Nightmare's Gate Haunted House 2021 Haunt Review

On Friday, September 24th, Nightmare’s Gate Haunted House opened their doors to their first unsuspecting victims for the 2021 Haunt Season with their two Haunted Attractions: “Haunted Hospital” & “Terror Falls”

In our 12th Year in Douglasville we have expanded to two haunts. The Haunted Hospital will still be in the left side of the Southern Lanes Bowling Center and will now be known as "HAUNTED HOUSE #1".

We have also purchased the old Dazzles Skating Rink location, just the length of a football field up the road. This will be "HAUNTED HOUSE #2".

For the 2021 and 2022 seaons Nightmare's Gate will produce the "Haunted Hospital" in Haunted House #1 and a smaller add on show "Terror Falls" in Haunted House #2. In 2023 we will move everything to the old Dazzles location for a new larger haunt experience so that our friends at Southern Lanes can grow!

In Haunted Hospital you will find the monsters of Legend, Havoc, Nurses Ratchet and Goodfinger and so much more in the abandoned Hospital Research Facility.

In Terror Falls you will travel deep into the woods where the locals have gone missing and the Military Search and Rescue group has gone in and not come back out. You and your group of concerned citizens are going to venture into the swamp to bring them back. Good luck.

This was our first year getting to attend the haunt and we only found out about it from ANOTHER Haunted House, “Containment”. We had finished our run of “Containment” and the workers there told me to come check this one out before they closed for the night. I left “Containment” at 11:30pm, and made it to “Nightmare’s Gate” at 11:40pm. I was able to purchase my tickets and attend both attractions in perfect timing!!

So what did this popup house for us do? Did we get what thought we would out of it? Was it worth the hassle to fly over to this house from a totally different one? Would the recommendation pay off? Time to find out as we break down…

Nightmare’s Gate Haunted House

For this year’s haunt review, we have broken down each haunt that we are visiting into

6 Categories: Sets, Costumes/Makeup/SFX, Technical Effects, Scares, Pacing, and Actors.

Each category is rated on a scale of 1-5 Screams and then averaged out to give an Overall Rating. This new system is to ensure that we are not in any way biased and are giving each attraction that we visit the same fair and equal treatment that they each deserve.

Because this particular haunt has 2 attractions, we are going to be breaking down both attractions, and then we will average score for each category to get our Overall Rating.

With this new system in mind, let’s break down each of our 6 Categories for Nightmare’s Gate Haunted House’s 2021 Haunt!!

Initial Thoughts – Upon arriving at Nightmare’s Gate, you can be led to think you may have ended up in the wrong place. You’re met with a genuine sense of confusion. Why is this? Well, it could be because rather than seeing plain as day, a haunted house, you rather see a bowling alley. Not exactly the sight you would expect to see at a Top Rated Haunted Attraction. However, you would be shocked to know that you are in EXACTLY the RIGHT PLACE. While the majority of the building IS a bowling alley, if you look off to the FAR LEFT SIDE, you will find the haunted attraction. There is a small sign on the door that reads “Nightmare’s Gate” and there is a small ticket booth where you can purchase your tickets. Other than that, there’s not a whole lot happening out in the parking lot, granted this could be because I arrived 20 minutes before the attraction was set to close, but still there wasn’t much happening. Then, there is another haunt that is listed, but you can’t find it. You have to drive up the road to find the other haunt building, which also doesn’t appear to be much. All there is are some words on the top of the building that reads “Haunt #2”. There’s not a whole lot of pizzazz to the building. But, you know you are in the right place when you arrive.

Also, at the end of the first Haunt, you will find a giftshop of sorts that sort of resembles a pop-up Halloween store. Then, at the end of the 2nd haunt, it appears to have the look of a pop-up giftshop, but it is not even finished. There is no place to purchase anything. The walls are completely bare. And it looks like a construction site. It’s a little disappointing.

Sets – Haunt #1 (5/5) & Haunt #2 (4/5) – 4.5/5 Screams – In terms of the sets at Nightmare’s Gate, there are some very cool things happening. When you first enter the first attraction, “Haunt #1: Haunted Hospital”, you enter this immaculate boiler room scene. There is all sorts of detail work to make sure you actually feel like you have entered the boiler room of an actual hospital. It’s quite impressive how much detail is put into just that one scene alone. As you continue through the haunt, you see many other amazing pieces of set work that actually are reminiscent of an actual hospital. You actually enter into the waiting room, you go pass operating tables, you go through the morgue. It is VERY impressive. Then, in “Haunt #2: Terror Falls”, you literally feel like you are walking around outside on a campsite of sorts. There are trees all over the room, you walk over an ACTUAL LAKE with a RUNNING WATERFALL, which we will discuss later on as well. There is shrubbery that looks like you are wading in the knee high water, there is a cabin sitting in the woods, there is even a bridge that you walk over and it is designed like an actual brige. The only reason, that Haunt #2 gets less than 5 Screams, is because there is one location in the haunt where I literally walked by the cables that were powering everything and they were just hanging in mid-air. There was no clear effort to hide them, and it was very evident that there was this ‘magical’ power-strip just floating around in the room. That was my ONLY complain for the entire attraction.

