Haunted Play Presents Delusion: Blood Rite
Update: Delusion: The Blood Rite is adding 6 more dates to spice up the holidays between Thanksgiving and Christmas: Nov 30, Dec 1, 2, 7,8 and 9.
Special VIP tickets will be made available giving fans an exclusive behind the scenes tour with creator/director Jon Braver and a chance to join the action in a unique way.
Delusion: Blood Rite is so many great things: it's part real world video game, it's part scavenger hunt, it's part play and it's part haunted house. It's like they cut the things out of your brain you enjoy and serve them up for you to feast on. So if your a zombie or a fan of a certain Silence of the Lambs sequel, you'll be enjoying Blood Rite.
What got me as a returning victim was that the play was a sequel to the first. For someone who enjoyed watching late night horror movies on basic cable that meant something. Going back for a sequel, but still being an original story, now that's what makes a horror movie or any movie great. Jon Braver with the influx of Neil Patrick producing makes Delusion: Blood Rite better than before and a sequel worth seeing. How Neil Patrick Harris could put up with starring in The Smurfs, while still funding a house of murders and mayhem is kind of fun to think about. In any case that Smurf money went into creating some great cannibalism.Delusion didn't cannibalize itself from last year, but gave us a brand new story tied to last year's old story about a asylum and a mad doctor experimenting on patients. Some spoilers ahead, you're a returning army officer from "The Great War". You'll be working your way through the house collecting items you need, very much like a video game and making you feel totally entwined with the story. Collecting items isn't your only connection as you have to make some dark choices, interact with those turned evil or crazy in the mansion. The delightful cast of residents have strange psychic powers, oh and did I mention you do too? You're sort of like a supernatural X-men, but remember so are the denizens of the house and some don't seem to bath and like the taste of human flesh.
Beating the other theme park attractions is the sensation of actually getting lost in a mansion like house. You'll be getting pushed and pulled around going up and down and in places you shouldn't. At a few point parts of my group had to do things on their own, leaving them and us worried for their safety. Group size does remain small at it being at most 10. Compared to other haunts and the frequency of people at theme parks it beats that statistics down.
Actors and special effects remain being better than your average spooky event. Even though it's a smaller cast than most other haunts they pull off some chilling Hollywood film effects. Ever wanted to try killing someone? Ever wanted psychic powers? How about people getting freaky above you? I'm not going to ruin the story, because living through it is far more fun, but it was like being in my own horror video game or like being in my own horror film sequel.
The ending was a tour de force, I was in sheer awe of what was pulled off this year. I'll only write it has to deal with summoning dark forces, with a payoff so grandiose it put other haunted places to shame. The gloomy start outside at a grave sets up the whole horror film fill with the first task asked of your group. Will you be prepared to take on this dark tale? Possibly, only if more days and time are made available, if you didn't get tickets already.
When leaving I had a chance to talk to Brandon Wardell, production manager, who wanted some darker takes on some of the situations in the house. Let's hope he gets them for next year. He also went over how the many fans were reacting to the event, scared and happy it seems. I could hear women screaming in the background as we talked.
My only gripe might be the waiting area, sure there's a bar, a tiny club like bar with some fun decorations, but the rest of the waiting area is boring. Spruce it up a little with some decorations, maybe put a TV playing horror movies or some actors in the Halloween mood.Wasn't there a psychic and hot chocolate last year? I could go for some hot chocolate after a good scare. Food trucks are fine, but they aren't very scary, unless there prices are too high or look unsanitary, but I didn't even have any on the night I came.
