Haunt Weekly - Episode 413 - Decomposed, Haunting on Da Bayou and Rise

[0:23] Hello everyone, I'm Jonathan. I'm Crystal and this is Haunt Weekly a weekly podcast for the haunted attraction entertainment community, whether you're an actor owner or just plain a fishing on we aim to be a podcast for you and.

Introduction to Halloween-themed podcast episode

[0:37] We return to you at a very awkward time to record a haunted attraction targeted podcast, What do you mean? Well, I mean, we're actually recording this and we'll be publishing it the Monday before Halloween, Yeah, which means for us Two-thirds of our season at least time-wise. Yeah is in the book. They're likely only about 25% of the people, So they're in the books and so we have been open two nights We'll talk about it briefly, but we're really not going to focus on that this episode No, that'll be next week's episode after Halloween We can tell you all the numbers and all the changes big everything big and all that, So that say we'll save that for next week this week. We want to focus on on a, I got a fun little scavenger hunt for y'all.
Yeah. But more importantly, we're going to talk about a haunts we visited recently.
Yeah. Over the past two weeks or so. And that's three haunts in particular.
It's Decomposed Haunted House, Haunting on the Bayou and Rise Haunted House, including all three of its attractions.
Yes. And in that order. And that's the order we'll be covering them in.
So please, if you stay tuned to us, follow us. We're talking about, like I said, we'll talk about our haunt more next week.
So just follow us and like us and subscribe to us at all the places we exist We're at hauntweekly.com, hauntweekly on Twitter, hauntweekly on Facebook, youtube.com slash hauntweekly and of course, Everywhere that you can get podcasts from we are there.

[2:05] So yeah It has been a busy haunt season And I guess first we'll just say that the first two nights are our powers are in the book, I have a lot to talk about but like we said we're not really delving into it here because a All those feelings could change in a heartbeat Halloween night. Yeah Halloween But so far, I think things have actually gone fairly smoothly. Yeah right now feelings are positive feelings are good, There's definitely something weird going on with crowds this season. It's not the first time I've heard this discussed No, so we're seeing a little bit of weirdness too, but nothing that is really dampered things We've had good crowds, everyone's been having fun, positive reviews, the haunt is humming for the most part.
Repairs we've had to make, adjustments have been silly minor.

A Successful Opening Night and Relaxing Weekend

[2:56] So all in all, I can't complain. In fact, it was kind of weird Friday night At first time we were open what we traditionally have done is after we hang out with the actors after we have that little time You and I go to a bar or somewhere away. Yeah.

[3:11] We leave And we go to a quiet place where we can sit there do a post-mortem and make a list of shit to fix for Saturday Right, we went to do that and we didn't have much if anything to put on that list No, in fact, I think we I made a new exit sign. Yeah. Yeah, Yeah, I think that that was the only real change. Yeah Between Friday and Saturday. Yeah. Now we got some bigger ones coming between Saturday and Halloween and we'll go into that later. But.

[3:41] But yeah, we're actually done. We actually went out to a nice super cash Slow-paced dinner at a nice Indian restaurant We've just been kind of relaxing a little bit and trying to enjoy it.
And in fact, Sunday night, last night, we went to RISE. And so we get to talk all about that on this episode.
Now before we get into all that, a few housekeeping notes. One is I have apparently not been very focused lately.
I did not post last week's question in the week on the Facebook and elsewhere.
So we don't have any answers for it. So we're not going to do a question with this week.
I'll just post that on Wednesday and try to rectify things then it's it's a question of most weeks in you, I think we've all realized that realistically. Yeah. Yeah, October is weird. So yeah, cut a slack on that one I just didn't get it posted on Wednesday when we usually share the question a week But stay tuned all the places we exist facebook.com slash haunt weekly all that stuff and you'll see the question week when it goes live.

[4:42] Um, the second thing is I did have a little bit of free time, a modicum amount, not a huge amount. Yeah.
And I ended up getting into the game, the annual Ghost Town Pumpkin Festival.
Now this game is, calling it a game may be a stretch.

[5:02] Yeah. There are game elements to it, but the reality of it is what this is, it's basically a virtual pumpkin carving festival.
Yes, it's the easiest way to describe it. Yeah, including spooky ghost a little hayride, There are random things scattered around the universe. Yeah, Hey rifle function and it's in game. Yeah, it's a full hayride you can go through There is a small haunted house too. They have now to be clear. Nothing is scary. This is all very silly This is the most fun. I've had with like Martha Stewart Halloween stuff ever. Yeah, like that type of stuff. It's but it's spooky It's funny. I like the fact everybody's a ghost. Yeah, and you get to customize your ghost, And if you actually the other great thing about is the game is pay what you want for it Yeah, you can get it for free if you want But I highly encourage you to spend the two dollars if you check it out, To get the version with hats a support the creator support the servers Because this does require some expenses i'm pretty sure, Um, and i'll drop a link in the show notes where you can obtain it. But also if you pay the two dollars, You get hats for your ghost.
Yes. And that's just cool.
I have a spider. I have a pirate hat. I'm a pirate ghost. Yes, yes you are. So yeah.
I'm a cyclops monster with a spider friend. Yeah, I don't know what the fuck you're going for.
You're just picking random shit that looks cool.

