Domum Diaboli Haunted House 2019

 

Domum Diaboli Haunted Home Haunt
Shorewood, IL
Reviewed on Friday, October 25, 2019

 

Since 1999, Haunted House Chicago has reviewed haunted attractions all over the Chicagoland area. From low-budget non-profit fundraisers, to high-budget commercial mega-productions, and everything in-between. What makes HHC different is that we don’t have multiple teams in order to review as many as possible. We take a scientific approach, and take one team, composed of the same people, and have them visit between 40-50 attractions each year. As you can imagine, this is no easy feat. But, we are very proud of the results it produces.

With that being said, our schedule over each Halloween season becomes very compact. We try our hardest to make sure we visit every attraction within 100 miles of Chicago, and we still have a few that end up having to be rescheduled to the next season. So, one classification of attraction that we haven’t had an opportunity to include are home haunts. Now, that isn’t because we deem them lower in quality, or don’t think they are worth our time, but rather it is more of a scheduling issue: most home haunts aren’t operating as many days as the typical main-stream attractions.

We were contacted by the owner of Domum Diaboli. He wrote a very convincing message on why we should make sure his attraction was part of our 2019 review schedule. It was a great read, and the moment we finished, we looked at our schedule to make sure we could make it happen.

Now, if you aren’t familiar with home haunts, don’t worry: we weren’t either. We started to conjure up images of this being a real-life version of the home haunt featured on the TV-show, “Roseanne.” (The classic “Tunnel of Terror”!) And while we were actually excited about this, it would have been a drastically different style of attraction than the others included on our traditional review schedule.

Not knowing what to expect, we arrived in a small suburb section of Shorewood, IL. We actually passed the house, and had to explore deeper into suburbia to circle around, and find a good parking spot. Please keep in mind that there is no parking lot, and parking is on residential streets. We imagine the owners of Domum Diaboli are well-liked by their community, because we heard the traditional metal music about a block away. (Which does work perfectly with the name of this attraction: “Devil’s Home.”)

Following the siren’s song, we arrived to the front of the haunt. The team here converted half of the residential house with a façade that would rival the exterior of many of our professional haunted attractions. There was a line of folks snaking up to the entrance, and everyone was in a bursting mood. The show began similarly to most every other attraction, we understood the rules, were welcomed to the attraction, and gave our obligatory “hail satan” before entering into the madness.

The tour followed a path that could be compared to other traditional attractions. Spaces were tight, but actors were plentiful and hungry. Scenes were appropriately decorated and within about 30 seconds, we completely forgot that we were in someone’s house! Transported to a traditional haunt path, we went through multiple scenes including the bedroom and even given a taste of the soup in the kitchen!

But, then we were led outside into the second part of the tour. Even though this was technically the backyard, we could have sworn we were at a non-residential attraction. Once again, actors were around every corner, leading up to the grand-finale alter scene. (AND maybe a classic surprise ending too.)

The Bottom Line: First of all, this is FREE. So, even if it was horrible, we would tell you that you should go and support the community. But, the problem is that it is a solid attraction. It is fun, there are number of great scares, and actors who are there just to make sure you are entertained and loving the season. This is by far the best value anywhere, and absolutely worth your time. AND since they don’t want to charge, we would recommend donating a few bucks to their choice of charity.

On a larger note, we are grateful to the owner and team of Domum Diaboli for a great experience, and for opening our eyes to other home haunts.  We were even provided a directory of nearly 100 other home haunts and yard displays supported by Chicago Haunt Builders. While we can’t promise to stop by all of them, we certainly will be taking them into consideration for stops in 2020 and beyond!

But, don’t just take our word for it, check out these images from our visit:

 

 

– Official Haunted House Chicago Review Team Review