Sinister Pointe 2011 Review

From Sinister Pointe

 

The drive to this Haunt was very interesting as I have been through a part of L.A. that I had never seen. There were several Vietnamese restaurants and shops, a gorgeous view of Orange County while going over a hill, and several drivers who had poor judgement of where they were going. If there was anything scarier than a kid on his bike who almost rode out in front of me or almost crashing into a badly rear-ended car on the way, it was my final destination--a haunt located in a cul-de-sac of an industrial area called Sinister Pointe.

The haunt itself is located inside of a warehouse, with the movie Trick 'r Treat playing on a screen at the entrance and several monsters scaring patrons to keep them entertained while waiting in line; there are even some monsters at the side of the building where the tickets are to keep everyone on their toes. Never a dull moment at this place.

As soon as I entered the warehouse, I ended up waiting in another short line that took place indoors like what Reign of Terror in Thousand Oaks did (Read my review on that haunt here). Unlike that haunt, the indoor queue was set in the middle of a foggy swamp with monsters scaring patrons and a large house-like facade that resembled something like it was out of the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre or House of 1000 Corpses. It's pretty obvious that the haunt was influenced by those movies considering that the official theme for this year is "The Texas Hills House Massacre has 1000 Corpses Eyes".

Though I prefer to call these kind of places haunted houses, I think the term "maze" would be more appropriate considering that the whole experience was just that: a literal walk-through haunted maze. This is where I highly recommend buying the All-Nite Scream Pass. Unlike most haunts that you will see on the West coast, there were some spots in the maze where patrons have to pick which way they want to go and do certain things in order to proceed. The interactive elements were alone well worth the $28 dollars I had to pay for the All-Nite pass and the drive down there. Though the scares and the sets would be almost on-par to what you would see at Universal, a major theme park haunt like that or Knott's would never be able to pull off anything like what I saw for crowding reasons; that's the luxury of being an independent haunt.

Sinister Pointe's theme for this year, "The Texas Hills House Massacre has 1000 Corpses Eyes" definitely had about 1000 great effects and scares inside the house as the talent did a frightful job at trying to make me feel like they were going to massacre me before my eyes. See this while you can because next year, there will be a completely new theme like they have every year. That's one thing that makes Sinister Pointe one of the best haunts of the West.