[6:30] Yeah, I'm a cyclops monster with a spider at Okay, but yeah, it's basically you get to roam around a town and a festival There's a hayride a maze Yeah And a bunch of other things you can go to and check out the pumpkins other people of Carter something like four thousand plus pumpkins Yeah, there's a lot of pump There's a lot and I know that the the festival in almost full because I struggled to find a place to do this Um, which is I have carved a hot weekly pumpkin Yes using their editor now if you need to see what it looks like you can go to facebook.com slash home weekly It's on there and that there also is another link that also link you to it, But basically I want to see if any of y'all find it I'm just curious. When does the game go off? It goes offline as they said a few weeks I think they said a week or two after home and they haven't given a specific date But you have time after Halloween to check it out, Now it is in the classical world the classic world as they call it, which is the default, So if you don't change your if you don't go to a parallel dimension as they call it, You'll you'll be in the correct dimension. You'll be in the correct place and I posted about it on Facebook No one seems to have found it yet.

[7:51] But since you are are listeners and you're listening, I want to reward that by making your search a little easier.
And I'm going to give you two hints. One is a place not to look and the second is something to look for.
Okay, the first hint is We're not to look I will be honest and I will cut everyone a break and tell you I did not hide it in The pump and the hedge maze right? Hey, that would be a dickhead move.

[8:23] Because even though it's not that difficult of a maze No, it has a lot of dead ends and things, To hide pumpkins and I theoretically could have hidden in there and just assume no one would ever see it. Yeah.

[8:36] Yeah, I did not do that. It is not in the maze. And the second is I fucked up.
When I went to place it, I accidentally placed it facing away from the path.
So as you blow by it, it looks like a blank pumpkin. But you still walk up to it and see it. Yeah, you can walk around it. You walk around it and see it. But it does look, blank at first blush. Yeah, which is funny because all the other pumpkins, or most of them, are carved. Yeah. So it might actually stand out a little bit more.
Yeah, but no, it's a really fun thing. You get to go around, you can like pumpkins, you can like all the pumpkins you want, and if you want to give, you give one award per day, for 24 hours, you can award one pumpkin a ribbon and those ribbons become visible when people click the pumpkins. Yeah. It's a really, really neat thing.

Participating in the Ghost Town Pumpkin Festival

[9:32] It's a lot of fun. I definitely think it's worth the two bucks and I can tell this is going to be a Halloween season tradition for me. Yeah. Participating in this. It seems like it's not the first year they've done it. Yes. So, since Jonathan carved a pumpkin first time as an adult, it was virtual, but it counts. I've never carved a pumpkin even as a kid physically.

[9:55] We've had this discussion. We still need to remit do that. It's yeah at some point, Moving on. So if you find the pumpkin, yes Take a screenshot. There's a camera mode in the game making it silly easy. Yep and.

[10:12] Message it to us. Do not post it as a Comment. Yeah, because we don't want to give it away, But message it to us via Facebook I'd probably be the ideal with your name and address and I will send you something. We'll send you some goodies, Don't know what but we will send goodies, Now I'm curious to see if anyone finds it. It's well hidden. It is it is well hidden and I would not feel bad if, nobody found it simply because I, It's gonna take a combination of luck and skill to find it. I think yeah, so yeah I'll drop the link the game again is the annual ghost town pumpkin festival, The pumpkin is in the classic world the default and like I said it is not in the maze and it is was, Accidentally placed facing the wrong way that part was genuine accident. I did not mean to do that I'm sorry for making it that much harder, but yeah, what are you gonna do? Apparently you can't change it. Yeah anyways.

Positive Spirits and Visiting Other Haunts

[11:11] Definitely a sinister and get some goodies. Yeah, and I don't mean goodies headache powder. I mean other goodies. Yeah, so, So anyways, like I said, we're not going to talk too much about our season so far. Things are positive.
I'm hoping that continues tomorrow.
But right now, spirits are high. Everything's good.
We're just really tired and really frazzled and really brain dead.
Which I mean, duh, right? That's not new.
It's October 30th. We won't be back to full cylinders for at least a week. Oh, probably too.
But anyways, we have been making time to visit other haunts in the area.
We did not do our field trip this year, but we have hit all the local haunts.
We've already talked about New Orleans Nightmare and Mortuary.
And we also talked about 13th Gate. So now we get to talk about the remaining haunts that we are aware of at least, which, are Decomposed and Homa, Haunting on the Bayou, which is literally in the middle of nowhere.
I don't know what town that is on the way to decompose basically and rise and what we're going to do is we're going to talk About them in the order we visited them.

[12:24] And so in this case we start with Decomposed. Yeah. Decomposed had... I'll be blunt and I want to be honest and transparent about everything. Decomposed is the hardest one for us to review.
Yeah. Because yeah we're friends with Dwayne and Davey and other haunters. We know them.
But we know them through their haunt. Yeah. You know what I mean? We've always had that...
The relationship has always been customer-haunter. Yeah, yeah, we've not like gone out for drinks with them and things like that. No. John Farrell, the owner and creator of Decompose, someone we've known for over a decade before he ever opened a Haunt. He was working at Haunt, but he didn't open one. And yeah, that does make it more difficult, I'm not going to lie. So if it sounds like I'm treating him more harshly or less harshly or whatever, know that's probably why. I'm probably trying to find my balance. But the thing about Decomposed was last year was their first year, and it was a short walkthrough. It was only six minutes but it was stellar six minutes.
Yeah it really was. The acting I mean for the acting was way better than any first year Haunt had the right to be. So you could tell that John had been working on those sets for years.
Yeah, um So yeah, it was a very very good experience. We were looking forward to seeing how he built and expanded, And expansion is probably the peewee's playhouse word of this on.

