Nightmare on Edgewood Review (2020)

The intensity of Nightmare on Edgewood’s cast this year varied pretty greatly throughout their three attractions – and sometimes even within them. Some (presumably veteran actors) found ways to manipulate us through their scenes without getting in our faces (COVID kudos!), While others, unfortunately, blasted into their scenes with a “Rawr!” to then… give us an intimidating stare-down.

Pennywise, Freddy, and some of the Conley crew were among the more-aggressive touching tyrants that we crossed paths with. We will tell you, feeling Freddy’s blades brush against your neck is a pretty eerie feeling! (They were awful clean though, so we are sure he’s sanitizing them between groups’ like a nice villain.)

The wackos in the Sanitarium could be found jumping on the mattresses, shouting whatever random thoughts popped into their heads, and threatening to hang us by our toes. Oh God, not the toes!

Whatever energy was not experienced in the first two haunts was definitely beheld in the Conley’s barn’ Definitely a “saving the best for last” scenario for this category. These brutes were tag-teaming us with their giant pet boars, reaching through the walls and grabbing our jackets, and then sending us to face some sort of tree man.

If you’re the type that’s not comfortable with some occasional touching, then this probably isn’t the best place for you to enjoy a haunted house this year. But if you’re comfortable with it and ready to experience a high-energy haunt, then Edgewood’s crew will very likely deliver.

Edgewood’s costuming has progressed really well over the years we’ve been reviewing them. Pretty much every character we saw this year looked very much “at home” in their surroundings.

Basically everyone from the bellhops, movie characters, and backwoods rednecks were appropriately dressed and the right builds for the type of character they were portraying. The bellhops were smaller fellows, while Jason, Michael, and Leatherface were pretty big dudes, by contrast. Reagan even had puke all down the front of her nightgown’ yuck!!

The crazies in the sanitarium were mostly distinguishable by their straight jackets, patient gowns, and various (bloody, of course) medical attire. Here, some of the required pandemic masks were actually modified medical/surgical-style masks, which we thought was very fitting for them. Some of these masks had large aparati sticking out of them and layering which really helped send them over the edge.

It seemed like theatrical masks were the weapon of choice for face coverings in the final attraction, and we found some pretty interesting ones! One appeared to be made of a human hand, while others looked very similar to some of the Conleys’ four-legged friends. One of the last ones we saw resembled a custom tree man’ watch out for those branches he’s got!

Google Maps led us right to Nightmare on Edgewood without any issues. We tried to pull into their large lot like we’re used to doing but witnessed a parking attendant sending the cars in front of us down the street, so we decided it was best to follow.

Just about a block down, we spotted another wand-wielding parking attendant guiding us into a small, but well-lit overflow gravel lot next to a street. All parking was free.

Navigating the premises was rather easy, just follow the signs on the building as you make your way through the lot. NoE’s entrance has a large ‘Enter’ painted above the door. The only time we were a bit confused was when we exited the haunt and weren’t sure how to properly exit the building.

As it turns out, they have an extra outdoor section where you can find a few extra scares, so you want to be sure not to miss that!

Portable restrooms can be found closer to the building and near the queue area, which are being cleaned every few hours and re-filled with hand sanitizer. Additionally, there were a few more sanitizing stations spread throughout the attractions. Their website also says they’re wiping down all “amusements and frequent touch areas” at least hourly.

Before we entered the Cinema, a Jigsaw puppet warned us that we might be touched, picked up, pulled, grabbed, separated, pushed, or even shocked. It also reminded us to stay 6 feet from other patrons and to always keep our masks on.

During our visit, Nightmare on Edgewood was extremely busy. There were a lot of people waiting in line, so it was a little harder to see if they were able to remain socially distanced in all waiting areas.

Inside the attractions was rather easy to traverse. The flooring is mostly smooth except for a few intentional areas. Their elevator can get a little wild, but there are also rails to hold onto as you fall to your death. Their site does say the haunts are handicap accessible.

