Cutting Edge is located in a 100,000 square foot abandoned meatpacking warehouse built in the late 1920’s, (located in Downtown Fort Worth at the intersection of I-30, I-35 and Hwy 287). The Cutting Edge claims to be the “Worlds Largest Haunted House”. Taking approximately 1 hour to walk through the Cutting Edge could easily rank up there, but does being the largest haunted house in the world make it good? A quick note… It’s strongly suggested that you wear shoes with good traction and DO NOT GO DRESSED UP! You WILL get wet when inside of the Cutting Edge.
Our walkthrough was done about 8:30pm on a Friday evening and the line was pretty long at that time. It was probably a good 30-45 minute wait, but they have a VIP ticket that can be purchased for a little more. The VIP pass will take you to the front of the line and you walk right past the suckers that didn’t purchase it. A good purchase if you plan on visiting several other haunted houses and are short on time. We highly suggest that you use the restroom before heading to the Cutting Edge… While there are portable toilets on the premises, you may get a big surprise while you are doing your business. Several actors roam around the area scaring and playing pranks on people in line. Granny kept stealing one of our reviewers hair bands and eventually became very annoying after the 3rd or 4th time…
The grounds of the Cutting Edge are pretty well decorated. Gargoyles and statues protect the area where the ticket counter is. If you’re standing in the wrong place at the wrong time you just may get drenched while waiting to get your tickets. The main entrance into the Cutting Edge is through the giant skull with glowing red eyes and steam coming out of the mouth, which really adds to the anticipation.
Once inside you are greeted with loud rocking music. This has been a Cutting Edge staple since I can remember. Long dark hallways line much of the Cutting Edge. We wouldn’t be too far off if we said about 25 minutes of the haunt is done walking through the dark hallways. Unfortunately, these litter the Cutting Edge and it really takes away from the overall fear factor. Thankfully the whole haunt isn’t a dark hallway… There are some very cool and creative scenes that I’ve never seen done before. One of my personal favorites is a scene from what appears as a restaurant. Booths line both sides of the walkway and it’s fun trying to figure out if or where the next fright is going to come from. Just when you think you have it figured out it realty catches you off guard. My next favorite area is a smoky room with several people watching a broken television. If you go out the back door it leads you into a storage room with shelving and a guy chasing you around with a chainsaw. You are chased out and end back up in the same room where you began. Simple scene but the different options you are given make it very interesting. The bathroom scene I also thought was quite interesting, but gross at the same time… There are many other scenes including the T-Rex and Giant Clowns that are note worthy, but I’m not going to give them away more then I already have. The T-Rex is pretty damn cool though… The scenes that the Cutting Edge has seem to be very well done, but the lighting in most parts is too dark and you really can’t see the art skills or detail that is in some of them. There are several areas that I’d love to go back inside with better lighting and see… Variety in actors/costumes in the Cutting Edge is another place where this haunted house lacks in. I counted at least a dozen actors all dressed in the same costume. Most of the actors wear a black cloak and a mask, but there is very little to no variety in costumes at all. After the first few that you encounter they loose the fear effect and eventually just become another object in the dimly lit scene. Which leads me to the next problem that plagues the Cutting Edge this year… What few scenes there are in the haunted house are extremely too dark or too smoke filled to see anything at all.
This year the Cutting Edge has moved the Maze inside the haunt. The maze is basically another dark hallway, but this time you are given a glow stick to help you through the maze. Once the lights go out you enter through the doors and walk into a twisting and turning maze. This really makes one feel like a lab rat trying to find the food at the end of the maze. You are given 5 minutes to find your way to the exit door, which states, “this is it”. We know the secret to this maze… and NO you can’t have it! The maze adds about 10-12 minutes to the overall length of the Cutting Edge. Once you have completed the maze the haunted house still isn’t done… It’s almost like the Energizer Bunny…. It just keeps going and going. The finale is the famous bubble room. If you’ve never been into the bubble room then you are in for a treat… The final room is outside and it’s filled from floor to ceiling with bubbles that you have to walk through to get out of the haunted house. If you have a hat then put it over your face and just go through. It is very difficult to breathe in this room because with every breath you inhale a gallon of bubbles. Thankfully, there is a bypass room that you can enter that will take you out around the bubble room, but where is the fun in that?
Over the years the Cutting Edge has had it’s good times and it’s bad times…. This year is no exception. Overall the Cutting Edge is a let down. It always has great potential, but that potential is far from being used this year. Unfortunately, the 20-25 minutes of dark hallways, lack of variety in costumes and the very poorly lit scenes really plague the Cutting Edge this year. If your main fear is being in the dark then the Cutting Edge is right down your alley, but the lack of variety in costumes will eventually cause you to just laugh off the next scream.