[13:54] Every time you say Yeah, pretty much but because yeah, he went from a six minute walk through, to a 16 minute 10 second walk through a quarter of our watch, right?

[14:07] Which is nuts and admittedly we went a little slower because we were with three dipshits and we'll get to that in a minute. But yeah between extending walkthroughs in certain scenes and just outright adding things he almost tripled the haunt length and did so without raising the price at all. Right and not only did he do that he also built a whole new actor area and put up a Q line area. Yeah, brand new circus tent Q line. Yeah, it's really cool. Mm-hmm. Um, I.

[14:43] Yeah, the work really shows. I mean that that does that is the like I said, he has expanded this operation, Significantly and from a time standpoint and a size standpoint. Definitely. It's on par with any other bigger haunts in the area, Yeah, it is and you know.

[15:00] Where he's at is a challenging location. Yeah, for a lot of reasons. Yeah Because of one of the biggest reasons is flooding. Yeah, it does it is prone to flood. Yeah, he's out in an old, Blimp base. Yeah in Houma. So basically, I mean now I on one hand, It's the ideal place because it's just a giant fucking concrete slab.

[15:25] Begging to have something built on it and he built a haunt. Yeah, but on the other it is a low-lying area that does flood. So that has been frustrating for him, I know. But yeah, he managed to damn near triple the walkthrough. Like I remember last year, the graveyard sequence. Felt like it was blink and you miss it. Yeah. Yeah, but small.
You go through it. But the thing is, they didn't make the graveyard bigger. They made the walking path around it more circuitous. Yeah.
So you saw more of it and I'm sure it was a little bit bigger, but I think most of the gains there were by the fact we had to walk around the hearse.
Yeah, I thought that they had at least doubled that size. But even if it doubled in size, it still had to add a lot of walking, actual walking path, because yeah, he really did a great job.
They did a great job adding walk-through time using the paths, the pathing.
So yeah, it was a very good haunt, a very solid experience overall.

[16:35] What are you thinking? I know.
So it's overall very good. There were a few issues that we did have.
Before we get into that, a couple more positives. I really liked how accessible the haunt is.
It is both wheelchair accessible and it has no blinking lights, which is something we ran into with one of our actors.
So they use natural lighting using lamps and things, which is really nice.
It actually adds to the realism of the scenes like that.
And now we can move on to the little deans. And they aren't even big.
I mean, the first thing, and this was the one thing we didn't mention to John, because I'd forgotten about it when we came out and had our chat afterward, was we went on a Thursday.
There was functionally no line. I think Thursday may just not work in Houma.
Well, it was also against the Saints game. Oh, that's right.
I forgot. Yeah. Yeah. We don't know.
But even if it's Halloween is on the same night as a Saints game, we're not up against that. I mean, nobody shows up.
Yeah. That's a big thing in this region. right? So there was a function online. There was like a dozen people online.
Yeah.

Unpleasant Group Experience at Decomposed Haunt

[17:52] And for reasons I'm not clear on the lady letting us in Made us go in with the group in front of us, No, now I often like going in with groups of us But the group in front of us was a dad and two tweenage sons. Yeah, who were just absolute shitheads, Yeah, like I like going through haunts with other customers and seeing how normal quote-unquote normal people react to haunts, It's a very enlightening experience for me But these this group was just unenjoyable and we were like, yeah, we're not with him. No. No, you're going with them Why we were learning the last people in line. Yeah, and we were cool waiting. I, Would wait waited a I mean that was this the other time this happened was at the revelation, That like two days that was open. They did that where they had like seven people in line and there were three groups and, And they just made everyone go in at once. Yeah for reasons. I'm not clear on.

[18:51] So yeah, that was that was frustrating it was nice to see their reaction because they're doing the thing that tween boys do I'm not scared I'm making stupid jokes and all this and then just jumping and absolutely every little goddamn thing even if it whether it was a scare Or not. Yeah Some of it was really funny and some of it was Come on. You're just playing this up. You can't be that scared or, Or they would start being little assholes to the actors They just were not the type of people I like going, No to a haunt with you know, and and it was frustrating and that did hinder some.

[19:32] The things we did talk about and the things actually he brought up One is they've had challenges getting actors and getting answers there, especially that night, right because it was the first thursday they've ever been open and apparently they get a lot of their actors from the local high school well those kids probably can't work late on a thursday night right so yeah well and there was another issue with some of their actors having to work, um later on thursday and then they do on friday or saturday yeah and they had added this because they had to open later in season than they had originally planned.
Yeah, because of flooding, we just mentioned that.
So yeah, there clearly were some actor struggles going on. Now that said, some of the actor interactions were absolutely fucking genius.
Like I can't believe I'm about to say these words, because anyone who's listened to this podcast for a long time knows that this is just absolute bananas for me to say this.
I love their chainsaw guy.

Surprisingly impressive chainsaw guy and pop-and-lock zombie actor.

