PINCKNEY

GHOSTLY GROVE

10055 Dexter-Pinckney Road, Pinckney, MI 48169

(810) 923-7956 or www.ghostlygrove.com

ZIOPTIS SEZ 2019 - NEW KID ON THE BLOCK HITS THE SCENE WITH SUPER SPOOKY FOREST HAUNT

This is a brand new haunt, but you’d never know it from the high production values displayed from start to finish.

It’s super dark and spooky, yet the pathway is clearly marked with miniature lights on the ground.

An impressive infrastructure runs the gamut of small buildings and outdoors scenes, with near limitless hiding spots for the multitudes of monsters, ghouls and such.

One pleasant surprise is a LIQUID SKY DISPLAY (green lasers with fog) that simulates a swamp you descend into. Swamps can have  creepy inhabitants, so watch out!

Later, strobe lighting took on a unique dimension in the forest as the shadows danced to and fro.

Excellent monster interaction and special lighting, and we really liked the giant reaper skeleton dude up in a tree.

Spooky music accents the journey in contrast to deafening silence in other areas.

Misdirection and giant surprises are used effectively. One of our favorites was a freakishly tall dude hidden in plain sight! WOW.

Another fave was the scene on your left with a deer hunter who had a gruesome accident after becoming the prey of Bambi! NAILED HIM.

Also we really liked the dude who is making a major mistake pulling his pet “kitten” across the street. It is NOT a kitten, but a LITTLE STINKER of a skunk. Pee Yew!

Brief periods of sensory depravation give way to colorful spinning lights popping up from the ground, then you find yourself entering a makeshift prison of cages containing various thrashing creatures.

Are these cages secure? They’re trying to get out...OH NO! Great vocalizations from the zombies who followed us...

They have 250 acres here, so the sky’s the limit at this new haunt.

From what we saw the future is very bright for Ghostly Grove!

Note: As with any forest haunt, be sure to wear shoes comfortable for walking outdoors. There’s plenty of hilly terrain to navigate.

ROMULUS

DERANGED HAUNT

35560 Goddard Road, Romulus, MI 48174

(734) 626-9006 or www.DerangedHaunt.com

ZIOPTIS SEZ 2019 - 2nd YEAR OUTDOOR HAUNT UPS ITS’ GAME

SAGINAW

FACTORY OF THE DEAD

906 Lapeer Avenue, Saginaw, MI 48607

(559) 666-DEAD or www.factoryofthedead.com

ZIOPTIS SEZ 2019 -  OUT OF THE GATE AND INTO THE FIRE

This haunt is a giant success story that’s still in the making:

They only had 2 months to set this all up, after moving here from the former HAUNTED ELEMENTARY...but pulled it off big time!

So, as good as it was in 2019, we can expect even more going forward as they have a 5 year lease on a fabulous giant building. They won’t be rushed for next season, and we plan to be there.

Excellent acting and props / scenes throughout!

There’s a highly unique room that comes to life early on, along with a butcher boy with a super wild face who seriously gets in yours.

Juxtaposition rules here, with a toy horse and then a giant Teddy Bear with an even bigger surprise!

Other standouts were Johnny Slit Throat and the devil dude with a highly questionable fetish who sports a cross of all things.

Dan the Grinch makes a surprise entrance as well as the pumpkin head creature, and we really liked Penelope the blonde with a most unusual canine companion. GREAT STUFF!

Rounding out the haunt experience is the 3D GALLERY to finish you off with more crazy canines and PUNCHY THE CLOWN whose face explodes under the powerful black lights.

One more thing about this haunt is something we rarely see...benches to sit on in the queue line. A haunt this good generates big lines, and what a nice touch they let you relax a bit before feeding you to the ghouls and goblins that call FACTORY OF THE DEAD home!

TAYLOR

THE SCREAM MACHINE

23131 Ecorse Road, Taylor, MI 48180

(734) 309-0756 or www.TheScreamMachine.net

ZIOPTIS SEZ 2019 - THE MIGHTY MACHINE REINVENTS ITSELF YET AGAIN

WESTLAND

HUSH HAUNTED ATTRACTION

37550 Cherry Hill, Westland, MI

(734) 502-6026 or www.HushDetroit.com or www.facebook.com/hushdetroit

ZIOPTIS SEZ 2019 - VITAL TRANSFORMATION LAUNCHES HUSH INTO MEGA HAUNT STATUS

Imagine for a moment that you have some friends with a child who is 4 foot tall.

