Final Scores – By Category:

Cast (20% of Final Score): 8.08

Costuming (10% of Final Score): 8.61

Customer Service (10% of Final Score): 9.31

Immersion (10% of Final Score): 8.91

Special Effects (15% of Final Score): 8.34

Scare Factor (20% of Final Score): 8.06

Entertainment & Value (15% of Final Score): 8.91

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Final Scores – By Attraction:

Nightmare Forest: 8.5

Nightmare Forest in Otter Creek Park, just outside Louisville, Kentucky, is celebrating 33 years of fear as they kick off the 2024 season! The Nightmare Forest team continues to amp up the horror for their guests with fresh scenes you won’t want to miss this year. If you are brave enough to venture into the forest, you’ll find a haunt brimming with scares intense enough to make even seasoned haunt enthusiasts jump!

This haunt offers an excellent bang for your buck, and the new and revamped areas brought the killers from Haddonfield, Texas, and Elm Street even closer to us! Be on the lookout for Ghostface, wicked witches, a wolf cave, and plenty of other things to whet your fright-seeking appetite… if you’re still around to notice!

Note: We recommend showing up right around opening time as they do an opening parade every night that you don’t want to miss!

In the darkness of Nightmare Forest, creatures awaited with intentions and locations unknown. Intensely eager to have their way with us, the beings of the forest were stealthy as they unknowingly crept up on our team, making us vulnerable for the catch! Blood-curdling screams were heard from each of us through jump scares, bold noises, and threatening actions. The menacing forest is home to many skilled characters, and we saw bloody proof we were not their first victims!

Ginger eagerly greeted us first, filled with fierce energy and creative banter! This patient effortlessly popped in and out of spaces within the asylum, aggressively skipping behind us until we reached the outdoors, remaining in character while taunting and mocking us! Another patient in here, too, seemed to eat crayons. When one of our group members told them they were good to shove up the nose, too, that’s precisely what they did! Yuk! While these characters verbally interacted with us, not all actors needed banter to frighten us. We heard hissing, screams, moans, and other haunting sounds of terror. The silent ones communicated danger with movements, weapons, and stalker behaviors.

Along the path, we encountered a trickster who bamboozled us, and we met an unearthly being with tentacles – they were dead set on making sure we knew that 200 degrees was the perfect temperature to which you eat a human! Another character needed a sacrifice, and a clown presented big moves and even bigger mood swings!
We also found ourselves in the presence of familiar characters such as a soulless and possessed Regan, an eager Pennywise with his big teeth, a sneaky Jason Voorhees looking to bring extreme action to camp, an ominous Michael, who we dare not stare in the eyes, John Carver holding his ax around his creative Thanksgiving table and launching it at our heads, The Great Child stalking us with that notable hostility, a quick Ghostface in proper stabby form, and Freddy Krueger, full of banter as sharp as his finger knives!

Inside the IT house, before seeing Pennywise, we noticed Georgie seemed to have embraced the dark side. Upon singing the one-two-buckle-my-shoe song (in true Nightmare on Elm Street fashion) with the playful actress leading up to Freddy, we found ourselves in the middle of a nightmare!

The cast entertained us with various scares, and everyone remained in character. While most brought big energy to their roles, we encourage others to embrace their parts more and reveal their character’s frightening selves to haunt goers!

We found the costuming and makeup at Nightmare Forest to be solid, with some impressive details. The clothing was scene-accurate and makeup realistic, and each character had appropriate accessories for their role, such as knives, axes, chainsaws, and other surprises. There is no doubt that thought, time, and care went into each actor’s appearance, bringing an additional element of creative creepiness to every role. The forest was full of freaky facial features, such as tentacles and deformities that shook us.

Ginger moving around without restraint in their straight jacket added to the unhinged energy they portrayed at the asylum. Others were covered in blood and dirt with tattered clothing. Robed characters with deathly faces hissed at us. Doug Rave’s coveralls and broken shovel were suitable for a man burying dead bodies. He also had wild eyes circled by redness as he spoke, fitting his loony and deranged behavior. However, he was a bit clean for someone dealing with dirt and bodies all day. We also noticed this on some other characters and believed adding more layers and lived-in looks could help tremendously.

