Harknell and I will be reviewing Nightmare: Haunted House this year. The peopel who run it are really cool. They do their haunt from a more creative perspective. This year, the theme is classic serial killers.
A HORRIFYING AND IMMERSIVE HAUNTED HOUSE EXPERIENCE COUPLED WITH AN UNSETTELING GALLERY EXHIBIT THAT FEATURES ARTWORK AND MEMORABILIA BELONGING TO THE WORLDS MOST NOTORIOUS SERIAL KILLERS
SEPTEMBER 28 – NOVEMBER 3, 2012
AT THE CLEMENTE SOTO VELEZ CULTURAL CENTER
(107 Suffolk Street, NYC)
(New York, NY) – Two of the nation’s most creative forces within the Haunted House industry have announced plans for a major collaboration in New York City this fall. Timothy Haskell, Creator of NIGHTMARE (New York’s most horrifying haunted house and AOL CityGuide’s No. 1 rated haunted attraction in NYC), and Steve Kopelman, producer of THE NEST (named ABC News / Good Morning America’s “Scariest Place in Americaâ€) will present KILLERS: A NIGHTMARE HAUNTED HOUSE – a horrifying, immersive haunted house experience about our obsession and fascination with serial killers both real and fictional. KILLERS will run September 28 through November 3, 2012 at the Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center, 107 Suffolk Street between Rivington and Delancey on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. www.hauntedhousenyc.com
Visitors navigating the tormenting labyrinth of KILLERS: A NIGHTMARE HAUNTED HOUSE will encounter various psychopaths, including Ted Bundy, Albert Fish and the Zodiac killer, among others – who are neither sexy or cool – but rather presented for what they are…scary as hell! Focusing on both the perpetrators and their victims, both historical and contemporary, KILLERS sets out to prove that the most haunting experiences are those that are real. There is nothing more frightening than the monsters that walk among us.
As an entree to the larger attraction of KILLERS: A NIGHTMARE HAUNTED HOUSE, a one of its kind gallery exhibit featuring artwork, memorabilia and personal possessions belonging to the worlds most notorious serial killers will be on display.
“Killers will be by far and away the most aggressive, interactive and flat-out scary haunted house NIGHTMARE has ever done,” says creator Timothy Haskell. “We don’t think these beasts should be glorified or celebrated, only feared. They should be treated as the boogeymen that they are. We make haunted houses. They are supposed to be scary. This will be very, very scary.”
“I’m so excited to be partnering with The NIGHTMARE brand,†explained Steve Kopelman. “With my expertise in maximizing scares along with this years theme of real serial killers, we’re creating a chillingly real environment, unsurpassed in fright level.â€
Production Design for KILLERS: A NIGHTMARE HAUNTED HOUSE is lead by Paul Smithyman. Art direction is by Justin Haskell and David Hinkle, sound design is by David Roy, costume design is by Candice Thompson, lighting design is by Garin Marshall. Eli Boznick is the director of magical illusions.
For a full schedule of performances visit www.hauntedhousenyc.com
Tickets for KILLERS: A NIGHTMARE HAUNTED HOUSE are $30 – $60 and available at www.hauntedhousenyc.com, or at the box office prior to each performance.
Facebook: www.facebook.com/NightmareNYC
Twitter: @NIGHTMARENYC
Visit Timothy Haskell’s blog at www.iscareyou.com
Timothy Haskell (Creator and Co-Director) recently directed Sex You (I’m Gonna) by Nathan Phillips at the ACE Hotel and then in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this past summer. Other credits include Off-Broadway’s Stitching (The Wild Project and The Elephant in Los Angeles), The Jaded Assassin (Ohio Theatre), Fatal Attraction: A Greek Tragedy starring Corey Feldman at the Classic Stage Company, Corporate Rock (Blue Heron Arts Center) and the Paris Hilton spoof I Love Paris by Doug Fields also at the Blue Heron Arts Center. He also co-curated and produced the first ever Fight Festival at The Brick Theatre premiering his new work Last Life that later transferred to the Ohio Theatre. He is perhaps best known for creating and directing the cult hit Road House: The Stage Play, which transferred from Off-Off Broadway to Off-Broadway at the Barrow Street Theatre. Mr. Haskell is also the creator and director of the annual Nightmare: New York’s Most Horrifying Haunted House which has run each fall for the past nine years. The most recent installation was Nightmare: Fairy Tales.
