BATES MOTEL AND HAUNTED HAYRIDE REVIEW 2019

Welcome back to the next episode of HH365! Today we will have our 2019 review for The Bates Motel and Haunted Hayride. We would like to to take this time before we get started picking apart and prodding their amazing haunt to thank the outstanding cast and crew at Bates Motel for their time and hospitality. Thank you Cos for a very immersive look into Bates and Haunts like it, it is so greatly appreciated! Now, let us do what we do best and Review! 

Bates Motel is home to three world class attractions. The Bates Motel, The Haunted Hayride and Revenge of the Scarecrows Haunted Trail. Bates also has a great midway with Snack stands, Ax throwing, five minute escape rooms and a doughnut stand that makes apple cider doughnuts. A quick review of that is that I do not even like apple cider doughnuts but they were outstanding! Bates also offers mobile Laser tag and Ax throwing for Corporate events or parties. Now, let us get to the bread and butter, As usual, our first Attraction of the night, The Bates Motel. 

And to show you how real men throw axes. 

The Bates Motel is always our favorite show at The Bates Motel. It is your Haunted House walk through with winding corners, Bait and switch, attention grabbing and flying chicks. Yes, you read that last part correctly. The entire Haunt has people that fly. This is always a unique feature that we always enjoy. The Motel has every set you can think of when it comes to Haunted Attractions but juiced up to 110%. This Attraction is always in the running for Attraction of the year and this year it may have jumped up a few places. The Actors nailed it and the scenes worked perfectly. Add some great lighting effects and this was an easy review, let us get to the scores before I start spoiling some of the awesome surprises. The end room is a work of art and it really just takes you into a different world, the end room always blows us a way! Here is the scoring and not surprising in the least. 

 Fear Factor has gone higher then our typical five as our VP scream a few times in this Attraction. Let us get to the Overall..

 There is no doubt that Bates Motel will be in the talks for Attraction of the Year! Let us continue our journey. Our next stop. Haunted Hayride. 

The Bates Motel Hayride is always a great time. Bates uses a different formula when it comes to their Hayride then some other Haunts out there. Some will stop to fully show off a scene, some flu by scenes too fast and you really cannot look at all the detail. the Bates Hayride seems to always hit its timing marks and puts on a great show. Outstanding Masks and costumed Actors line the entire trail. We also for the first time noticed that they have undressed people hidden in the shadows. We were sure if they were there for security or to make sure the Actors were hitting their mark, either way all of the above are good things for Hayrides. Bates Hayride relies on perfect timing. And during our visit they delivered every time which is very rare these days when it comes to most Hayrides besides a few. You throw in some great animatronics and stunning scenes, it may not be the scariest in the world but it is a very good show and we enjoyed it a lot. They also used the digital scenes that we see in some Haunts as distractions. But We really think that Bates uses them best. He uses them to transitions into scenes. Add depth to just a back round scene and then the evolution of a Werewolf. Amazing job! Let me get to the scores before I again, start spoiling. 

Overall:

The Bates Hayride will also be in talks for Hayride of the Year! Now, let us move on to our final attraction of the night. Revenge of the Scarecrows. 

As you can tell, we had to borrow that image off the internet because of the excitement we had leaving the Hayride and jumping right on in to the next attraction, I completely forgot to take a picture of the entrance as we always do. Oh Well. On to the review. 

Revenge of the Scarecrows is your typical Haunted Trail with a few new twists. We always thought that this attraction was Bate's weakest at this Haunt. It still is but it is improved over last year without a doubt. There are some amazing scenes now as you walk through. We thought that they missed the mark on a few actor placements. You have your planned ups and downs but there were a couple longer gaps then their should have been. The scenes and props really made up for it as we really enjoyed this attraction this year. It did reach five blood splats but really relied on the outstanding immersive scenery. We hope you enjoy Derry, Maine. Because you are in there! Let us get to the scoring. 

Overall:

It was close to squeak out a 5 blood splat for this attraction. We think just a couple more actors could have made the difference. There are a ton more hiding spots that could have been used and were not utilized. All in all we voted it a 5 blood splat. We really enjoyed the walk through Derry and the Snake Farm. 

Bates Motel as a whole is a unique and fun night out. They have everything you can ask for for a fun night out of the house. Games, Food and world class Haunted Attractions. Our Overall for The Bates Motel and Haunted Hayride. 

That is another five blood splat Overall for the 2019 season. We have so many more to talk about but we can say that The Bates Motel will be in the running for Haunt of the Year! Until next time! Keep it here at HH365, we have so many more reviews coming down the pipeline as Haunt season enters full gear. Only at HH365! Where Every Day Is Haunt Season! 