[20:39] I did I just did and it was a clown chainsaw guy. I know literally Everything I fucking roll my eyes at and a haunt and this motherfucker manages to make it work somehow, Yeah, and because and this was the time I was glad we were with them Yeah, they're group because he came out and he did the for us. I think he does different shits, Rather change on and he said I know I'm not gonna do that turn sets it down and sort of puts it aside It's oh, yeah, I am then get some corners home, but then immediately knows when to release and let him go Yeah, it was beautifully executed and the guy they had in the lead into that who was doing the pop and lock zombie, Genuinely freaky to watch. Yeah, I don't know how he moved that fast. No that it was it was.

[21:24] Genuinely disconcerting to watch it was like a video game was glitching. Yeah, as you say it was teleporting all over the scene. Yeah, so they had a lot of great actors, but the acting was inconsistent, and we know why. Yeah. The only advice I can give at all is to pair new actors with veteran actors, rather than clumping the new actors together in one place. Yeah. And the only other thing, and this was once again, he raised it, not me, so I can do it, is that you could tell which sections were newly built. Right. Because he didn't have the time because it's mostly just him and his partner. They didn't have the time to put the detail in because the story of Decomposed, we know it well because we know him, is that he would do a room every year basically, home haunt it in his driveway, then shove those panels into storage and just someday, mysterious day in the future, open up Prohaunt with all those panels. And he did. I mean, I'm fucking.

[22:26] Impress he did. But you can tell which panels were made over the 10 year history running up to it, and which were a this year thing. He has said his focus in the off season is going to be detailing. He doesn't want to build anymore. No, he's got a lot built. I agree that it needs some detail. There were a few too many black walls, but not a distracting amount.
No, no, I never felt like we were going through a black wall hell or anything like that No, but I think a more consistent theming and decoration would help a lot just to tie the new with the old better.

Sophomore year challenges and future potential of the haunt.

[23:07] Yeah, but all in all I mean, okay, you know, this is the sophomore year Yeah, And sophomore year in many ways is always the toughest because the first year the goal is just to get fucking open Yeah, just have it open have people come and have the place not burned down. That's like the entire, Standard now people expect shit of you and now you know the novelty is gone. Yeah.

[23:33] Yeah, I really think that it gets.

[23:35] You have to wait till like five years six years You know to really get into your groove and set green set up what your USP is for you You're a unique selling point and I agree with you one of the things you said was that this is gonna be a haunt to Watch. Yeah, I agree with that completely, Yeah, I had said way back when when rise was starting out I said, They're gonna be the ones to watch they've got all this land. They're being innovative with it, they're the ones to watch. They're putting in the work. Decompose has given me the same kind of vibes.
Yeah, I agree. I mean there's handicaps there being in Houma, especially when you're trying to find actors.
Yeah. Because the thing is, and one thing we pointed out is, Decompose, 13th Gate, and Rise are all almost exactly the same time from our door. Yeah. I mean not the same distance in miles, but the same driving time about an hour and 15 minutes yeah all of them and so in different directions motherfuckers yeah I know you assholes couldn't build close to each other but then again like we used to be able to do rise and 13th gate on the same night but rise got too big yeah and now that's just never gonna work but anyways so yeah I decompose the lead there is so much more added yeah, Same ticket price. I mean if he had gone up on the ticket price I don't think anyone would have batted an eyelash once they saw how much new stuff there was right, but you know that.

[25:05] That's You can tell John loves this shit. Yeah, you really can't oh, and they did add a, Coffin right this you know yeah the coffin right thing yeah, I've heard of that. You've already done it. Yeah, I'm not comfortable getting in it, Not because I'm scared of coffins or anything like that. It just it looks like the motion of it would probably, Not be kind to my old body. Oh, yeah, I did it once and Fine, I didn't like hate it or anything. It's just not an experience. I feel the need to repeat Yeah, but but if you haven't done it and you're interested and you're young, um.

[25:41] And you're young and you know, you don't mind being shaken around and sprayed with smells and all the stuff This ride does god's beat. It's only five bucks. I don't see why not um, so yeah, they but yeah decompose the story is growth and.

[25:56] Like you said it's going to be a haunt to watch if they can you know that they got open they got over the big hurdle yeah and now they're trying to build momentum yep you know any issues any stumbles in this sophomore year I think can be easily overcome next year yeah I'm not worried I'm actually very excited about the talent is showing up for and you know what I mean it's crazy how much they're showing up yeah it's actually making us rethink our metrics for where to build a haunt yeah it really is so anyways that That takes us to the second haunt, Haunting on the Bayou, and that's the name.
Now we talked about them, their first year was last year as well.
As a pro haunt. As a pro haunt, yes. They were a home haunt that went pro last year.
Yeah, and last year they were full of spirit props going back 20 years at least.
And it was adorable. It had the charm of like the JC era of haunting.
Yeah. Or like it reminded, it made me think of like when the high school marching band, we did that one in Belle Chase years ago.
Yeah. Where the band was raising money for a trip.
Yeah. And so they put on a haunted house and was it the scariest thing in the world?
No. But was it a lot of fun? Yeah. Yeah.

