Fear Fest 2017
Fear Fest
South Beloit, IL
Reviewed on: Sunday, October 8, 2017
Sitting right on the Illinois-Wisconsin border, located in South Beloit, Illinois just 1 mile East of Interstate 90 is Fear Fest. This attraction is ready to bring a night of frights and fun for the whole family. Celebrating their 19th year of fear in Northern Illinois, they bring 3 different types of attractions to the table.
As we began our night, the first attraction was “The Haunted Barn”. Set up with your traditional pop scares, this was the perfect way to start out the night. From the up and down stair usage of the real barn, to the dirt floors, to the tight black hallways, the actors within this attraction were spot on with their attacks. One of our favorite parts was the chainsaw. Now, many attractions have some type of “chainsaw guy” in their house, but this actor was relentless and NEVER backed down from our group. Just when we thought he gave up on us, he came back hungry for more.
Making our way to the second attraction, “The Haunted Hayride”, patrons were loaded onto a wagon and taken out into the fields. Under the moonlit skies above, we were driven past scenes that brought terror to life. What makes the hayride even better, just when you least expect it, actors attacked from the night and bombarded our wagon. With many shrieks and screams from the others on the hayride with us, it definitely caught everyone off guard!
Last but not least, we made our way to the third attraction, “The Funhouse”. Set up as the name says, you enter and are greeted by a tarot card reader. Choosing to either contact the spirits by a Ouija board, or have our futures read, our group chose to have our futures read. Each picking a card, the girl told us our futures based on the tarot card. What made it even freakier, was that what she said to us, was true to most of our group – and they didn’t even know who we were! Bravo to this actress for portraying a wonderful role and getting our group amped up for more!
Weaving through scenes, we came upon different rooms in the funhouse where our group was stopped. We had the opportunity to play ring toss or eyeball toss and won a prize if you played. From there we entered the wax museum, where our horror movie icon character trivia was put to the test, the outcome if we were successful… CANDY! We even were asked to join Alice at dinner as she prepared us our food, body part candy. We have NEVER experienced the opportunity to “trick-or-treat” and receive candy throughout an attraction before and it really made this a lot of fun!
The actors and actresses within the funhouse really had some witty banter with our group. As we left the building, we all had smiles on our faces and pockets full of treats and goodies for our car ride home.
The Bottom Line: For a night of all types of fright, Fear Fest is the place for you. With different types of attractions offered, it makes it a great night to spend with family and friends. Plus an added bonus that you get to leave with some pretty great treats in your pockets!
– Official Haunted House Chicago Review Team Review
