Haunted Attraction Reviewed: Bloodshed Farms FEARFEST
Website: www.bloodshedfarmsfearfest.com
Location of Attraction: Columbus New Jersey
Date of Review: Friday October 25th 2019
Total Number of Attractions Available: FOUR
Overall Haunted Attraction Rating: 7/10
Entertainment and Food Rating: 7/10
Atmosphere Rating: 8/10
Overall Costume and Make Up Rating: 6.5/10
Overall Cast and Crew Rating: 7/10
Overall Props, Animatronics and Set Design Rating: 7/10
Overall Scare/Thrill Factor Rating: 6/10
Overall Feedback: It’s the last Friday in October and our squad set way for Columbus New Jersey to revisit a haunt we last reviewed in 2017. Bloodshed Farms is a multi-attraction scream park featuring four haunted attractions, a mobile escape room and The Bloodshed. Be prepared to encounter all your typical haunt fears such as chainsaws, clowns, crazed asylum patients, hillbillies, spiders, and much more. With four attractions guests should expect to spend the better half of their evening at the haunt.
We arrived at Bloodshed Farms shortly after 8pm and they had a pretty large crowd on hand. As we made way to the ticket booth we immediately took note that Bloodshed Farms was clearly cross promoting with several other New Jersey attractions! We enjoy seeing haunts connect and work with their fellow “competitors”. Tickets at Bloodshed Farms are priced fairly at $30-$35 depending on when you visit. For $15 guests can upgrade to VIP tickets to grant you front of the line access on busier haunt nights. Guests also have the opportunity to purchase tickets for The Bloodshed at $13 and or The Camper Escape Room at $10 a piece.
Unfortunately on the night we attended both The Camper Escape Room and The Bloodshed were NOT in operation. We were bummed by this as in 2017 these two experiences were among our favorite parts of the Bloodshed Farms experience. For those who haven’t heard of The Bloodshed, this unique attraction is NOT for the faint of heart as it provides a personal, intense and interactive fear experience! Only one patron is admitted into The Bloodshed at a time. Fellow friends of this one lucky patron get to watch the whole experience via a monitor on the side of The Bloodshed.
Despite The Bloodshed and The Camper Escape Room being closed, there was still lots to do in the midway area. Guests can satisfy their munchies by visiting several of the food vendors, test your luck at several of the games, interact with the several roaming midway characters or just pull up a seat by the firepit. Don’t forget to peroze the gift shop as they had a great selection of Halloween items for sale! We could definitely tell it was the end of October as an upbeat energy was buzzing through the air. Guests were definitely amped up and excited for the experience that lies ahead.
To kick off the evening our squad elected to experience Hellsgate Asylum. The backstory on Hellsgate Asylum started in 1952 when it was originally intended to be a halfway house for those being released from the state’s mental institution. Once funding was cut and a new organization took over ownership, this location fell into ruin. The patients have undergone numerous sadistic experiments and even the Hellsgate staff have lost their grip on reality. As we waited in line to enter Hellsgate Asylum several roaming scare actors did a spooktastic job at getting the patrons amped up and excited for the experience. The front facade possesses a decrepit and run down appearance, making guests begin to question their fate. Once inside the doors our squad was a bit underwhelmed by the set design. Most of the scenes were quite simplistic and failed to provide any “wow” factor. Very little to no animatronics were utilized with nearly every aspect of the attraction being constructed by hand. With this attraction not possessing a roof and essentially being an outdoor attraction with walls, the elements are definitely beginning to take a toll on the attraction and its sets. If we recall correctly most of the scenes were merely the same as they were when we last visited in 2017. We had hoped the scare actors would make up the difference here and provide us a thrilling experience, and they did just that! The scare actors encountered were amped up and ready to engage with the patrons. Their use of improv and unique skits were much improved since our last visit. Only downfall was the large gaps of dead space between scare actors! But hey, our squad will take quality actors over quantity of actors! Hellsgate Asylum featured several “gotcha” pop scare moments but overall possessed a family appropriate experience.
Next up we set way for Clown-O-Phobia, one of our squads favorite attractions from our visit in 2017! Clown-O-Phobia is your typical clown based attraction with spooky yet comical scare actors, disorienting passageways and an upbeat atmosphere. The set design is simple yet effective. Numerous clown themed rooms and several maze like areas had our crew engaged from start to end. Unfortunately, like in Hellsgate Asylum, Clown-O-Phobia does not possess a roof, therefore leaving too much lighting in the dark maze areas and set designs that are beginning to deteriorate due to the elements. If the Bloodshed team is able to find a way to possess roofs that are in compliance with laws/codes they must satisfy, Clown-O-Phobia would immediately receive an upgrade! We give credit to the scare actors for again being energized and possessing much improved skits and improv skills. We can’t forget to mention how much we enjoyed the puppet show we received! As guests exit Clown-O-Phobia be prepared to run into our friend “Bubbles” and her room full of bubbles! Like Hellsgate Asylum, Clown-O-Phobia possessed several pop scares but overall was a bit dull in the scare/thrill department. This attraction seemed to feature more of a comical/entertainment approach then a scary one.
