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RECAP: Guards terrorize the waiting area as the Warden’s Widow glares at those entering her domain. She grabs at intruders’ legs and cuts loose a deafening scream as the excursion gets underway up an old, wooden staircase to the central foyer of Blood Prison. Passing beneath an archway of carved jack-o-lanterns, a new seasonal photo-op takes place in a festive, pumpkin-decorated area that’s stalked by a Kürbis-headed monster dripping pumpkin seeds from his midsection!
Following a friendly reminder from the staff photographer that the picture, “may be your last one ever!” a loud, intimidating soundtrack and howling winds invite entrance along skeleton-lined walls to a dilapidated shanty, where touch-pass participants are grabbed and forced into a jail-like holding cell! As the door slams shut, a stern warning of, “You’re next!” incites the wrath of a team of chainsaw-wielding lunatics that charge out of hiding and give chase into a room of morphing portraits that houses an ongoing funeral where the dearly departed rises up out of his coffin!
Progression witnesses an infuriated fiend sprinting out of a fireplace that’s soon found to be the only way out! A slithering contortionist waits in the wings as the course makes its way into a deplorable dining room discovering cannibalistic adversaries devouring human remains, and a crazed cook repeatedly slamming an oversized meat cleaver on an adjacent table while promising, “You’re my next meal!”
A CGI window reveals the Warden’s Widow looking on prompting a revisit with one of her patented, loud screams, then it’s onto a filthy bathroom that catches a bloody-mouthed girl pulling out her own teeth, and appalling asking, “Do you want to give me yours?” Monsters push touch pass customers into an untidy kitchen upsetting the chef who utilizes a wooden spoon and fork to spank our behinds encouraging continuance into a little girl’s bedroom of burning candles and dolls, as well as a couple of animatronic surprises! Hands reach out from crevices in adjacent walls, and a girl uses her arms and legs to “lodge” herself overhead in a tight hallway making it necessary to duck down beneath her in order to get through as she curiously inquires, “Do you want an eyeball?”
Antagonists again push and shove touch-patrons down “smoky” corridors to the beat of dim, flickering lights! Rivals with sledgehammers go on the offensive giving pursuit into a room of caskets, some of which open and close on their own before descending down a rusty, iron staircase dumps through narrow, lightless passages to a series of cells that once housed Ohio’s most violent offenders! Unseen entities claw and clutch at visitors’ legs from within their confinements, while solitary criminals seize you from behind, dragging you backwards into their small chambers and others attack with stunning “Tasers!”
Tension mounts during a brief pause in the action in advance of the secured, East cell block that finds searchlights scanning for “escapees,” and elevated sharpshooters taking dead aim with red-laser assist beams and shooting at them! An apocalyptic battleground is up next, where machine guns blast, a tank fires “shells” from its main barrel, zombies pounce and invade, and demented soldiers wearing gas masks lurk in the shadows! Recordings are heard warning about the undead, as the war zone gives way through a graveyard of cars populated by more walkers, and past the wreckage of a downed helicopter, and the cockpit and fuselage of a crashed plane that’s plowed right through the side of the Reformatory’s concrete foundation!
Crawlers snatch for legs and other appendages as we meet up with a half-dead, devilishly-laughing girl named Lucinda, appropriately named because she’s, “Loose in da head!” Avoidance detours through a claustrophobic tunnel identified as Bunker 13, transferring the route to the other side of the cell block exposing a zombie horde ambush from behind a fence as others anxiously scurry their way up and over the metal barricade! More marksmen focus in with their rifles’ red beams as shrieks of, “Don’t let them get you!” ring out, and orange-suited convicts transform into members of the living dead! Wicked sounds fill the air as spotlights probe and illuminate the way exposing half-eaten bodies suspended alongside the path, and scattered carcasses littering a chained, charred grating, evidence of where the incarcerated have jumped, or been pushed to their deaths from five stories above!
Still to come is a jester-inhabited carnival highlighted by circus music; a lengthy, red and white, claustrophobic squeeze; Jack-in-the box; bungee jumper startle; and the playful "Hatchet the Clown" and her trusty friend Eddie – a severed head attached to an elastic cord she repeatedly tosses back and forth at passersby tricking them into a game of catch!