Make sure you heed Jigsaw’s warning because he was right! We were touched and pulled, grabbed, and one of us was removed from the others in our group on multiple occasions. They refrained from getting super close to us though, especially our faces, and we noticed they tried not to touch our skin, except for when Michael held his metal blade to one of our throats and Freddy’s blades.

Nightmare on Edgewood and House of Trepidation are co-located at the same building. Upon arrival, we were greeted by an HoT hearse and signage for both haunts.

The front of the building is lit up with multicolored lights, and the massive nightmare on Edgewood ticket booth, which is illuminated with black lights and fluorescent paint, is awfully hard to miss. Hanging from the roof are signs for Nightmare on Edgewood and their neighboring haunt, which also help indicate where to enter the building for each attraction.

A couple of roaming actors, one of which was on stilts, were interacting with guests in the queue area. Soon after, we crossed paths with a large sleeping giant that had awoken to talk to everyone waiting in line. Additional spooky decor is spaced throughout the waiting including a large grim reaper head, an NoE hearse, and the Cinema’s facade is to die for! We must admit, it was so busy during our visit that we were unable to lay eyes on everything in the main waiting area.

Additionally, each attraction has a well-decorated facade that you will need to wait in front of before entering. We could tell that a lot of time was spent on these! Before we officially met the Conley’s, an intimidating, pig-faced man mean-mugged us from the queue area. Once we met him inside, we found that he was far more aggressive than we originally anticipated!

With all of the customers that were attending, it was tough to hear if there was any additional music playing before entering the first attraction.

Nightmare on Edgewood’s props and animatronics are just as energetic, if not more so, than some of their actors! These things have a tendency to come flying at you from out of nowhere, and they mean business!

It’s one thing when the props LOOK like they’re going to eat you, but when one of them actually chomps down on one of your group members’ arms, then things just went to a whole new level! That’s exactly what happened to one of us in the Conley’s Barn… So when you hear something lunge out at you from the darkness, we’d advise you tuck tail and run!

Scene detail is another one of Nightmare on Edgewood’s strong suits. While we have seen more-densely decorated scenes from these guys in the past, each of the sets are still appropriately bloodied, molded, and/or aged to fit their respective themes.

That said, we still saw plenty of impressive effects… on top of the two totally-new haunts for this year. One of our favorites was the Jason scene, which has you walking across a wooden catwalk across a green laser swamp with huge trees and a rustic cabin nearby!

Speaking of swamps, dinosaurs still roam the Earth, and one of them just might be waiting for you at the end of the final attraction {wink wink}. Oh, and don’t run too fast… Swamps can be pretty slippery.

Other interesting effects include a walk-in theater screen (which was reminiscent of a similar scene at another haunt that was taken down many years ago) that does require pushing through some commonly-touched surfaces, a malfunctioning elevator, a locker room, hanging bodies, and an elaborate electrical / electronics room.

Sounds could be heard throughout most of the Cinema attraction, and we really liked the touch of adding each villain’s theme track to their respective scenes. The Sanitarium, however, seemed relatively quiet in the audio department, and we couldn’t hear much at all over the Conley’s screaming about us invading their barn. We did notice some vintage tunes every now and then.

Once we made it to the swamp, though, we could hear the sounds of crickets and other wilderness creatures’ like giant crocodiles that wanted to eat us!! The most effective sounds were definitely those paired with other moving props or animatronics.

The Cinema:
Step into your very own horror movie’ literally! Expect to become part of scenes from “IT,” “The Exorcist,” “Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” “Friday the 13th,” “Halloween” and more.

No big points for originality here, but each of these villains were successfully brought to life in pure Nightmare on Edgewood fashion! Our only complaint here would have been Reagan, as her childish giggling seemed a bit odd for someone that’s been demonically possessed.

Edgewood Sanitarium:
Your regular doctor has referred you to one at Edgewood, but you quickly find that this has to be a mistake! Regardless, your test results will be inclusive so they’re going to have to keep you for observation’

Again, most of us have seen some form of asylum or medical hospital at a haunt before, But if you’re one of the millions of people that are afraid of blood, guts, and needles and think crazy people are downright terrifying, then this one should give you nightmares for days! Plus, it gives a good reason for you (and the actors) to wear masks’ you know, with the pandemic and everything.