The precision of the movie character portrayals left no doubt about who they were. Regan’s makeup, hair, eyes, and gown perfectly captured her demented role from The Exorcist. Georgie donned his iconic yellow raincoat, while Pennywise was spot-on with his white face, red lines framing his piercing green eyes, wild red hair, and old-fashioned, dirt-streaked pantaloon clown suit with ruffled edges and big red pom-poms.

John Carver stood menacingly in his signature pilgrim hat (but all-white mask), while The Great Child, with pale skin and lifeless eyes, wore nothing but a food-stained bib and underpants. The Nun’s decayed face and bloodied mouth were haunting (we’d love to see an addition of colored contacts here), and Ghostface blended into his surroundings with eerie perfection. A student with gruesome gashes across her face foreshadowed the arrival of Freddy, whose realistic burn mask, signature fedora, tattered red-and-green sweater, and sharpened hand knives were exactly as terrifying as expected!

We’d love to see Georgie clutching his red balloon for that extra chill factor, and the witch hunter’s inventive costume could use more grime, blood, and wear to give him a grittier edge fitting of someone who hunts witches.

Overall, we give high praise for the costumes, which universally complemented the characters, actions, and stories of Nightmare Forest. Each appearance added a layer of horror and artistry to this terrifyingly fun and imaginative haunt!

Upon arriving at our turn for Nightmare Forest, we saw a large, lit sign at the end of the road to signify we had made it and it was time to be scared! We also noted several large billboard signs all down the highway.

The parking lot is easy to find, and parking is free of charge. The parking area was a little dark. After we found a spot, we followed the lighted path into the woods until we reached a marked ticket shack. As we continued to follow the lights, they led to a well-lit, circus-themed midway with photo ops, a food and merchandise tent, port-a-lets, a hatchet throwing area, a picnic table tent, fireside sitting logs, and the marked trails toward the haunted forest itself.

Aside from the dark parking lot, the haunt is simple to navigate. Should haunt goers need assistance, the staff at Nightmare Forest is eager to help at any point. We found the staff to be highly knowledgeable, helpful, and kind.

Remember, this is an entirely outdoor experience, with few buildings that provide little coverage along the haunt portion of the trail. The path was mostly level, and we did not notice any trip hazards of a significant nature, though it is good to keep in mind that this is natural terrain. Bring some bug spray for those warmer nights and appropriate footwear. And no, the bug spray does not ward off any monsters!

Before heading out, we checked the Nightmare Forest website for details and directions. Ticket prices, dates, and hours of operation were easy to find.

First, driving down the main road to Otter Creek Park is unnerving! If you aren’t creeped out by the time you pull into the parking lot, you haven’t watched enough horror movies! This haunt occurs in the middle of a secluded park, and just when we wondered if anyone would hear us scream out there… The air filled with nearby roars of chainsaws and screams. Uh oh…

The bizarre circus has come to town, and as such, the midway encompassed us with a fun festival vibe, complete with a crazed clown, of course! Watch out, though; he wasn’t our only electrifying encounter! With carnival lights strewn across the sky, funny mirrors, an oddities museum, and fun signs, we felt like the bizarre circus had come to town! The question was, what would happen when we neared that stage?

While the midway wasn’t all scary, it was fun and kept us entertained while we waited. The atmosphere was welcoming and engaging. There were plenty of scary props to take photos with. We could also see a giant, ominous facade peeking at us from above the corn maze we would soon get lost in.

While the forest didn’t have an overarching storyline, the trek was split into multiple sections. First, we stumbled out of the corn upon Demented Hills, where anyone we encountered inside wasn’t quite right. Then, we made our way through various scenes and sets revolving around various themes consisting of classic frights and familiar horror movies. We came across vampires, a cave, the Garnettsville Ghost Town, a large cemetery, and many horror movie-themed areas, including The Nun, The Exorcist, Scream, IT, and many more!

During our journey, we did see some stuff here and there that took us out of the experience, but for the most part, we felt pretty helpless out in the dark woods – which is a good thing! The biggest thing we noticed that was distracting was the echoing party music escaping the midway into some of the more quiet scenes.

Upon exiting the haunt, we ended up right in the middle of the food tent, where they had a wider variety of merch for sale this season. They had sweatshirts, hoodies, cups, magnets, and jewelry. If you talk to the lovely lady who runs the souvenir booth, tell her The Scare Factor sent you!