Tonight's Stop On The Haunt Tour! Reapers Revenge!

Welcome Back Everyone to the next edition of HH365! As you can already tell from the title and the picture above, tonight we trek up to Olyphant, PA for our first ever visit to Reapers Revenge. Last night, we had a great time at the impressive Bates Motel! Review To Follow! but more on Reapers!

We have not even visited the website for this Haunt as not to spoil a single thing so this will be a very short installment today but what we do know is from fellow Haunters, Reapers Revenge is the real deal. We have heard a ton of rave reviews about this Haunt and we cannot wait to bring you the coverage.

Reapers Revenge was nice enough to invite us to their VIP/Media night tonight and we cannot thank them enough! The way we can give back is by sharing this website and pushing it out in to the world for more eyes to see! This VIP night includes a look behind the scenes into the madness. We are very excited, we have only been able to see a few Haunts with the lights on and see how everything works. Tonight, we have a long drive and an early start but we are very grateful to Reapers Revenge. It is always interesting bringing in a new Haunt to our usual tour. Will it contend with the others? Or will Reapers Revenge blow it completely out of the water? We hear it holds a ground breaking Hayride among other great attractions. From some of our correspondents and Haunt friends, They say that this Hayride may beat out Field Of Screams for Top Ranks right now. We Shall See!

Thanks for stopping by for such a short episode! We have a ton of reviews coming next week including, Bates Motel, Reapers Revenge and Dark Harbor at the Queen Mary. Two new attractions to add to the list of many only at HH365! Where Every Day Is Haunt Season!

Tonight's Stop On The Haunt Tour.....Bates Motel And Haunted Hayride

Welcome back to today's episode of HH365! Tonight we will continue our Haunt tour this weekend by stopping by and visiting our friends at the Bates Motel. The Bates Motel and Haunted Hayride is located in Glen Mills, PA. The one thing we always enjoy about our visits to this Haunt is always the Bates Motel. A top attraction in its self and always in the discussion for Attraction Of The Year.

The Bates Motel is a Haunted Attraction that features three Attraction. The Bates Motel, The Haunted Hayride and Revenge of the Scarecrow, a haunted trail. Two of these attractions can always compete with their counterparts across the nation. The issue is usually the Haunted Trail. It is not a bad Attraction, it just really lacks what the other attractions at Bates bring to the table. I know they constantly work on everything so we are excited to see what can be done! Plus, The Motel and Hayride are always worth the drive and price of admission.

One of the biggest reasons why we love Bates Motel is because it seems like they are always open. 99% of All Haunts across the country only open on the weekends and sometimes  on Thursdays. Bates has a run in their Calendar that has them open seven days a week for close to three whole weeks! When other Haunts are closed, you can always enjoy Halloween at Bates Motel!

We will be coming to you soon with some more reviews this upcoming week from across the country from Dark Harbor at the Queen Mary! After seeing the videos, we can tell this was one hell of a Haunt!  So keep it here to HH365.com. Where Every Day Is Haunt Season!

In Memory Of Sig Haig

Welcome back to HH365! Earlier this week we all received the very sad news of the passing of actor Sid Haig.

It always sucks to wake up to the news of a Horror Icon passing away over night. Sid Haig had a comprehensive career that spanned many decades. Most basic Horror fans will only notice him as the legendary Captain Spaulding. A character that only Sid could play. He joined Rob Zombie for the his directorial debut, House of a 1000 Corpses. Sid played Captain Spaulding, owner of a crazy off road attraction that also sold chicken and gas. Not to mention, the murder ride. Speaking of the murder ride, part of the House of  1000 Corpses' walk through at HHN this year, has a verison of the Murder Ride. Sid Haig played Captain Spaulding in three films for Rob Zombie.

What a lot of people do not realize, is that Sid has been active since the 1960's. He has filmed more then 60 movies since 1960 and about 25 television shows. That is one hell of a career for an actor considering he even decided to retire in 1992 as he was mainly being cast to be big and dumb characters every time he received an offer. Thankfully for us, he decided to make a come back and in 2003 came to work for Rob Zombie to create one Iconic Clown!  This has been our tribute to one of our favorite actors in recent horror! He will be missed and our condolences go out to his family, friends and fans. RIP Sid! 

