Features:
✓-Free Parking✓-Restrooms/Porta Potties On-Site✓-Gift Shop/Souvenirs✓-“Hi-Tech” Attraction✓-You will NOT be touched✓-Indoor/Outdoor Waiting Line
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: 8.49
How Did We Get This Score?
Final Scores:
(15% of Final Score) Cast: 8.9
(15% of Final Score) Costuming: 8.8
(10% of Final Score) Customer Service: 9
(10% of Final Score) Atmosphere: 8.6
(15% of Final Score) Special Effects: 8.38
(5% of Final Score) Theme: 7.15
(15% of Final Score) Scare Factor: 8.38
(5% of Final Score) Entertainment & Value: 8
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Summary:
Trees loom over a small bowling alley and within the same parking lot a giant skeleton, dark spooky lights, and thumping bass. All of that along with an epic ticket booth greet patrons of Nightmare’s Gate in Covington, Georgia. But that is just a small taste of the spooktacular sights and sounds that lurk within their compound.
People who dare to proceed into their confines are met with a transitive haunt that brings them to places too real to be just sets. But beware, this haunt is not for the faint of heart or weak of the stomach as their sets and characters are both terrifying and quite gory.
Cast: 8.9
How Did We Get This Score?
Cast Scores (15% of Final Score):
(20% of Cast Score) Did it seem like there were enough actors?: 8.5
(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)?: 9
(15% of Cast Score) How creatively & appropriately did they use dialogue?: 9
(15% of Cast Score) Was there a good variety of characters?: 9
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Nightmare’s Gate Haunted House has a dedicated cast of fun and terrifying haunters that clearly love what they do. A very wide variety of stalkers, nurses, doctors, patients, scientists, and experiments made each character unique. The actors were often above or below us, which made sure we were watching all around throughout the haunt. The actor in the meat locker behind the diner got us especially well!
There was a lot of interesting dialogue, where actors held conversations that pulled us deeply into the scenes. We were very impressed with the body language of some actors. One just wanted to show us his shrunken head, and we had a great time talking with him about it without a single word from him. Every actor made their character fit into their scene excellently and really pulled the whole experience together. We were so impressed with this team of haunters!
Costuming: 8.8
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?: 9
(25% of Costuming Score) How creative / detailed were the costumes?: 9
(20% of Costuming Score) Was their makeup creative? Detailed? Realistic?: 8
(15% of Costuming Score) How effectively did they use masks (if used)?: 9
(25% of Costuming Score) How appropriate were the costumes for their scene/s & theme/s?: 9
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Nightmare’s Gate had great costuming that fit very well with their wide variety of characters. No one seemed out of place in their scene, and each costume looked complete.
Costumes varied between blending in or standing out from the scenery, keeping us on our toes as we watched for them. Their use of masks layered creatively with safety masks was astounding! All actors wore some sort of mask and each fit with the rest of the outfit. The actor that opened a vault door for us had an interesting costume that helped transition the scene well.
Customer Service: 9
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?: 9
(30% of CS Score) How safe was the attraction?: 9
(25% of CS Score) How professional, helpful and friendly were the staff members?: 9
(20% of CS Score) How easy was it to find their information before* arrival?: 9
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Nightmare’s Gate Haunted House has a website with their address, contact information, and a very clear calendar of when they are open. There seemed to be some issue with updating some things from their holiday haunt, but the scheduling information was all correct.
Our GPS took us directly to the location with no issues. On arrival, we were greeted by very friendly staff. The ticket booth and line were very clearly lit and marked. Their ticket booth is an interesting outdoor box like a bank teller with positive air pressure, minimizing the risk of any sort of contamination. All the staff and actors wore safety masks, and we were not touched in any way throughout our visit. In addition, the queue line has plenty of spacing between groups. Last year we took a tour backstage and heard about his safety procedures. After our visit, we had no reason to believe any of these had lessened.
