Please note: this review is for the 2008 season rather than the current season.

Gilly's Haunted House

by katie_kiesow13 (Newbie Review Crew Member) after attending on Saturday, October 11, 2008 at about 4:30 p.m.

Fun Factor: High Fear Factor: Low

Review

Going to Gilly's Haunted Circus was a great experience for me! I've never been there before and, actually, didn't even know it existed until just recently. I'm terrified of clowns, so it seemed like a good idea to go here... don't ask me why! Overall it was a positive experience for my group. It was really easy to find, though parking was somewhat difficult since it is located in a busy area. We were there pretty late and there was no line, so we did not have to wait very long. While we waited in line, there were two clown characters running about scaring people. Once we were inside, the first character you see (the clown with the flower) is pretty entertaining. On the whole, I found that many of the characters in the house were more funny than they were scary, but I still had a great time! There were a couple of rooms that had great ideas behind them, but I felt that they were not fully realized. Such as the room with the "maze" or sorts. It's made in an effort to mess with your mind, but it didn't work out quite as nicely as I think they had expected it would. One of the best parts about this house, though, is that they asked me for my name in one of the rooms, and of course, not thinking, I actually gave it to them... then in a number of rooms later, they continued to use my name. Very clever and really creepy. The room with the mirrors is really cool, and the actor in there was great. My favorite actor I think it the guy right at the end. It was a good experience all around, but I left feeling a little disappointed because I don't think I felt truly scared once throughout the whole house. And for being a haunted circus, there weren't a WHOLE lot of clowns... ??

Signage / Visibility / Location


Very easy to find. Directions from the website are perfect and the actual location has lots of lights. You can't miss it.

Wait Area / Line Entertainment


Covered area while you wait in line with some actors.

Actors' Performance


Some of them did an excellent job, some were kind of lacking. As I mentioned, the clown with the flower was pretty good, the magician, the guy in the mirrored room,and the one right at the end. As I said before, they weren't necessarily "scary" or "frightening" in their roles, but they did act very well.

Sets Scenes / Props / FX


To be honest, the majority of the house was extremely dark - which, of course, sets the mood - but it made it very difficult to see the sets, props, and make-up of the actors. As far as I could tell, they did to an excellent job with setting up rooms. It's possible that they left it incredibly dark to make the rooms look more finished, but I'm not entirely sure. There is a significant amount of fog throughout the entire haunt. I actually coughed a number of times because it was so overwhelming. Make-up on the actors looked good, too.

Length


From the minute we walked into the haunt until the time we left was roughly about 10 minutes - a pretty average length for this type of haunt. The wait was less than five minutes.

Crowd Control


No need for crowd control since there was no crowd.

Summary

If you're in the area, it's a good haunt to go to - especially if you're afraid of clowns. The rooms are well decorated and they make a great use of the space that they have available. It's easy to get turned around, so keep your hands out in front of you and try your best to follow the path they've set up for you.

View all Gilly's Haunted House reviews

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March 29th, 2024 12:03 a.m. CDT 24.01