How Do We Get These Scores?
Our Rating System
UPDATE FOR 2022: Our former “Atmosphere” and “Theme” categories have now been combined and renamed “Immersion.” Our intent with this is to give more appropriate credit to attractions that have shown a clear focus on achieving and maintaining better customer experiences (both inside and outside the attractions) and developing creative storylines.
Each of the category scores in this review are calculated using a weighted average of several questions that we rate on a scale of 1 to 10.
The following breakdown explains what these scores typically mean. All of our Teams use this as a reference for providing accurate ratings:
10: “Peak Performance”This score is treated as if it has a chastity belt on it. “10’s” are reserved for the best of the best; those that we feel could not possibly improve on what they’re doing.
9: “Innovative and Groundbreaking”It rocked! Nearly everything seemed to go as planned and it was one of the best we’ve ever seen! These guys are leaders in the industry, and attractions like this are truly hard to come by.
8: “Solid”A high score on our scale. They had a good handle on it and, overall, they knew how to use it well. Most attractions can learn from what these guys are doing.
6 to 7: “Good”We could tell that a good effort was made. However, we’ve seen this done much better at other places, or can detect areas where significant improvements can be made. This is about the top end of what we’d call “Family Friendly.”
5: “Average / Fair”Compared to the competition, they weren’t the best, but definitely not the worst. Scares and Special Effects in this range are usually considered “Family Friendly.”
3 to 4: “Below Average”We could see that a clear attempt was made, but most other professional attractions are doing a much better job at this.
1 to 2: “Poor”It appeared that very little time, thought or effort was contributed to this aspect.
0 (Zero): “Non-Existent”No apparent effort was made to make this a significant contributor to the attraction.
Afterword:This rating system is standardized across all of The Scare Factor’s official haunt review teams. However, keep in mind there will always be minor differences between Teams, as we all have varying levels of experience. Regardless, we do our best to remain true to our core values, which is to promote all haunted attractions!Perhaps the biggest thing to remember is: sometimes the score – in and of itself – doesn’t tell the whole story about an attraction’s merits. This is why we provide detailed explanations for each category… to help you better understand how and why we chose the score/s that we did.We do our best to not let feelings or emotions rule our judgement, while also viewing the attraction through the lens of the typical haunt-goer. But, because all reviews with ratings are inherently subjective, this is nearly impossible to completely prevent. Though, when in doubt, we tend to give slightly lower scores than our original “gut feelings” to account for this, and also give the attraction more room to improve over time.We also do our best to be fair and consistent across all of the haunts that we review. We know that you’ll be looking at these scores and comparing them to other attractions, so we hope this review helps you out in that aspect.Do you have some feedback about our review system? Contact Us Here to let us know what you think!
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Final Score: 8.71
How Did We Get This Score?
Final Scores:
(15% of Final Score) Cast: 8.73
(15% of Final Score) Costuming: 8.55
(10% of Final Score) Customer Service: 9.18
(10% of Final Score) Atmosphere: 8.8
(15% of Final Score) Special Effects: 8.9
(5% of Final Score) Theme:
(15% of Final Score) Scare Factor: 8
(5% of Final Score) Entertainment & Value: 8.5
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Summary:
Nightmare Island Haunted House returns to summon up scares at Mare Island in the city of Vallejo, California. During October, Nightmare island serves as one of the main fundraisers for the Mare island Shoreline Heritage Preserve, a public park with scenic views of the San Pablo Bay.
Mare Island has a long-storied history. Shortly after California became a State, the US Navy established their first Pacific Coast Base at Mare Island. The base was in operation throughout the Spanish-American War, World War I and World War II, specializing in ship building, from wooden ships, to destroyers, to nuclear submarines. There were military budget cuts in the 1990’s, and Mare island was closed in 1996. The Haunted House is in a former concrete bomb storage building on Heritage Preserve.
The price of a ticket includes the Haunted House, a tour of the old Navy Cemetery (the final resting place of the daughter of Francis Scott key, author of the Star-Spangled Banner) and a Ghost Story Walk.
There are various theme nights scheduled during their haunt season; among those are a Hearse Car Show, a Goth Beauty Pageant, a horror short subject film festival, a snake exhibit and a lizard exhibit.
For the purposes of this review, we only attended the haunted house. What we can say is there is a ‘home craft’ feel to this haunt that is refreshing to see when compared to others. There are various scares to be found throughout Nightmare Island and our review team did have a good time.
Cast: 8.73
How Did We Get This Score?
