Haunted Attraction Reviewed: Nightmare’s Gate Haunted House
Website: www.nightmaresgate.com
Location of Attraction: Douglasville, Georgia
Date of Review: 10/8/2021
Total Number of Attractions Available: 2
Overall Haunted Attraction Rating: 8.5/10
Entertainment & Food Rating: 7/10
Atmosphere Rating: 8/10
Overall Costume & Makeup Rating: 9/10
Overall Cast & Crew Rating: 9/10
Overall Set Design & Special Effects Rating: 9/10
Overall Scare/Thrill Factor Rating: 8/10
Overall Feedback: Nightmare’s Gate Haunted House located in Douglasville, Georgia provided a pleasantly surprising experience that has left long lasting impressions on our squad! These folks offer two haunted attraction experiences, the Haunted Hospital and Terror Falls. The two attractions themselves are located on different properties, but are only a brief 5 minute walk or 1 minute drive from one another. The main attraction here, the Haunted Hospital, is located in a rather unassuming location next to a lively bowling alley. Terror Falls located right up the street is housed in a rather decrepit appearing building (previously a large indoor skating rink), a much more traditional setting for a haunted attraction these days. We arrived on site at Nightmare’s Gate just after 11pm, shortly before closing time (12-midnight). These folks were our third haunt stop of the evening, and fortunately enough they were still operating and assured that our squad would make it through both attractions. Patrons should initially head to the location of the Haunted Hospital, as it’s there where you’ll find the ticket booth. Ticketing at Nightmare’s Gate is about as straightforward as it gets these days, with the Haunted Hospital costing $25 or both attractions for $35. After snagging our tickets we headed straight for the queue line to Haunted Hospital. Due to arriving nearly at closing time there weren’t many other haunt goers onsite, so we had essentially no wait prior to either attraction!
Haunted Hospital - The Haunted Hospital is housed in a rather deceiving building. We weren’t expecting a lengthy journey by any means and were pleasantly surprised by how long it took to traverse through this attraction! Our journey commenced by descending down catwalk-like ramps into a dark and dingy basement. It was here where we encountered our first of many energized spooks. This fellow cleverly lurked throughout this initial scene providing several startling encounters. From this point forth we were fully immersed into a sinister hospital filled with blood & gore, relentless scare actors, and immersive special effects! We traversed through a plethora of hospital-esque scenes including several exam and procedure rooms, a raunchy morgue, chilling body freezer, and more! We were extremely pleased with the detailed and realistic set design throughout this attraction, as we felt fully immersed into a true Haunted Hospital! Despite being nearly midnight, the scare actors were still extremely energized and fully immersed into their characters. Some of these folks were borderline deranged and came at us from all directions, providing rather spine-chilling engagements! Beware the large shark creature that’ll certainly catch you off guard and consume you whole if you aren’t swift on your feet. The ~20 minute journey through the Haunted Hospital will certainly have your heart racing in fear, do you have what it takes to survive the madness that lurks inside this abandoned and disturbing hospital?
After exiting the Haunted Hospital patrons will be funneled into a large room which houses the Nightmare’s Gate merchandise stand as well as a gory photo-op booth with massive props! We snagged our group photo and made a few purchases at the merchandise stand before venturing up the street to experience the 2nd attraction at Nightmare’s Gate, Terror Falls! As Nightmare’s Gate continues to expand we’d love to see them step-up their midway offerings to include food trucks, games, and other activities (mobile escape room, axe throwing, halloween movies, etc) to help entertain guests while outside of the attractions!
Terror Falls - Just seconds inside the doors of Terror Falls we became immediately immersed into a dark and eerie swamp! We traversed over docks and bridges as an intimidating and murky swamp lay below us. Massive trees towered above us, and boy were they realistic appearing - we felt as if they brought dozens of live trees indoors, truly incredible! A beautiful bait shop possessed elegant decor and a witty scare actor who provided a frightening yet comical engagement with our squad. As we continued forth we traversed through more swamp-esque scenes, including open fields that had cleverly disguised ghillie creatures lurking in the darkness, awaiting to provide a fright. By far the most impressive scene was the massive swamp and waterfall scene! We could feel the mist coming off the waterfall as we traversed in the nearby area. A swamp-esque scent filled the nearby atmosphere, further immersing you into the experience. Eventually you’ll traverse across the rickety bridge that is draped over the murky and eerie swamp! Hold onto the rope railings as you traverse across this bridge, otherwise you might just end up taking a spill into the swamp. The final few scenes immerse you into a dark and unnerving forest. As you traverse through the darkness, suspense continues to build, making you susceptible to a bone-chilling startle. We were extremely impressed with the scenery throughout Terror Falls, such clear attention to detail that left us mesmerized and visually stunned throughout our journey! Although there weren’t a plethora of spooks throughout Terror Falls, the folks we did encounter were spot-on and fully immersed into their characters. Terror Falls definitely succeeds at providing an aesthetically pleasing yet unnerving 10 minute adventure!
As we exited Terror Falls our squad congregated outside the attraction to converse about our experience. We were all pleasantly surprised by the experience that Nightmare’s Gate Haunted House has to offer. We even had the pleasure of chatting with the incredible owners of Nightmare’s Gate. These guys are clearly passionate about providing a spooky fun experience and had plenty of fun stories to share about the attractions. We learned that 2021 is Nightmare’s Gate 12th season of haunting and this was the first season for the Terror Falls attraction. We were completely blown away when we learned that Terror Falls was constructed in under 2 months time - WOW! These folks are always brainstorming ways to expand and improve their offerings, and it sounds like they have some BIG things in the works for the next few seasons! They plan to move all the attractions under one roof in 2023 with the hopes of potentially expanding to three different themed haunted attractions! We had the opportunity to go behind the scenes to check out their costuming and makeup department, which was a truly jaw-dropping experience. Let’s just say the makeup artists at Nightmare’s Gate have tons of tools and resources to utilize on a nightly basis when working their magic on the cast and crew.
Nightmare’s Gate Haunted House is a force to be reckoned with in the haunt industry. They’ve clearly got an incredibly talented team from top to bottom. Their current duo of attractions pair perfectly with one another, as the Haunted Hospital provides the high-intensity experience while Terror Falls provides the elegant and unnerving experience. Kudos to the entire cast and crew at Nightmare’s Gate for being fully immersed in their characters and relentless in their pursuit of providing spine-tingling entertainment! If you’re an avid haunt enthusiast within a few hours of Atlanta, Georgia definitely make sure to pay Nightmare’s Gate Haunted House a visit, you won’t be disappointed!!
Individual Attraction Ratings:
Attraction Name: Haunted Hospital
Overall Attraction Rating: 9/10
Cast & Crew Rating: 9.5/10
Set Design & Special Effects Rating: 9/10
Scare/Thrill Factor Rating: 8.5/10
Attraction Name: Terror Falls
Overall Attraction Rating: 8.5/10
Cast & Crew Rating: 8.5/10
Set Design & Special Effects Rating: 9/10
Scare/Thrill Factor Rating: 7/10
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