Keep it here as we have a hell of a lot of Haunt reviews left including BOTH HHN. Yes, we have a review coming from Hollywood and Orlando and we were recently invited to The Queen Mary Dark Harbor 2019! Make sure to check us out every day at HH365! Where Every Day Is Haunt Season!

Tuesdays With TheMovieVlog. Hell Fest

Welcome back to HH365! Today our Movie Review Specialist will start Haunt themed movie review! The season is now in full swing so let us get in the spirit with Hell Fest!

Hell Fest (2018)

"That same guy has been following us the entire night!"

Story:

"A masked serial killer turns a horror-themed amusement park into his own personal playground, terrorizing a group of friends while the rest of the patrons believe that it is all part of the show."

The film opens with three girls walking through a Haunted House attraction. We notice that someone is following them around the maze in a mask and cloak. When one of the girls gets separated from her friends, she sees this man in the mask. She makes a comment about him following her around all night. He grabs her, stabbing her and hangs her from the ceiling as if she was a prop in the haunt.

After the title card, we are introduced to our new main characters. Natalie is home from school to see her best friend, Brooke, and Brooke's roommate Taylor. Brooke tells Natalie that her crush, Gavin, has gotten them all VIP passes to Hell Night. The girls go and meet up with with Gavin and two of his friends. They start having fun at Hell Fest, and we start to see a familiar masked figure following Nat around. Will she have the same fate as the girls before her? Or will she be able to out smart him at his own game?

Acting:

I have to be honest. With this rewatch, I noticed how stiff the acting really is. The worst performances from the leads have to be Roby Attal (Gavin) and Matt Mercuio (Asher). They just seem so incredibly phony. I usually am a fan of Bex Taylor-Klaus (Taylor), and I guess she does an okay job in this movie. I just can't stand her character. She's so ignorant and over the top. Of course, the stand out for this film is Tony Todd. He isn't on screen for long, but when he is, he stills the show.

Fear Factor:

I like the premise of this film, a lot. Mainly because I have always been afraid of this myself. What if you go into a haunted house, and a real killer is stalking you in the shadows? What if you get grabbed and all of your friends think it's part of the joke? That's pretty terrifying. How does Hell Fest do portraying that fear? Pretty well. You genuinely feel scared for Natalie as she notices this creepy person following her around all night.

I do wish they had chosen a different mask for this killer. It is just very plain. At the end of the film, we get to see other masks that this man has used in his past. I'm sad they didn't use one of those. I do like this killer. He isn't afraid of getting caught. He literally kills people in plain sight without hesitation. I could easily see there being more Hell Fest films with this antagonist.

This film has very minimal gore. There was one scene that made me squirm in my seat, because it was uncomfortable to watch. Other then that, they are mostly just stabbing kills or quit cut away. This film is rated R so I find that it's extremely tame for what they could have done with this rating.

Originality:

There isn't a whole lot that is original about this movie, sadly. A killer stalks a group of teens, killing them off one by one. This time is takes place in a haunted attraction park, but it's not even the first film to do that.

Overall:

I do enjoy this movie. It's a fun and easy watch on a cool October evening. You will definitly get Halloween vibes from it, and the production value is very nice. It doesn't look overly cheesy or have the worst acting. I think most horror fans will at least like this movie, or something about it. I wouldn't mind if we got a sequel to see more of this killer, because I like the mystery behind him. I would say that I recommend it!

Next week, I'm going to be reviewing The Houses October Built (2014). "Looking for a good fright for Halloween, five friends set off on a road trip to discover the scariest underground haunts. As their trip seems to have reached a dead-end, strange things start to happen and it becomes clear that the haunt has come to them." Check it out this week and join me next Tuesday for the review!

Scores:

Overall: 

Another Great Review From TheMovieVlog! We have two Haunts to cover this weekend so keep it here at HH365, Where Every Day Is Haunt Season! 

SHOCKTOBERFEST 2019 REVIEW!!

Welcome back to the next episode from HH365.com! Today we will have our second review of the season. Shocktoberfest. Located in Reading, PA. Shocktoberfest is a great Haunted Attraction with many things to do on top of the normal Haunts.

Shocktoberfest is comprised of a ton of different and unique events spanning from Hayrides to now even Massage Parlors with a hint of Horror. New for us this year was the scare zone set up like a Midway for a carnival filled to the brim with fog and actors ready to bring the fear as you had to make your way through other attractions. As you can tell, Shocktoberfest follows a "Lost World" motive through out its attractions and keeps the theme some what solid throughout. Let us begin!