Cast Scores (15% of Final Score):
(20% of Cast Score) Did it seem like there were enough actors?: 9
(30% of Cast Score) How creative, believable and convincing were the actors?: 9
(20% of Cast Score) How interactive were the actors (verbally and physically)?: 8
(15% of Cast Score) How creatively & appropriately did they use dialogue?: 8.5
(15% of Cast Score) Was there a good variety of characters?: 9
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Nightmare Island had enough actors to keep our interest throughout the haunt. There were a few areas without actors, but there were special effects to fill in the void. The actors were all believable and convincing, and they brought enough intensity as the scene needed. Nobody broke character.
We give a special acknowledgement to the girl in the meat grinder. One of the hardest jobs in a haunt is playing the victim because you need to muster enough emotion to draw empathy from guests. That girl screamed her heart out in bloodcurdling terror, and we hope she didn’t lose her voice at the end of the night.
There were various moments of interactivity with the actors, from the waitress in the restaurant engaging us, to Jason Voorhees stopping us momentarily, to the evil teddy bear lunging at us. The majority of the haunt actors were either silent, screaming for their lives or trying to engage us. Nightmare Island did have a good variety of characters dispersed throughout the haunt.
Costuming: 8.55
How Did We Get This Score?
Costuming Scores (15% of Final Score):
(15% of Costuming Score) How complete / finished did the costumes appear to be?: 8.5
(25% of Costuming Score) How creative / detailed were the costumes?: 8.5
(20% of Costuming Score) Was their makeup creative? Detailed? Realistic?: 8.5
(15% of Costuming Score) How effectively did they use masks (if used)?: 8
(25% of Costuming Score) How appropriate were the costumes for their scene/s & theme/s?: 9
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All of the actors’ costumes were complete and appropriate for their respective scenes. Notable standouts were the evil teddy bear with saber teeth and the zombie line actor. The makeup used was applied well and focused on primitive styles. The only memorable mask was the hockey mask of Jason Voorhees and it did look like a match with the Friday the 13th films.
Customer Service: 9.18
How Did We Get This Score?
Customer Service Scores (10% of Final Score):
(25% of CS Score) How easy was it to locate the attraction, park, and navigate the premises?: 7.75
(30% of CS Score) How safe was the attraction?: 10
(25% of CS Score) How professional, helpful and friendly were the staff members?: 9.75
(20% of CS Score) How easy was it to find their information before* arrival?: 9
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Locating Nightmare Island is a bit tricky if you’re not familiar with Mare Island. We didn’t see any signs to direct guests until we were just down the road from the haunt’s location. Nightmare Island is handicap accessible and we couldn’t find any trip hazards or anything dangerous. Staff and security were on site, and were helpful and friendly. Information is easy to find, because Nightmare Island has a website and various social media.
Atmosphere: 8.8
How Did We Get This Score?
Atmosphere Scores (10% of Final Score):
(60% of Atmosphere Score) How obvious was it that you were at a haunted house before entering?: 9
(40% of Atmosphere Score) How well did the atmosphere prepare you for what you experienced inside?: 8.5
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As we drove up to the location, we could tell we arrived at a haunt. The building that houses the haunt is a visually boring structure, so they added various decorations, such as a mock cemetery and string lights to liven up the place. The atmosphere does build anticipation for entering the haunt.
Special Effects: 8.9
How Did We Get This Score?
Special Effects Scores (15% of Final Score):
(20% of SFX Score) How effective were the sound effects?: 8.5
(20% of SFX Score) How creative / original were the scenes & props?: 9
(20% of SFX Score) How well were the scenes detailed?: 9
(25% of SFX Score) How well did they achieve & maintain the suspension of disbelief?: 9
(15% of SFX Score) How effective were the SFX at providing scares / entertainment?: 9
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This year, Nightmare Island has added a couple of video monitors, posed as windows, to show zombies growling and intimidating guests. Even though there’s a touch of high tech, Nightmare Island is mostly an old-school haunt with homemade decor. There were a few animatronics, such as the shaking chandelier at the beginning and the zombie boy rotating his head 360 degrees. Sadly, there was a room dedicated to the Alien Franchise, but the Face hugger and Xenomorph were not moving. Overall, the scenery was well detailed, especially the children’s playroom and the restaurant. The various bugs in the pizzas made a strong visual impact. Nightmare Island maintains its suspension of disbelief and the special effects generated some good scares and entertainment.
Theme: N/A
How Did We Get This Score?
Theme Scores (5% of Final Score):
(30% of Theme Score) Could you tell what the theme was?:
(50% of Theme Score) How well was the theme carried throughout the attraction/s?:
(20% of Theme Score) How well does their location authenticate the theme?:
This score is left “N/A” when we believe the haunt is trying to target a random variety of themes or phobias, rather than a single overarching “Theme” or “storyline.”