[27:14] I have positive memories of it. Yeah.
Yeah. I mean, go into it with that kind of expectation. It's a lot of fun.
It's an era of haunting that doesn't really exist much anymore. I see it so rarely that I relish it when I can get it. And it was a very short walkthrough. My timer was four minutes, but, they've definitely done their part to expand too. This year there were no child actors, which I was very grateful for that. Yeah, because last year there were a lot of kids.
Like not high school child actors child child actors This year was all adults or all at least teenagers that I could see, older teens at the very least and Basically, they had built some scenes and the head more permanent walls You could tell that they were refining and honing this and trying to scare people. Yeah, they were they had learned some, Distracting startle tactics, which were good Their opening scene wasn't great. It needs some work, but you know.
I think the opening scene could work because basically you're going in and this lady's like, you're checking in at a hotel type thing.
And the lady's telling you...

Playing with Props: A Mistake in Storytelling

[28:27] I think the goal is to tell you the story, but all she really seems to do in our case was point at all the props.
Yeah, and half of them were broken.
Yeah, and half of them weren't working. Honestly, just have her tell the story.
Yeah.
Because she's got a good presence. Yeah, she does.
I think the mistake was having her play off the props. Yeah.
Which, like you said, half weren't working.
That's one of those things that a lot of people try to do they try to make the props the scare No props are never as scary as people, You know, you can do what I didn't want doing out in front Where's I'm trying to hold over say out of my good friend. We got a skeleton attached to an IV stand Yeah, I'm a good friend trip here. Yeah, He ain't much of a talker, but he is very well hydrated, And then that gets a little chuckle and I've killed 30 seconds of their life. Yeah, I mean, you know type things so that, That you can use props as part of your storytelling But I yeah trying to make it the scare or trying to make it the centerpiece, The props are your sidekick not the other way around. Yeah, basically.

[29:37] But no, I mean the lady that was there when we're there had great presence. Yeah, good energy. Good voice. Good good pacing, Everything was good. But the trying to play to the props was a mistake, I think yeah, but no I was actually very pleasantly surprised by the improvements They may they clearly are, you know working trying to build a more professional attraction, but they still have that charm, Very much there Yeah Like I really enjoyed one of their scares which was to cut holes in a wall and put a person through it So it looked like they were a painting. Mm-hmm And then the person like lunged through the wall, But they're like the cutouts were the same shapes as their hands in their face Yeah, you know, so it it didn't stand out as oh those are holes in a wall with a person through it. Yeah.

[30:24] Yeah, they did they they clearly did a lot more build this time around Yeah, and I'm very happy about that and it then like you said it showed they had some great scare tactics some ideas, I I had a good time and I don't remember seeing any scene setters this time, No, I don't recall if we did or didn't but if if we did I didn't pay to it I was distracted enough to not remember them. If they were there, I was distracted enough to not remember them. They've also added other things. They have t-shirts now. They also have added food.
Which is nice because they're kind of out of the way Yeah, and so this gives you a little bit more that you can do to have some they kept they had their photo ops back, Oh, no, I'm really like I said, I enjoyed both of these haunts and I Really think that if you're in that area, Decomposed definitely is worth hitting up. Yeah, and if you're going to decomposed you're not that far from hunting on the bayou Going on a night hunting on the bayou is open. Yeah, no reason not to swing by. Yeah, exactly, That's the attitude I take. So that brings us to sort of the highlight Uh the main course of this meal, which is rise.

[31:38] Wow Yeah, no kidding We we just we went there yesterday. It was uh, we're recording on monday. We went there yesterday, Um a I don't remember I cannot honestly tell you how much of the exterior stuff is new because I realized as we were leaving, That we parked in a different lot, than we usually do. So I think that bridge might have been there for a long time, and I just never crossed it because I never had to. Yeah, I'm not sure either. I don't think that it was there, but I, like you, I'm not sure. So anyway, we'll get into it. We'll go in the order that we went on the rides. Yeah, we arrived right at opening, and I was surprised to see that parking lot Already slammed on a Sunday. I know it's the Sunday before Halloween. Yeah, but it's still a Sunday Yeah, I didn't expect people. I expected some people but not a crush of humanity I expected something in between dead and crowded and did not expect to be happy that we had the VIP fast pass. No shit.

The Haunted Hayride: Least Amount of Change

[32:45] But we did the haunts in a weird order and some of that comes through just experience with this. We did the haunted hayride first and that may have actually been a mistake. Yeah and the reason we did it first is because it's, good, don't get me wrong, it is good, but it is our least favorite of the three attractions. And it's historically been the one with the shortest line but also kind of the weirdest throughput because it's a hayride. Right. So throughput can get wonky. And the other reason that may have been a mistake this time around though was because apparently they were late opening it and we ended up losing, like 30 minutes time and like 30 minutes isn't that bad right but remember their opening hours this Sunday were listed as 7 to 9 p.m.
Right.
So, and if you're trying to get three very big, very well attended attractions in a one night, that's tight.
It's doable, but it's tight. And we lost 30 minutes sitting on the, the trailer. The trailer just waiting.

[33:54] And yeah, and it was not comfortable for either of us. Hurt your knees and my back.
Once again, we're old.
We're old and we don't fold quite that way no more. No.
And those hay bales are just an odd height for me. Yeah they are. Honestly, the Hayride I think had the least amount of change of the three attractions. Right. And I know that they are... There are always plans for improvement on everything.
And the reason for that becomes more evident in just a few minutes in this conversation.

