Do horror movies give you a thrill? Does walking past a cemetery at night sound like your idea of fun? Then visiting a haunted house this Halloween season might be right up your demented alley. Some of the best in the business are just beyond the city’s borders, but we promise — it’s worth the drive for the hair-raising, spine-tingling chills.
Haunted Sanitarium
Theater on the Lake, 2401 N. Lake Shore Drive. 312-742-7994
When: Oct. 12-31
Cost: $8-$10
The experience: Venture through an eerie cemetery, demented dentist’s office, circus, morgue and about a half-dozen other ghoulish rooms. If that’s not enough to creep you out, consider this: Theater on the Lake was actually used as a sanitarium in the 1920s and ’30s.
Fear factor (1-5): 3. Where there’s a circus, there are bound to be clowns. Have you ever seen “Poltergeist”?
Dream Reapers Haunted House
1945 Cornell, Melrose Park. 708-344-2084
When: Now-Oct. 31
Cost: $15; a $25 VIP ticket (purchase in advance at dreamreapers.com) allows you to bypass the line.
The experience: More than 40 actors assist in freaking out the masses who stumble through 14,000 square feet of darkness pierced by strobe lights and high-tech animatronics. No detail is left unattended. Get this: “Scents” accompany each room’s theme (the cemetery smells like dirt, for example).
Fear factor: 5. Realistic odors? That’s about as frightening as it gets.
Statesville Haunted Prison and City of the Dead
17250 S. Weber Rd., Crest Hill.877-722-7332
When: Oct. 4-31
Cost: $30; a $40 VIP ticket (purchase in advance at statesville.org) allows you to bypass the line.
The experience: The terrifying criminal “inmates” of Statesville Prison have escaped and are unleashing bloody terror throughout the cells. And did we mention that you become one of these prisoners when you visit? The Web site suggests bringing kids “only if you want to pay for years of psychiatric treatment.” A visit to City of the Dead, a separate house on the same grounds, is included in the cost.
Fear factor: 5. You’re trapped with escaped convicts going psycho. Need we say more?
The Brookfield Jaycees Haunted House
Jaycee Ehlert Park, 4315 Park Ave., Brookfield. 708-387-4695
When: Oct. 12-31
Cost: $6-$8
The experience: The Brookfield Jaycees have been scaring the living daylights out of haunted house visitors out in Brookfield for 31 years. This non-profit haunt relies less on special effects and more on the freaky talents of live actors.
Fear factor: 4. More than 60 actors attempt to shock you at every nightmarish corner.
Dungeon of Doom
Lake County Fairgrounds, 50 U.S. Highway 45, Grayslake. 262-553-9003
When: Now-Oct. 31
Cost: $14
The experience: Favorite scenes from past years such as “Ultimate Exorcist” and “Buried Dead or Alive” are back for 2007, with new scenes “Skin’d Alive” and “Barbed Wire Corridor” joining the creepy mix. New this year: The 2,000-square-foot “Mercy Hospital.” But apparently people “check in and never check out” of this hospital — consider yourself warned.
Fear factor: 3. Blood and gore are pretty ghastly, but somehow it all feels safer on the county fairgrounds.
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Disturbing news
“Disturbed II” is not a haunted house, per se, but this 15-minute play by Oracle Productions just might be more bone-chilling than any haunted spectacle. Back by popular demand for a second year, the play requires visitors to remain stationary in a confined space as the disturbing, multi-sensory action pops out at them. Performances run every 30 minutes, 8 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. Oct. 12-14, 18-21 and 25-31 at Oracle Theatre (3809 N. Broadway). Tickets: $7-$9; oracletheatre.org or 773-244-2980.
When to go
Days and hours of operation vary for haunted houses; most are open weekends and some evenings. Check metromix.com for full schedules.
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metromix@tribune.com
