Haunted Funeral Home: Join the dead
The Haunted Funeral Home in Inkster has been a haunt for quite awhile now. A true, old funeral home, this is a house that is as old-school of a haunt as you can get. Being blunt, in years past we have gone to this house, and more often that not, it was easily the worst house we would do. This is sad, because our first trip through years ago was exciting, and well done. Luckily, this year is a step back towards that style.
First and foremost, it has to be stressed that this year is truly an older style approach to haunted houses. Dark, cramped corridors lead you by various smaller sets. Animatronics are not going to be a thing you find here. What you will get is very low-level lighting, and a good use of a soundtrack to build up that eerie feeling. One of the advantages to this style of house is the ability to create a sense of feeling of being trapped, and at times being lost. When done well, it is truly effective. Another example of this style would be Realm of Haunted Minds. This house does do a good job of it. It always feels like you are cramped, and even when you enter a wider room, props were put in areas that still managed to make everything feel confined. As for the rooms themselves, it does a good job of sticking to the theme of it being an old funeral home. Passing by caskets and floral arrangements, with the dead lurking nearby. It is also has sections that make it feel like the mortician lives on site, so there is a bit of an actual house section to it. Credit has to be given to riding a theme out so well.
To make all the confined set design work, and make the unease translate into actual scares, you need actors who can pull off their attacks with good timing and keep things energetic. This year's crop of actors tends to do a really good job of this. There were a couple times when they were maybe a split second late, but to be fair to them, we can walk really fast through a haunt. There were some satisfying jump scares during this run.
Nothing stands as an egregious negative about this house. At the same time, nothing sticks out as being special either. The actors get good scares, but just slink back into the dark afterwards, with no real attempts to create an air of creepiness. The sets are good, but nothing stands out. Everything just kind of runs together in the end. This house is also on the short end, taking us about 10 minutes to go through. However, it is also a relatively cheap ticket, so this is not that much of a problem. All in all, this house is just kind of average. It is a fun time to go through, just don't expect anything special. It is a step in the right direction from our last couple visits, when a rating of below 1 would've probably occurred.
This house is not far from having a chance to be a great old-school haunt, and not much has to be changed. The actors were good, but maybe a bit more intensity, and having the ability to mix it up, and taunt their victims after the jump could add a lot. I would recommend maybe changing up a room or two and making them stand out from the rest of the house, maybe making an embalming station that is better lit than anywhere else, and finding creative ways to get scares out of the dark surrounding it. Also, taking advantage of the cramped areas more would help. Make it truly feel like a maze. Maybe have an area that loops around on its self, where shifting walls make patrons lost and confused for a minute or two while the actors taunt them. An old-school haunt has a place in the area, and this location can truly be great. For now though, it is average house that is improving.
2.75 / 5
