Fright Haven: Rottentail's Revenge

Pawtucket, RI

Website: https://frighthaven_easter.com/

Pricing: $25-60

Type: Haunt

Setting: Indoor

Full Contact Option: No

Overview

I admit that Haunted Easter doesn’t come off in great taste, despite the common theme of rising from the grave. However being the day before Easter, I can write it off as just some twisted rabbit fun. In another universe, I’m sure the Trix Rabbit was destined to snap and murder the children who keep him from his long desired cereal. But they were only trying to prevent him from unneeded ingestion of maltodextrin and GMO flour; they were the unsung heroes all along.

So, no Trix rabbits here though, just a malformed one that offers a photo op, and a bloody—yet cuter—one that gives you hard candy. Or maybe drugs. The remainder of the actors were traditional ghouls with glowing ears and another with some choice prosthetics that bumped into me and necessitated a follow-up letter to the Title IX department. Oh, and the carrot man. We can’t forget the carrot man. I only saw him outside, but that was all I needed.

The general haunt was similar to the one during Halloween, being a haunted hotel, with a brilliant wonky elevator start. You’re ‘checked in’ by the bellhop and then the elevator crashes, and you exit out into a maze of hotel rooms. Some are separated by walls, and others with stacks of luggage, so the divisions are creative.

For the first half, it was smooth sailing, and we were able to take out time. Then we started to bump into the group ahead of us since they had a baker’s dozen and couldn’t seem to walk faster than the undead doing the haunting. We tried to purposely slow down, but then the group behind us started to encroach, likely blaming *us* for the slowdown. If they only knew…

There were a few other unique features in the haunt, like a collapsing crossway. It took us by surprise last October, but the cattlecar effect made it trigger for the group ahead of us (as did pretty much every other motion activated trigger). It did have the effect of resetting as we walked on it, so that was something, I suppose.

Then it was over and three hours of driving awaited to get home. There was a merch shop with the usual t-shirts and leggings, but I have enough swag from all the other events I’ve been to. Overall it was fun, but probably better to do later towards closing when there isn’t other people you’re going to crash into.

Notable Moment

One of the ghouls liked my hair and wanted it. I offered, but he just sort of pretended to grab it.

Photos

Ratings

Ambience:

The hotel theme and the accompanying touches lifted it above a traditional haunt. I liked the faulty elevator, the process of 'checking in', and the way the rooms had you entering and exiting in odd ways, rather than the standard doors. Detail kept up the illusion of a sprawling building, rather than a maze.

Value:

It's right in the middle of the standard pricing, and the experience was well worth that amount.

Scares:

Actors were plentiful, and seemingly outnumbered the patrons several fold. They did a great job with makeup and the screams. Costumes felt a little shoehorned into the seasonal motif, but were unique and didn't appear to be rebrandings of the Halloween characters. The proper bunny actors had a good mix of frightening and bloody/funny.