Flames flickered across the fall sky – and for us, that can only mean one thing: we’ve made it back to Nightmare on Edgewood!
Now in its 48th season, this year was especially bittersweet. Not only did it mark the end of our 2025 haunt tour, but it also signaled the final season under the current ownership – the same leadership that’s been part of this haunt’s lifeblood since the very beginning. Watching Kevin and his team pour decades of passion into these walls has been nothing short of inspiring, and it’s hard to imagine this place without them.
Inside Edgewood Cinemas, three terrifying features awaited us – Unhinged, The Factory, and Conley Farm – and let’s just say we were far more than spectators. From the moment we stepped inside, we became the stars of our own horror film!
We’ve had the privilege of reviewing Nightmare on Edgewood every year since 2014, and what a transformation it’s been. From the early days of basic makeup and logo tees to the jaw-dropping looks, immersive sets, and top-tier production they deliver now, this haunt has evolved into not just one of Indiana’s most extreme and respected attractions, but one of the most intense in the entire Ohio Valley.
This year’s experience was a full-contact chaos zone – we were grabbed, pushed, pulled, placed on tables (yes, even saw tables), chased, drenched, and nearly devoured by giant animatronics. Nightmare on Edgewood continues to live up to its reputation as a relentless assault on the senses, and we loved every second of it.
As the flames fade on this chapter, we can’t help but feel thankful. Thankful for the screams, the memories, and the people behind them. Kevin, Paul, and the Cook family, if you’re reading this – thank you for nearly five decades of nightmares. You’ve left an unforgettable mark on the haunt industry and on us.
Overall Scores Per Haunt:
Unhinged: 9.29
The Factory: 9.31
Conley Farm: 9.54
With the unfortunate reality of Nightmare on Edgewood as we know it coming to an end, one might think the cast of this phenomenal attraction would be moping around or low on energy, especially so close to the end of the season. This was CERTAINLY not the case for the actors we encountered during our visit!
For Unhinged, even though this attraction was less heavy on actors and more focused on spooky ambience, it still didn’t feel like there was dead space or lightened tension anywhere. Those trapped within the home that we ran into inside weren’t too happy about us being late for their supper, and did more than make us clean the dirty dishes. After forcefully (and thankfully unsuccessfully) trying to use our group to make “spaghetti and meatballs,” we met with many other creepy individuals, such as the living doll in the attic, who wanted to turn us all into ornaments. And all the while, a terrifying entity followed us throughout the home, revealing her presence whenever we least expected it and striving to keep us stuck there forever! This character was creepy as hell! Also props to the crazed lady on the bed, she sprang up off of that at least two feet!
Our second film of the evening that we lived through was The Factory, housing a variety of crazed workers, doctors, and the like waiting for us around every corner. Our group was sized up and assessed thoroughly to see what parts of us might be worth anything. Props and set pieces were utilized by actors very well to give us all good heightened scares, ones we were explicitly involved in; dumped into laundry baskets, baptized in acid baths, and persuaded into licking (yes, licking) hardware tools. We all felt included in these examinations, whether we wanted to be or not. With how well everyone stayed in character, we’re worried they may be doing more than just acting in there!
The Conley family and their farmhands left no time at all for breaks in scares or entertainment. Deeming us as piggies from the start, we didn’t have a fighting chance not to be sent directly to the slaughter. Whether they were trying to skin us, shock us, feed us to their trophy wall of taxidermy, turn our faces into jack-o’-lanterns, or saw our heads off, the intensity of these actors never wavered, and they never gave us a moment of peace! The iconic character known as Mama even saw to it herself that we were buried alive in their infamous graveyard. Whether it was jumpscares, physical interaction, or simply silent stalking, the entire cast at Edgewood was absolutely on fire for their final season, making it a guarantee this haunt will surely go down in history!
The costumes on the various characters throughout Nightmare on Edgewood were gruesomely fitting to the scenes and settings. Many costumes have been updated and improved over the years. This year, we noticed everything from bleeding, bloody entrails to frozen, frostbitten appendages.
Outside in the ticket line, we met Scorch, the flamethrower. He was clothed in a full black leather outfit, complete with a tophat; he resembled a ringmaster of a psycho circus. His maniacal expressions and actions were perfectly fitting for the impression of the lunacy he was trying to portray.