Conley Farm:
Papa disregarded the warning from the FDA about using exposed chemicals, deadly pesticides, and fertilizer in his fields. Now the children have developed defects because of it, and they say it’s hard to tell the animals from humans. They corral ya, feed ya, and cut you up to feed ya to the family!

Hillbilly cannibals is the name of the game’ and this version of “Wrong Turn” gone awry is one you’ll be talking about for the rest of the year.

Our review team are suckers for a good scary story, but even though Edgewood’s haunts aren’t quite long enough to build a very fulfilling one (more on length in Entertainment and Value below), they still manage to put together three very distinctive haunts that you won’t quite find anywhere else in Indianapolis!

Whew! We came out of this place out of breath! We had to stop at the exit just to gather our thoughts. This was one of those attractions where we were talking about the scares most of the way home!

This is what we call a “360 haunt,” where scares were thrown at us from nearly every direction – above, below, and all around us. It was tough for us to predict where they were going to come from next, let alone when! The actors also worked closely with their props to provide distractions while our attention was focused elsewhere.

Although our group only consisted of two, they targeted each of us pretty evenly. They split our group up multiple times, nailed us with an elevator surprise, sudden loud noises, perfect timing, and intimidating creatures’ just to give you some ideas of what to expect. They succeeded at keeping us on our toes from start to finish.

Another thing we’d like to note is that some of the attackers have weapons, their uses of which compounded their aggressiveness. Basically, they got very close to us with them, and even prodded us a few times. When we’re talking about sledgehammers and 12-inch kitchen knives, there are some butt-pucker moments to be had, for sure!

The most effective scares of the night included being eaten – yes, EATEN – by giant creatures, and literally being disposed of to a caged maniacal monster that several actors decided to let out on us’ C’mon guys, that wasn’t nice at all!

When you visit, be prepared to be touched, and stay away from the walls! They could always see us through them and we never knew when they were going to reach out and get ahold of us. Once they do’ they may not let go!

The finale to the last indoor attraction, the Farm, was very unique and effective. It blends several effective effects together quite well, but you’ll just have to visit for yourself to see which one/s we’re referring to. All we’re going to say is, watch your heads; you may lose them!

Ticket prices remain the same as they were last year. General admission tickets to experience all three attractions are priced at $25.00, and fast passes are also available for $35.00. When the fast passes are purchased online, you can schedule your arrival time for a shorter wait. Purchasing tickets online is encouraged as it allows for a more-contactless experience on-site.

From the time the Jigsaw puppet wheeled himself out on his bicycle to warn us before entering the Cinema until we narrowly escaped the Conleys’ grasp, our total tour time was 17 minutes (not including the queue line waits for the second and third attractions). At the GA price, this brings their MPD (minutes per dollar) to 0.68 which is better than last year, but still well below the average that we see most often.

For those looking for a really good deal, combo tickets can be purchased for both Nightmare on Edgewood and House of Trepidation for $40.00, which raises the combined MPD rating to 0.78.

In the queue area, there were several things set up for guests to partake in, including their Shadows Escape 3D sensory experience ($5 per person). If you haven’t experienced this before, DO IT! We also noticed a clown actress on stilts entertaining the crowd.

As we mentioned above, it was very busy when we attended and we heard some customers complaining about the wait in line. If you’re looking for shorter lines, be sure to visit them earlier in the season or on available Thursdays.

Be sure to join their VIP club for exclusive deals and coupons – they sent us a coupon via email today! They will be hosting an ‘LGBTQ Night’ on October 15th and ‘Lights Out’ on November 6th and 7th.

If you’re in the Indianapolis area and are looking for a more intense show with relentless acting and props, movie characters, or you’re looking for a good scare, add Nightmare on Edgewood to your list this season.