[34:27] It's what I was trying to sort of get around to. Exactly. Comes a little more evident. But yeah, Yeah, it had changed the least, but so if you've done it like super recently, this was not the year to do it again.
Maybe next year. I don't know.
Hopefully, there's always talk about expanding it. There's been talk.
Yeah, now if it's your favorite thing and you love it, then just go ahead and do it, obviously. No, yeah.
But... The one major notable change... Yeah.
...was the cult leader that pops up halfway through... Right.
...was now a woman who did not wear a mask. Historically because the whole plot of this and it's kind of a confusing convoluted plot is a mad scientist who's making human-animal hybrids and Somehow the unexplained forces you end up on a hayride and throw into his compound. Yeah, seriously They need a throwaway line to explain what the fuck we're doing there. Yeah, so that whenever we're asked if we can what are you doing here?

[35:25] Fuck, I don't know. I bought a ticket for a hayride. Yeah Jesus christ, I mean, I get it. It's the line, but just a throwaway line about how oh, I, Snared you in my trap or something like that. Yeah You thought you were going, See the doctor, you know fooled y'all into getting on this ride. Well, it's not a ride. It's a blah blah blah blah They were just our new new test subjects, you know, exactly and throw it out there. Yeah.

[35:53] Something like that could work, but yeah, so the scientist is doing the animal-human hybrids and there's this weird cult leader character who's taking in the hybrids and running.
The ones who have escaped. Yeah, the ones who have escaped and are forming a religion around themselves.
Historically, that role has been played by a guy who, mind you, had a very imposing presence, Always put him in a goddamn mask where he couldn't see his face or his lips move right which is bad because he's might he was Mike and talking yeah, and it's it's a very weird experience to have a character talking and not being able to see their mouth Oh, yeah, like it. It's a total, Disconnect and a disconnect And he can't use his facial expressions to emote to you right he can't engage with you with his face So they swept it up for a woman and she is awesome. She is genuinely awesome, She she was very charismatic. She you can't take your eyes off of her, I just said I commands the scene she command I could sit there and listen to her talk But anything she wanted for like an hour and hours of that it's not a problem. She's just that engaging She has great facial expressions great mannerisms.

Emotional Impact in a Scene

[37:08] Takes you on a ride. I really thought that was a great move And it's such a big difference what a little face emotion makes in that scene Yeah, Because you get to see the passion the anger the pressure you get to see those things in addition to hear them it really tied It together so well, But other than that no significant changes, so if you're familiar with a hayride, A lot of people I've I don't know why people seem to be down on it Not not so much people locally, but like people that go on it from out of state seem to be down on it I don't understand why I think it's a very very fun attraction. Yeah, It's 21 minutes. It's technically the longest attraction at rise, I've always enjoyed it. I admit that it didn't change a lot year over year, but it's always been fun I've always had a good time on it. Mm-hmm, I just I don't know it is I think this historically been and I think this year too my least favorite of the three attractions yeah but I definitely think it was better than last year especially because that let's swap out with the cult leader yeah and you know so we finished the hayride yeah and now we're going to the big house so I think the big house because traditionally at least the asylum has been our favorite thing to do.

RISE: Significant Changes and New Scenes

[38:31] I'm not sure that's true anymore. And it's not because the asylum got worse. No.
No way is that a knock on the asylum. If you have not been to RISE this year, or you didn't think that they changed enough last year, so you're not going, you're wrong.
You need to go. Yeah, RISE, the main RISE, RISE Well, whatever.
Um Hey, they they tore out significant portions of it and replaced it with new scenes Yeah, there's significant portions that are totally new and I won't we won't go into too much detail of what's new don't spoil it, But it's very very cool, Yeah, I love it But the main thing that really pushes me over the edge and makes me gush is dear Jesus the acting. Yeah No.
It's just straight fire the fucking acting.
Yeah. It, like, okay, the acting at Rise was never bad. No. I don't think I've ever said a negative word about it.

[39:36] No, at least not since like maybe the first or second year But it's never been a standout favorite either there's always been a few interesting characters Yeah, but in the big house in the big house, but it's always been the acting was serviceable It was adequate and got the job done. It made it for me got the gus or the haunted house, This time around the acting stood out as the highlight. Yeah.

[40:04] And One of the things about it is historically is the asylum has always been where the best actors were they always put the best actors in the asylum, And now we know some things that we're not going to go into but basically They're bringing a lot of what they learned from the asylum into the big house Yeah, And it is fucking working so I was not a hundred percent sure if the approach to scaring they use in the asylum, which which is Light touch, but heavy touch. It's not like hard touch not hurt you touch, but you're gonna get touched, Yeah, you're gonna get led around you're gonna get your hair played with if you have a beard you're gonna get your beard played with Yeah, you're gonna have stuff happen to you I didn't know if that acting approach would work in a no touch haunt, which is what the big house. Yeah, it works, right?
Yeah, cuz it's all about invading personal space and I was like I said on the way out. It's like look nobody touched me that I can recall call. If they did, they certainly didn't touch me in a very impactful way, but...
I there were plenty of occasions where I was very sure I was going to be touched Yeah And was not these actors have really been trained to get up close get in people's personal space and make you uncomfortable They've been fed good lines And they are really doing a great job.

