By Tabitha Redder/managing editor
When October rolls around, the urge to be terrified fills the air, or maybe just the smell of fake blood.
Unfortunately, the scariest things at Six Flags Fright Fest were the heat and the prices.
The haunted houses at Fright Fest are considered “premium attractions,” so they require a Fright Pass. Twenty dollars will score theme park attendees unlimited access to the houses, but this is in addition to a steep $65 general admission fee.
Fright Fest is more of a holistic celebration of scary things rather than one haunted house attraction.
It contains five haunted houses, each with its own short, disturbing backstory on the Six Flags website. Those are probably more gruesome than the houses, even if they seem to be written by a middle-schooler — a demented middle-schooler.
The houses are short, uneventful and lack the scare factor, but the park specializes in thrills, not chills, so don’t expect any soiled pants.
“Cadaver Hall Asylum,” “Cirkus Berzerkus,” “Piggy’s Blood Shed” and “Zombie Infestation” are four of the five haunted houses within the park.
They’re the typical haunted house format: numerous rooms filled with props and carefully hidden actors jumping out of their hiding spots in an attempt to frighten passing groups.
More than a few of the actors weren’t paying attention and were caught doing things like talking to staff, drinking water, etc. Not scary.
An abundance of “event staff” wearing bright yellow shirts inside the houses ruined the mood, sometimes even just loitering about in the walkway of groups passing through.
“Total Darkness” is a more original idea for a house. It’s (almost) completely void of light, so groups are given a rope to hold to prevent anyone from getting lost. This attraction was twice as spooky because one must brave not only the dark abyss but also the heat inside the building to get through! Terrifying.
In addition to haunted houses, several concert-type events happen at scheduled times throughout the day with spooky music, zombie performers or the like.
The most entertaining part of one of the mini-concerts, Dead Man’s Party Presents: Zombie A-Rock-Alypse, was the technical difficulties and frantic staff. The dead dancers were impressive too, but the sound system with a mind of its own was haunting.
A separate zombie event called “The Awakening,” was also going on, but the actual scenario was vague and unclear. However, the zombies looked angry, and their makeup and costumes were impressive.
Basically, Fright Fest is an adequate option if someone is looking for a spooky way to kill a few hours (or a whole day) instead of just an hour or two in a traditional haunted house.
But, if someone is hoping to get legitimately terrified or is pinching pennies, it would be wise to visit one of the actual haunted houses in the Metroplex.
Six Flags Fright Fest runs Friday-Sunday and select Mondays now until Nov. 2.
Click here to view the full spread