For attraction number three of the night we made way for the Trail of Terror. This attraction was by far the worst of the four offerings when we visited in 2017. Last go around we knocked Trail of Terror on the lack of energy from the actors which left for a rather uneventful journey. Well, we were pleased to see Trail of Terror received a much needed facelift and most importantly now possesses scare actors with energy and actual skits! We encountered a wide variety of scenes from Murter Manor to a decrepit mine shaft to a voodoo shack and much more! Several of the set designs were detailed and worthy of our crew stopping to take in the elegance. The squads clear favorite was the large voodoo shack in the middle of the woods, this set was extremely well put together! A perfect mix of pop scares and skits were utilized by the scare acting team, providing an engaging and thrilling experience from start to end. Several sections featured a rather unnerving and uneasy vibe, which only added to the overall thrill of the attraction! Be prepared to fight your way through the final scene as the human chop shop is looking for new parts and pieces!
After barely making it out of the Trail of Terror with all our parts and pieces intact we set way for the final attraction of the night; The Last Ride! The hay wagons at Bloodshed Farms are unique in nature as they possess bench style seating and plenty of space down the middle of the wagon for the actors to utilize. The guests sight lines are blocked off in the front of the wagon, not allowing guests to see what lies ahead, leaving many guests fearing in anticipation of what is ahead. The Last Ride features a wide array of sets with several new scenes since our last visit in 2017. We were bummed to see that they no longer had the Headless Horseman or the Michael Jackson “Thriller” scene; these were among our favorites last go around. We give major credit to the scare actors along our journey for providing an in your face experience! They came at the wagon from every direction, making guests keep their heads on a constant swivel! The feature that we love the most about The Last Ride is the great mix of thrill/scare and comic relief. Guests roll out of one scene screaming in fear and leave the next scene with abdominal cramps from belly laughing! Kudos to the scare actor working the spaceship/alien scene, he had nearly every patron on our wagon laughing by the end of the scene! Some haunt goers dislike comedy in a haunt but our group loves it!
Across the board at Bloodshed Farms there seemed to be a pretty consistent positive and negative feature that either made or broke our experience. The underwhelming and deteriorating set designs in Hellsgate Asylum and Clown-O-Phobia took away from the experience, leaving these two attractions as the bottom feeders of the evening. Both The Last Ride and Trail of Terror featured much more engaging sets with some quality work sprinkled throughout. We’d definitely like to see the Bloodshed Farms team pursue some much needed upgrades in Hellsgate Asylum and Clown-O-Phobia. The clear positive note on the night was the significant improvement in the scare acting! In 2017 there was a handful of scare actors that seemed to have actor training while the rest were simply pathetic. This go around the scare actors were energized, featured great improv skills and unique/creative skits. We would have loved to have seen significantly more scare actors throughout the attractions but at least those we did encounter were solid! All in all, like most haunted attractions Bloodshed Farms definitely had its ups and downs, but they still succeeded in providing a spooky fun experience! Bloodshed Farms is definitely what we’d consider a family friendly haunted attraction, featuring something that’ll satisfy the entire family. If you’re in the area of Columbus New Jersey, definitely keep Bloodshed Farms in mind as a potential haunt experience for your 2020 Halloween season!
Individual Attraction Review:
Attraction Name: Hellsgate Asylum
Overall Attraction Rating: 6.5/10
Cast and Crew Rating: 7/10
Props, Animatronics and Set Design Rating: 6.5/10
Attraction Scare/Thrill Factor Rating: 6/10
Attraction Name: Clown-O-Phobia
Overall Attraction Rating: 6.5/10
Cast and Crew Rating: 7/10
Props, Animatronics and Set Design Rating: 6.5/10
Attraction Scare/Thrill Factor Rating: 6/10
Attraction Name: Trail of Terror
Overall Attraction Rating: 7/10
Cast and Crew Rating: 7/10
Props, Animatronics and Set Design Rating: 7.5/10
Attraction Scare/Thrill Factor Rating: 7/10
Attraction Name: The Last Ride
Overall Attraction Rating: 7.5/10
Cast and Crew Rating: 7.5/10
Props, Animatronics and Set Design Rating: 7.5/10
Attraction Scare/Thrill Factor Rating: 7/10
Comments