OVERALL RATING :

Scare Factor

Actors

Set Design

Length

RANK #12 out of 21

RAW SCORE : 7.375

RATING

REVIEW

I have always enjoyed this haunted house. Each year it is new and the set is always changing. There is a lot put into the set. It is so long and they find things to fill it all in. The actors come from all over. They fly out and jump and crawl out at us. The girl stuck to the chains was off the hook. She was so into it and you could tell she was scared.

There were a lot of spots that nothing happened. We waited and waited and nothing. Some of my favorite effects were gone this year. I looked forward to walking over the well with the girl trying to crawl up. It was gone.

The maze at the end filled up with people. They need to have it more organized to get people out. I hate running into other groups.

Overall, it was a fun experience. It wasn't too scary but was a lot of fun. I will wait until next season before going back.

PROS

Awesome set, super long

CONS

Lack of scares and actors

RATING

REVIEW

Wow! They really changed up Brutal Planet this
year - and I wasn't too impressed. I feel like the designers ran around behind-the-scenes at Elitch's Theater and scraped together whatever they could and built a haunt around it. I didn't find anything scary about this haunt at all. I felt like we spent the entire thing wandering around through a crack house. What little acting there was, was very ho-hum. I hardly recall any actors in the place - with the exception of the guy on the bungee cord. In fact, we liked him so much we applauded him and asked him to jump down again.

Tight, poorly-lit places creep me out and Brutal Planet was lacking in this department this year. I feel like it was very bright (for a haunt) and the rooms felt way too open to push me outside of my comfort zone. Overall, there were a few interesting rooms, but I mostly felt like I was wandering through Crack Alley in a crumbling downtown area. But I guess that's scary, too!

PROS

Consistent theme, bungee guy

CONS

Sets looked rushed, ho-hum acting, too open and bright

RATING

REVIEW

This is Six Flags' better haunt and is more for the teenager crowd. It follows a theme of a serial killer and each room shows a different way he has killed a victim (or is getting ready to kill a victim). Which is strange, because at the end there were a dozen serial killers chasing us around in a dark maze.

The various rooms are pretty standard and reminded me more of a filthy abandoned crack house than anything else. Lots of dirty bedrooms and dirty bathrooms. Set design is pretty decent, however, and I forgot that we were actually inside the theater at Six Flags (where, coincidently enough, someone apparently died recently).

Grandma's backyard and dirty laundry was pretty good, as was the blue fog room (complete with faces appearing out of nowhere for split seconds), and bungee jump guy. Of course, the most disturbing was the bloody washing machine rocking back and forth with the sound of a kid trapped inside. Autopsy room, static TVs covered with blood, and a grindsaw dishing out sparks behind a plexiglass wall were other highlights.

The actors were pretty into it as well - especially the girl chained to the wall screaming bloody murder for you to help her.

PROS

Darker, more original ideas, decent acting

CONS

Timing of actors was somewhat off

RATING

REVIEW

The scarier of the two attractions at Elitch Gardens is better than Screams but still not what I would have hoped for. I can say that Brutal Planet arguably had the best costumes and makeup for their actors of any haunt. Out front there were two "big guys" that looked like they had been attacked by Cujo. To say the least they looked pretty rough with their flesh hanging from their bodies and bloodstained clothing.

As we were led inside we toured through some good sets that had been well thought out. There were a few scares along the way but nothing that was truly "haunting."

Again a huge advantage for this attraction is that it is at Six Flags. There are other happenings at the park that make the experience a lot of fun altogether. Using gimmicks like eating roaches to get to the front of the line and the séance makes Brutal Planet entertaining event. Though not a great thrill to a haunted house critic, I think the average hauntgoers would find this an appealing haunt with many other perks.

PROS

Costumes, atmosphere

CONS

Not very scary, lacking much

RATING

REVIEW

Brutal Planet? Nope. Brutal abandoned warehouse that kids hang out in - maybe. This was not at all what I expected, and I felt like I was in a trashed out abandoned building that has been forgotten over the years. There were a couple of details that were cool, like the thundering sound that was synched to the strobe light, the room where you see yourself on tv was interesting, but overall I felt like this had been a last minute idea someone had, and slapped it together.

