Scream Acres Review (2023)

Scream Acres has a dedicated cast of actors that come back every year for more screams and scares. The actors we found in each house were especially good at looming, staring, and appearing suddenly from the darkness. Whereas on the trail, the various spooks and creeps were ready to get up in our faces as they pranced and stormed around our trailer.

All of the actors were good at interacting with our group, whether they were looming over our backs and causing us to lean away or leaping out at us from the darkness. We wanted to see more and more actors, especially in some scenes along the hayride. The actors did a good job of portraying their characters. Some of which, were obviously meant to be silent loomers in one or two places, whereas most of the rest of the cast were in-your-face screamers.

We enjoyed meeting the gentleman devil before the hayride, who carried an air of elegance amid this country-side setting. Along the hayride itself, the cast members were almost always providing scares from every angle they could and using a variety of props, including the traditional Southern favorite – the chainsaw.

Across the different scenes and settings at Scream Acres are a variety of different costumes. We were able to see a number of different styles of things – each of the two houses have a distinct feel from one another, and each scene on the trail itself is separate and different. The costumes seemed to be complete in the houses, with everything from faded old dresses to blood-splattered clothing.

We were also pleased with the queue actor for the hayride – a very well-done and complete gentleman devil who stalked around speaking to guests. Between the swamp walk and the second house was a perfectly sized Chucky doll that ran around between the guests that was very well made up. Costumes, makeup, and masks across the haunt were well done.

Located on a corner lot, Scream Acres is easy to find. The parking lot has several attendants directing cars to park, and staff spread around the site are easy to identify in their staff t-shirts. The hayride is unique because of the specially-made trailers that they use. The trailers have sturdy and relatively comfortable benches that let you look at the patrons riding on the other side. There’s also a bit of space in the back for the scene actors to stand and walk on so they can bring the scares even closer to you.

The walking trail got a bit of an upgrade this year with some additional handrails and a raised walkway above the level of the swamp. All the stairs were well-lit and marked, and the creeps and ghouls made a point not to scare when we were on them as well.

Scream Acres keeps guests updated online with news about various events like a no scare Trick-or-Treat scheduled for October 29th before regular hours. Since Scream Acres does include a swamp walk, be sure to dress appropriately. We saw guests huddled under a blanket against the chill of the night – though it wasn’t particularly cold. Staff helped them on and off the trailer so that their extra baggage was taken care of.

Their covered midway has a cozy iron stove, a gift shop, a concession stand that serves beer, and even has tables to sit at to enjoy the ambiance and your goodies. If you don’t want to carry stuff with you on the hayride, it’s not a problem because you can go back into the midway after the hayride is done.

A Southern backwoods haunted attraction with a lot of history, Scream Acres starts off with a lot of facades and photo op areas that encourage guests to make themselves part of the action and to take some memories home in the form of pictures.

Inside, we were a group big enough to go through the house on our own, which helped with the feeling of wandering through an abandoned creepy house. After the first house, everything becomes more of a group activity as the hayride trailers each hold a couple of dozen people. The folks that we rode with were definitely feeling the spirit of the season, screeching and screaming at almost every turn and bump along the way, a fact that only added to the entertainment. While there’s not a single storyline working its way through the attraction, each of the scenes along the hayride have their own individual feeling.

At the start of Scream Acres, the main house feels like an abandoned traditional haunted house with sudden jump scares and wide-eyed looming figures. In most of the rooms, there is floor-to-ceiling decoration, so if it’s slow enough, it’s always nice to take your time and enjoy the special touches. They also have a unique take on the popular vortex tunnel. *Spoiler – it doesn’t move anymore, but that doesn’t really matter.

The second house has a lot of intricate props as well as a storm effect that makes it feel like you’re in a blood-stained cabin in a storm. During our ride through, the guests aboard the trailer we occupied were clearly scared of the various booms, bangs, blasts, blares, and boos that came from all sides. The burning cabin on the second hayride was also very well done, with both visual and audible effects.

There aren’t a lot of animatronics at Scream Acres as the attraction is spread across acres of wood and swamp land. Most effects are done via interesting lighting tricks, pounding music, and smoke or pyrotechnics. Some of the effects are traditional bits – like the first set of train tracks that the hayride crosses – but some of the scenes have new soundtracks this year.

Scream Acres lives up to its name, providing lots of scares and eliciting screams from their guests. Each area of the attraction has a different focus and feel. On our visit, the other guests on the hayride were very into the spirit of the haunt, screaming and jumping at nearly everything.

We enjoy Scream Acres’s energy and enthusiasm–from multiple chainsaw wielders to in-your-face monsters. Sometimes, things were just entertaining – during one of the clown scenes, for example, on the hayride, a smaller clown dancing in the background would occasionally catch the eyes of one or more people on the trailer and dance for them.