Actors/Costumes: 5
Scene Detail: 8
Sound Effects: 6
Special Effects: 8
Fright: 7
Gore: 6
Entertainment Value: 8
Cutting Edge is located in a 100,000 square foot abandoned meatpacking warehouse built in the late 1920’s, (located in Downtown Fort Worth at the intersection of I-30, I-35 and Hwy 287). The Cutting Edge claims to be the “Worlds Largest Haunted House”. Taking approximately 1 hour to walk through the Cutting Edge could easily rank up there, but does being the largest haunted house in the world make it good? A quick note… It’s strongly suggested that you wear shoes with good traction and DO NOT GO DRESSED UP! You WILL get wet when inside of the Cutting Edge.
Our walkthrough was done about 8:30pm on a Friday evening and the line was pretty long at that time. It was probably a good 30-45 minute wait, but they have a VIP ticket that can be purchased for a little more. The VIP pass will take you to the front of the line and you walk right past the suckers that didn’t purchase it. A good purchase if you plan on visiting several other haunted houses and are short on time. We highly suggest that you use the restroom before heading to the Cutting Edge… While there are portable toilets on the premises, you may get a big surprise while you are doing your business. Several actors roam around the area scaring and playing pranks on people in line. Granny kept stealing one of our reviewers hair bands and eventually became very annoying after the 3rd or 4th time…
The grounds of the Cutting Edge are pretty well decorated. Gargoyles and statues protect the area where the ticket counter is. If you’re standing in the wrong place at the wrong time you just may get drenched while waiting to get your tickets. The main entrance into the Cutting Edge is through the giant skull with glowing red eyes and steam coming out of the mouth, which really adds to the anticipation.
Once inside you are greeted with loud rocking music. This has been a Cutting Edge staple since I can remember. Long dark hallways line much of the Cutting Edge. We wouldn’t be too far off if we said about 25 minutes of the haunt is done walking through the dark hallways. Unfortunately, these litter the Cutting Edge and it really takes away from the overall fear factor. Thankfully the whole haunt isn’t a dark hallway… There are some very cool and creative scenes that I’ve never seen done before. One of my personal favorites is a scene from what appears as a restaurant. Booths line both sides of the walkway and it’s fun trying to figure out if or where the next fright is going to come from. Just when you think you have it figured out it realty catches you off guard. My next favorite area is a smoky room with several people watching a broken television. If you go out the back door it leads you into a storage room with shelving and a guy chasing you around with a chainsaw. You are chased out and end back up in the same room where you began. Simple scene but the different options you are given make it very interesting. The bathroom scene I also thought was quite interesting, but gross at the same time… There are many other scenes including the T-Rex and Giant Clowns that are note worthy, but I’m not going to give them away more then I already have. The T-Rex is pretty damn cool though… The scenes that the Cutting Edge has seem to be very well done, but the lighting in most parts is too dark and you really can’t see the art skills or detail that is in some of them. There are several areas that I’d love to go back inside with better lighting and see… Variety in actors/costumes in the Cutting Edge is another place where this haunted house lacks in. I counted at least a dozen actors all dressed in the same costume. Most of the actors wear a black cloak and a mask, but there is very little to no variety in costumes at all. After the first few that you encounter they loose the fear effect and eventually just become another object in the dimly lit scene. Which leads me to the next problem that plagues the Cutting Edge this year… What few scenes there are in the haunted house are extremely too dark or too smoke filled to see anything at all.
This year the Cutting Edge has moved the Maze inside the haunt. The maze is basically another dark hallway, but this time you are given a glow stick to help you through the maze. Once the lights go out you enter through the doors and walk into a twisting and turning maze. This really makes one feel like a lab rat trying to find the food at the end of the maze. You are given 5 minutes to find your way to the exit door, which states, “this is it”. We know the secret to this maze… and NO you can’t have it! The maze adds about 10-12 minutes to the overall length of the Cutting Edge. Once you have completed the maze the haunted house still isn’t done… It’s almost like the Energizer Bunny…. It just keeps going and going. The finale is the famous bubble room. If you’ve never been into the bubble room then you are in for a treat… The final room is outside and it’s filled from floor to ceiling with bubbles that you have to walk through to get out of the haunted house. If you have a hat then put it over your face and just go through. It is very difficult to breathe in this room because with every breath you inhale a gallon of bubbles. Thankfully, there is a bypass room that you can enter that will take you out around the bubble room, but where is the fun in that?
Over the years the Cutting Edge has had it’s good times and it’s bad times…. This year is no exception. Overall the Cutting Edge is a let down. It always has great potential, but that potential is far from being used this year. Unfortunately, the 20-25 minutes of dark hallways, lack of variety in costumes and the very poorly lit scenes really plague the Cutting Edge this year. If your main fear is being in the dark then the Cutting Edge is right down your alley, but the lack of variety in costumes will eventually cause you to just laugh off the next scream.
Actors/Costumes: 5
Scene Detail: 8
Sound Effects: 6
Special Effects: 8
Fright: 7
Gore: 6
Entertainment Value: 8
Overall Score: http://www.dfwhauntedhouses.com/forums/themes/darkblue/rating/rating_6.gif