Tumbling barrels propel the march into NOTAUFNAHME, a morbid hospital emergency room of bloody bodies lying on gurneys; a rocking, mechanical nurse; distraught patients lunging for assistance; an insane sicky eating handfuls of live crickets; an autopsy room of lifeless, ripped-open cadavers; and a morgue showcasing an assortment of burial vaults! From there, it’s into a spooky cemetery of eerie tombstones and chained coffins and caskets, some of which move about on their own as restless spirits and souls strive for freedom! The frightening underworld’s infested with flying ghouls and a chilling, bloody-faced nun, and contains a group-separating, church-like cathedral of a judgmental minister condemning sinners assuring, “You’ll all burn and suffer into eternal Hellfire!”
Onward past CGI doors, a throng of swarming zombies, and a torturous jail where some may become imprisoned leads down into an evil laboratory of diabolical experiments displaying human capsules and body bags, and eventually provoking a space-invading conflict with a gigantic, yellow-eyed, actortronic monster! Victims plead for help trying to free themselves from caged entrapments as a threatening, pig-faced assailant appears on the scene waving a lethal hammer, and tightening his grip on group members he’s captured in headlocks!
Fleeing is compromised by spider webs, and a massive brute seeking to abduct additional sufferers he’s planning to chop to pieces in a murderous meat grinder that already restrains an innocent captive! The poor girl meets her demise when he forces one of us to push the button that activates the fatal contraption, putting her out of her misery!
Still more disputes occur at the hands of a strange seamstress using a tape measure to size you up and turn you into a living doll, the OSR medical research facility, aliens, and an out of his mind healthcare provider trying to stab you with whatever substance is in his extra-large syringes! The lengthy adventure concludes by stooping through a hole in the wall that accesses a morbid area of bloody torsos, which fans the flames of a mad doctor who immediately embarks upon a ferocious chainsaw chase-out of Blood Prison!
ANALYSIS: Having captured top honors back in 2019, this annual “Haunt of the Year” contender sets its sights on regaining that prize in 2024 with an absolutely amazing performance! The authenticity of the structure itself plays strongly in their favor! Anticipation and intimidation start to build immediately upon arrival and catching your first glimpse of the colossal Reformatory! Inside the cell blocks, floor upon floor of dilapidated prison cells extend to the heavens – just a spectacular sight! The confinements themselves are equally as disturbing due to their small, cramped spaces, and the knowledge that prisoners were locked inside for months, even years at a time!
Set designs are elaborate and scenes are extensively detailed as well. The course incorporates several staircases to explore multiple levels of The Prison. Lighting is outstanding and the soundtrack is second to none! Noticeable changes have taken place including a rerouted path
Favorite prison-related sights include sharpshooters’ laser assist beams, search lights, and Tasers. Other memorable props include secret passage through fireplace, claustrophobia, meat grinder, helicopter, crashed jet, army tank, zombie horde doors, yellow-eyed actortronic, and chained caskets just to name a few. Chapel remains a top scare
Memorable performers include pig-face; contortionist; meat cleaver cook; tooth puller; spanking chef; aerial girl lodged in hallway; Hatchet with Eddie; bungee jumper; chainsaw goons; orange, prison-suited inmates; meat grinder brute and his victim; Taser villains; Warden's Widow; prison guards; sharpshooter; gas-masked soldiers; cricket eater; minister; caged girls; syringe medic; and doctor! Prisoner with his lips sewn shut is missed.
Costuming is appropriate, utilizing orange prison attire for many of the "inmates." Touch pass option makes the experience legitimately real, although the physicality was a bit too rough at times. The event begins with a traditional haunted house, transitions through the prison and clown sections, and then climaxes with blood and gore and a chainsaw chase-out before cleverly exiting into the OSR museum and snack shop! The only shortcomings arise from a couple of additional lines that exist prior to the East Cell Block, and heading down to the lab. Transition into the clowns seems abrupt.
Tickets are sold ONLY online and timed entrance has been implemented to reduce wait times, shorten lines, and curtail traffic jams. Price of General Admission is $40 including a $5 service fee, and the Touch Pass can be added for an additional $7. Their Ultra Lightning Pass has been lowered to $60 for 2024, and Touch Pass upgrades are included free of charge with the purchase of their premium ticket!
Food vendors are located out front along the queue line area near a smaller jailhouse, which presents a number of photo ops from within its cells. Parking is free.
Blood Prison is open Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, and Halloween night beginning Sept 27th and running through Nov 2nd. Hours of operation are 7 PM – Midnight on Fridays and Saturdays and from 7 to 10 PM on Sundays. Halloween hours are 7 - 11 PM. Don’t miss this “Must See” attraction! It's one of THE BEST haunted houses Ohio has to offer!
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