RECAP:  Hidden away in the basement of the Starlight Roller Rink in Grant County, Kentucky is a spooky haunted house called Underworld Fright!  The scares begin immediately upon arrival courtesy of an orange-haired clown armed with a sledge hammer who stalks and torments the ticketing and queue line areas, even peering on from a distance keeping a watchful eye on patrons when he’s not up close and personal.

The adventure begins through an upright coffin accessing a series of rooms including a nostalgic storage area highlighted by vintage arcade crane games, one of which is attempting to pick up a human head!  Old, spider web covered roller skates are also present, and advancement is harassed by another clown, this one also swinging a sledgehammer, apparently to smash skulls for use in restocking his claw game!

Continuance into a room of giant teddy bears finds one coming alive prior to a similar experience at the hands of a living doll surprise inside a bloody nursery!  Spider and snake infestations compromise passage through an upcoming hallway, as does a bubbling cauldron as the route makes its way past a desperate captive reaching out from crevices in the wall pleading, “He’s going to kill me!  He’s going to kill us all!”

Darkness guides progression into an appalling area that witnesses severed heads hanging from hooks, then honking horns chaperone the path into a face-to-face conflict with Bridezilla screaming her lungs out, and barking orders to, “Get out!”  No wonder she got left at the altar!

Journeying past a deplorable bathroom and into a jailhouse area stumbles upon an escaping prisoner, who comes slithering out of a cell crawling on the floor, then standing to give chase into the waiting arms of Leatherface and his trusty chainsaw!  Escape leads into a hospital x-ray room and onto the sight of a diabolical doctor pulling intestines out of the victim of his most recent surgical mishap!  An unoccupied wheelchair inexplicably rolls forward on its own as fighting your way through body bags brings about a candle-lit cathedral altercation with a bloody-faced nun!

An eerie graveyard is on the horizon, where thunder rumbles and lightning illuminates the sky as it begins to rain!  Not having an umbrella, shelter is sought down light-limited corridors that connect to a trophy room that’s occupied by an irate, horned bull-like villain wearing animal fur and pounding a hammer up against the wall!

Arms protrude from walls en route to a clip joint run by an alcoholic barber taking a little too much off the top, and giving, “Close shaves,” where he slices through the necks of his unsuspecting customer!  Still to come is a nauseating kitchen serving an unappetizing stew of detached heads from a boiling pot, a bedroom containing a sliding surprise, and a run-in with notorious slasher Michael Myers!

A green, laser-lit swamp provokes the wrath of a giant alien-like monster violently spraying some sort of mist at passersby gives way to a hopeless battle with a frenzied fiend waving an oversized meat cleaver seeking to add to his decapitation collection!  Avoidance through a claustrophobic tunnel lands in Freddy Krueger’s Elm Street nightmare before the attraction climaxes in The Psycho Circus featuring performances by “Fluffy” and OVH award winner “Polka” who in typical jester fashion inquisitively asks, “What was lost but never found?  Your body!”  Then right on cue, the orange-haired psycho from outside reappears anxiously anticipating our exit from the Big Top slamming his sledge hammer in a fit of rage run-out of Underworld Fright! 

ANALYSIS:  This second year attraction is making a name for itself with their spooky environment and memorable scares.  Favorites include rainy cemetery; wheelchair moving on its own; smoking, bubbling cauldron, swamp; mist-spraying alien; thunder and lightning; and various mechanical startles.  Soundtrack is very much improved this season and greatly enhances their creepy scenes.  Best actors are meat cleaver Butcher; Barber; girl trapped in wall; Polka; and Orange –haired, prison-suited, sledge hammer clown.  Screaming Bridezilla is also remembered. 

Underworld Fright is open Thursdays through Sundays beginning September 27^th and running through November 2^nd.  Hours of operation are from 6:30 PM to Midnight on Saturdays; 7 PM to Midnight on Fridays; and 7 to 10 PM on Thursdays and Sundays.  Cost of admission is $15 on Thursdays and Sundays, and $20 on Fridays and Saturdays.  A $25 combo ticket is also available that includes skating at the Starlight Roller Rink in addition to the haunted house!

Be sure to visit one of the area’s newest haunted attractions for a fun night of seasonal Halloween Entertainment!