Inside Unhinged, there was a vast variety of actors and characters that fit their respective scenes and themes well. As we entered, theatre workers met us at every door. They were all wearing uniforms fitting their positions, including the janitor, who was wearing dingy overalls in the bathroom. A lot of detailed facial features and airbrushing were used to create the effects of open wounds and battered and bruised faces and arms. We’d also like to point out that it was cool seeing several theater staff wearing matching attire to the animatronics, too!
Once we entered the film, lunacy began. We found a unique individual in the attic. She wore an apron of baby doll heads, glued together with blood, and wore a headband of baby parts, too. Her mask resembled a porcelain doll but was cracked in places. This was a downright creepy-looking get-up! The insanely creepy entity who followed us from where she met us at the start, to the queue of the Factory, resembled the creepiest version of the Annabelle doll ever! White-out contacts, pale white face, and some kind of black nastiness all over her mouth. She made us jump when we were looking right at her! They also used candles in a unique way to add to another costume.
In the Factory, the amount of paint, airbrush detail, and costumes only increased. These characters mostly appeared as workers who had suffered some sort of serious accident, losing their minds and some of their flesh too. Mostly, only because the man in the dumpster definitely was not on the job. He had bugs on his face and in his ears and smelled of putrid rubbish from the trash. The further into the factory we ventured, the more intense the damage to the workers seemed. The clothing became more tattered, and there were a lot more visible wounds and sores on the workers.
When we got to the dentist, everyone was wearing smocks and coats that were probably white at one time, but now have the tint and dinginess of the dirty setting where they were working. There were many airbrush effects on these characters, and most of them used colored contacts. Some of their features seemed to glow even, possibly from chemical reactions.
Inside Conley’s farm, characters wore flannel, bib overalls, country dresses, pigtails, and straw hats that fit the setting. Makeup sold the hard-labor look: boils and seeping sores, ground-in dirt, dried blood, and full-body grime. The woman in the freezer had a frostbitten palette with an icy sheen that made her look genuinely chilled. Beyond the shock sticks, performers carried practical farm tools: pitchforks, brooms, shovels, yard rakes, and more. A familiar face, Mama, looked especially rough and ruthless.
Across NoE, the wardrobe felt detailed and convincing, with bold, imaginative character work on display this year.
Nightmare on Edgewood was easy to find. Their website provided all the necessary details and did a great job helping us get all the pertinent information for our visit.
Our GPS took us directly to the parking lot. There were multiple signs marking the entrance, including a stand-out projection! A parking attendant assisted us, making parking extremely easy in their free lot. We do hear that it gets full, so we recommend car pooling or arriving early. Before you go in, we suggest using the restroom. They have provided porta-potties for guests. In the haunt, they may scare the pee out of you! So we suggest doing this now!
The ticket booth was clearly marked and easy to find. Tickets can be purchased at the haunt or online. The GA and VIP lanes were roped off, and staff members were present to assist anyone with questions. We were scanned with a metal detector before entering the haunt, and away we went!
Inside the queue area, it is well-lit and easy to navigate. Inside, the haunt is easy to navigate. There are some steps, narrow passageways, and some crawling, but there was an option to go a different route. The staff was very helpful and accommodating. This made our experience not only scary but also easy to plan. For those who do not opt for the chicken vest, they may be touched, grabbed, pushed, pulled, and one of us was even put head-first into a laundry cart onto a pile of laundry!
Nightmare on Edgewood does an outstanding job of immersing you in its attractions from the very beginning. As we made our way into the front facade of the cinema and throughout the halls and projection room of the theater, we didn’t just get to sit down and watch a horrifying triple feature – we became the stars of the films! After our group literally stepped into a movie screen, we found ourselves living out film number one: Unhinged. A madness had taken over the home, forcing residents to rot within its walls because of an entity keeping them trapped and watching their every move. Said entity kept its eyes on us, too, keen on making that place our forever home as well. Wear and tear of the decor, met with ambient lighting, gave the house its fair share of realism, but even the “outside” portion had us truly questioning whether or not we were still indoors.
