House of Torment

I am quite disappointed that they don’t offer any gluten-​free options.
Also very bad customer service, these monsters keep trying to scare me.

I’ve been here 3 times this season. Once before Halloween, once on Halloween, and then just recently for black-​out.
This isn’t the absolute piss your pants scariest haunted house I’ve been to but damn it’s good and fun. Surprisingly on Halloween the waits for general admission really wasn’t bad at all. The longest was the first house — about a ²⁵⁄₃₀ min wait and the next two were only about 15 minutes each. Considering there were creepers and actors running around having a fabulous time harassing those waiting in line it made the time go by even faster. Face scream dude was good but got annoying real quick when SomeOne decided it was a great idea to grab me and hold me in front of him so I could get a facial screaming. Not cool.
What is making me sadly give House of Torment a measly 2 stars is that on blackout, the wait to get the tickets was insanely stupidly long as there were only 2 people at the registers. 2!!! 2 I tell you! It was ridiculous. We waited for over an hour just to get close to the ticket window even though we showed up just shortly after it opened. Even peeps who bought their tickets online were having to wait a good bit. And as previous reviewers have also mentioned, they do send in too many people at a time.
That said, blackout was awesome and it’s worth getting the fast pass for that. No actors outside to harass you so the wait is very long and boring.

I went the day after Halloween. I have been here several times but it was the first time for my honey. I don’t get scared easily, but he screamed a lot and had a lot of fun. I’m not sure if they were understaffed, but the last house we walked with minimum interaction with the actors. I am a fan and I would go back, but the changes from last time I was here were not very noticeable, but for a few effects. If I base my ratings on the actors alone I would give it 5 stars plus. I look forward to next year to see what’s new and to hear my Rollie scream and laugh.

On paper, House of Torment is awesome — 3 different houses, high production value, and very dedicated and intense actors. In practice, it was ruined by a fatal flaw: sending too many people through it, too quickly.
We went last Friday, and forked out for the instant access option ($ 50 a pop, no joke). While it was nice to skip the line at all 3 houses, much of the surprise was ruined by the extremely large groups of people going through within 10 – 15 seconds of each other. We’d often turn a corner just in time to see an actor who had just startled the group before us disappear back into the shadows, or in most cases, still just be in plain sight.
None of us felt like we got our money’s worth, so we talked to someone at the ticket office about possibly going through again, and they admitted they’re sending groups together one right after another due to the rain (it was sprinkling lightly at best the entire evening). She was indignant and refused to budge, despite this admission. We eventually got a manager involved and he nicely gave us one more round through the main house.
Overall, I’d say it’s not worth the money to get in, largely due to the large volume of guests.

After going toTerror in the Corn, The 13^th Floor and The Asylum in Denver, Colorado, I guess my expectations were just too high for haunted houses. The 3 houses at the House of Torment were OK.
1. It seemed like they were pretty understaffed tonight — despite the overall course not being that long, there were very long periods spent walking through without any actors interacting with us. Also, even though the lines were really short tonight, they were sending groups in too close to each other. We were going quite slow but still ended up closely following the groups before us.
2. What pissed me off the most was that half the time, it looked like the actors did their own makeup and costumes. The clowns in the Slaughterhouse had the worst costumes and makeup… but they were very committed actors, which I enjoyed. I guess I just find it really unfair that they market it as something master makeup artists are involved in, but a ton of the actors seemed to have just basic face paint. It was like they spent 5 hours on like 6 of the actors, and everyone else was just on their own. So disappointing!!! Wish I skipped it.
3. The Slaughterhouse (3^rd) itself was also very disappointing overall… there were like a total of 8 limbs hanging around randomly and the rest was a wooden maze type of thing. You could see the flags for the entrance as you went through and a lot of the time it was just walking through without any actors. Sad.
4. The themes seemed really ALL over the place for all of these — I wish there was more commitment to a solid theme for each house rather than having crazy random mash in all of them. If you really want to creep people out, you have to seriously commit to the story you’re telling.
Location is also off putting. I wish I could send all y’all to Colorado to learn about some truly great haunted houses.
Other notes:
Lines were not bad for a Sunday night. Staff was friendly. Bird Lady Monster was awesome — I wish all of the characters were on that level! The family ahead of us brought their kid who couldn’t have been older than 8 — he was too scared to even go in the first door and had to wait outside :(There are only port-​a-​potties, so pee at home before you come lol
Will NOT be returning next year! I really wanted to like this place but was just left disappointed… This isn’t for people looking for impressive creativity or commitment to art. Despite the fact that I wasn’t really too scared or into it, I still did my best to get into it and encourage the actors but being scared for them. They are good actors, just understaffed since the management wasn’t willing to spend more on makeup/​theme development I guess.

For 30 bucks I got my thrill. Reasonable scares. Plenty of waiting but there were costumed staff available to chat with. All 3 houses had their ups and downs with the first being my favorite. We thought we got off easy until a crazy dude with a chain saw popped up behind us and chased us out the house. More than just jump scares were employed. Wouldn’t recommend for little kids but I certainly got a kick out of it. Would have been 5 starred if the last house had more thrill. Apparently somebody was hurt and half the actors left but they continued the attraction regardless with barely any staff. We sort of walked around waiting for characters that never showed. Other than that awesome!

I’ve gone several years in a row now and have never been disappointed until now. The first house was excellent, it was very interactive, the sets were awesome and there were lots of characters in every part of the house. The second house was really neat but there weren’t a lot of characters around so there wasn’t much of a scare factor. Finally the third house… I was extremely excited that there would be a clown house because myself, along with several others in our group are terrified of clowns. It was the most advertised as well. Unfortunately, the entire house was a maze so it all looked the same and it had a completely open ceiling so you could hear people outside of house talking and you could also see through the walls into the parking lot/​mall area. It was bright enough to see everything and a lot of the clowns didn’t seem to take advantage of the hiding spaces so we could see all of them coming. I would definitely suggest that they take the time to redo the clown house or at least try to put some sort of roof over the top so it’s darker and scarier.

This was our first time there. Quite a few scary parts in the first house. Second one was pretty good. Third one, we would’ve been better off skipping.
We went on a Saturday night… BIG mistake! There were sooo many people that were being ushered through. I wish they would’ve given more time between groups entering the houses. As it was, it was just one big huge line going through them.
There should be line monitors. Even though the rules state no line jumping or saving places, it sure didn’t stop groups of kids from doing just that. Happened at each attraction.
For a Saturday night, I figured that they’d be fully staffed. Each attraction had fewer and fewer actors in them.
I think next year we will find a different haunted house to go to.

Worst haunted house ever actors not in character waste of money and paid for the immediate pass, went at 1040 no one did anything, they shuttled people in like cattle, not a single scare in all three houses, staff practically on break, fright dome in Las Vegas is 1000 times better

I go every year but this year it was horrible! They only care about the fast pass and forgot about the people that paid for a regular ticket! We finally had to remind them about us and be rude about it. Horrible horrible costumer service. I was VERY disappointed.

This was my 1^st visit to House of Torment
So I opted to purchase our tickets online and we picked the 7pm tour. We arrived 30 minutes early for 2 large lines. We didn’t get to enter the 1^st house till 715 pm. That means it was a 45 minute wait. Next year we are just going to pay the extra price for Instant access! (NO LINES for us!
We enjoyed the Creepy cast come out to take pictures with us and help the time in the line go by faster. We enjoyed the Dancers and the Zombie on the roof.
Out of the 3 houses in this Haunt. House 1 is by far the best experience. I cracked up so hard that I pulled muscles in my abdomen and under my ribs when I seen my teenager nephew scream as loud as little girl not even 30 seconds after walking in. I kid you not he jumped back at least 3 feet and was about to run back out the way he came in. This was By far so worth the money to see him freak out so bad. I am still laughing thinking about it. Don’t get me wrong I was screaming too plenty of times as we walked through this Haunted house. I swear I must have grabbed my chest a few time and screamed OMG… I must of been pretty scared because I stepped on my poor nephews heels at 5 times in house one. FYI, Don’t wear a sweater its hot in here!
House 2 for what ever reason the line seemed to take longer then house one but we were closer to getting in. I didn’t care for all the stairs or elevated or slanted floors. To be honest we were longer in line then walking through house 2. Which I believe was 5 minutes all together. But they did have a pretty cool fog lake effect it felt like we were walking through a swamp.
Haunted house #3 or shall I say the Slaughter House There was NO line we walked right up showed are tickets and walked right in. Warning in this house there is a lot of interaction and in your face scares with screaming and swinging objects and more this house is highly interactive and they push the envelope to make you beg them to stop.
At one point they corned someone in my party in to the wall thus crushing me in to the wall. definitely hands on scaring here. If you got little ones don’ bring them in this house.
We took advantage of all the photo opts with the Hearse, and picture spots and bought the Haunt photo $ 10.00 for 1 or 2 for 15.00.
We will be back next year. I just dont know if my nephew will be with us. just kidding… I think my family is demented because we love getting the crap scared out of us!
By the way if you get thirsty 1 can of soda cost $ 2.00.
If you need to use the bathroom understand you are using a port-​a-​potty if your like me your hovering and praying to GOD the snake doesn’t climb up the port-​a-​potty and bite you.

I’ve gone five years in a row and have long since learned the vital rule to wear diapers beforehand.

Last night I went to this place with my daughter — was the worst experience of my life! One of the actors spit in my mouth while I was screaming! !! You can only imagine how shocked I was — when I ask him why he spit in my mouth he said «you were in my territory». Does anyone have ANY suggestions of what I can do? I don’t even give it a star but because Unilocal makes you put at least one so I can post this — a huge negative number is what I say!

Opening night 2015. There was no one there — including most of the employees! We were literally walking through parts of the three attractions, asking, «Umm. Isn’t something supposed to be happening now?» Pretty sure they were operating at only a fraction of the staff.
The attractions themselves were uninspired. Strobe lights, disorienting music, then someone screams at you. Repeat. Previous years have been much better, with interesting scares, clear themes, etc. We still had fun and it was worth the $ 25, but a lot of it seemed half-​hearted.

In 1999, Keiichiro Toyama unleashed a nasty little video game called Silent Hill upon the world. I was a strapping young lad (not really), full of testosterone and in the prime of my life. And that game would regularly scare the shit out of me. I would shut it off suddenly, forced to let weeks pass until I could even bear to turn it on again.
It was almost a decade later, when I happened to read an interview with Mr. Toyama. In it, he mentioned the clunky controls, which were a hallmark of the series, even as sequels beget sequels, the processing power and graphics continued to be refined and evolve. But not the controls.
He said «manipulating the character was always meant to feel strained. We never wanted you to feel like you were fully in control. This helped to make the game more of a cinematic experience, and encourage you to run, rather than fight.» You see, good controls mean that finesse is possible. Finesse leads to proficiency, and the proficient can fight back.
Such is the case with House of Torment: Zombie Apocalypse. So my first House of Torment experience wasn’t during Halloween. It wasn’t even a «haunted house» per se… when you can fight back, it diminishes the level of fear significantly. But it was still a helluva ride.
You remember Aliens (the second movie)? It’s basically that, but with zombies instead. You’re armed with a laser\airsoft replica AR-​15, you get sent in with a small group, and you blast zombies. Sounds fun right? It is, wild fun actually… but with a few caveats.
1) The employees weren’t really into it: One of the things Disney understands better than anyone else, is that a fantasy experience begins the moment you get out of your car. Whether you’re standing in line, or buying a ticket, there needs to be elements of believability. When the zombies are standing outside smoking, and the lady scanning your ticket would rather be getting an enema than reciting the rules for the 10,000^th time, it kills your enthusiasm, just a little. The fact that my buddy and I were wearing giraffe onsies should have created a little bit of excitement in the staff, but nope, they looked at us like we were idiots. Which we are.
2) The equipment needs to be better serviced: So the first room you go into, they hand you an AR-​15 replica. The magazine has a small compressed air canister, so when you squeeze the trigger, it recoils a little bit and makes a noise. The zombies wear bluetooth collar type things that glow red when you get a headshot. Pretty slick.
The problem lies with the guns themselves. The safety on a real AR-​15 is a binary affair. It’s either safe, or ready to go bang. The replica… well, it behaved more like a dial. If it wasn’t completely vertical, the gun wouldn’t fire. If the magazine isn’t seated properly, the gun wouldn’t fire. It took me about 3 minutes to troubleshoot this thing in the dark, which doesn’t sound like a big deal, until you realize that the entire course only took about 10 minutes. Which leads me to my next point…
3) The entire course took about 10 minutes: I really, really wanted this thing to last at least twice as long. It was so intense, and so much fun! The sets were really well designed, with lots of red herrings and unexpected zombie placement. But each ticket was $ 35. $ 35 for 10 mins? That’s Champagne Room pricing.
4) Shit was broke: Even though you purchased tickets for a specific entrance time, they didn’t care. An employee literally told me «You could buy an 11PM ticket and just get in line whenever.» Then why the fuck did you have me sign up for a specific time?
They also had IR cameras placed throughout the course, presumably to capture photos so they could sell them to you afterwards. My buddy and I gleefully bounded up to the counter afterwards, ready to fork over more money. But nope, the cameras were experiencing «communication issues.» Boo.
Overall Zombie Apocalypse was a great concept that got hung up on a few execution snags. With House of Torment’s reputation for continuous improvement, I’m sure it will be better next year, and I’ll gladly do it over again.

