RECAP:  Hidden in the basement of the Starlight Roller Rink is Northern Kentucky’s newest haunted attraction, Underworld Fright!  Entrance is gained through an upright coffin that leads into an old storage room having warnings of, “Go back!” written on the walls in blood!  Forgotten, stockpiled skates, arcade games, and dead bodies comprise décor as the course continues into a living doll room surprise, and onto a snake-infested room where a cauldron filled with who knows what spews out smoke.  From there, a dark corridor where spooky whispers like, "I see you!" are heard, but no one is seen soon reveals an irate fiend concealed in a room of suspended pipes repeatedly barking, "Go!  Get out!  Leave!  Now!" while slamming his weapon on adjacent barrels and giving pursuit from behind.

Up next is a deadly torture chamber that finds captives locked in cages and a girl caught with a bear trap locked around her throat, followed by a haunted hospital x-ray room belonging to a diabolical doctor who’s busy pulling the intestines out of his latest patient/victim as a nasty rat scurries quickly across the floor, and an unoccupied wheelchair inexplicably rolls forward on its own! 

Dim passages mandate navigation through body bags outside a candle-lit church cathedral, the departure from which discovers a bloody-faced nun splashing unholy water on passersby as they make their way into an eerie, desolate graveyard.  Still to come is an unexpected startle courtesy of a well-hidden ghillie monster, more light-limited hallways, and a trophy room encounter with a strange individual clad in animal skin and armed with a sickle!  A tragic axe execution is witnessed next, in advance of an altercation with Ghostface from "Scream," who refused to tell us what HIS favorite scary movie is!

Green lasers provoke the wrath of a giant alien monster that violently sprays a mist at groups making their way past, while ahead, a mad butcher slices open the neck of an unsuspecting victim before turning his attention to give chase into a “dead end” entrapment, laughing wickedly and waving an oversized meat cleaver over his head the entire time!  Elusion through a claustrophobic tunnel dumps onto Elm Street and into your worst nightmare where Freddy Krueger waits to terrorize with his knife-like appendages!

The adventure climaxes in The Psycho Circus where clown apparitions mysteriously appear; “IT” and his balloon float by; and Polka attacks with a buzzsaw baseball bat anxious to chop the head off of those daring to enter The Big Top!  Engaging customers she refers to as “freaks” to participate in her scare, she soon introduces her friend "Gertrude," a torso-less head she demands we kiss as she orders, "Never come back!"  Right on cue, she’s joined by an infuriated Jester slamming a sledgehammer on the ground and running us out of Underworld Fright!

ANALYSIS:  This first year haunt is really off to a good start with a solid foundation on which to build in the years to come.  They hit the mark with their scares, especially with the rat scampering across floor, wheelchair moving on its own, smoking cauldron, leaping spider, clown projections, and alien spewing out mist!  Best performances came from Freddy, pipe room maniac, meat cleaver butcher, nun, and Polka!  Sledgehammer clown does a great job intimidating the queue line as well.  Live doll is memorable; whispers out of the dark are appreciated; and ghillie monster provided a most startling surprise! 

Cost of admission is $15 on Thursdays and Sundays, and $20 on Fridays and Saturdays.  They’re open September 29^th through October 31^st including Halloween Night, and for “Lights Out” November 3^rd and 4^th.  A combo ticket to enjoy Starlight Roller Rink is also available.  Check their website for more information, and be sure to visit the area’s newest haunted attraction for a fun night of seasonal Halloween entertainment!