As we arrived and got our tickets out of the way, we headed to The Unknown 2.0. Was a very good attraction the last time we had visited, so we were looking forward to seeing any major changes that have been done. We were told they were having technical difficulties and to visit the Hayride and Prison of the Dead since they were already open. No problem because Prison of the Dead was one of our favorite attractions the last time we were there.

We headed on over to the line for Prison of the Dead and we were glad to see they still use the prison bus to transport you to the Attraction.

We are not sure if they were just having an off night because it was not very busy out there, but our line waited a good half hour to board this bus with only 18 people in line. Could have just been a slow start but it was an hour after Attractions were supposed to open. Anyway, we boarded the bus and got on our way to the Prison of the Dead. One aspect we were missing was the giant search light that you could used to see coming from the prison about two football fields away, it added an intimidating factor while you were sitting on the bus heading towards your sentencing.

Prison of the Dead is easily the longest attraction we go through. It is an outstanding walk through as you are prisoners. starting from check in, to your cells and including your breakout. You bare witness to all aspects of trying to survive the zombie prison. This Attraction is always up for Attraction of the Year when we visit and this year was even better. Last visit had a lot of down time. They added a few more details and some more gifted actors to really get you to scream when you least expect it. Let us get to the scoring of Prison of the Dead.

Prison of the Dead is Hands Down a 5 Star or Bloodsplat Attraction.

As we walked back to the main area from the Prison, we headed over to the Hayride Line. Again we faced some very odd wait times for the amount of people in the park. It was a good half hour to forty five minute wait. As the wagon pulled up, we climbed the wood steps and got ready for the adventure.

The Hayride begins with a film detailing what you are about to see and also a side mission that explains why the zombies are on the loose. Zombie Safari Adventure Hayride is well worth the money as it is one of the longest hayrides you will find in the area. Decently detailed scenes corresponding with the Zombie World theme and some others added that did not quite make sense. This was a good hayride but it left us wanting more. We all talked about it and could not really put a finger on what it was lacking but still a great time! Lets get to the scoring!

Overall, this was a good hayride but by no means great. Here is our voted Overall

After dismounting our wagon, we headed to grab a burger and a beer from the food stands set up in the park. The burger was good and the beer was nice as a lot of Haunts, you cannot buy a beer and relax. This was a nice change. We headed back through the fog filled midway.

This was a cool design for a simple Scare Area. Great use of fog and lights kept the actors well hidden until the unsuspecting human could be attacked by the lurking Carnival Zombie. It was very reminiscent of HHN and the zones you can cross through even when it was time to relax and not sit in lines. We loved this addition. On to Ground Assault.

Ground Assault Zombie Laser Tag is kind of a different type of attraction. You are given a headpiece and a laser rifle and sent into a field with blockades to try and kill as many zombies as you can. We sucked very much at this as only two people in our five person group were the only ones to pull off kills. This was not much of an attraction but more of a game that we really enjoyed and through it was worth the price point. It did last a solid amount of time and you really got your workout in. It was a fun addition to the night but we will not be scoring as it was not a Haunted Attraction but will tell you to check it out because we had a lot of fun!

After running around and being shot by zombies. We headed over to the Unknown 2.0.

The Unknown 2.0 is a unique attraction that many have tried and most have failed at. This attraction is targeted at all of the fears that most people have. Clutter, Bees, Electricity and being run over. This attraction used to have a video explaining the point of the attraction as you were test subjects to see how you react to certain fears. This was not part of the attraction this time, whether it was from technical difficulties or they removed it all together. The issue with not having the video is that there are constant voices coming over top of you that you do not understand without the video. Let us get to the scoring of this really cool attraction. This Attraction caused a slew of screaming out of our team screamer so that was added points!

Overall:

We enjoyed this attraction a lot and it was hard to deduct points because of the lack of video because the attraction was very scary. This is also in the running for Attraction of the Year!

Now it is time to look at Shocktoberfest as a whole. They are gifted Haunters that put a lot of work into their craft. We thank them for the hospitality because everyone was really nice and the food was great. This was a fun night out and worth the trip! Our overall score for Shocktoberfest 2019.

We voted to give Shocktoberfest a 4 bloodsplat for 2019. It is a great set up and a great park themed Haunt. There is plenty of other things to do there as well as Haunted Attractions. So if you are in that Halloween spirit, head on over, it is worth the trip and the amount of other attractions really can fill up your night. Thank you for reading. Keep it hear as we have a lot more reviews to do for the 2019 season! Next week will bring us to a brand new Haunt for us. Reapers Revenge. Until next time, This is HH365, Where Every Day Is Haunt Season.