DFW Haunted Houses: Score 8

Review Date: Saturday, October 4th 2008
Time: 11:45pm
Original Page: http://www.dfwhauntedhouses.com/viewarticle.php?articleid=113

Atmosphere
Located on the Reindeer Manor property, the Dungeon of Doom found a new home this year in the center of the midway. Although the Reindeer Manor grounds are perfect for haunted attractions to thrive, I think we are not alone to miss the old basement set up the Dungeon used to have. But the new location has several more things to do, and a much spookier feel since you are secluded in a rural area. The additional attractions on the property provide a complete experience that has now been pegged the Reindeer/13th/DOD Trio. I think we even heard it called “The 13th Manor of Doom”.

Set Design/Detail/Floor Plan
The Dungeon of Doom is very unique in this aspect, because there are so many artistic qualities throughout. You might notice several paintings along the walls, and many hand crafted props. The entire walkthrough has extreme amounts of detail and decoration, so you should walk slow and look around at all the interesting features. If you have visited DoD in the past, you should recognize many of the scenes and layout. This is because the new owners wanted to preserve much of the original DoD to display it in its new location with something familiar. However, the new owners have added some new scenes and changed it up a little so that it is not ALL the same. We were very pleased with all the changes, and with all the classic scenes preserved. We hear that next year will be the time for the big DoD changes, and we can’t wait to see what they have in store for us.

Live Actors (Performance/Enthusiasm/Costumes)
How many times have you heard Roadkill and I say that actors can make or break a haunt? And of course, we can look at past reviews of DoD to see how important their talented actors impacted the overall experience. Granted, there are several original staff actors this year that followed the DoD move to its new location, but we certainly missed several performers that did not move to the new location. Their absence seemed to give the DoD a different perspective, and we did feel something lacking… something was missing… the high energy and excellent timing wasn’t quite the same. We knew there were plenty of actors on staff, and everyone did a good job, and overall we were pleased… but we could not quite pinpoint why it did not feel quite as good as before. Maybe we are biased because we grew to love the original DoD staff (family) so much, we could see exactly who was still there and who wasn’t. I honestly don’t know what made us feel the different vibe so strongly. It is strange too, because new actors, like the Silent Hill nurse, did such a wonderful job. We absolutely loved the prisoner chained to the wall, and of course, the clowns were as awesome as ever! So what was missing? I really don’t know. But something was not working for us, and if we ever manage to pin point what was lacking, we will let you know. Overall, great performance, guys!

Admission Price vs. Length (Entertainment Value)
Dungeon of Doom clocked in around 5 minutes, so it is relatively short in comparison. Being so much shorter, it almost qualifies it as a side attraction rather than a fully independent haunt. We highly recommend seeing all three attractions at Reindeer Manor. The combo ticket is $30 using the $5 online coupon, and this is quite reasonable for the entertainment provided.

Overall Experience/Summary/Misc. Information
The Dungeon of Doom has always been a favorite of ours, and last year they received the DFWHauntedHouses.com Member’s Choice Award. We were heartbroken to hear that they were closing, and then overjoyed to find out that DoD would live on. We love the fact that the new owners preserved most of the original scenes from DoD, and that they added some great details and scenes to make it their own. Overall, we enjoyed seeing everything new and old, and we cannot wait to see what comes next. Since the Dungeon is in a new location this year, we have to expect some growing pains while they are in the process of settling into a permanent location. It was not as good as last year, but mainly because it is considerably shorter now since the new location does not feature basement stairs and multi-level scenes. But we did hear a rumor that another level just might be in the future for DoD next season, so let’s all keep our fingers crossed!

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