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RECAP: The Fall Festival is back in town and entertaining visitors every Thursday thru Sunday outside this former OVH Haunt of The Year with a seasonal photo-op and several traditional booths and games like Bobbing for Apples, Bone Throw, Witches’ Brew, Boo Blasters, Dracula's Revenge, Dead Head Shot, a Costume Contest and more! A gigantic "Kurbis" monster keeps a watchful eye over the annual gathering that also features a number of freshly carved jack-o-lanterns elaborately displayed, and “Pumpkin Smasher,” who roams the grounds entertaining the crowd.
Past a vintage school bus, spooky music invites entrance to Dent where a living statue surprise takes place before sending the route on its frightening adventure through dim, flickering lights and creepy, unnerving sounds that accompany the entire journey. A paranormally active desk maze gives way to an aerial "beheading" at the hands of a live, screaming, zip-line “Flyer" as CGIs, drop panels, and locker-emerging fiends introduce a second overhead "decapitation!” Other upstairs highlights include a living doll encounter; a mechanical teacher paddling a disobedient student; a dunce cap wearing underachiever making a break for it from the corner he’s been standing in; a fleeing screamer; and a haunted library of tilting bookcases!
Downstairs to the basement, bloody, victimized bodies dangle as obstructions in the road ahead complicating advancement through light-limited archways that hide a number of attacks by Charlie the Janitor and his zapping Taser! From his workshop to a corridor of upright, blood-soaked mattresses of human corpses, one of which clings to life despite missing half of his torso, the horror continues beyond extraterrestrials; a carnivorous insect engulfing a person whole; a wall of skulls; and a horned, beast-like creature jumping from the rafters and landing on a candle-lit altar! Avoidance departs along a cistern of flowing sewer pipes emptying toxic waste, one of which hides a surprise in advance of a demented carnival remembered for its loud circus music, clowns, and an unexpected Teddy Bear chase-out of the Big Top!
Still to come is an innocent victim trapped in a ceiling cage pleading for help before transforming into an evil, distempered wench wanting to, “rip off your arms!” A walk-in freezer preserves life-size cadavers; a massive table saw splits a carcass in two; and a squealing, snorting pig springs forth out of a barrel in a deplorable kitchen prior to squeezing through a garbage dump of dismembered body parts!
From there, it’s onto an abnormal asylum whose rubber room is occupied by crazed lunatics literally climbing the walls! Escape through a foggy morgue exposes the still moving legs, feet, and toes of the undead hanging out of their vaults! A smoke-filled boiler room is up next, followed by Dr. Dent’s ghastly laboratory boasting the reanimation of Frankenstein’s monster! It’s alive, as are a large, man-eating python slithering down from the branches of a tree to snatch and lift its struggling prey, and another venomous, yellow-eyed snake mercilessly forging its way directly into a path-blocking, side-swiping stalemate! The event wraps up through a wooden maze that gives rise to a chainsaw-packing maniac that yields through a bubble bath entanglement to a vicious guard dog bark-out of The Dent Schoolhouse!
The attraction exits into the "Monster Midway," a collection of Halloween offering several photo ops with a number of colossal beasts that formerly called past installments of “Cincinnati’s Frightful Favorite” home. There’s also a Haunted House Museum for your enjoyment, as well as a chance to get “fried” in smoking “electric chair by an energetic executioner that really enjoys his work! Also on display is a tribute to Dent’s Queen City Slaughter Yard,” and a booth is also present selling your group pictures that were taken early on back in the festival area. Four escape rooms and Axe Throwing are also offered for an extra charge. And a digital "Skeleton DJ" spins ghoulish tunes for your listening pleasure. Donuts, cider, fudge, and more are available for purchase at "Fall Favorites," and souvenirs can be purchased at the Spooky Gift Shop.
ANALYSIS: The Dent Schoolhouse is world famous for its intricately detailed set design, which is arguably unmatched in the industry! A perfect atmosphere is created by frightening sounds, flickering lights, and scary scenes that join forces to create their award-winning haunted house! Elaborate costumes and theatrical makeup likewise make lasting impressions, as do their custom-designed full or partial prosthetic masks that are uniquely unlike those seen elsewhere. The basement area is darker, scarier, and more sinister than in recent years with the much needed return of Charlie and his despicable acts. In addition, this year’s changes are the best since the venue captured OVH’s Haunt of the Year back in 2015! Winged, bungee jumper and new asylum featuring rubber room wall climbers are amazingly strong additions, and definitely steps in the right direction toward the site recapturing top honors! Other memorable props and scares include the zip-line “Flyer,” mechanical teacher paddling her student, CGIs, python capturing and hoisting a live victim, claustrophobic garbage dump of “body parts,” and the large snake actortronic! Stand-out actors include: screaming zip-line girl, shrieking snake victim, caged captive suspended from basement ceiling, Charlie, and the rubber room lunatics!
Cost of admission is $23 online/$25 at the door on Thursdays and Sundays, $28/$30 on Fridays, and $33/$35 Saturdays with Fast Pass admission costing an additional $20, and Front of the line selling for $30 more.
A special, non-scary Lights On event takes place from 4 – 6 PM on Sunday, October 22nd with Trick-or-Treat candy and prize stations located throughout the schoolhouse. And their popular Lights Out performance returns Nov 3rd & 4th from 7:30 PM to Midnight!
Don’t miss one of the top rated attractions around – The Dent Schoolhouse! One of the best haunted houses the world has ever known!
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