Reign of Terror Review

After hearing wonders about this haunted house, I decided to take the drive from the Glendale area (Where I live) all the way to Thousand Oaks to check it out. Even though I knew ahead of time that it was located in an outdoor mall called, "Janss Marketplace", I had a bit of trouble finding it as I was expecting to see a large facade in a parking lot with crowds lined up for it. After doing some wondering and asking around in the shopping area, I finally found the ticket booth - but where was the house?


The people at the booth (Who were wearing make-up to add to the experience) told me to walk down the pathway behind it and then turn right. I did just what he said only to come upon some really dark ally with a small door to the side. Hoping not to get mugged, I approached the door hoping that was where the attraction was. I asked the guy standing there if the house was in there and he said, "Up the stairs".

As soon as I entered the room, I was blown away at what I saw! The entire room was set up like a graveyard with props that jumped out and scared people while they were waiting in line. All of this was brilliant and I'm pretty sure this was a first for a haunt. I really did feel like I was outside when I was really in a giant room on top of a gym (Quite an odd place for a haunt, isn't it?).

Unlike the houses at Knott's or Universal, they only let one group in at a time. It could be a large group of friends, a couple, or in my case, one person. Even though this makes the line a bit longer than it usually should, it's worth it since each group can get all of the scares in the attraction.

As soon as I entered the haunted house, I was stunned with all of the set design, detail, and the scare tactics used. It was so well-done it actually looked (And even smelled) like a Universal haunted house; I'll even go as far as to say that they could've easily dropped this in Halloween Horror Nights and it would have been very well-received. It makes me wonder if the main inspiration for this house was from Universal's event since there were a few scenes that felt like they were inspired by past Halloween Horror Nights mazes like Saw, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Alice Cooper, and House of 1000 Corpses.

With the maze being professionally done with sets and scare tactics, the end product was astounding and was well-worth the forty-five minute trip up there. Whether you're a fan of Universal's event or haunted houses in general, Reign of Terror in Thousand Oaks hails as one of Los Angeles' best haunts.