FANGORIA's List of 2014 Scariest Haunted Houses and Attractions Unveiled

EAST NORTHPORT, N.Y., Oct. 20, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- FANGORIA Magazine has officially unveiled its 2014 List of Scariest Haunted Houses and Attractions. Those recognized by the publication represent the most frightening, elaborate, detail-oriented and technologically advanced haunted attractions in the country.

FANGORIA, the first in fright since 1979, tapped its own marketing manager and noted haunted attraction enthusiast Rebekah McKendry to make the 2014 selections. 

"When I was a kid, I pleaded with my parents until they took me to every haunted house within a 100 mile radius of our home," says McKendry. "These days, I pride myself on traveling the states to visit as many haunts as I can and finding the best in the country."

McKendry noted that the owners and operators of all of the attractions on FANGORIA'S list are pioneers in their field.

"The haunts we've singled out are very detail and technology-oriented. They never stand still," added McKendry. "Production crews, set designers and creatives are working all year - conceptualizing new themes, designing sets and learning new technology. They have established high standards for their attractions and have to 'Wow' audiences like it's the first time every year. I can say these attractions have certainly delivered."

FANGORIA's 2014 List of Scariest Haunted Houses and Attractions along with key highlights that assisted McKendry in making selections for FANGORIA'S 2014 list are as follows:

1. 13th Floor Haunted House (Denver) — Every hair on your neck will be standing straight up. The 13^th Floor in Denver leverages cutting-edge technology among its fear-inducing tactics. Giant animated figures powered by Integrated Microsoft Kinect technology are able to detect, interact with and react to individual fright-seekers, providing both big and small blood-curdling scares around every corner.
2. The Beast (Kansas City, Mo.) — The Beast forces patrons to face their deepest, darkest fears. A pioneer in developing the open format haunt where visitors don't follow a fixed route, patrons find themselves in close quarters with a live 8-ft. alligator, navigate their way in complete darkness through the forest and a seriously spine chilling swamp, conjuring up wild isolation and abandonment fears. To get out alive, visitors must also brave a two-story leap and grapple with a death-defying four-story slide.
3. Cutting Edge (Fort Worth, Texas) — A two-time Guinness World Record holder for World's Largest Haunted House and built inside a former meat processing plant, Cutting Edge gets scarier and scarier with every step. From the moment of arrival, patrons are met with chainsaw-wielding fiends and forced to fight to avoid a grisly demise in the plant's still functional processing equipment.
4. Bennett's Curse (Jessup, Md.) — Bennett's Curse attacks the senses by bringing together great film quality props with stellar sound, intricately designed sets and characters, unique and a massive gang of giant monsters that will keep you up nights. Its' 3D Inferno attraction within Bennett's Curse invites visitors to experience the levels of hell and gives visitors a run for their life to make it out alive.
5. Headless Horseman (Ulster Park, NY) — Not just a hayride, but a terrifying trip through the land of worst nightmares, visitors explore an intensely detailed, original town set constructed by attraction staff, including car contents that match those of hotel's rooms occupants. Patrons then struggle to keep their wits about them during a trip through an evil corn maze and explore themed-haunted houses that envelop visitors with their own tales of fright.
6. House of Torment (Austin, Texas) — The apocalypse has arrived in Texas. Not for the faint of heart, House of Torment elevates set design to the next level. Realistic looking destroyed city set and detailed illusions take center stage and being chased by Zombies will get hearts racing for sure. If not, one of the gruesome, bloodied corpses dangling about is sure to deliver a terrifying chill.
7. 13th Gate (Baton Rouge, La.) — For those who have never crawled through a crematory door, this haunt is a must visit. The intricate detail and technology found in the sets of the 13^th Gate in Baton Rouge alone makes what lies behind the gates of Hollywood seem almost elementary. Visitors travel through 13 uniquely themed zones ranging from the fog-filled streets of London to the lost underwater city of Atlantis.
8. Erebus (Pontiac, Mich.) — Visitors to Erebus will want to tell their friends about the experience, if they get out alive. Masters of interaction, Erebus' creators pack patrons into a vault in an attempt to bury them alive, throw them from a seemingly rotating bridge and feed them to a starving dinosaur who has a taste for people. No cookie-cutter sets or props here. All are designed by the haunt owners themselves.
9. Bates Motel (Glen Mills, Pa.) — The screams from Bates Motel are so loud that visitors' ears ring for days. A classic haunted house, the attraction also has bragging rights to a very haunted corn maze and iconic hayride that takes passengers through a giant slaughterhouse. From floorboards that come alive to pictures that seem to follow you and levitating spirits, guests are treated to custom animatronics and jaw-dropping special effects.
10. Nightmare on 13^th (Salt Lake City) — Nightmare on 13^th in Salt Lake is where real life and horror films collide this year, placing patrons front and center in their own horror movie. As part of its Haunted Hollywood feature, visitors are transported to amazingly life-like movie scenes from chilling favorites such as "Nightmare on Elm Street" and "Texas Chainsaw Massacre." Non-movie fans can enjoy wading through the Swamp and trying to avoid the Voodoo Queen.

Honorable Mentions also were awarded to The Haunted Hotel (San Diego), home to the creepiest doll island on the planet and crazed subway rides with demented clowns, and Netherworld (Atlanta). Netherworld is the portal for otherworldly beings to access this one and boasts more than 200 animated creatures and 100 live actors in 40,000 square feet.

"The best haunted attractions are already deep in planning for the 2015 season and each Halloween the bar gets set just a little higher," said FANGORIA and GOREZONE magazine editor-in-chief Chris Alexander. "If you want to see what other haunts will be doing five-years from now, look at what these 10 attractions are doing today," It'll be amazing to see what's next."

ABOUT FANGORIA MAGAZINE
Founded in 1979, FANGORIA Magazine is edited for devoted fans of the horror genre in film, television and fiction. Articles go behind the scenes and on the sets of upcoming horror movies and TV shows to examine the costumes, make-up and technology that create the gruesomeness on the screen. For more information, visit FANGORIA.com.

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SOURCE FANGORIA Magazine

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