DOSWELL, Va. — Kings Dominion’s latest Halloween Haunt delivers a mixed bag of treats and tricks for the horror attraction lover this year, with six haunted houses and a selection of live shows.
Under treats, the night begins with the assembling of a wide swath of scare actors appearing at the front of the park, at the Grand Bandstand, to welcome guests in an event called Overlord’s Resurrection.
The menacing, robed, rotting and towering leader raises his arms to proclaim the nightly ceremonial launch of the Haunt as he beckons the park’s monsters to scatter into their domains.
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Soon to follow are the highlights of the night and one of the favorite parts of this year’s events for park manager Jennifer Schofield.
“The thing I’m most excited about is the live entertainment,” says Ms. Schofield. “Over the last several years, we’ve kind of pared it down, and this is like coming back with a bang.”
As the Overlord leaves, that stage gets taken over by Heads Will Roll, a roughly 25-minute gothic rock musical that takes a darker and slightly sensual approach to an iconic monster myth.
Specifically, a young human couple falls under the spell of two older vampires and their assorted followers. What begins as seduction soon becomes recruitment, with the bloodsuckers working to draw the pair away from their mortal lives and into the brood.
The story unfolds through song, dance and a steady dose of gothic temptation before the lovers are finally forced to decide whether eternal life is worth the price.
Pop rock songs become part of the storytelling, with numbers including Michael Jackson’s “Dirty Diana,” Taylor Swift’s “Don’t Blame Me,” Lady Gaga’s “Teeth” and Panic! At The Disco’s “Death of a Bachelor.”
Next, and the show anchoring the evening, Wake the Dead, located at King’s Dominion Theater, explores for roughly 30 minutes the death of Franklin Earl Anderson Rochester taking place at the gathering of his dysfunctional family for the reading of his will.
Unfortunately for the quartet of potential heirs, someone in the room murdered him, and two sleuths are ready to investigate. Each suspect gets an opportunity to explain, or musically incriminate himself as the production turns the familiar whodunit into a wonderfully twisted song-and-dance affair.
The musical numbers really shine through professional production values, with songs drawn from some legendary Broadway musicals such as “Cell Block Tango” from Chicago and “Hot Patootie – Bless My Soul” from “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”; and classic 1980s staples such as Soft Cell’s “Tainted Love” and Oingo Boingo’s “Dead Man’s Party.”
Worth noting is that the audience gets to decide by loudest response which one of the four suspects committed the murder. Hardcore fans of the show can go back and potentially get four different versions of the ending, depending on the vote.
Throughout both shows, the singers sell it with powerful live vocals, comic timing and dance choreography considerably more accomplished than what one would expect from a ride-based theme park.
Also worth appreciating is the shorter cirque-style stunt show Skeleton Crew abandoning plot and vocals for pure physical spectacle, led by a trio of skeletal acrobats performing a rapid-fire barrage of tumbles and aerial work with trampoline assistance. The trio’s act is complemented by a juggling act and a Russian bar performer flipping high in the air.
Now the tricks come along in the six haunted-house-style mazes that mostly suffer from repetition. Five of the houses are long-running repeats seen for numerous years at the Haunt, with a few being over a decade old. Also, the very dim lighting often failed to allow guests to appreciate some of the rooms’ and areas’ beautiful and chilling designs.
Here’s a quick look at each.
Diablo: The Infernal Path — The only new and licensed house for this year based on Blizzard’s video game universe was not ready for primetime during a recent visit. Select guests did have access to the house, seen without mood lighting, scare actors or any other effects.
They could appreciate a fractured version of Sanctuary with the medieval castle themes, faux-stained glass panels, select pockets of stationary gore and very large statues of familiar characters, including the horned Butcher, Mephisto and Lilith while descending into hell.
Ms. Schofield very much endorses the Diablo attraction and says she hopes guests appreciate the designer’s efforts.
“We have never done anything to this scale; it’s game-changing for Kings Dominion because it’s so different and more immersive than anything we’ve done in the past,” she says.
CornStalkers: Blood Harvest — This more maze than house showcases the Whitlock family that entered into a blood pact with the land in a bargain that eventually transformed their farm’s inhabitants into murderous reapers who now wander the cornfields looking for new offerings.
The environment shines especially with a real full moon lighting rows of tall corn, creating a labyrinth of narrow passages leading to natural blind corners and allowing creatures dressed in burlap to disappear and reappear to deliver serious jumpscares.
The scariest moment was recognizing a giant metal billboard advertising Green Stamps that made me realize just how old I am.
