Girls clutch each other’s hands in a huddled group to get through the dimly lit room. Dolls, rags and chains hang low and graze their shoulders. The boys put up a brave front and use bold words to crush any suspicion of them being scared. Below them leaves crunch and darkness swallows their feet making it impossible to know what else they may be stepping on.  A dark shadowy figure stands on the other side of the fence that guides them. Then the figure fades back into the darkness and disappears only to be replaced by the sound of a chainsaw revving. Before anyone has the chance to think their legs are already running towards the nearest exit, only to run further into the maze of horror and gore.

This year the haunted house Bloodrush Forest of Terror has been on every teen and thrill seekers bucket list due to its intriguing promise of 40 minutes of pure terror, unlike most haunted houses where it may only take you 10 minutes to tour the entire house. On their website, they boast about being the longest and most intense haunted house in Omaha. They claim that their strive to be the most extreme haunted house around has led them to create sets and use scare tactics other places can’t match.

However, the haunted house’s promises were not kept. Unlike most haunted houses they have no people outside the attraction to scare those who are waiting in line. Thus, any pre-jitters and scares were left only to the imagination. Other great haunted houses such as Mystery Manor and Scary Acres always have people outside to scare those waiting their turn to go in, giving them a small idea on what terrors may lie ahead. At Bloodrush, only one actor was outside of the haunted house, but the actor just messed with people who were being allowed to go in. The lines moved fairly quickly despite the large number of people that were waiting in line.

Due to trying to get as many people into the attraction as quickly as possible our posse of five turned into a group of 11, as other groups caught up to us. With such a large group traveling as one, the fear that kept us on edge early no longer bothered us and inadvertently made the rest of the attraction lose its allure. The actors would only harass the first two people then they would let the rest of the group walk right past them without a peep. However, had they made the other groups wait five more minutes, it would have given us time to get farther apart, and vastly improved the overall experience for everyone.

Once inside, my group and I were left in a dark room confused as to where we should go next. We sat undisturbed by actors for a good three minutes until a man swung open a door and began chanting prayers in Spanish to the dark lord below our feet. Then, finally after several perplexing and strange minutes, opened the door behind him to the rest of The Forest of Terror.

Not knowing where to go and no one there to scare us in the right direction was a common occurrence throughout the 40 minutes we spent wandering in Bloodrush. Many areas in the haunted house had no clear set path of where to go next, or they had paths that would lead us to empty patches. At many points, we honestly didn’t know where to go, so we went up to actors and asked which path we needed to take in order not to get lost. After some time this can become quite frustrating especially when you are paying to be scared not lost.

The haunted house peaked in the first 10 minutes, with the thrill from actors jumping out left and right declining after entering The Stockyards. By the time we were halfway done with the maze, we were practically stumbling through the dimly lit maze by ourselves. We were lucky enough to catch one or two actors walking by and they guided us through. While the attraction is undoubtedly longer than most haunted houses, it isn’t as intense due to the amount of actors needed to host such a prolonged experience.

However despite the lack of actors present, those who were working the night were very dedicated to their roles, and none of them broke character even after being baited. Some actors costumes were significantly less prepared than others. As scary as a Nike sweatshirt may be to some in present-day America, for a haunted house a more gory attire should have been worn.

Overall, the most impressive part of the haunted house was the fantastic setups they had. Despite the facts that they had several random themes sprinkled throughout the attraction, all of the buildings from the pigpens in The Stockyards to The Big Top Circus tent were well built and had apparent time put into each their construction. The structures coupled with the use of special effects such as lighting, fog machines and music gave it an overall impressive ambiance.

Currently, I would not recommend going to Bloodrush considering the understaffed event at the moment is not worth 20 dollars. However, the attraction has significant potential with their extensive sets and dedicated actors. Most of their problems lie with the fact they simply don’t have enough people to run such a long haunted house. If Bloodrush’s staff was expanded in order to scare and guide customers through their experience, Bloodrush The Forest of Terror may genuinely live up to its name and promises. But for now, it is merely a haunted house with untapped potential.