Review Date: Friday, October 3rd 2008

Time: 8:30 pm


Atmosphere

When you first arrive, it doesn’t look that big at all. The front façade is deceiving, and it does well to hide the size of the building behind. I must admit that I was a little bit disappointed to not see the house shown on their website, but the disappointment was short-lived as soon as I entered the first scene. I highly recommend reading the back story of this haunt on The Parker House web site, since this theme is very well portrayed and delivered throughout.

Set Design/Detail/Floor Plan

There is an extremely unique voyeuristic quality about the way this haunt was designed. You walk through the house portion first, and you have a chance to look through holes in the walls and peer in on bedroom scenes of violence, although you cannot actually walk inside the room. I must stress to anyone that goes to the Parker House – TAKE YOUR TIME. Observe each carefully placed room and scene, whether through a hole in a wall, or through a broken door. The scenes were made for you to look closely at, and not meant to be something for you to just walk past quickly as you might do in most traditional haunts in the area. The impeccable details inside the scenes are beautifully crafted to appear authentic, so please take a moment to appreciate those accents. We did notice that many hallways further into the haunt were very bare and dark, but at the same time the lack of décor actually created a transition period between scenes to almost give you a "break" and hopefully calm your hard-beating heart. We can definitely see some places where additional decorations and detail could be applied so that the authenticity could continue through the entire walkthrough, but it is very difficult to take away many points since the scenes available were so well done. I guess you have to see it for yourself to know what I mean.

Live Actors (Performance/Enthusiasm/Costumes)

We are suckers for high detail and great actors. Thankfully, The Parker House delivers both – and extremely well. Most importantly, the actors have spoken lines, strong character development, and believable performances. The live bodies inside The Parker House are not just there for startles, but they really perform with consistent high energy. Make up and costuming excellently fits each person, alive and dead. Our favorite performances range from the "meat cutter" in the kitchen, tortured souls through the home, "the jackal" in his prison, and the excited "bed jumper" in the next cell. I could go on and on listing these great performers, but there are simply too many to count. The Parker House is very appropriately staffed to ensure a fully interactive experience.

Admission Price vs. Length (Entertainment Value)

Some people might be turned off by the $18 (or $17 with the 1$ off online coupon) ticket price on a first year haunt, but I can assure you that this is a GREAT DEAL. You could easily spend 30-40 minutes inside The Parker House, and there is SO MANY unique and highly creative qualities about The Parker House that makes it a MUST SEE for 2008.

Overall Experience/Summary/Misc. Information

Wow. Just WOW. Sure, The Parker House has room to grow, but what haunt in DFW doesn't? For a first year, we were absolutely blown away by this haunt. We cannot believe how many first year haunts have really stepped up the quality and provided some of the best experiences of the season. The Parker House in particular has provided some new tactics that we have never seen in over 10 years of reviewing the DFW haunt industry. Once you see it, you will know what we mean about NEW and DIFFERENT – but I do not want to spoil the surprises. We hope to see The Parker House return next year, bigger and better, concentrating on the finishing accents and detail through all the halls throughout, and apply their quality and creativity on a broader scale. But just because they have a few areas that need some more work does not mean we were disappointed at all. We not only came out smiling and excited, but walked away feeling rejuvenated and IN LOVE with The Parker House!


Guest Reviewer – Camp_Blood posted his review in the main forum. WARNING, there are spoilers in there, so read it at your own risk! Click here to see Camp_Blood's review.


Do you want to see another opinion? One of our very own members, twinsmom, visited The Parker House the same night our crew was there reviewing. Again, beware of spoilers! Click here to see her review!



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