Somehow, even the queues between attractions didn’t pause the immersion. Others waiting in line near us appeared just as worried for their fate as we were. Our next film of the night was none other than The Factory, and after being guided inside and locked in a cage, feeling uneasy might’ve been an understatement. Our fear hadn’t dwindled at all, like we’d never had a gap in the scares. Everyone wanted a piece of us in here, and not in a good way. We witnessed groups both ahead of and behind ours being tortured and then discarded, a glimpse into our own fates and only the slightest of opportunities to warn others of what they were getting into. It created genuine fear in us as we realized we were just bodies at the mercy of the workers.
Transitions between ‘movies’ were seamless, and no matter where we looked within the haunt, the scenes we found ourselves in felt eerily real. Once we crawled through a tunnel near the exit of The Factory, we ended up in the swamps before Conley Farm. We were thrown into a vehicle and hauled off to the farm itself, or at least, it felt like we were really moving! Not only did we get to witness the behind-the-scenes of the Conley family’s escapades, but we had no other choice but to become a part of them. Nothing here felt out of place or barren; everywhere we turned, there was something else horrible to admire and appreciate. The flow throughout the haunts was steady, and we never ran into any other groups, making our experience feel more than unique and tangible.
As we finally escaped the silver screen, we were spat directly into their gift shop, housing all kinds of merch and photo ops. We even got to see our picture that was taken inside the haunt, giving us a lovely moment to reminisce on what we’d just been through. Not that we’d ever forget this awesome night anyway!
The special effects at Nightmare on Edgewood are among the best we encounter each year. It’s rare to see animatronics used this effectively, but the combination of animatronics and actormatronics here delivers hit after hit. They’re close, they’re fast, they’re loud, and they strike from places you’d never expect. Best of all? They don’t just lunge at you – they try to eat you!
In Unhinged, things kicked off in a grungy, run-down movie theater – complete with popcorn scattered across the floor and an old projector room setting the scene. From there, we walked through the theater itself and straight into the movie screen, only to find ourselves outside the front door of a sketchy house. Inside, we navigated disturbingly realistic rooms, including a dining area, a grotesque kitchen, and a bedroom with possessed furniture. A rickety-looking ladder took us up to the attic, and we found ourselves trapped inside the walls. This wasn’t just a house; we were inside it in every sense of the word. One of the night’s biggest shocks: an actormatronic dog that nearly tore through a fence to take a bite out of us! Great use of this beast! Good boy! Strategic fog, lighting, and sound effects tied everything together and heightened the chaos.
Next, we found ourselves outside another sketchy-looking building – a towering factory that practically screamed, “You’re not making it out alive.” Inside, we were immediately trapped in a cage, surrounded by a chilling blend of lighting and sound that made our hearts pound in sync with an unnerving heartbeat track. From there, things escalated fast: we were nearly crushed in a trash compactor as the floor shifted beneath us, strapped into a dental chair, and forced to watch our own demise unfold through a series of grimy windows. The chaos only climbed higher – literally – as we ascended toward an acid bath scene where they tried to peel our skin off, before crawling through a tunnel that spat us out onto a squishy, swamp-like floor.
And we all know what that swamp means… We’d landed ourselves on Conley’s Family Farm. Oh sh!t! Through the fog, the outline of a massive barn came into view, and it looked every bit as real as it smelled. Inside, this two-story structure delivered the most detailed and effects-heavy barn we’ve ever encountered! A massive meat conveyor spun overhead, livestock pens lined the walls, and a new giant saw-table contraption was hard at work nearby. We passed through a chilling freezer, watched as pumpkin people were being “assembled,” and even wandered into the Conley Family Cemetery, where they literally buried us alive using one of the coolest custom effects we’ve ever seen.
21. How scary was it? (35% of score): 9.21
22. How well did they provide scares to everyone in the group? (15% of score): 9.4
23. How predictable were the scares? (25% of score): 9.13
24. How well did they provide a wide variety (types) of scares? (10% of score): 8.98
25. How strong was the ending / finale? (15% of score): 9.13
Standing in front of Nightmare on Edgewood was different for us this time. Tonight, on Halloween, marks the end of an era. Kevin Cook and his team are locking the doors one last time. And next season, Nightmare on Edgewood will likely be under new management. So one last time, we enter Kevin’s horror movies! Popcorn anyone?