Costumes/Makeup/SFX – Haunt #1 (5/5) & Haunt #2 (5/5) - 5 Screams – Both attractions had some great costumes, makeup, and special effects. Every actor seemed to be unique and was not matching anybody else and that is always important to me. They did a great job with their costuming and makeup to create unique characters all around.

Technical Effects – Haunt #1 (4/5) & Haunt #2 (5/5) – 4.5 Screams – The technical effects of a haunted house are always important. For Nightmare’s Gate, they definitely were using them to their advantage in SOME places. Throughout both haunts, the attractions used lighting and sounds to create a fantastic ambiance that made you feel like you were actually walking through a haunted hospital or a haunted trail. There is one moment in “Haunt #2” that I have to give some immense props to because what they did was incredible in my opinion. When you enter the haunt, you walk over a collection of bridges. Many of the bridges are really nice sturdy wooden bridges. Well, as you walk on these bridges, you literally walk OVER WATER. It was one of the coolest uses of running water I’ve ever seen used in a haunted attraction. There is an actual pool that the bridge goes over, and attached to the pool is a giant waterfall. It was incredibly impressive. And not only that, but you also at one point walk directly over the pool of water and next to the waterfall on a rope bridge. This effect was done so beautifully that I can’t help but be amazed by it!!

Scares – Haunt #1 (5/5) & Haunt #2 (4/5) – 4.5 Screams – Throughout both haunts, there were some really great moments and some rather dull moments. Many of the great scaring moments occurred as I went through Haunt #1. It seemed that every corner I turned, I was getting scared by something. It didn’t matter how the scare was executed or what was doing it, I was getting SCARED. Then in the 2nd Haunt, there were still some pretty good scares being delivered, but they were not quite as often. In fact, through much of the 2nd haunt, there was a lot of dead space. Now this could have been due to the time that I came through, but it still had a negative effect on my trip. However, the few scares that I did receive were done very well and got me to jump. There was one area where it COMPLETE DARKNESS and I couldn’t see ANYTHING, and something made a noise or jumped at me and it scared the crap out of me. It was pretty great!!

Pacing – Haunt #1 (3/5) & Haunt #2 (3/5) - 3/5 Screams – The pacing of the two haunts was not great. The buildings that you entered into seemed to be a rather large location, but you were done with each haunt rather quickly. This could have been due, in part, to the fact that I was alone and it was the end of the night, so they were probably trying to get me out quickly, but still, I was done with the first haunt in a matter of 10 minutes, and the 2nd one in probably less than that. I was disappointed with the pacing and length of the haunts because I wanted more. I feel that there could have been a lot more room to play with, but perhaps I am mistaken.

Actors/Team – Haunt #1 (5/5) & Haunt #2 (4/5) – 4.5/5 Screams – In each of the haunts that I went through, they were both running low on actors. I am going to attribute this to the fact that I had arrived at the location a mere 20 minutes before closing time, so I won’t dock them points for that. While there were very few actors in each haunt, the ones that WERE in there, were 100% committed the entire time that I was there. Everyone was trying to their fullest extent to make sure I was getting scared and they were all remaining in character. The only reason I docked “Haunt #2” was because there was ONE thing in the haunt where there was one of those giant puppets that Is operated by an actor and there was nobody there to operate the puppet. So that left me slightly disappointed, but other than that the actors and team there were great! Even with me arriving at the last minute, the team was still very welcoming to me and more than happy to let me experience the attraction. I have no major complaints.

Overall Rating: 4/5 Screams

Overall, Nightmare’s Gate Haunted House was a fun experience for our team. We were very pleased to get the unique experience of going through alone, and were equally impressed with what we found on the inside of this attraction. The team was very kind to us and they seemed to enjoy what they were doing as well. I highly recommend that everyone go check out this haunt this season for yourself, and let us know if you agree or disagree with our rating for it. Be sure to send in your ratings to us!!

Nightmare’s Gate Haunted House Ticket Info:

You can purchase tickets when you arrive at Nightmare’s Gate, or you can purchase tickets online. Tickets are good for any day of the season.

Haunted Hospital (Main Show): $25.00

Haunted Hospital + Terror Falls*: $35.00

*The add on show "Terror Falls" can only be seen by purchasing a combo ticket

$5.00 - $14.00

Nightmare’s Gate Haunted House will be open on select evenings from September 24th – October 31st .

Follow Their Social Media For More Information & To Keep Up With Them:

Facebook: Nightmare’s Gate Haunted House (@nightmaresgatehauntedhouse)

Instagram: @nightmaresgatehauntedhouse

Twitter: @nightmaresgate

Website: https://nightmaresgate.com/index.html

Location: 3931 and 3844 Longview Drive, Douglasville GA.

Be Sure To Go Check Out Nightmare’s Gate Haunted House

This Season And Let Us Know What You Think!!

Maybe You Don’t Agree With Our Rating!

You Can Send In Your Thoughts To Us

And Play Along At Home As Well!!

We’d Love To Hear From You!!

Until Next Time,

Be Safe Out There,

Don’t Text And Drive,

And Be Excellent To Each Other!

Take Care Everybody