Steve Kopelman (Producer) has been actively involved in the Haunted House industry for 30 years. He is currently a producer of haunted attractions in 5 American cities. His accomplishments include production of The Nest Haunted House, selected by Good Morning America and ABC News as “The Scariest Place in America.†He has been involved with over 60 haunted attractions in 17 different cities all over the United States, including his work as a producer of Alice Cooper’s Welcome to My Nightmare Haunted House. Kopelman and his haunts have been featured on MTV, The Travel Channel, CNN, and The Food Network among others.
John Harlacher (Co-Director) is an actor and director. Acting work includes the indie feature Love Simple; Off-Broadway’s Dog Day Afternoon, the revival of Israel Horovitz’s Rats, with the Barefoot Theatre Company, of which he is a member; and NEXT! at the HERE art center. Directing work includes Penetrating The Space and Callous Cad at The HERE art center, and the feature film Urchin, which he also wrote. Released theatrically and distributed worldwide, Urchin was banned in Malaysia as a “threat to culture.”
23 responses to “Nightmare Haunted House NYC”
Nightmare haunted attraction Killers is not good at all.
THE END.
Why?
What do you mean why? Where do I start?!
Lets go in order (well of what I can remember)
Albert Fish: This room had much more potential and the actress was just one of the worst, she was literally falling asleep and she was not engaging whatsoever she acted as though she couldn’t wait for the day to be over, plus we couldn’t even hear the little slides how they had on because we kept hearing the damn chainsaw go off in the other room.
Jeffrey Dahmer wasn’t bad but meh.
Same with Ted Bundy
Omg, the blood countess or better known as Elizabeth Bathory room was basically focused on the bathtub with running water from the female prop … And ok obviously why would they have to just use gallons of fake blood(well that would’ve been really cool and made this way better) but it was just clear they could have at least made it red or used lighting to make it look red, this room had so much potential but wasn’t used to its max, my group and I were more entertained at the fact that the person playing Elizabeth Bathory was a man, which brings me to my next part I know it’s not supposed to be a dead on reenactment of these people’s lives but The Blood Countess was known for killing females, the actor went after only the males, and yes I did choose to get touched and didn’t get interacted with whatsoever ever.
John Wayne Gacy, man oh man was this the serial killer I was looking the most forward too, if anything he was one of the better ones, but it was more funny than trying to give us that scare factor, but again meh.
Jack the Ripper, again so much potential just a guy whom looked like Abraham Lincoln yelling randomly. There wasn’t really much to this room as well.
Hmmm now I kind of forgot what’s next so I’ll just go along
Some actor that was really tall and skinny that looked like Marilyn Manson was just hilarious then this brings me to
Dexter, umm there was just a guy that popped up out of the trash bags when a lady picked it up, very short scene.
Texas chainsaw massacre or Ed Gein, the set was actually not bad at all, but the actors ques and moments were very predictable
Lizzie Borden, holy crap this was the worst room ever! The actress was just not enticing what so ever didn’t give you any feel of the killer she was portraying so the only way to know it was Lizzie Borden is if you know about Lizzie Borden, she was just screaming, “run run run!!!!” And that was really lame , then some other girl that looked exactly like the Lizzie Borden actress popped up again and it was just a horrible scene
Zodiac Killer, his set was just disappointing. Just a bunch of strobe lights and and 4 actors standing in hoodies .
I noticed I missed one at the beginning which is the bone collector
So H.H. Holmes, again set had much more potential the actor playing the serial killer wasn’t BAD but the actress wasn’t good at all.
Btw where the hell was Jane Toppan?
And I think that was it correct me if I’m wrong. But the point is, this attraction was a disappointment, I thought the sets would have been much better and that getting touched would have been on another level of the scare factor but instead I ended up looking like an idiot walking around the streets with a red X on my forehead because it seriously wouldn’t of even mattered if I got marked or not because the ladies that were in my group didn’t get marked and they still got touched, maybe even more than I did. And by touching they just meAn the actors are just going to get in your face and MAYBE give you special attention. MAYBE.
So from 1-5 stars I give this a 1.5 for the idea, that’s what just caught my attention but it was more hyped up than what it showed for.
Note ** Jeffrey Dahmer and Ted Bundy as well had much more potential with the females of the groups, Ted Bundy was just in an execution chair, whoop dee f**king doo. The only good thing about this scene was the special effects makeup the actor on the chair had on to make him look like a prop.
Oh ok! We just did this one the other night. When did you go? The reason I ask is because I did see (hear) issues with the sound in the first 3 scenes but some of the stuff you described it seems they changed or fixed. They really grabbed me and I actually had my throat slit so I left with a giant gash of fake blood on my throat. A dude held me against the wall while i was supposed to be bleeding out. It sounds like they either redid or fixed the Lizzie Borden scene, too. She came at us like a maniac. I’ll post more details later as I cannot now from my phone. 🙂
I went last night, and yes I also got slashed by Jack the Ripper I forgot about that, but Lizzie Borden just is horrible. I’m glad at least someone got their money’s worth, I personally and I’m pretty sure my group won’t ever go there again, I know they do different themes each year but I just can’t allow myself to do nightmare again.
