 Over the weekend we had a chance to visit some local haunts, Raymond Hill Mortuary in South Pasadena, Sherwood Scare in Northridge and Backwoods Maze in Burbank. While Backwoods Maze is a great local amateur haunt that is donation only, I have to resist the urge to refer to Raymond Hill Mortuary and Sherwood Scare as "Amateur" haunts, because they aren't. The quality of the mazes and the showmanship is as good, if not BETTER than a lot of professional haunts. We also want to thank our friends at "Is it October Yet" for setting up the schedule for our Haunt night and "Gaming Shogun" for hanging out as well. it was great meeting you and connecting with new friends that are awesome. We had a great time with great people getting scared. Really doesn't get any better than that. Our group for the night:  Raymond Hill MortuarySince we first heard about Raymond Hill Mortuary and heard how good Evil Twin Studios first year Haunt was last year, this was EASILY the most anticipated Haunt of the year. After we got an exclusive Interview with the creative directors back in September, it just upped our anticipation, so we had some pretty lofty expectations for this event. And we are happy to say the event EXCEEDED any expectation we had. It is THAT good. This was, hands down the most terrifying event we've done this year.  The fact that the event is held in what used to be a Mortuary sets the tone as to what is coming. Groups of 8 people at a time are allowed through the event that is part show and part maze. There are about 3 or 4 show scenes and everybody in your group has the chance to become a part of the show. So be aware, there are some "physical" elements to the event. But we had two people in our group who have had neck/back issues in the past few years and neither of them had any issues. The talent in the maze are all volunteers, but don't let that fool you. These scare-actors have such passion for the event and it's totally obvious that the love starts at the top with the creative minds behind the event and trickles down all the way to the talent.  Raymond Hill Mortuary is, HANDS DOWN, the most immersive event we've been to so far in 2014, and considering we aren't getting to any new ones this weekend it's going to keep it's place at the top of our list. If you have ANY WAY to get out to South Pasadena and do this event, you need to. It does sell out every night and lines get up to about 90 minutes. We aren't fans of waiting in lines, but 90 minutes for this event is TOTALLY worth it. Show up early as it will likely be VERY busy this weekend. Plus, you know if celebrities have heard about your event it's gonna be good. Derek Hough from Dancing with the Stars was there with his partner and there will be a feature on Raymond Hill Mortuary on the show tonight.  We want to send a special thanks to Scott and Todd for not only putting on an amazing event, but for being cool guys who have an amazing behind the scenes staff. Thanks to Jennifer for setting up our visit and interview last month. Even the front-end staff at the ticket booth was great, friendly and welcoming. Again, you can tell how much everybody loves putting on this event and I'm going to be so proud to wear my new Evil Twin Studios T-shirt ... a LOT!! For more info about Raymond Hill Mortuary check out their website, and you can save $2 if you buy your tickets online. Sherwood ScareLike Raymond Hill Mortuary, Sherwood Scare is in NO WAY an Amateur Haunt. Located in a neighborhood in Northridge you'd never think that a professional haunt of this magnitude would exist here. The story, the technology and the talent in this maze are as good if not better than what you'll see at Universal, Knott's or Fright Fest. The story revolves around an abandoned movie studio and just has so many small touches that make it great from classic movies to great Shirley Temple inspired movie posters.  The maze itself is a good 5-10 minutes, which for being in a backyard is pretty amazing. The maze is downright scary, creepy, entertaining and engaging and is a must-do for any Haunt fan. Again, we don't want to spoil anything but for $3 (that goes to Cystic Fibrosis) it's hands down amazing.  Like Raymond Hill, the staff out front is great and only about 9 or 10 people get to go through the maze at a time. So lines can get long, and will likely be long this weekend. We did support their Kickstarter and had front of the line passes but we ended up not using them since most in our group didn't have them. So there's a VERY good chance we'll end up back at Sherwood Scare this weekend. For more on Sherwood Scare check out their website. They are open Thursday, Friday and Saturday this week.
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