[41:26] Engaging and interacting with you the entire way through that haunt and best of all they're playing with the verticality that they have, So now you can expect to find people above you and below you and beside you and in front of you and behind you Yeah, they're everywhere. It's 360 degrees of assholes. I love it. Yeah.

[41:45] No, it's actually really really nice because Like so the quality the acting just it's so far beyond, What what it was in previous years. I said it was never bad No, I never complained about it No, but it wasn't something I ever thought to call out as the most amazing bestest part this year. It absolutely is. Yeah.

[42:06] Yeah, and I think it was such a surprise that we just we enjoyed it so much Yeah and honestly I there were a couple of times going through there which actors would ask questions or engage and I'm just I froze because I wasn't prepared for that level of interactivity, Right. My brain wasn't in interactive mode. That's the asylum. The asylum is the interactive part. The haunt's not. Yeah. Well apparently the haunt actually is now.
It's just non-touch interaction. Yeah, exactly. It's wonderful. I can't, I just, I don't have anything else to add. The new scenes they added are great, but honestly it's the acting that I've walked away with just blown away by.
I don't know how else to phrase that. And the final one, oh, and the walkthrough on that one was about 17 minutes.
I don't have my notes in front of me on that one. But the final one was the asylum.
And the asylum, like we said, it's very interactive, very story oriented, and very touch oriented.
They're going to stroke your face, lead you by the wrist, all that stuff.
Now, one thing they told us on the way in that we had not heard previously was that, apparently there are multiple endings to the asylum, especially dependent upon whether you free one prisoner and doing the air quote that nobody can see in the asylum, one of the interactive characters.

[43:27] If you free them, supposedly there's a different ending than if you do. I didn't see that.
Yeah, I'm not sure. They meant a different ending to that scene?
Yeah, because it is a different ending to the scene. Yeah, it was.
Yeah. But not to the story of the asylum. I don't think so. Yeah.
I don't think so, but man, they did, the big change in there, the rise of the asylum didn't, cause you could tell, and by the way, the reason the Hayride and the asylum didn't get major changes was because of all the work they did in the big house. Yeah.
I mean, that was the whole point I was trying to feed into earlier. Yeah.
So yeah, not a lot changed. They did change one character out.

Hypersexualized female character transformed into a bookish male patient.

[44:13] And I'm going to try to word this carefully But basically there was a character who for years and years and years has been a hypersexualized, Female patient. Yeah. Well that character is now a male patient, Who is very bookish?
And is very psychotic and basically has been pushed into madness due to, Being ashamed for quote unquote bedwetting. Yeah, it was a crime and this character is awesome. Yeah.

[44:43] I just it was such a good show. I love the character because the hypersexualized girl, Was awkward in the wrong way. Mm-hmm, because I don't mind hypersexual characters as a heterosexual man I'm not gonna get too mad about this, but it is awkward being.

[45:01] Around something like that someone who is not age-appropriate for you. Yeah, and it's awkward in the wrong way, This was very fucking awkward But in the right way. Yeah, this this was genuinely all this person's fucked up, you know, yeah, It's not you know, it's like wow, this person is fucked in the head Like if we're watching the birth of a Batman villain, I would not be surprised You tell me that this person goes on to be penguin or something like that. Totally gonna believe it. Yeah, Totally believe it But yeah It had a very different sense of unease and it had the right sense of unease.
And also that was a very different kind of crazy than the other patients.
Yeah. Because almost everyone was the hyper manic, angry, crazy.
This patient was much more, I don't want to say controlled crazy.
Yeah. But much more like on a slow burn with the crazy. You could tell that they had a plan.
You didn't know what the plan was or what it involved. They knew you weren't going to like it. but they had a plan.
Yeah, this was a more, almost a logical crazy, a thinking crazy, than it was all these other, just more animalistic crazy, you know, that you see elsewhere in it.
All in all, I mean.
It was a very, very good change. I think it was a win. I'm very curious to see though what they do.

The Big House vs The Asylum: Differences and Changes

[46:25] With both the hayride and the asylum moving forward because now they've they did a lot in the big house. I see where the time went. Yeah. What I'm trying to hit it. They were not slacking.
No. And I'm also glad that they took the asylum sequence, the traditional asylum sequence, out of the big house because it was always confusing to see it in there and then see it in the asylum. It deals somewhat with an asylum-like environment, a portion of it is, but it's not in any way visually, aesthetically like the asylum. Yeah, I get more experimental stuff than I do... Even though the Risewell Asylum does have experimental stuff too. Yeah, I know.
It's confusing. It is confusing, but they felt very different is what we're trying to hit. Yes, they felt very different. They looked very different. Yeah. We like the work that they put into it. We did not feel like we were going to two of the same asylums. No. No, it felt very much different. So yeah, honestly...
Looking back on the haunts we went to Rises big house, I think is.

[47:40] Probably my highlight right now the season I like the changes at 13th gate a lot, I mean that even though I'm not a fan of you know, Using pop culture characters and the use of stranger things to weird if you're gonna do it do it great You know the 13th. It's gonna do it great. Yeah, that sequence is really really good There's no denying that but honestly just seeing the jump in actor quality and rise, and not realizing how high that ceiling goes, you know, they may have made a rod for their own back now because now if they can't, if it's not that good next year it's going to be disappointing.
Yeah. Well I think that the person doing their actor managing knows how to push people to their limits to do a really good show.
I don't know what kind of training they're doing or what they're how they're teaching these actors, but it is fucking fire Whatever it is. It's just amazing And knowing that they're pulling from an actor pool. That's not, Very urban they're in tick fall louisiana for the love of god Um, yeah, i'm really really impressed with just how good everyone was. Oh, yeah. Um.

