Screams in the Park – Rosemont, Illinois (Review)
Location: MB Financial Park at Rosemont (5501 Park Place). It is located on the basement level of the parking garage of MB Financial Park, west of River Road between Bryn Mawr and Balmoral Aves. Screams in the Park is an indoor environment that operates rain or shine.
Admission Price: General admission is $20 and VIP tickets $25 (allows ticket holders to skip the line for immediate entrance)
Parking: Free (Be sure to bring your parking garage ticket to get validated at the ticket booth or you’ll have to shell out $12 bucks to park!)
Length: 20 minutes
Fright Factor: Medium
Review:
Screams in the Park haunted house really impressed me with the level of creativity that went into the making of this attraction. The story behind this haunt centers on the notorious real-life Dr. H.H. Holmes who was the first documented American serial killer that lived in Chicago. Dr. Holmes built his murder mansion specifically to lure his mostly female victims to their demise during the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. He designed his basement to be a real-life house of horrors where his victims would be dismembered, dissected, asphyxiated, or thrown into lime or acid pits for destruction. It is said that Dr. Holmes murdered upwards of 200 people, but the real number will never be known for sure.
This elaborate and fully immersive haunted house will have visitors screaming for mercy from the start. Visitors who dare to enter are directed into Dr. Holmes basement filled with 13 all new chambers of terror and 45 tests of bravery. Guests will visit Dr. Holmes’ gruesome torture chambers where his victims have been killed and dismembered, but some are not quite dead yet.
Guests are led in small groups of about 4-7 through dark hallways and secret passageways with actors lurking around every dark corner. The makeup for the actors ranged from painted faces to some prosthetics to masks. The actors really seemed to get into each of their parts, I only remember a couple actors who were less than enthusiastic. What really stood out in this attraction was the production design. The sets throughout the haunt were extremely impressive, and the attention to detail was fabulous. Each of the chambers was designed very well and added to the overall immersion into the story. A nice touch was the olfactory horrors present in a few of the rooms that got a nice gasp out of the group I was with.
For the negatives, they need to work on the timing of sending the groups through. There were several instances of where we bumped into the group ahead of us spoiling the frights. Also, there needed to be more cases of actors coming up behind the group instead of just front-on scares because the people in the rear miss out on the action. I only counted one or two times when actors came up from the rear.
Overall, Screams in the Park haunted house is a highly enjoyable haunt that people of most ages will enjoy. Highlights include great set design and enthusiastic actors which make for great fun. Scares are plenty with a few unexpected moments that will make guests cringe. Screams is one of the best produced haunts I’ve seen in a couple years and definitely ranks high in the Chicagoland area for haunted attractions.
For more information, check out the Screams in the Park official website and be sure to “Like” them on Facebook!
4 out of 5 Pentagrams!
Watch the preview for Screams in the Park here:
