While the Chambers doesn’t use extensive sets or elaborate costuming and makeup, its masks are effective in the darkness that envelops much of the haunt. A favorite technique is to plunge hauntgoers into blackness after encountering bright strobe lights, making them easy prey for the attraction’s crew of aggressive haunt veterans. Popular slasher icons permeate the more elaborate scenes, with Freddy Krueger strutting his stuff by being in two places at once. The building becomes the show, with doors that open onto walls, ceilings that collapse, telescoping hallways and walls that hurtle toward the unwary. And if you’ve been through before, they’ve sadistically changed the exits from many of the existing traps. And don’t think that reaching the concession area means it’s over.
THE WAIT: Lines can be long (45 minutes or more), and the tour takes about 20-25 minutes.
DETAILS: Open 8 p.m. to midnight
Fridays (and Oct. 30) and 8 p.m.-1 a.m. Saturdays through Oct. 30. 1601
S. University Blvd., Middletown, Exit 32 off I-75, www.thechambers.org
THE DAMAGE: $10 (a $1 off coupon available on web site, and donating a canned good will also knock off a buck)
CITYBEAT RATING: NC-17