The Nightmare Forest team has a keen eye for detail, and it shows in the scenes throughout the haunt. Every scene had excellent lighting; whether to create shadows for actors to hide in or hit us with a bright spotlight to temporarily disorient us, they used lighting to its maximum effect here. In one scene, there were scream masks along a hallway that lit up seemingly randomly, paired with a loud screaming effect (we contributed some of our own screams at this point). In a Nightmare on Elm Street-inspired scene, the haunted, dreamy lighting, and music made it seem like we had indeed stepped into a dream world that put us on edge looking for Freddy! Fans of The Last of Us will also be terrified to see a real Clicker zombie! It lunged at us with a perfectly detailed scene that matched their costume, which left us shrieking in terror.

Animatronics and props were also placed for maximum effect here. While many of the air-driven effects weren’t fully working on the night of our visit, the actor-driven ones were! We spotted numerous ones throughout the night that sent us screaming. Giant beasts lashing out at us from caves, aliens darting out from the bog of a downed ship, and giant clowns reaching for us were all encounters we had to dodge during our hike through the woods.

The detailing on the props also really elevated the scenes. The staging in the voodoo hut scene left us scrambling to make it through, thanks to all the little details that made it seem so real. This level of detail on props and scenes was all over the haunt, and we certainly appreciated it. The newly added school showcased much of this detail and the changes to the Sawyers’ family abode.

While we encountered various sound effects that enhanced the scenes, some speakers seemed overblown, while others were barely audible.

Fear set in as we passed through the tunnel of ominous trees that led us to Nightmare Forest. The screams and chainsaws in the distance sent chills down our spines. What is waiting for us in the forest? Will it be killer clowns, evil nuns, crazed chainsaw-hurling maniacs? The answer is all of them! And a lot more!

Once we passed through the circus tent, our Nightmare began in the corn. The forest’s darkness engulfed us, and we could not see around us, which gave creatures a perfect opportunity to hide and prey upon us. While we didn’t find anyone in the corn, plenty awaited our arrival on the trails.

Several scenes immersed us so well into the story that the fear was much higher. We were in Freddy’s school! We were in the sewer with Pennywise! The witches were being burned at the stake! And Thanksgiving dinner was not to be forgotten! Or… we would soon become the centerpiece of the dinner table!

The dark paths between scenes gave us time to regroup and compose ourselves for the next scare, whether we were ready for it or not. We suggest some cardio before visiting. You will more than likely be running.

Through each scene, we had actors hurling toward us, interacting and, at times, making us run from what we thought would be our deaths. The actors seemed to have great energy and scared us. We wish there were more of them. But let’s talk about the chainsaws. Why so many chainsaws, guys? I peed twice!

Ticket prices remain unchanged from last season. General admission is $30, Speed Passes are $45, and VIP Skip the Line passes can be had for $65. Our time inside this frightful forest increased this year, with our trek lasting 38 minutes! This is a good duration for a haunt in this area, bringing their minutes of entertainment received per dollar spent to 1.27 MPD – a significant improvement from the previous season. Each group’s time may vary depending on how fast you can run and how good you are at escaping corn mazes!

Throughout the night and while we waited in line, there was quite a variety of additional entertainment to enjoy that was included with the price of admission. Hawthorne’s Circus Bizarre is an unusual sideshow that works hard to entertain and interact with guests while they wait in line. In addition, we had some oddities to feast our eyes upon, such as funhouse-style mirrors, a bonfire, a movie playing on a large projector, and a whole new section of various fun photo ops! Bobo caught us off guard multiple times and made rounds within the crowd all night.

In addition, guests can pay an additional fee to launch some hatchets. We all had fun taking turns trying our throwing techniques. We’ll just say if any of the dead keep coming for us, only one of us is going to make it out alive! Nightmare Forest also has a food stand with good hot food and cold beverages. We highly recommend the deep-fried Oreos!

We always enjoy our night out dodging the creatures, madmen, and iconic horror movie characters the forest offers. They also heavily focus on bringing new scenes and characters to life every season to keep things fresh for their repeat guests – which is quite the task given their size! We’re sure this frightening forest will only get better as Halloween nears.

If a stroll through the dark forest where creatures lurk in the darkness waiting to feast and prey on your soul sounds romantic or fun, we highly recommend you visit Nightmare Forest so you, too, can “Live Hollywood’s Most Horrifying Moments!”