Halloween is upon us, it’s one of my favorite holidays during my favorite season of year so it’s only appropriate to give these guys some kudos. It’s definitely a 4-​star experience as there’s no other Haunted House in the area that’s close to what these guys have — which is quite elaborate. I’ve been here 3x in the past few years and it gets better each year which is another reason why I’m a House of Torment fan — they continuously improve.
There are 3 separate Haunted Houses you walk though, the 1^st one (IMO) is the best, however the remaining 2 are respectable. I dig the moving and unstable bridges, some are on an angle, and I really liked walking through the compressed pathway — where you’re smashed between 2 large air balloons and can’t see a thing. You have to keep walking and feel your way out between the crevice — — that was so cool. Part of the last Haunted House (3^rd) has no roof so it’s open to the sky, some may prefer to walk through this when it’s dark outside — but they still put on a great show.
There’s a lot of monsters hiding who pop out and yell and scream. I was expecting it to happen at every corner but a couple of them did catch me off guard. The makeup and most of the costumes were pretty solid and looked authentic and real, but what impressed me the most was everyone’s efforts in keeping it real and giving it their best performance. Every monster /​henchman /​psycho /​ghoul /​zombie /​freak played their part and never let down or killed the moment. Quality dedication and performances that enhance the experience, you can tell they just love what they do.
If I could make a recommendation, it would be nice to see more zombie /​blood bath /​eating organs and corpses effect. There are a couple of areas that would be great for that like the bathtubs, plus there’s enough light to patrons to see. Also have corpses lying in the bookshelves and stick their arm out when we walk by — — although there are probably rules that don’t allow them to touch anyone, but you can always poke (like FB) — — nothing wrong with that!
Here’s some tips I’ve learned that may enhance your experience:
— the person in the front of the group (walking through) is usually the first to get caught off guard or scared, so put the most appropriate person in that position — the one who deserves it the most.
— If you’re in a group larger than 6 then I’d recommend separating it because the last half will get the brunt end of the effects which may not be as intense.
— While walking through make sure you pace yourself — it’s easy to go fast and eventually catch up to the group ahead of you which could easily kill the effects, so be cognoscente of your pace and the group ahead of you — leave plenty of space.
— Take a nap right before you — — I did (by accident) and showed up somewhat asleep and disoriented and wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed which actually helped enhance my experience. They woke my ass up.
— I’m not sure if going earlier (when it’s dark) presents a more quality performance, but we were the 1^st group (7pm) and it was great. Maybe 8pm would be the optimal time.

It was a really scary experience. We had so much fun, the location are really scary and the «monsters» were really good. You definitely will feel like in a horror movie. Not regrets!

Man! I am sweating, and it was not because of the heat. This 45min adrenaline packed adventure is packed with fun, surprises and «horrors»! Definitely a must do around Halloween or if you want to take your new girlfriend on a date and show off how brave you are!
Anyways, Got great VIP tickets thanks to Unilocal,which was awesome. We went at the start or the season so there were no lines. However, they seem to have entertainment outside for VIP and General admission lines with live actors. I went with low expectations thinking this would be something like the haunted houses in the theme parks, but no– this one is for adolescents. I am pretty comfortable watching horror movies and such and they ‘scared me good’ couple of times.
There are three haunted houses, you go with your party and takes about 30mins. Wonderful sets, ghost/​zombie/​killer actors do an amazing job of hiding & scaring people. The ghost make ups are Staff is helpful and professional. My lady, freaked out and left during the dreaded black wall! (I have said too much!!!)
I am giving this place 4 stars as I feel the three houses became a little repetitive with live ghosts. I feel there should have been a kiddie section for the «wusses» who can «choose» not to go in and an advanced area which is pitch dark and ultimate scary. I missed that. That way they can even divide the lines.
All in all, a nice thing to do in Austin under $ 25. Go for it, you won’t regret it.

This is my second time visiting, but I was not disappointed. I think the general themes of the three different houses were similar to last year, but they’ve added some new attractions and some of the house walkthroughs have gotten a little longer. The scariest by far is the Slaughterhouse, and it’s both exciting yet awful that it is the first one that you enter. It’s a little lengthier than the other houses, and definitely much, much scarier.
The Coven was scary too, but definitely not comparable to the Slaughterhouse. The last was Blackthorne District Realm, and this house is scary as well. I don’t want to add too much detail to frighten anyone away or give any spoilers, but it’s definitely a great place to go if you are looking for a group acticity to do near Halloween or a date activity (maybe not the first date though.).
Bring lots of friends with you! You will need the moral support.

Bought the Groupon and was SUPER EXCITED.
Left pretty disappointed.
Was it cool? Kinda, yeah. It was over in 5 minutes. Saw about 10 zombies. Gun had no recoil or anything realistic like promised. A lot of it was pitch black which is no fun.
Wouldn’t recommend, wouldn’t go again.