There were a couple of tight spaces to get through, but no actors there to scare us while we were squirming through, so that was a letdown.

I did like the bungee guy, I thought that was very cool, although his part could have been done a bit better.

The length of this haunt was average, and the end we found ourselves wandering around trying to weave our way out, which for me seemed too much like a maze, which by now everyone knows I despise.

There were too many dead spaces that really could have been utilized better, and if they come back next year hopefully they will be more creative.

PROS

Cool strobe, small spaces

CONS

No evident theme, actors weren't scary enough

RATING

REVIEW

In Brutal Planet there is a serial killer on the loose and if you don't keep moving he might hang you from the ceiling, rip out your insides and rub them across the walls of a white tile bathroom. There is a good example of this as warning inside the haunt, but you'll have to get past Grandma (a harrowing experience in itself) before you can see the remnants of the killer's victims.

Overall I thought Brutal Planet was a pretty cool haunt. Some of the rooms look like dirty flophouses and left me with a dirty feeling on my skin. More of the rooms look like they weren't planned out very well and put together at the last minute. And a few of the rooms have some stellar surprises that had me either laughing or screaming. There is one awesome room filled with blue fog and an actor who appears from nowhere and disappears as quickly.

The maze at the end was a strange addition and didn't feel like it flowed with the rest of the house. It seemed like they just didn't know how to end.

PROS

Pretty long haunt for your buck, Grandma's room, good atmosphere

CONS

Sets looked last minute

RATING

REVIEW

I got the feeling upon entering that this was a low-budget year for Brutal Planet, and for me, this ended up being a huge plus as I felt like what they lacked in big-budget props was countered with an extra dose of creativity.

The overall atmosphere was dark and twisted, wandering through the home of a serial killer. I liked it. The only aspect of set design that kept drawing me back to reality was the absence of a ceiling in most of this haunt, which meant I kept looking up and seeing all of the lighting normally used when this building is a theater during the rest of the year.

Some of the rooms were a bit repetitive, but the haunt was certainly nice and long.  The actors were a mixed bag, as some of them were excellent - one girl screamed so loud for someone to help her that I wondered how she could possibly have a voice left. Others were either too bored or too timid to actually work hard to get a scare.

We passed a washing machine that started banging and bouncing, with the sounds of a little kid inside begging to be let out. That was disturbing, and captured the essence of what I felt like Brutal Planet was shooting for this year. If they could have kept moments like those coming continually, this haunt would have been excellent, but as it was, it was a very good haunt.

PROS

Dark and twisted atmosphere, great ideas, some good actors

CONS

Some unused scare spots, repetitive set design, some not-so-good actors

RATING

REVIEW

I liked the feel of this haunt when first entering, but I felt that it could have been executed better. This haunt was in the theatre complex at Elitch Gardens, which is a pretty creepy place to have a haunted house in the first place.

Before entering, they explained that a killer was running loose or something to that effect, and we had to try to make our way through it. Overall, the acting was a little weak which I think affected the scares. There were some cool props though and ideas. For instance, they had a guy jump down on this bed as we were walking in front of it. He was on some kind of bungee cord and came flying down from the ceiling. We didn't see him when we entered this room because next to the bed there was a TV, and we could see people walking through this room, and then realized that we were those people walking through the room! Then he came jumping in and scared us. However, this would have been an even better scare if the actor was dressed up or something. He was just wearing all black. At least paint his face or something.

I liked how they make the path that we walked on weave through the room. It's not like just walking in a straight line the whole time, but walking around props and junk lying on the floor. The fog room was also pretty cool with the blue light in it.

The length was excellent...not too long and not too short.

Overall, a pretty good haunt, but had a lot more potential.

PROS

Set, props, length

CONS

Acting, overall scares