Atmosphere: 8.6
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
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Nightmare’s Gate is always a treat to arrive at. This year they had a huge skeleton lit with eerie lights by their ticket booth. There was plenty of good music that wasn’t too loud to enjoy the company. Several talented actors accompanied us during our wait. We enjoyed some creepy rhymes, and it really set the mood for going into the haunt.
After the finale, we arrived in a gift shop with their infamous giant chainsaw and several other great photo opportunities. Characters out front had changed out while we were inside, meaning there may be fresh scares awaiting you as you return to the mortal world!
Special Effects: 8.38
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?: 8
(25% of SFX Score) How well did they achieve & maintain the suspension of disbelief?: 8
(15% of SFX Score) How effective were the SFX at providing scares / entertainment?: 8.5
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Nightmare’s Gate Haunted House puts a lot of work into its set design and special effects, and it really shows! The industrial grates and ramps down into the beginning of the experience is a wonderful transition from the parking lot and into the world of the haunt. After that, every set is decorated from the floor up.
Convincing details are everywhere, down to dried blood on the floor. A bathroom stall we had to walk through was full of the usual sort of graffiti. Pipes and hoses and saws overhead make you feel completely surrounded by the scene. Transitions tend to be very strong as well, including a huge hatch that’s pulled to the side by an actor. The room inside’ Well, we’re not sure what to make of it, but it had a very cool lighting effect that we haven’t seen elsewhere. There were lots of gore and medical scenes, many of which were quite convincing. Huge containers of who-knows-what often drew our attention in just the right direction to lead up to a great scare. The sound effects throughout fit well with the scenery and weren’t too heavy on trying to make us jump. Lighting throughout tended toward being bright enough to let us get a good look at their wonderful scenery!
Theme: 7.15
How Did We Get This Score?
Theme Scores (5% of Final Score):
(30% of Theme Score) Could you tell what the theme was?: 7.5
(50% of Theme Score) How well was the theme carried throughout the attraction/s?: 7
(20% of Theme Score) How well does their location authenticate the theme?: 7
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Nightmare’s Gate had a unique storyline that was interesting, if not sometimes confusing, in its execution. Transitions between the unique scenes were imaginative and were great at flowing. One scene closed and the next opened in intriguing ways, like a vault door or a freezer. It really felt like we were exploring’ someplace. We knew what each scene was individually, but we didn’t always have a great understanding of why we were there. There was a clear descent into stranger and wilder places, and we very much enjoyed it. There were just a few places where we paused with confusion as to what was happening or why we were being chased by a shark in a hospital.
Scare Factor: 8.38
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?: 9
(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?: 9
(15% of Scare Factor Score) How strong was the ending / finale?: 7.5
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Nightmare’s Gate Haunted House is terrifying and fun in all the right ways. We were startled, shocked, spooked, grossed out, and made to laugh throughout. With scares covering the whole group from high and low, you won’t be able to hide behind your friends in this no-touch haunt! The balance of humor and creeps and scares is right on point.
Some veteran haunt goers will likely be ready for many scares when and where they happen, but the cast reacted and handled it very well giving us surprises either way. Any downtime either built tension or allowed us a moment to breathe and enjoy the beautiful sets. We aren’t sure if we missed the scare in the last room or if it was just a gentle transition out of the haunt. Overall, the pacing throughout the haunt was excellent.
Entertainment & Value: 8
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
(30% of E&V Score) How appropriate is/are the ticket price/s?: 7
(15% of E&V Score) Have they effectively used their available space?: 9
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With all the gore and frights and doom and scares, Nightmare’s Gate is all about having fun. This is a very well rounded haunt that will keep you laughing and screaming in whatever combination you want.
Our walkthrough was a tad on the short side, about fifteen minutes, but most groups will probably take a bit longer. The fun doesn’t start or end at the queue, and we spent the whole drive away talking about our favorite parts. We think that the twenty-five dollars per ticket is a very fair price! Team NecroNomAPeach is very happy to recommend this haunt!
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:
Click to Enlarge
Awards:
2019
Most Grotesque Maternity Scene
2017
Hardest Haunt to Escape Alive
