House of Torment Chicago

This is owned by the same people who do the 13^th Floor, and the houses are similar in many ways. The sets are extraordinarily detailed, the actors are smart, the makeup is stellar, and the jump scares work. We went back through the 13^th Floor this year and I actually liked House of Torment better — there are no sneaky hidden lines in House of Torment, whereas 13^th Floor makes you wait again mid-​haunt… Sneaky and totally atmosphere-​ruining. I went through when I had a head cold and the fog was excruciating, but I think that was more me than anything. Also, the finale at House of Torment is AWESOME and my unshakeable friend who accompanied me jumped and screamed — pretty high praise.
I recommend the mid-​level fast pass option that puts you in a much shorter line. Worth the trip!

DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY! We are avid haunted house goers and we’re seriously disappointed, especially after the news article proclaiming it made top 13 in the country. Whomever was rating these obviously did not go to the houses.
The house itself was not bad. Good setup, too much lighting. But the actors? What actors?! It was like only a few people decided to show up to work it. Nobody was working the wait line. The few people we did see in the house were like they got caught jerking around and got back into their hiding place. We caught up to the people in front of us and the people behind us caught up to us.
The second house was a little better but that was mainly because it was pitch black with strobe lights and lots of maze rooms. Still hardly anyone working to scare people. All of that was even on a night where a local radio station was there working the event.
We drove an hour and paid more than average for that garbage. Never again.

I previously did a 5 star review for this place when it was Fear City. House of Torment is the new name/​brand but it left a lot to be desired.
I was under the impression that this new name and brand meant a new haunted house. But nope. If you’ve been to Fear City you’ll notice many of the same exact scenes and props. I was going to type all of them out, but figured I wouldn’t spoil it for those who have never been here before. However, you can imagine the disappointment of heading to a haunted house, assuming they’d put more effort into it after reading all the local news stories and hype about being on the Discovery Channel and similar «best haunted house» lists, and then walking through and realizing it had all been done years prior when Fear City was still around. That said, if you’d never been to Fear City, you’ll probably love this place and the quality of the props.
The actors were just okay. Some did a great job, but many just growled at you. It was clear that this place probably sought out high school kids rather than people with acting experience. Also, some had their makeup and costumes on point and very well done while others were in a tshirt with a little blood dripping.
I honestly don’t think they were ready for their opening weekend, which is when I went. I showed up at 9pm on a Friday and there was only about 30 people. I wonder if they were also short on actors because I noticed several places in the haunted house had no scares. Too many long, dark hallways with nothing at all. I was more afraid of running into a wall in the dark than I was of someone popping out since I realized quickly that the actors were few and far between.
The «theme» of the haunted house was Contagion and Abandoned. I’m guessing this was supposed to be a play on the zombie thing everyone WAS wild about. I used WAS intentionally, in case you didn’t notice. Frankly, the zombie think is severely overdone and its time has pretty much passed. If they tried this zombie theme 2 – 3 years ago, sure, maybe it would be cooler. Aside from that, there wasn’t a consistent theme throughout the house. Why are there zombies in some places and a troll looking thing and transformer thing outside the house? Why were there rooms completely inconsistent with the theme? (Woman washing clothes, guy on the couch and gross room? Both of which were in Fear City, btw).
Very glad I had a Groupon for admission and a fast pass because I’d never ever pay full price for this place. The fast pass didn’t matter much since hardly anyone was in line. But $ 30+ for regular admission? No thanks!
I guess this really comes down to whether or not you’ve been to this haunted house when it was Fear City. If you have, you’ll be frustrated with the same exact scenes and props and the lack of quality actors. If you’ve never been to Fear City, you’ll enjoy the higher quality props compared to most haunted houses. In either case, don’t pay full price. Totally not worth it.

