Midnight Terror Haunted House 2021

Midnight Terror Haunted House
Oak Lawn, IL
Visited on: Friday, October 1, 2021

Vital Signs:
Opened: 2014 originally, 2016 current location
Number of seasons-to-date: 7
Number of attractions: 2
Size: 26,000 square feet
Number of actors: 80
Setting: Indoor
Fun Fact: Midnight Terror is owned and operated by a veteran and Oak Lawn native

As we covered in previous years, it just feels good to support a hometown haunted attraction that is owned and operated by a Marine. Hometown hero, Justin Cerniuk continues to give back to his local community, and the haunted attraction community, by continuing to expand and progress the haunted attraction that started in his Oak Lawn home 21 years ago. Now, in 2021, the monster that is Midnight Terror has grown into a fully-featured professional operation. The cast and crew here have one goal in mind: ensure you don’t sleep a wink tonight!

Midnight Terror Haunted House is housed inside an old textile factory across from the Chapel Hill Gardens cemetery. Even approaching the building, there is an eerie feeling in the air. There are no fancy spotlights, just a tall, shadowy, ominous building that calls for patrons to gander down their long, dark halls. Justin and team embrace the factory roots and have created a detailed storyline based around the Black Oak Gear Factory and residents of Black Oak Grove. The owner of the factory, known as Sledge, summoned a demon known as Malum to increase productivity. As you can imagine, things take a turn for the worst, and all hell breaks loose. His greed has intensified his cruelty to his workers and family, including his daughter, Willow. Each year, Midnight Terror develops their settings around a new chapter in the story. That’s where we get to step into the scene.

Fun Fact: The earliest name on record for the Village of Oak Lawn, Illinois, was Black Oak Grove. The first name for 95th Street? Black Oak Grove Road. We are always excited to learn real history, and even after attending Midnight Terror all these years, we actually just learned this in 2021!

Patrons are escorted into the factory and are inducted as new employees. Through tight halls and spaces, we are witness to the remains of a factory that has been abandoned. Scenes are filled with rusted gears and machinery, smells of decay, and the leftover twisted townsfolk. At no time were we just able to walk through the scenes, paths were twisting and turning forcing us to crouch turn and slide multiple times. Even when crawling through scenes, there were still details around every corner. One of our favorites is smoke exhaust coming from the pipes leaking a smoky yellow hue as you pass. Attention to detail is strong, and helps complete the illusion.

Escaping the factory into the town, we are treated to visits with many of the traditional residents who were just slightly “off their rockers.” Visits to the barber shop and doctor were among our favorite, as the actors were interactive with guests and playful. It wasn’t just about a quick jump scare, but more of a psychological fright. (AND it works!) Of course, no evening out would be complete without a visit to the ice cream man, and Mr. Scoops certainly has the taste we were looking for! (We could swear the ice cream was real!) BUT, we made it through and kept a new friend in Millie and her doll, Skittles.

As we near the end of this chapter of the story, we finally meet up with the tortured and now empowered daughter of Sledge, Willow, who has taken her revenge and celebrates her newly-acquired power. The floor boards glow a red hue and something about this doesn’t seem like it will end well… Exiting the house we run through the woods trying to keep our balance through the swamp (with real running water!). Watch your back in the swamp, there are creatures always lurking in the shadows. As we finally escape the town, we are forced to exit through the old-school “chainsaw alley” for a finish that will keep you running to your car!

To finish it off, there is now a nice courtyard of fun extra activities to do like ax throwing, a palm reader, and several escape rooms!

Monsters of Note: Millie, “Flesh”, Havoc, the baby, Mr. Scoops, the guerilla actress, and of course, Willow

The Bottom Line: Midnight Terror has been extremely busy since we last had the honor of experiencing their work. The team here is always building and improving. In many of the factory scenes, they have now built a second floor on to enhance the size and stature. The detail continues to build each time we step foot inside, and it takes our breath away! Combined with rich storytelling, this is like living through a horror movie! BUT, this MUST be experienced in-person, because mere words won’t do it justice. Make sure you include Midnight Terror in your Halloween plans!

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