RECAP:  Cincinnati Fear Fest is more than just a haunted house. It’s a full-scale Halloween experience - one massive, horrifying Halloween event set within the Ghost Town of Cinder Ridge. In addition to 4 uniquely-themed haunted attractions, the festival offers live music, stage shows, roaming characters, bizarre vendors, a magician, food, bars, and even “secret” bars that are available with an additional purchase.

Frights begin immediately via a “decontamination” spray-down upon arrival to a “safe haven” intended to provide shelter and protection from the living dead that have taken over the village. But reality is anything but safe - Cinder Ridge has fallen to the walking dead! The settlement features scare zones like Raider’s Gauntlet, a fog-filled area comprised of chainsaws, rooftop stalkers, and undead freaks. Customers can also enjoy Mad Matt’s Saloon and The Slaughterhouse Bar, or explore the Whispering Vines Saloon by snagging one of the aforementioned secret bar passes, which also permits access to The Freaky Funhouse and The Neon Rooster hidden within the once thriving city. Throughout the night, elaborately costumed performers provide card tricks, tell fortunes, engage in chainsaw duels, etc. There’s even a skirmish between The Mayor and his confrontational brother, Joseph that turns into a Texas Death Match of sorts resulting in a public hanging! The street entertainment alone is worth the price of admission.

THE SHADOWLANDS HAUNTED TRAIL is the site’s main event.  Setting on the outskirts of town, the adventure begins inside the former church that’s now been transformed into the home of Brother Joseph! The first encounter witnesses a mysterious voodoo priest chanting and promising new followers the hope of eternal “salvation” through death! The course itself winds through overgrown cemeteries of abandonment, a mausoleum of skulls, torch-lit cornfields that hide a wild gorilla, and a dilapidated asylum where deranged, straight-jacketed patients rule the roost with maniacal laughter and absurd antics! “I’m not crazy,” one of the psychotic inmates repeatedly insists, as another frantically follows along with a hiccupping chuckle, and yet another distressed loony hurls herself continuously up against the walls!

Visiting the once prominent town of Bravado unearths snorting monsters appearing out of the darkness, and the shack of a cannibalistic woman consuming bloody guts and intestines in conjunction with the hunt for fresh meat courtesy of a discontented brute armed with revving chainsaw!

Signage cautions about the presence of Loose Women, one of whom nervously alerts, “Brother Joseph is going to kill us all!” Blinding, high-beam lights point the way down a deserted path that unleashes the wrath of a quadruple chainsaw chase-out of The Shadowlands!

- 12½ minutes, 26 actors

SUPPORTING ATTRACTIONS: BURN YARD is a visceral and gruesome slaughterhouse where humans are recycled – processed to provide meat for town cuisine, and even incinerated to produce electricity! Horrors begin in the foreman’s office with a slide-panel jump scare and incursions from pneumatic monsters. Bloodied butchers wield deadly axes, operate oversized table saws, and wave an enormous chainsaw from an elevated perch, while a demented cook boasts about utilizing victims’ flesh to make burgers and tacos! Another drags severed heads on hooks, delivering threatening, bone-chilling warnings like, “You’ve got enough meat on you for years to come!” and “Your heads will make great trophies!” Leading the course past severed body parts still smoldering over a coal fire, he proudly proclaims, “You’re next to burn!” The attraction formerly known as BUZZSAW concludes with a relentless series of chainsaw assaults forcing a frantic escape!

- 5½ minutes, 13 actors

POCKET'S PLAYHOUSE is this year’s rebranded version of last season’s DARKWOOD THEATER, where the ape ringmaster oversees psychotic clowns and other twisted performers. Spooky circus music fills the air along the walk through mirrored dressing rooms, sewing spaces, and a chaotic backstage areas that give rise to some unexpected startles at the hands of “Bobo, the killer Jester;” a backwards-bending jokester; a caged harlequin trying her best to break free from captivity; a checkered room surprise; a fortune-telling gypsy; two-legged, dog-faced fiend; and even a pig-faced clown with a honking horn! The finale is comprised of multiple attacks from Pockets himself before escape lands secret pass holders in THE FREAKY FUNHOUSE hidden bar, for a sip of courage to help get them through the remaining attractions.

- 4½ minutes, 10 actors

DETOX is a new addition for 2025 – high-octane, strobe-lit maze inhabited by gas-masked mutants. Loud, pounding music adds to disorientation, as advancement is compromised by shock walls and an unsettling, waist-high claustrophobic passageway that traverses radioactive vats, half-stocked pharmacy shelves, body vaults stuffed with bitten corpses, and a twisting contortionist blocking the escape from Detox!

- 3½ minutes, 7 actors

ANALYSIS: Cincinnati Fear Fest shifts focus a bit this year taking a significant step forward in the process. Their timeline advances several years ahead from the old western themed events previously portrayed in past seasons. Soundtrack is improved, especially in the supporting haunts, which enhances scenic flow making for a more cohesive event.

The Burn Yard Butcher with heads on meat hooks is the night’s most memorable character. Detox’s contortionist is right on his heels, as are the insane asylum loonies that steal the show on the trail. Voodoo priest is just a step or two behind the others, and could easily overtake them all with a more amplified performance and additional acts of sorcery. Blinding ambush finale is likewise memorable; Playhouse’s bent-over-backwards clown deserves honorable mention, and. Pockets himself delivers some good scares, as well.

Some of the other characters still have some room to grow, as too many empty stares, screams, and a reliance on “Rah!” are present as opposed to the use of creative dialogue. The limited duration of each attraction remains the Achilles’ heel of the event as a whole.

As for the overall experience, the activities throughout the town itself remain strong! Mayor fighting it out to the finish with his brother Joseph and chainsaw battle are nightly acts not to be missed! The atmosphere is second to none and incorporates additional entertainment options into the haunted house aspect of the presentation. The presence of “secret” bars makes participants feel special in the sense that they’re given access to private areas not available to the general public where they can sit back, relax, enjoy seasonally-themed, specialty cocktails of their choice, and just have a good time.

While it’s hard not to yearn for the blood that once rained down inside the church, the majestic invasion of The Prophet, vampires emerging from the shadows along the trail, witch hangings, townspeople being buried alive, and other trademark scares the haunt was once famous for, they’re headed back in the right direction, and the introduction of some visually impressive, over-the-top-scares would carry them to the next level in years to come.

The attraction is now open from 7 PM - midnight on Fridays and Saturdays, and 7 - 10 PM on Thursdays and Sundays beginning October 9^th. Cost of General Admission ranges from $26.99 to $36.99 if purchased online depending on the night of your visit. Price at the door is $9 higher, and UNLIMITED Fast Passes sell for $15 - $20 more. Bar Creep (Secret Bar) Passes are an additional $10. Fear Fest is designed as an all-evening long experience, so don’t visit hoping to quickly make your way through the haunted attractions and leave. Take in the amazing tricks and illusions of the talented Haunted Magic Show, and plan on spending the whole night to get the most out of the product being delivered and fully enjoy all the entertainment they have to offer!

Cincinnati Fear Fest is a proud member of The Ohio Valley Haunts Passport of Terror Tour.