[48:51] Small note of of remembrance As we were walking through the bus sequence, I have always hated that sequence the micro bus the micro bus Yeah, cuz it was it was always hard to get in and out of yeah, they've added ramps. Yeah, Just I'm just saying thank you. I did not notice the ramps. I did not know anything I did I always hate those sequences because I have to duck way down. Yeah, I I don't like them for, For other reasons, there's a lot of reasons why those are the weakest scenes Yeah, they are they are definitely the weakest scenes, but I am glad that they added the ramps. Yeah.

Critiquing the Acting Quality of Haunted House Scenes

[49:29] Reversal was easier. But all in all I mean Yeah, that's uh, that's probably the best nitpick. I've never liked those scenes in particular, I don't fit well in them. And as you know, there's other issues with them, Um, but Man the acting quality. I just I was not ready for that. No I I was braced for you know the big house and we've been told there was a lot of new stuff in there So I was braced for that. I, Did not expect to be on a whole other plane of existence when it came to acting. No, yeah, I expected the changes to the the physical bill, you know, because Those changes were big don't get it wrong. I'm not trying to minimize the work they did no, but Jesus Now it is an actor playground it is and you know what I mean and it reminds me a lot of, Like what Statesville and Hell's Gate do in Illinois?
Yeah where they're giving the space including the up-and-down for people to play with and just kind of Telling them, you know, this is what makes good scares is when the best years make it work, Go forth and scare my children and it works you give actors the right tools you give actors the right knowledge. They can, They can make it happen man, and that's what happened. Yeah on that note. I think we're done. That's the last of the haunt visits, All in all like I said, I think rises.

[50:54] Don't really know what it's a but I think that's probably my highlight for this season I did enjoy the 13th gate a great deal. I enjoyed pretty much all the haunts We went to for one reason or another. Yeah But yeah as far as like who am I looking forward to seeing the most next year?
Yeah rise and oddly the crazy part is rise big house. Not just the asylum Yeah, I'm really looking forward to rise big house, and I'm looking forward to decompose third year Yeah, because I do like being a fan from the ground floor. Yeah, I, Do think yeah, and I think decomposed, They've shown that they can make drastic changes in a year. They can really take things up a huge, Even with a setbacks even with limited people. I mean John does the work man. There's no doubt, So yeah I'm very excited to see what decomposes like next year because if they continue this truth if they continue to build, at the pace they're building it in three or four years you're gonna be hearing about them on the national stage yeah no that's not a joke that's just truth yeah, I mean right now they're flying under the radar even locally that ain't gonna be forever no no they keep growing like this and you know building up and building out to be long yeah they're gonna they're gonna get local and regional and then eventually national attention I think it's very likely, Especially since they're a haunt that you can hit theoretically on the way to 13th gate or rise.

[52:22] Theoretically theoretically it's so hard to get well, you know, but if they keep growing in size, It's gonna be an all-night thing. That's just like rise did yeah.

[52:33] Fuck you Making my on visit so much more complicated by adding stuff and giving a better value, Fuck y'all. What do you think you are?
Yeah, no, but seriously you're you're right if it becomes an all-night thing and they keep expanding and I think that is what if they're, Going to expand I would want to expand into is more stuff to do there. Maybe some carnival games Maybe some stuff like that, you know, but anyways on that note everyone. Thank you very much, It was a for a haunt visits. It was a light year for us. I think we only did seven haunts, Was it even that many? I think it was seven we did Uh, New Orleans Nightmare Mortuary, 13th Gate, Decomposed, Haunting on the Bayou, Rise, no it was six.
Yeah. Well, three attractions of Rise. So it's either six or eight, depending on how you want to break it out.

[53:23] But anyways, yeah, that's a light year for us. We took but It's been an odd season and we've had a lot of things other than haunting going on in the month of october, Hopefully we're able to get more work done in the winter, You won't have a brand new job. No, and my boss came through. Oh, yeah, So he understands what october means for me And i've already put them on notice which days i'm going to be taking off next year so that we can go for, for a far-field trip.
Yeah, it just wasn't practical this year because you started the job like at the beginning of October. October 2nd.
Yeah, so we couldn't get the time away to go do anything serious.
But next year, definitely want to. Give us your suggestions and plans for where we should go next year.
Oh, apparently even the news is telling us to go to Ohio. Yeah, everyone's been saying Ohio, but hey, I haven't bought any tickets yet, so let us know.
Hauntweekly.com, hauntweekly on Twitter, hauntweekly on Facebook, and youtube.com slash haunt weekly.
Let us know where we should go next year, though I do really want to do Ohio, if at all possible. But until next time, I'm Jonathan, I'm Crystal, and we'll see you all next week with the post-mortem on our haunt season, and we'll talk more about your boss coming to visit the haunt, and just how much fun they had. They really did seem to enjoy it.
Yeah. So we'll talk about that and much more then.