CarnEvil – Hoffman Estates, Illinois (Review)
Visited on Friday, October 11th, 2013
Location: Sears Centre Arena (5333 Prairie Stone Parkway, Hoffman Estates, IL 60192)
The CarnEvil haunts are an indoor environment and a mixture of tents and trailer. The wait lines are outdoors and not covered, so in the case of inclement weather you should plan accordingly.
Hours: Sun & Thurs 7:00 pm – 11:00 pm / Friday & Saturday 7:00 pm – 12:00 am
Admission Price: Regular admission: $27.00 / VIP admission: $50.00 (Includes full access to three haunted houses, unlimited carnival rides, a dedicated VIP line, and ice skate rental)
Parking: Free (There are 3200 on-site parking spots at the Sears Centre Arena.)
Length: 15 minutes total for all three houses combined!
Fright Factor: Medium
Review:
From the folks who were responsible for the Dream Reapers Haunted House, CarnEvil consists of three separate haunted
houses, Tomb of Laveau, Carny Town, and Ma Buckners Doll Factory, along with carnival rides called Midway of the Damned. Offered on their website is an attraction called Blades of Gory, which is a haunted ice skating rink. This attraction was not open on the night I attended. According to their website, it is only open on October 24th-27th. Also shown on the website is an attraction named Bug Buffet where guests get to eat deep fried roaches, beer battered crickets, chocolate covered worms and many more delicious and protein filled snacks, but this was not open on the night I attended either.
The first house I entered was Tomb of Laveau and this haunt features a voodoo and zombie theme. Guests are ushered into a cemetery environment for the carnival’s recently deceased guests. This house is full of dark mazes, and scary catacombs with evil zombies lurking around every corner waiting to greet you.
Next in store for me was the Carny Town house. Unsuspecting guests enter into a dark carnival atmosphere of death and torment. Peek behind the curtain of this traveling carnival of death and decay, and you’ll see how the other half live. Keep quiet as you emerge from the sewers and make your way into the carney’s twisted world; sneaking into their rotting trailer and discovering the horrors that lay within. They won’t be gone for long, but you can’t leave until you discover the “secret” ingredient used in their processing plant, cleverly hidden behind their ramshackle home.
Last but not least, was Ma Buckners Doll Factory haunted house. We entered into this hellish doll factory where the dolls are not your usual children’s toys; they’re made up out of human parts. First up was a scene that had an evil scientist torturing his victims and from there was all manner of victims being sawed and cut apart for the doll parts like a human meat market.
The CarnEvil haunted houses offer a great thrill ride into a horrific carnival of death. The fright factor could’ve been a 
little higher for my liking but was still pretty creepy throughout. The best part was the high production values in each of the three houses. Most of the scenes were very well designed and decorated very creatively. My favorite of the three haunts was the Ma Buckners Doll Factory. This house in my opinion featured the best thrills and scenes combined with some great scares. The actors in all the houses were appropriately into their roles and full of energy. Also the makeups and props were top notch really adding to the overall frightening experience.
CarnEvil is not your average haunted house experience because if also offers a working carnival midway that guests can go to after being scared out of their wits in the three houses. So if you’re looking for a full evening of frights and fun, then be sure not to miss out on CarnEvil.
A special thank you to Craig Kuehne at Sears Centre for having me out!
4 out of 5 Pentagrams!
Watch a brief promo on CarnEvil here:
For more information, please visit the CarnEvil official Website and be sure to “Like” CarnEvil on Facebook.
