The Massacre Haunted House Review (2026)

Massacre is located in a strip mall and is the dominant business on the lot. Guests can see it from miles away as it has search lights in the sky. Parking is available on both sides of the attraction and plentiful, more importantly, free. Massacre has been expanding its outdoor queue and transitioning both the outdoor and indoor queue into a heavy party atmosphere. The queue is highly entertaining with various queue actors, club music, dancing cages, and an amazing DJ crypt.

Though lines can be long, there are plenty of security and staff around to assure the safety of guests and actors alike. When entering the building, there is a security check point, further assuring a safe evening. Tickets are timed to help from overcrowding and help move the lines along. Overall, the staff is friendly, helpful, and professional.

Upon arriving, the actors in the outdoor queue line start interacting rather aggressively. Proof can be found in our video walkthrough, which we highly recommend. Alcoholic drinks are available before the outdoor and indoor queue line, keeping the crowds pumped up along with the live DJ. Is this a club or a haunted house?

While there isn’t a single theme, this haunt uses different themes and takes them to the max to create one of the scariest haunts. Their newest addition, the asylum, is a great example of immersion itself with the oversized animatronics, the distressed walls with the vibrant blue hue. Add in the crazy staff and their patients and you got yourself a new and improved Massacre.

This haunt is known for hits highs and lows with their scares, which they need or else we wouldn’t have made it out alive. The transitions are well placed to immerse you into one theme using multiple rooms and then sending you off through dark halls to prepare you for the next theme. And yes, the train has moved! *insert swear words of your choice* The main similarity all rooms have is everything is oversized, making any person from short to tall stature feel a bit vulnerable.

The gift shop is right away at the exit with staff members eagerly asking for honest feedback and offering free stickers and koozies. Merch is available for purchase such as shirts, branded cups and even Adeline mini doll sized key chains! This is a great collectible for any haunt enthusiasts. If souvenir pictures were purchased, you are sent back to the entrance side of the building to retrieve a green colored trailer. A mini escape room and axe throwing is available for an additional charge and a taco truck is stationed with a variety of delicious options. If you’re lucky enough, Earl the janitor might be around to keep you entertained. This is an overall, a full night of fun.

Massacre houses some of the most impressive builds we visit in our season. The scenes are so incredibly detailed and large, it’s no wonder why they score so high. The attraction has moved in a different direction and replaced the Clown themed 3-D area, as well as their dinosaur, so don’t expect them to come back. One would think the attraction is now shorter, SIKE. It has been replaced with a full asylum area that provided some fantastic effects. There is a chance that guests might experience the padded room for themselves, which leaves guests completely immoble for what feels like a long time. On our way out of the attraction, we encountered some other guests that needed to be comforted due to the experience and how intense it was to them. To see how it was received from a public perspective has been a mixed bag (due to the breather opportunity the 3-D clown scene provided). The asylum is pretty hard hitting stuff, and the actors here use the props and scenes to not let up for a moment. It’s really impressive what the team at Massacre have been working on, and apparently, it’s a stepping stone for some more intense elaborate scenes to come.

The other scenes remain well designed and highly active. According to the owner, some of our previous reviews have been a huge motivator to remove every single step pad in the attraction. This means every prop is triggered by sensors that activate everything when a visitor walks by, meaning they will always be a surprise and there is zero way to avoid them. It’s a really clever way to provide the best possible experience for customers, regardless if the general public realizes it or not. Massacre really provides a ton as it is, and to hear there is more on the way is both unsurprising by their standards, yet astounding because, what else could they possibly have in store?!?

The team at Massacre really knows how to test the limits with guests comfortability this year. The party atmosphere was alive when we arrived as we heard the many screams from guests thanks to the queue actors. Earl seemed the most active during our visit. Using various gross out moments such as comparing his toilet plunger to a tootsie pop and attempting to have one of us lick it. Earl also carries around a bottle marked “toliet water” which they stated is sourced locally via the porta potties on site. Earl also performs magic! Making him more than just a janitor with the task of cleaning the entire haunt everynight, as they proclaimed. Other Classic queue actors eventually joined in on the chaotic queue and Stitches and Adeline also joined in on the entertainment for guests. Between the three of them, there is a whirlwind of chaos.

Massacre has a reputation of being one of the more intense shows in the Chicago area, and with good reason. In the queue, the actors mostly entertain themselves and therefore provide guests with a great time. Watching the public view for a moment really brings things into perspective. When we arrived, another group did as well and one of their people crumbled in fright having barely just walked to the outside queue. The actors are not afraid to get dirty, and therefore, guests should also expect to get caught in the crossfire. Earl has a bottle marked “portapotty water” and blesses the crowd like some unholy janitor Priest.

Inside the attraction, there are several different areas that are interactive and intense. The opening chamber room is super interactive with vibrating chairs, fog, pricks, drops, and all of which takes place in the dark with strobes. As we stated previously, there are zero push pads throughout the attraction. This means guests are unable to hop over effects and will trigger every effect throughout the attraction. The actors are highly active and in your face. They utilize all of their space to keep scenes interesting and scary. A great example of this is the elevator. With blackouts occurring, the actor can and will get directly in guests’ faces.

The new area of the attraction has been outrageously triggering to guests. We happened to be walking out and found a group of guests comforting one of their friends as they were literally shaking. There is a new interactive effect that a lucky few will have an opportunity to experience when walking through the haunt. This person mentioned must have experienced this, as I can understand how it can be panic-inducing. I won’t spoil anything, as it is a great, confusing moment if one happens to be unfamiliar with it. The actors inside the asylum scenes were super intense and highly active. The whole scene was completely discombobulating due to every actor grasping for attention at once and overspeaking one another. The whole scene is overwhelming in a frighteningly fun way.

With the new asylum area, and more to come… Massacre is really leaning heavy into the scares. Its no wonder why they have been scoring so high when it comes to this category.

Our experience run took a total of 26 minutes of pure fear and chaos. The wait time can get a bit long so Fast Pass ($49.99) and Skip the Line ($74.99) upgrade options are available. Preording tickets online give the option to buy shirts at a discounted price and also axe throwing and the mini escape room. This goes to show that there’s more to do at a haunt whether you’re out on a date night or hanging out with your scaredy cat friends.

With the new addition this year, we are quite afraid of what’s to come in the next year. But if you can’t wait, Christmas- and Valentine’s Day-themed haunts in the off-season are also an option to attend. They also utilize the space for escape rooms built right into the rooms! Make sure to check out their social media for their upcoming dates and escape rooms!