RECAP:  Potential “recruits” are lined up at Joint Research base Hoorah, where it’s learned that this top-secret military facility was originally used for unethical experimentation on humans during WWII.  After being shut down by President Roosevelt as a matter of national security in the 1940’s, it’s now  back open and the program to make a serum to create “super soldiers” is back in operation due to  grants and funding by the state of Ohio!  The lead doctor in charge of those experiments has been brought to the sight to restart the project once again, and thus far, results have not been good.  Some “specimens” have been turned into cannibalistic, uncontrollable monstrosities caused by what has since been determined to be a resistant gene.  Fortunately, the base has received and installed a new genetic bio-scanner, which is designed to detect those possessing the abnormality.  Unfortunately, occasional false positives result causing some volunteers to undergo additional physical testing (jumping jacks, push-ups, etc.) prior to entering the highly guarded facility.  

Once scanning and testing is complete, prospective troops are loaded into the back of a dark military vehicle and transported to an undisclosed location.  Upon arrival, alarms sound as entrance is gained into a bizarre looking building, and boot camp gets underway as it’s time to comply or die in barracks B-2!  Inside, hopeful new service men and women are stamped with a strange, invisible marking that will later identify those eligible to receive the serum!  Dead bodies line the corridors as the adventure progresses to a bloody-faced barber looking to take a little too much off the top, and into a maggot infested mess hall.  Moving floors hinder advancement into a firing range, where sharpshooter guards take dead aim on intruders, focusing their rifles’ laser assist beams on those lacking the appropriate stamped markings, which glow under the area’s special lighting!  One-by-one, subjects are placed in a spinning cylinder and permitted onward through shock walls, a highly-flammable, smoking gas chamber, and forced to slither their way through a burning coal-fired crematorium-like incinerator!  Appraisal continues through claustrophobic passages; an elevator maneuver to an underground, jump down, low-level, camouflaged crawlspace; and passage through some sort of surveillance control room that discovers the operator’s been killed!  Witnessing an insane girl confined to a rubber room unveils a secret escape route past a rocket equipped with active "warheads," and a video monitor exposing nuclear missile launches and impacts, as the course makes its way past Russian barrels spewing Novichok nerve agents mandating decontamination within a fog-filled shower!

Body bags hang from a murderous butcher shop before a run-in with hook-handed Nurse Gertrude and the doctor himself, who’s busy pulling the intestines out of a live, human patient spraying “blood” everywhere in advance of an electrical short-circuiting evacuation that’s hampered by gunshots and a path-blocking villainess armed with an axe!  CGIs and lasers light the way to another elevator, which hoists survivors back to the surface, but dumps into an apocalyptic holocaust of bombed vehicles and total devastation!  Warning sirens blare and zombie-like creatures attack as safety is sought in a fall-out shelter that doubles as the attraction’s gift shop!

Lulled into a false sense of security, and just when you think it’s over, a forest inhabited by werewolves connects to a spooky cemetery that’s home to a strange ghoul pointing the way out to the parking lot while cautioning, "You're next!"

ANALYSIS:  The Haunted Hoorah is a unique, action-packed adventure from start to finish!  Combining a military storyline with haunted scare tactics, suspense and drama begin to build in the queue line, where armed guards surround the waiting area.  “Recruits” are then subject to the scanner and some must undergo additional physical “testing” prior to boarding the truck and being driven to the haunt itself, the location of which remains a mystery.

Haunt’s design is outstandingly imaginative, while distinctive props and décor remain completely in line with the theme.  Lighting is excellent, and loud, complimentary music fills the air, although at times makes it difficult to hear what the characters are saying.  Cast interacts with groups the entire time.  Costuming is perfect and consistent throughout.  Memorable performers include the bloody-faced barber, sharpshooters, and nurse Gertrude.  Best rooms feature the gas chamber, crawl through heat emitting incinerator/cremator, spraying Novichok nerve agent, decontamination chamber, and the blood-spraying operating room!  Nuclear wasteland is extremely realistic, unexpected, and quite well done, and excellently foreshadowed by first witnessing “mushroom clouds,” etc. on the video screen.  False finish is cleverly appreciated and uncommon in the industry these days.  Group separation may result from some of their scare tactics, which serves to amplify frights and intimidation.

This is a participation oriented Halloween event that gets customers involved in the story.  Their performance earned them a spot on OVH's annual list of Top 13 Attractions!  Play along and enjoy this one-of-a-kind, interactive experience at The Haunted Hoorah!