RECAP:THE FINAL RESTING PLACE HAUNTED JUNKYARD: Rusting, metal fencing encloses the area of discarded, salvaged vehicles known as The Final Resting Place – Haunted Junkyard. Entrance is gained through a deteriorated door that finds a deranged man chatting with a skull mounted to a stick, and a nearby, pumpkin-headed, Kürbis-like creature attacks setting the stage a horn-honking fiend that bursts forth from an abandoned refrigerator! Sirens blare, firecrackers explode, and the trunk of a car mysteriously opens and closes seemingly of its own will encouraging the trail up a wooden ramp into a ‘70s model camper complete with an antique car rocking on its roof! Inside, a maze of hanging bodies challenges footing over uneven floors, then a stalking jester tracks intruders through a foul-smelling bus and onto a short-circuiting fuse box that short circuits into erupting bolts of electricity!

Up next is the slaughterhouse of a pig-faced chef swinging a cleaver as more sparks fly and the murderous butcher corners victims, forcing their backs up against a wall while he engages them in a treacherous game of, “This Little Piggy,” one of whom, he gloats, is “headed to the market!” while assuring NONE are “ever going home!” Fleeing down a bone-littered corridor, visitors escape through a pitch-black maze that exits back out into the scrapyard where headlights flash, another siren sounds, screams ring out, and flames shoot up from underneath the raised hoods of adjacent jalopies!

A conflict with a playful clown results in a chase into the back of a horn-honking, bus, where circus music fills the air. Further along, a villain slams a knife into a mutilated torso as misfiring trucks trigger more horn blasts, and the path winds through traffic signs and into a sour-smelly mausoleum of decaying bodies where rotting corpses rest in open coffins. The course then makes its way through a gutted jet engine and beyond a charred body rotating rotisserie style over hot coals! The shanty belonging to a wicked witch offers a smoking cauldron filled with eyeballs that’s followed by a creepy doll room, a corridor of skeletons, and an exterior route where motors crank attempting to rev up on their own.

Green and red, laser-lit swamps give rise to unseen leg grabbers before spilling into a boneyard, where a caged assailant violently shakes his enclosing fencing promising “It’s time to die!”  Downed planes escort progression through the casing of a DC-10 engine and onto trashed pickups; a grotesque attacker with a severed hand fused to his face; and another spark-slinging madman! The finale consists of an intense, quadruple chainsaw assault, led by a pig-masked killer giving pursuit through a maze of barrels; a wrecked bus laying on its side; and an ambulance entrapment! Ensuing chaos witnesses these destroyers climbing across hoods and viciously slamming their saw blades into metal roofs and gratings before the ambush subsides in The Junkyard Boutique Gift Shop!

BACON AND LEGS: The site’s side attraction unfolds inside a dilapidated shack filled with torsos, body bags, cobweb-lined halls, and pool noodles that brush against guests attempting to maneuver their way through cramped spaces. Dismembered limbs and female mannequins comprise décor with highlights including a “pick-a-stuffed-animal” routine; a disturbing run-in with a deranged girl insisting a deceased corpse is her boyfriend Gerald; and a dead-end entrapment where a bloody-faced girl unexpectedly drops down from the rafters to compromise escape.

Secondary attractions are not rated.

- 10 minutes, 8 actors

ANALYSIS:  The Final Resting Place Haunted Junkyard excels in using its massive collection of cars, trucks, buses, planes, and appliances to create authentic environmental scares. The integration of sirens, honking horns, flashing lights, and moving vehicle parts is consistent with the theme and provides strong support.

Lighting and sound are complimentary throughout the attraction , with well-placed sparks, short circuits, and ambient effects enhancing realism. The use of silicone corpses and foul odors adds to the visceral authenticity. Course design cleverly exits into the site’s gift shop offering an easy transition from fear to souvenirs.

The chainsaw finale remains one of the most intense and sustained chases at any haunted attraction, but there were too many notable absences this season that hurt the score. Hillbillies along with their haunting “In the Pines” melody are strongly missed. Baseball bat goon and his Hell-bent rampage is likewise not present, nor are cannibals. Perhaps we caught them on an off night, but acting as a whole was weaker than what we’ve come to expect, with some characters coming off as more disrespectful and obnoxious than scary, and the cast declined from 54 actors a year ago down to 41.

The Bacon and Legs attraction lacked the punch of last season with the entrapment being somewhat lackluster without its pig-faced, star villains.

Queue entertainment is provided by a hat-wearing gentleman who interacts with waiting guests and even torments them on occasion. Invisible dog was absent on the night of our visit, but typically provides some additional amusing antics throughout the staging area.

The attraction is open on Friday and Saturday nights from 8 PM to midnight. Cost of admission is $25 and includes both attractions! The Final Resting Place is a proud member of The Ohio Valley Haunts Passport of Terror Tour.