Location:
Chaos is located in the Festival Market Place at 3000 E. Pioneer Pkwy. (spur 303) in Arlington, Texas. From the highway you can see the flashing lights, search light, and huge black letters on the building that say “Haunted House”. There is a sign that says “Chaos”, but this is not as easy to see until you are close to the front.
Atmosphere: 9 out of 10
As soon as you enter the front door, you walk through a mini-haunt to get inside. The dimly lit decorated hallways get you in the haunt mood, and since it is just the entrance, you shouldn’t have to worry about anyone jumping out at you. The main entry includes vendors, concessions, and a game room full of old-school arcade games. The game room is an additional $3.00 for unlimited game play, but if you ever remember going to an arcade when you were younger, you should know how easy it is to play $3.00 worth of games. The only drawback for atmosphere would be the ventilation. While we were there, the weather was unseasonably warm and humid, and mixed with the traces of fog, this made the air seem muggy and a little bit uncomfortable even with the breeze from fans. On a cooler less humid October night, this should not be a problem at all.
Scare Factor: 8 out of 10
This one is difficult to judge. I can easily see an average patron getting an awesome scare from Chaos, but we were not as much scared as we were entertained. I think we jumped maybe once or twice, but not as often as we would expect for how long the haunt is. There are some scares appealing to fear of dark, fear of gore, fear of being lost, fear of clowns, and fear of chainsaw wielding mad men. There was one portion of the haunt where we could hear people talking in the “backstage” area on the other side of the wall, and this really took away from the overall scare effect. On a more positive note, this did not by any means ruin anything. We left feeling like this haunt was a good production regardless of little kinks here and there.
Set design / Props / FX / Animatronics: 8.5 out of 10
Chaos does a wonderful job in detail accents. There are many many places where scenes and hallways are decorated from ceiling to floor. From the painted brick walkways to textured walls, most of the walk through has been given ample attention. We would like to see this amount of detail in every room and hall, since it appears certain portions of the haunt are missing something to make the effect more realistic. We also did notice just a few places where someone could easily go the “wrong way” and end up in an actor section. But for the most part, the design and use of props are effective.
Live Actors: 7.5 out of 10
We were a tiny bit disappointed, but don’t let the score fool you. Although during our experience there were some issues with timing, this was probably a direct result of when we visited. We arrived shortly after they opened on a Sunday evening, so we are guessing that the actors just weren’t “warmed up” yet. We walked in to at least two scenes where the actors seemed to not know we were even there until it was too late to scare us. People were either not in their places, or we obviously interrupted them in mid-conversation. In one room, the girls were hopelessly broken from character and could not stop laughing while they desperately tried to act out their scene. However, this was not the case throughout. There were some very talented characters that did a wonderful job, did not break character, and had impeccable timing and coordination to make up for those few who did not. We firmly believe that the few incidents of bad timing would be resolved by a steady stream of patrons coming through regularly every other minute or so.
Entertainment Value: 9 out of 10
With the $3.00 off online coupon, the total cost is $15.00 per person. For a solid 25-30 minutes of haunt (it took us 27 minutes, but we knew how to get out of some of the mazes), this is a great value. Sure, there were some kinks here and there when we visited, but it doesn’t change the fact that the overall experience is well worth a visit this season.
Summary:
Chaos is a traditional walk through that lasts a bit longer than expected. Just when you think it’s over, you are only half-way through. There is a large number of scenes and many places to get scared. We highly appreciate the detail that went into MOST of the set designs, and we hope to see this much detail work put into the entire walk through (they are almost there, but not quite yet). Being such a large haunt, most people should KNOW that they got their full money’s worth when they walk out. The actors could use some improvement, mainly on being prepared to give a great show at any time of day, at any moment, regardless of how long it has been since the last group walked through. But we recommend this haunt based on its length and overall quality showcase.
