The space between Halloween Nightmares and Cyber Shock was a welcome breather, letting us reset as we walked the futuristic hallways into the hijacked factory.
After both haunts, we got to enjoy the huge animatronics and photo opportunities, along with several playful actors that made the last note of our visit a good laugh.
Sound Effects Effective – (20% of score)
Creative, Original Scenes, Props – (30% of score)
Detailed Scenes – (30% of score)
Achieve, Maintain Suspension of Disbelief – (20% of score)
Netherworld’s primary focus is on their detailed sets and wild animatronics. Their massive top to bottom scenes with larger than life animatronics is an experience of its own. Every scene is filled to the brim with mood lights and sound and props that build strange and wild environments to explore. In fact, we felt like we could go through two or three more times and still see things we hadn’t noticed before.
The sheer quantity of awesome stuff is astounding. But it doesn’t end there. The attraction is arranged and run to shock and entertain, and it does this wonderfully. The timed ticketing and spreading out of groups this year made the pacing of the haunt much better. Scares were well timed, and the breathing room between them allowed tension to build between frights. Looming monsters and crumbling archways over cobblestone and treacherous bridges kept us surrounded by the world of the haunt at all times.
Halloween Nightmares: 9.8
Cyborg Shock: 9.5
SFX Effective at Scaring, Entertaining – (35% of score)
Could Tell What Theme Was Without Asking – (15% of score)
Theme Well Executed, Believable – (25% of score)
Location Authenticates Theme – (10% of score)
How Scary – (15% of score)
Netherworld Haunted House had two themes this year. Halloween Nightmares took us through the wild, cursed town of Whyshburg. Cyborg Shock had us exploring a futuristic robotics factory. Through the mostly environmental storytelling we understood what was going on simply by going through the haunt. However, the summaries on Netherworld’s website gave us a bit more insight after the fact. Each was very well executed, and the themes did not bleed over.
Halloween Nightmares: 9.45
Cyborg Shock: 8.7
Provide Scares to Entire Group – (50% of score)
How Predictable – (25% of score)
Variety of Scares – (25% of score)
Netherworld’s two haunts gave different sorts of scares. Halloween Nightmares surrounds you with strange and scary things and creatures. Characters appear from seemingly nowhere and retreat into the shadows. There was a lot of mystery and suspense as we wandered, enjoying each scare as they came. Some wonderful misdirection was throughout, getting us to look precisely where we were supposed to in order to have the most effective scare.
Cyborg Shock was louder, more chaotic, and gave a greater overall sense of panic. Its creatures were more direct and felt more threatening. Often one scare led to another and another, rather than having your attention guided to the correct place. The variety in each haunt was wonderful, and the different feeling of each area kept the whole experience fresh. If you’ve been to Netherworld before you’ll likely recognize some scares. However, be prepared for plenty of new ones!
Halloween Nightmares: 9.23
Cyborg Shock: 8.93
1313 Netherworld Way, Stone Mountain, Georgia 30087