F.E.A.R. — This less gory and more psychological house has guests enter an abandoned factory controlled by ghouls wearing robes and masks called the Observers as they study human terror and their subjects’ personal phobias. Expect rooms filled with spiders, snakes, mirrors and plenty of darkness.
GrimmWoods — A traditional outdoor trail brings fairytales to creepy life as guests get corrupted versions of Little Red Riding Hood, Hansel and Gretel and Briar Rose, with a giant dragon thrown in for added scares at the end of their journey.
When guests can actually see what is going on, the atmosphere leads the frights, as well as a monstrous version of the signature wolf in search of a snack. The scariest part of the adventure is the huge obstacle course of a queue line with ever-encroaching barricades that dare humans not to trip over them.
Blood on the Bayou — Guests enter a dark, decaying Louisiana swamp where voodoo imagery, ghostly figures and lurking creatures turn every bend in the trail into a potential ambush. The backstory centers on Seraphine Malveaux, a Creole priestess whose revenge supposedly poisoned the bayou. Visitors do not need to know the mythology to appreciate the setting filled with twisted trees, swamp shacks and shadowy passageways.
Easily the best of Kings Dominion’s offerings, thanks to great-looking, elaborate sets and committed scare actors, Blood on the Bayou is the most realized horror experience and certainly comes closer to comparison to any of the original houses at Universal Orlando’s Halloween Horror Nights.
Trick or Treat — Leaning on more traditional Halloween imagery, Hemlock House contains aggressive witches and lost children living and dying in a 19th-century mansion.
Ornate rooms, pumpkins and supernatural clutter enhanced with historical set design do not disappoint, combined with not-too-scary character interaction.
Surprisingly, the scare zones actually trump the haunted house mazes for character design and sheer amount of jumpscares as witnessed in the long-running and ever-evolving Cleaver Brothers Carnival packed with roaming evil clowns and grotesque dioramas showcasing their brethren.
Also, The Catacombs features a creeping tour through a faux-underground lair built around crypts, corpses and creatures emerging from their resting places.
Let’s conclude with an item that can be a tricky treat for guests willing to spend the money on the magical Halloween Haunt Interactive Lantern ($42.99, requires 3 AA batteries, included).
Designed to look like an old-fashioned gothic handheld lantern, this interactive lantern has a black, faux-brushed metal aged plastic frame and strapped metal handle surrounding a milky translucent central chamber, with classic ghost icons in its center on either side.
The device glows and changes color in certain scare zones and near active entertainment, as well as when walking by other lantern holders (referred to as tagging). But its best and most mysterious function triggers hidden effects at about a dozen marked “activation points” around the park.
For example, walk by the skull waterfall to enjoy colored-light changes and thunder effects; go near a wooden coffin at the International Street fountains to watch its inhabitant come to life; reveal ghostly apparitions in the windows outside the Trick or Treat haunted house; and bring the Cleaver Brothers fortune teller figure to screaming life.
Guests can also take the lanterns into the haunted houses to add to the mood with colors to complement what’s happening around them and, actually, help illuminate some of the very hard-to-see areas.
Owners can scan the QR code on the bottom of the lantern to not only access instructions on use but also a coveted map showing the activation locations throughout the park. So, be prepared for a very cool scavenger hunt amid the Halloween Haunt.
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IF YOU DARE GO
Where: Kings Dominion, 16000 Theme Park Way, Doswell, VA 23047
Fear factor (out of 5): 3 for those 13 and older.
Price range: Single-day park admission currently starts at $45 online on select dates. A Halloween Haunt Package, which includes park admission and access to the haunted mazes, starts at $55, with the Express Pass package starting at $70. Guests who already have admission can purchase a Haunted Attractions Pass for maze access starting at $10, with an Express upgrade available for those looking to shorten waits. Prices vary by date and may include processing fees of up to $9.99 plus applicable taxes.
What’s included: Regular park admission includes Halloween Haunt’s scare zones, live entertainment and operating rides. The six haunted mazes require a separate Haunted Attractions Pass or a Halloween Haunt admission package.
Parking: General parking at $35 per vehicle; preferred parking at $45. Parking is included with qualifying Kings Dominion season passes.
Hours: Halloween Haunt runs on select nights through Nov. 1. Exact operating hours vary by date, so visitors should check Kings Dominion’s online calendar before traveling.
Important: Guests 17 and younger must be accompanied by a chaperone age 21 or older. One chaperone may accompany no more than 10 guests age 17 or younger and must remain in the park during the visit.
Website: https://www.sixflags.com/kingsdominion/events/haunt
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