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Arlington, TX
Review Date: Sunday, October 1, 2006
Length: 25 – 30 minutes
Location:
Chaos is located in the Festival Market Place at 3000 E. Pioneer Pkwy. (spur 303) in Arlington, Texas. From the highway you can see the flashing lights, search light, and huge black letters on the building that say “Haunted House”. There is a sign that says “Chaos”, but this is not as easy to see until you are close to the front.
Atmosphere: 9 out of 10
As soon as you enter the front door, you walk through a mini-haunt to get inside. The dimly lit decorated hallways get you in the haunt mood, and since it is just the entrance, you shouldn’t have to worry about anyone jumping out at you. The main entry includes vendors, concessions, and a game room full of old-school arcade games. The game room is an additional $3.00 for unlimited game play, but if you ever remember going to an arcade when you were younger, you should know how easy it is to play $3.00 worth of games. The only drawback for atmosphere would be the ventilation. While we were there, the weather was unseasonably warm and humid, and mixed with the traces of fog, this made the air seem muggy and a little bit uncomfortable even with the breeze from fans. On a cooler less humid October night, this should not be a problem at all.
Scare Factor: 8 out of 10
This one is difficult to judge. I can easily see an average patron getting an awesome scare from Chaos, but we were not as much scared as we were entertained. I think we jumped maybe once or twice, but not as often as we would expect for how long the haunt is. There are some scares appealing to fear of dark, fear of gore, fear of being lost, fear of clowns, and fear of chainsaw wielding mad men. There was one portion of the haunt where we could hear people talking in the “backstage” area on the other side of the wall, and this really took away from the overall scare effect. On a more positive note, this did not by any means ruin anything. We left feeling like this haunt was a good production regardless of little kinks here and there.
Set design / Props / FX / Animatronics: 8.5 out of 10
Chaos does a wonderful job in detail accents. There are many many places where scenes and hallways are decorated from ceiling to floor. From the painted brick walkways to textured walls, most of the walk through has been given ample attention. We would like to see this amount of detail in every room and hall, since it appears certain portions of the haunt are missing something to make the effect more realistic. We also did notice just a few places where someone could easily go the “wrong way” and end up in an actor section. But for the most part, the design and use of props are effective.
Live Actors: 7.5 out of 10
We were a tiny bit disappointed, but don’t let the score fool you. Although during our experience there were some issues with timing, this was probably a direct result of when we visited. We arrived shortly after they opened on a Sunday evening, so we are guessing that the actors just weren’t “warmed up” yet. We walked in to at least two scenes where the actors seemed to not know we were even there until it was too late to scare us. People were either not in their places, or we obviously interrupted them in mid-conversation. In one room, the girls were hopelessly broken from character and could not stop laughing while they desperately tried to act out their scene. However, this was not the case throughout. There were some very talented characters that did a wonderful job, did not break character, and had impeccable timing and coordination to make up for those few who did not. We firmly believe that the few incidents of bad timing would be resolved by a steady stream of patrons coming through regularly every other minute or so.
Entertainment Value: 9 out of 10
With the $3.00 off online coupon, the total cost is $15.00 per person. For a solid 25-30 minutes of haunt (it took us 27 minutes, but we knew how to get out of some of the mazes), this is a great value. Sure, there were some kinks here and there when we visited, but it doesn’t change the fact that the overall experience is well worth a visit this season.
Summary:
Chaos is a traditional walk through that lasts a bit longer than expected. Just when you think it’s over, you are only half-way through. There is a large number of scenes and many places to get scared. We highly appreciate the detail that went into MOST of the set designs, and we hope to see this much detail work put into the entire walk through (they are almost there, but not quite yet). Being such a large haunt, most people should KNOW that they got their full money’s worth when they walk out. The actors could use some improvement, mainly on being prepared to give a great show at any time of day, at any moment, regardless of how long it has been since the last group walked through. But we recommend this haunt based on its length and overall quality showcase.
OVERALL SCORE: 8.5
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