After Chip collected our movie tickets, we were ushered quickly and aggressively to our seats. But first, we needed a potty break. The bathroom attendant was no help at all. No paper towels, no exchange of pleasantries. Just yelling, and then, before we knew it, being shoved into dirty toilet water! We must say this theatre has definitely seen better days. And there is something quite off with the ushers! But onto our first showing!
After slipping through the screen into Unhinged, we could feel the eyes from within the walls of the house watching us. Just waiting for us to be close enough. Just close enough to snatch us into the darkness. Inside its walls, we met a few of the lunatics calling this home. Spaghetti and Meatballs may be a trigger now for poor Nick. And he may never use tongs again. Who knew she thought it would be in there? We did have the bowl ready, just in case!
Weaving in and out of the madness had us jumping at every corner. A maniac was even trying to feed us worms. No sir! If it’s not a gummy, it’s not going in our tummy! From possessions to a creepy doll lady, the actors were relentless in coming at us from all angles. After making it out, we had the false sense of safety. Then we remembered there is more. We had a triple feature.
The next showing is The Factory. The dingy walls and flickering of the lights immersed us deep into the factory walls. A homeless man led the way. We were immediately hurled into a cage. The sound of a heartbeat pierced our ears as we waited, trapped in the cage. This was one of the most suspenseful rooms we’ve seen this season! After we all gazed around the room, panicking more as the heartbeat got louder and faster, we began to hold onto each other! Suddenly, the gate flew open, and the madness began!
We encountered many unsavory characters. Ranging from deranged dentists to your regular crazy factory workers. A member of our group was even carried away by one of them! We are really going to miss Nick! Every corner we turned had a new tormentor waiting for us. We were nearly crushed like trash and dipped in acid! Luckily, we escaped! But now we stood in front of a farm. Mmmm, I smell bacon!
The Conley Farm and its farmhands were eagerly awaiting their load of fresh piggies. And here we were! We were quickly loaded into a livestock trailer. It appears a few did not make it out of this trailer. Bodies swayed back and forth as we were taken to the butcher! The gates of the trailer flew open, and Sissy and the farmhands were waiting for us. Our stay on the farm was most eventful! Members of the family wearing livestock faces came at us from every angle. Some of us were butchered and left for dead, and others made it to processing. But what next? After all of the brushes with death?
Then, we found ourselves in the family cemetery. Had we all died? Were we ghosts? Did they really chop off Chasity’s head?! The answer is no! But our end was near. Mama had a plan! Into a dark, tight box we all went. Our fate was sealed. Let’s just say that we now have plots at the Conley Family Cemetery. Rest in peace, Scare Factor.
This year’s GA ticket cost remained at $35 cash, on-site. Our total haunt time was 37 minutes, making the MPD 1.06, although the experience really begins when you exit the car and make your way to the ticket booth. Fast Pass options are also available.
From the minute we entered the parking lot, we were alight with excitement. There were freaks throwing flames and creeps stalking through the crowd outside the building in the ticket area, and once we entered the front door, we were engulfed by the effect of Nightmare on Edgewood. The first queue area prepared us for the horror that awaited inside the gates. This haunt is fully immersive and all-inclusive, with an optional “chicken vest” before entering the theatre’s doors for those who do not want to be touched during the experience. Seriously, though, it’s okay if you think you need the vest!
There was also an area to purchase premier NoE merchandise. Make sure to take a look at and/or purchase your haunt photos at the picture booth; they are perfect memories of one of the best haunt visits in Indiana. You can also take advantage of a few photo ops in this area.
Once inside the gates, the experience really never stops. The flow between haunts goes right into the next, and queue actors follow from one haunt to the next, roaming the whole area, keeping the shrieks going, and making sure to keep you on edge. The quality of the haunts and how much we actually jumped, screamed, and panicked make Nightmare on Edgewood a premier haunt stop in Indiana. We must also say, with the amount of touching, grabbing, and pure insanity inside, we still believe they’re the most extreme haunt in Indiana, by far!
Kevin, this isn’t goodbye – it’s see you in the fog. We hope the wickedly talented crew that’s brought Edgewood’s nightmares to life keeps the chaos alive, and we can’t wait to see what kind of madness next season holds with new management at the helm.
1959 S Meridian Street, Indianapolis, Indiana 46225
