Haunted Attraction Reviewed: Nightmare at Gravity Hill
Website: www.nightmareatgravityhill.com
Location of Attraction: Jackson, New Jersey
Date of Review: Saturday October 5th 2019
Total Number of Attractions Available: ONE
Overall Haunted Attraction Rating: 7.5/10
Entertainment and Food Rating: 6/10
Atmosphere Rating: 8/10
Overall Costume and Make Up Rating: 7.5/10
Overall Cast and Crew Rating: 7.5/10
Overall Props, Animatronics and Set Design Rating: 8.5/10
Overall Scare/Thrill Factor Rating: 7/10
Overall Feedback: It's the first Saturday in October and there's no better way to celebrate than with a 2-in-1 review night! We ventured out to northern New Jersey and elected to pay Scary Rotten Farms and Nightmare at Gravity Hill both a first time visit. This review is on part two of our evening, our visit at Nightmare at Gravity Hill. After an enjoyable experience at Scary Rotten Farms, about 30 minutes away, we had arrived at Nightmare at Gravity Hill around 9:30pm. This place had a huge crowd on hand and was a HOPPING place! As soon as we stepped foot in the midway area we immediately felt an exciting vibe in the atmosphere. Before exploring the midway area we jumped right into the ticketing line. Ticket prices here are rather straightforward; $25 for general admission and $35 for VIP/Fast Pass admission. Our squad snagged our VIP/Fast Pass tickets and then jumped right in line. The midway area featured movies on a large outdoor movie screen, photo booths and a small snack shop. For those that don’t know, Nightmare at Gravity Hill is one MASSIVE outdoor walkthrough with 13 HUGE scenes throughout! All guests wait in the same initial line and were sent into the haunt in groups of about 6. After about a 20 minute wait it was our turn to experience Nightmare at Gravity Hill.
The first scene encountered certainly set the tone for the rest of the haunt. We strolled down a dark, foggy and eerie pathway in the middle of a western themed town. As we plodded along scare actors appeared out of nowhere to deliver several startles and pop scares. The structures in the town were extremely well designed, truly giving the appearance of a legitimate town. Scene after scene we were continually impressed with the detailed work. We loved the variety in the scenes. The attraction itself is an outdoor walkthrough but many of the scenes possess large structures that guests will enter. When we say scenes, we mean MASSIVE multi room scenes. It was like having a dozen plus mini haunted attractions in one long walkthrough! In between scenes there was often dark pathways patrons walked through, this helped to space out and separate the scenes. We encountered a butcher shop, movie theater, egyptian pyramids, 3D funhouse, insane asylum and MANY MORE! The graveyard scene was downright creepy and we absolutely loved the large grim reaper animatronic! They overall had great usage of some really neat animatronics. It’s hard to put into words how aesthetically pleasing many of the scenes were; you’ll just have to come see for yourself. Definitely no complaints from our crew when it comes to their set design!
The weak point at Nightmare at Gravity Hill in our opinion was the scare actors. But when we say weak point, we hardly mean it. The scare actors here were definitely passionate and immersed in their roles. But we’d like to see them have more direction in their skits and interaction with the guests. Too many of the actors utilized the common haunt lines such as “what are you going here?”, “help me”, “run, get out of here”, “do you want to play?”, etc. Hearing such lines over and over again began to take away from the show. Don’t get us wrong, there were certainly quite a few actors who were provided a frightfully good skit. We especially loved the scare actors in the insane asylum and butcher shop; these folks were relentless in their attacks and provided a bloody terrific experience! If all the scare actors can get on board with possessing a unique skit or line then the overall experience would easily be enhanced. Costuming and makeup was on par with what we’d expect at this level of haunt. Quality makeup work but not over the top. Overall, the scare actors have such incredible set designs to act in, now they just have to step up their game a bit which will in return easily enhance the patron experience.
Across the board at Nightmare at Gravity Hill guests should expect to receive a solid 30 minutes of spooky fun! With the experience we received we feel $25 a ticket is more than a fair price point. Besides the mediocre to average scare actor performances our only other recommendations to improve the haunt would be better group spacing. Within a few minutes we had caught up to the group in front of us which always takes away from the experience. Fortunately we were able to slow down in several spots to manually give ourselves some space between groups. All in all, we had a frightfully good time at Nightmare at Gravity Hill! The experience was pleasantly surprising and we’re sure glad we made the near 3 hour trip to experience their haunt! We strongly recommend fellow haunt enthusiasts to pay them a visit if you’re in the area. When you visit, tell them Fright Review Squad sent you their way. Happy Hauntings Folks!