A year goes by until you see them again, and now the child is 24 feet tall! Well, that’s sort of what just happened to HUSH HAUNTED ATTRACTION.

YOUNG HAUNT JUMPS INTO DETROIT MEGA HAUNT SCENE WITH MASSIVE TRANSFORMATION

They grew up big time, becoming a MYSTICAL MANSION LIKE NO OTHER in a flash after moving this year to a brand new 40,000 square foot building on site of the former SKATELAND WEST.

AT HUSH THE ONLY CONSTANT IS CHANGE

Basically they found some estate sales at swanky old mansions and bought everything, then reassembled it all to create a BIG MANSION FEEL.

It’s SIX TIMES bigger than before on Ford Road, and yet there’s still lots of room for expansion. The decrepit main building of Skateland was replaced with a  brand new building, so the infrastructure is top notch to satisfy picky city inspectors.

The makeup and costumes here are Hollywood grade, and the sound and lighting complement the scenes perfectly. The actors round out the package, with lots of clever snarky stuff delivered with a twist. Actors can make or break a haunt, and theirs have been well trained.

The attention to detail is breathtaking at HUSH. It can be overwhelming at times, like in the dining room scene.

This haunt has been growing by leaps and bounds, and the crowds have grown right along as well for good reason. In short...

HUSH HAUNTED ATTRACTION is HOLLYWOOD SLICK & DETROIT RAW!

WILLIAMSTON

BESTMAZE & TRAIL OF TERROR

3803 Noble Road, Williamston, MI 48895

(517) 521-2378 or www.BestMaze.com

ZIOPTIS SEZ 2019 - STANDOUT FAVE DELIVERS THE GOODS!

YPSILANTI

NIGHT TERRORS at WIARD'S ORCHARDS

5565 Merritt Road, Ypsilanti, MI 48197

(734) 390-9206 or www.HauntedHouseMichigan.com

ZIOPTIS SEZ 2019 - INDUSTRY LEADER CONTINUES TO WOW THE CROWDS

There’s so much here it’s mind boggling!

It’s a multi-attraction haunt with a legendary hayride featuring some slickly produced large-scale scenes paired with custom audio tracks. Lots of other smaller scares and monster attacks round things out, and if you survive the reward at the end is cider and donuts. YAY!

The signature HAYRIDE OF THE LOST at NIGHT TERROR’S is new again, and jam packed with thrills, chills, and FIRED UP FREAK OUTS when the cart stops in the middle of town...WOWSER!

The hayride features Old West-like cities with various dramatic stories played out by actors with excellent clarity, and we really liked the amazing array of skeletons of both human and beasts.

Wiard’s also has a KARAOKE theater, roaming performers from beyond, a museum, and a grocery store that will send your taste buds to heaven! Try dipping a fresh hot donut into a jar of apple butter...yummmm

Oh yeah, there’s a massive apple orchard too of course...thank God for apples. History doesn’t reveal its’ alternatives, but we feel it’s safe to say that if it weren’t for apples this place would not exist!

So go ahead and indulge in an APPLE TART while you’re at Wiard’s...gotta grab some WORLD CLASS CIDER too.

Describing everything here is pointless so we’ll be brief. Suffice it to say this is a Legendary Orchard Haunt that is the stuff of magical memories of wild nights with wild friends from many moons ago and still to this day...

The MIND SHAFT will shake you up and spit you out of a mechanical nightmare, before dazzling you with an AWARD WINNING LIQUID SKY DISPLAY! (green lasers with fog)

THE ASYLUM and THE ULTIMATE HAUNTED BARN delivered the goods big time as well during our visit.

Our only regret was getting here too late to also do the ALIEN CAGED CLOWNS feature. Rats! Perfect excuse to go again...

WYANDOTTE

PURGATORY - WYANDOTTE JAYCEES

3161 Biddle Avenue, Wyandotte, MI 48192

(313) 319-1504 or www.facebook.com/WyandotteJayceesHauntedHouse

ZIOPTIS SEZ 2019 - JAYCEES CONTINUE THEIR PROUD TRADITION WITH NON-TRADITIONAL WHACKED OUT WEIRDNESS