Rating: ***
Link: http://www.thelandofillusion.com/haunted_trail.php
Quick Review: 4 scares for the price of 2… 3 for the price of 2 all together.
Review: The Middletown Land of Illusion is a group of four haunted attraction set in the woods in southwest Ohio. They include Temple of Terror, Killer Klown Maze 3d, The Haunted Trail, and Doctor Psycho Estate. The best being the trail with the others being varying in quality. The Haunted Trail is the reason to go to this attraction. It is almost a mile long, maybe longer. One starts an open area and is soon thrown into the woods. As the trail meanders along it goes through buildings, junkyards, a field, and the woods. It has length. This length is great, but at times can hurt it. With the typical monsters jumping out at the visitors there is many an opportunity to be frightened. With the vast array of scenes, however, there is many a time to be wonder “What is the theme?” Yes, a redneck could be scary the first time, or even the second, but not the 45th. “Where are you going?” seems to be the trails theme. Broken up into sets as the trail is it works, but as a whole the thing is to broken up. It seems as if the designers knew what would be cool… but not how to connect it. The trails length also means that slower groups get connected to faster groups and by the end almost always 2 or more groups have formed a long chain of people. The people that jump out at the front are known to the people at the back, and the people jumping at the back miss the front.
The other three attractions seem small in comparison to the trail. The Temple of Terror, themed around an ancient temple, and The Killer Klown maze, a… well the name says it, are about the same size, with Doctor Psychos Estate being the smallest.
The Temple of Terror is well done visually and thematically, but sparse. Sparse in both actors and visitors. This may be connected, with a low turn out meaning fewer actors are needed, but it works. The design is more of a winding hallway than a long passage. Every room full of something, from animatronics to simple dummies. Every turn is a dark endeavor with something possibly hiding in the void. Overall the theme is well done and the sparse nature makes every dark corner a question.
The Killer Klown maze is a typical haunted attraction. Great some people are afraid of clowns. Some people are just annoyed. This attraction can help one figure out which they are. It is in 3d. The kind of 3d it is however is the fake color effect type. Put on some glasses and certain colors pop out. Some how this is okay. The colors fit the theme, the 3d makes them a little less annoying. The clowns on the other hand are a little over bearing. If one is not afraid of clowns they can, and will, become a problem. The maze its self is nothing because the clowns won’t allow any one to get lost in it. this takes out the fun and adds to the clown problem.
The final attraction is the smallest one, but one of the best. Doctor Psycho’s haunted estate is the home of a crazy doctor who did mad experiments. Just a small backyard and a house. Nothing much to it. the theme however is kept through out. This is great because a lot of the elements, from bodies on tables to bloody kitchens, are used in the trail. In the trail they are random. In the house they are gruesome. The theme makes the difference.
Overall the Middletown Land of Illusion is a good place to start ones Halloween. With a lengthy trail and many other things to see and do it is worth the money. And even though it might lack a theme and is a little long the trail is one of the best in the area.
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