Personally I feel this type of haunted house is ideal for newbies to the scene. But what about horror fanatics or haunted attraction veterans like myself and my friends?
What is your fav haunted house you’ve done so far?
NYC haunts seem to be more about theater – sounds like you might like some of the ones in NJ and PA that are a different style. I think I get what you are saying. Have you tried Shocktoberfest?
No I haven’t tried Shocktobrrfest actually, in PA I went to Eastern State Penentationary Terror Behind the walls and it was alright, wasn’t a fan of the conga line though .. Hmm well about the theater thing here in NY I get it because what you say is true and applies to the city haunted attractions not so much things in Long Island for example. Actually I don’t have a favorite favorite but ones that have impressed me are Nyctophobia, Darkness Rising and Erebus in Michigan oh and I went to Spookyworld last year which was pretty nice as well
Btw thanks for bringing Shocktoberfest to my attention, I shall check that out
But yeah NYC haunts do focus on sets, which is nice because I love looking around and seeing all the cool stuff they put up, but if the actors can’t deliver or the walkthrough doesn’t come together what so ever then what’s the point, it’s just a waste of work, that’s what I think. I especially hate when the actors try to rush you out of a room, I know they’re trying to scare you and also get you out as quick as possible for the next group, but it’s like hey I want to see the props used in this room and just see the production value of the place.
Have you gone to Blackout BTW?
Im never gonna go back there, Ever!!!!!…even if there’s a fire.
Lol! I’m not gonna call that a haunted attraction .. This better not be voted as a top attraction, or I will drop those m’fers who voted it so.
What happens at this one?
At the Bronx Haunted Warehouse? Basically seems like the creator of nightmare just put aside all of the props he doesn’t need and shoved it into the sh*thole of a haunted attraction that the Bronx Haunted Warehouse is, it felt shorter than last year which was “Z-Day” which was good but this year that Haunted Warehouse sucked so bad, they said they added 2 more rooms, more like just a corner with an actor it wasn’t even a room, and it was just not good at all I regret going there.
Plus it felt way shorter. Like if we were there for 10 minutes
If Shock is as good as it was last year I think it’s right up your alley. I thought it was scarier than ESP, actually – and I’m tough to scare. I’m going back this year to find out.
I want to try Spookyworld-I have never done that one.
But yeah, NYC operates under constraints when it comes to space, so most of them don’t try to chase you around as much as a farm haunt external from the city. I look at it as a different genre.
Of course, I think you would like Universal Studios. Although they were not as good this year. 2008 was the best year in recent times for them.
For so reason the blog won’t let me reply to the last comment so this is gonna appear out of order.
But yeah I’ve been through hundreds of haunted houses and each one is for a different taste. Sounds like you are a traditionalist which is cool. Another one that obliterated us is Corner of Chaos in NJ. If you are looking to get torn up go through Barbaric Barnyard. They do not care they are out to destroy you in there.
I’m linking all the reviews from here: /halloween-haunted-house-and-haunted-attraction-reviews/
We like a lot of different haunt styles, but if you read carefully you’ll see where we describe it and can tell if it’s theatrical or just hardcore scares. Or you can ask me and I’ll tell you. 🙂
I haven’t done Blackout – have you? I heard what goes on in there and I’m not sure it’s for me. 🙂
Lol I got to blackout with a friend and I was going for it, but then I chickened out and I regretted it, however I will try again even though my friend just told me straight horror stories about it, another one that I would like to try is Sleepy Hollow upstate NY I heard that was a real good one.
You know, I just like to get scared, I hate it when I’m laughing throughout my walk through in an attraction, I want to be proven to be a complete (excuse me) pussy. Lol
I can appreciate the creators works for haunted attractions but if I’m just dissapointed I just can’t justify the rest. I go to these to get scared as a motherf**ker, not for a comedy show lol
Reminded me of the Bronx Haunted Warehouse one( which shouldn’t even be called a haunted attraction or be labeled as scary at all because it sucks) Nightmare Killers was missing some Killers and WTH LIZZIE BORDENS SCENE WAS ONE OF THE WORST.
Idk both Nightmare and The Bronx Haunted Warehouse are by the same creator . That’s the only reason I mentioned it.
Oh ok – I never did that one.
Don’t, you’re not missing out on anything