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Nightmare island does not have an overall tying theme. Each room in the haunt has its own independent theme and it was quite obvious what the theme was when entered. The only way we could say the location authenticates the theme is by saying the haunt is in an old abandoned building, but none of the various themes we saw could be connected to the historical past of the Navy Base.
Scare Factor: 8
How Did We Get This Score?
Scare Factor Scores (15% of Final Score):
(30% of Scare Factor Score) How scary was it?: 8.5
(15% of Scare Factor Score) How well did they provide scares to the entire group?: 8
(25% of Scare Factor Score) How predictable were the scares?: 8
(15% of Scare Factor Score) How well did they provide a wide variety of scares?: 8
(15% of Scare Factor Score) How strong was the ending / finale?: 7
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Nightmare Island had various scary moments, but the most notable was the evil teddy bear in the children’s playroom. It did look like a stationary prop and took us by surprise when it moved. There was a zombie room where we could feel the actors grab at our ankles, and that also caught us off guard. The actors engaged everyone in our group and most of the scares came from startling us unexpectedly. The haunted house didn’t have a big finale, but when leaving the compound to head back to our car, an actor in a vegetation suit startled us from behind a row of tall plants, which was the last scare of the night.
Entertainment & Value: 8.5
How Did We Get This Score?
Entertainment & Value Factor Scores (15% of Final Score):
(30% of E&V Score) How satisfied were you with the entertainment received during the main attraction/s?: 8.5
(25% of E&V Score) How satisfied were you with the entertainment that’s available with* the ticket price, excluding the main attraction/s?: 8.5
(30% of E&V Score) How appropriate is/are the ticket price/s?: 9.5
(15% of E&V Score) Have they effectively used their available space?: 9.5
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Our review team was satisfied with the entertainment received at Nightmare Island and we believe customers will get their money’s worth. Outside the main haunt is a festive atmosphere, with vendors selling various Halloween-related trinkets and line actors engaging with guests. We didn’t make it to a theme night and didn’t get to do the Ghost Walk or Cemetery Tour. Guests also have the option of a Paranormal Investigation for $5 more. All available space was used well and we saw no dead zones.
How Did We Get These Scores
Our Rating System
Each of the category scores in this review are calculated using a weighted average of several questions that we rate on a scale of 1 to 10.
The following breakdown explains what these scores typically mean. All of our Teams use this as a reference for providing accurate ratings:
10: “Peak Performance”This score is treated as if it has a chastity belt on it. “10’s” are reserved for the best of the best; those that we feel could not possibly improve on what they’re doing.
9: “Innovative and Groundbreaking”It rocked! Nearly everything seemed to go as planned and it was one of the best we’ve ever seen! These guys are leaders in the industry, and attractions like this are truly hard to come by.
8: “Solid”A high score on our scale. They had a good handle on it and, overall, they knew how to use it well. Most attractions can learn from what these guys are doing.
6 to 7: “Good”We could tell that a good effort was made. However, we’ve seen this done much better at other places, or can detect areas where significant improvements can be made. This is about the top end of what we’d call “Family Friendly.”
5: “Average / Fair”Compared to the competition, they weren’t the best, but definitely not the worst. Scares and Special Effects in this range are usually considered “Family Friendly.”
3 to 4: “Below Average”We could see that a clear attempt was made, but most other professional attractions are doing a much better job at this.
1 to 2: “Poor”It appeared that very little time, thought or effort was contributed to this aspect.
0 (Zero): “Non-Existent”No apparent effort was made to make this a significant contributor to the attraction.
Afterword:This rating system is standardized across all of The Scare Factor’s official haunt review teams. However, keep in mind there will always be minor differences between Teams, as we all have varying levels of experience. Regardless, we do our best to remain true to our core values, which is to promote all haunted attractions!Perhaps the biggest thing to remember is: sometimes the score – in and of itself – doesn’t tell the whole story about an attraction’s merits. This is why we provide detailed explanations for each category… to help you better understand how and why we chose the score/s that we did.We do our best to not let feelings or emotions rule our judgement, while also viewing the attraction through the lens of the typical haunt-goer. But, because all reviews with ratings are inherently subjective, this is nearly impossible to completely prevent. Though, when in doubt, we tend to give slightly lower scores than our original “gut feelings” to account for this, and also give the attraction more room to improve over time.We also do our best to be fair and consistent across all of the haunts that we review. We know that you’ll be looking at these scores and comparing them to other attractions, so we hope this review helps you out in that aspect.Do you have some feedback about our review system? Contact Us Here to let us know what you think!
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Promo Images:
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Awards:
2018