I’m always a bit sceptical when I go to haul Ted houses mainly because they seem to be kind of hit or miss. So I
keep an open mind when approaching this place. After entering and taking my place in line, I started looking at the TV screen that was showing different clips from horror movies. And in being wrapped up in that, I got quite a scare from the big metal looking guy. It was earlier in the month so the line wasn’t that bad at all. And I liked the whole red line theme.
Once I finally reached the entrance, and was given the okay to walk in, I wasn’t sure what to expect as I walked around the broken down vehicle. But boy oh boy was it awesome, plenty of scares to e had I each room and the themes of each seem to flow effortlessly. Some of the rooms made you forget you were walking through a haunted house and lead you to believe you were in someone’s home, or in a school. My hands down favorite was the red line portion of it, without giving away too much let me. just say it was freaking awesome. You would never guess you weren’t in El waiting for the train.
If your trying to decide whether to check this one out, don’t think too long just go. You won’t regret it!

Long lines which is expected buying general admission but as long as you don’t go with boring people it goes by fast.
The haunted house itself is great. had a lot of fun & would definitely go back next year.

If you want to experience a scary yet fun haunted house, then check out this one! Most people give haunted houses low ratings because they’re not «scary.» People zoom through it to get it over with then say it was lame. Well, of course they would say that because they ran through it without admiring the details and décor that went into it. This haunted house had an awesome production. The effort that went into creating each room was definitely noticeable. The characters were good, popping out when you least expected it. It was also pretty long, which makes it worth the time and money. I liked this way better than Statesville and it was as enjoyable as 13^th floor haunted house.
Overall I had a great time coming here with my friends and would definitely recommend it.

So this was Fear City last year and is now House of Torment. I must say that I left with a really disappointed feeling. Waiting in line was boring. They took the live band idea out. They took out the guy who carries live rats in his jacket. There were only 2 costumed people walking by every now and then past the long line of people. It was really boring standing there for 40 mins with nothing lively to see or be entertained by.
Not sure why, but once inside it seems that we were never expected and the costumed people tried to make sounds at us once we already saw them. We walked a normal pace, not too fast and not too slow, but in both attractions the people behind us caught up to us. I did really like some of the props, but a lot of the time just felt like I was walking down plain and boring black hallways. I am sad Fear City is gone, because it was laid out so amazingly, the props were even better and the actors truly seemed to care about their jobs last year and really had done an amazing job. I cannot say I would recommend any one to come to House of Torment, unless $ 25 per person is ok to spend for a mediocre time …
Perhaps weekends will have more actors? I say if you are going to risk going here then choose a weekend and hope for the best and perhaps a «fun and scary» time can be had vs a mediocre time. Good luck haunted house seekers.

Kudos for the play on the Chicago CTA, the pretty realistic sets, the special effects of smoke, lasers, strobe lighting, flashing lights, lack of lighting, and inflatable wall that closes in on you and the huge, red eyed metal monster. Also, great job on the scary makeup and costumes on the characters. Not very many characters that do the actual scaring though. More entertaining than frightening as I did more laughing and giggling than actual screaming. But still a good time.

I went to House of Torment courtesy of Angela and Unilocal last night. I have been to Fear City and have loved it. The interactions were great, and it was actually quite funny. House of Torment took over this year, and they have definitely changed it up. We had immediate access tickets so we only had a short wait. The regular line had at least a 30 – 40 minute wait.
The costumes of the characters in line were amazing. They also worked on scaring the crowd, and we saw a few 15 year old girls getting chased out of the building. I have been to some haunted houses and pretty much have an idea what to expect. House of Torment made me scream more than I ever have in a haunted house in a long time. They really work on all of the senses. There were times where we were virtually blinded by light and had to use touch. I even got someone with the chainsaw coming at me. Yes, I screamed and ran.
The sets were similar to the Fear City ones, but it was definitely darker and more isolated. They sent my fiancé and myself through alone. That had a really big effect as well. Some areas seemed to lack actors or just seemed out of place. For example, the Day of the Dead area just seemed out of place and did not belong. I can definitely say that I came out shaking and for all the better.

First I want to Thank Unilocal and Angela for having a great contest to get into this most Awesomely Scary yet very fun and entertaining Hunted House!
They have 3 tiers of admissions…
1. General (25.00)
2. Fast Pass (35.00)
3. Immediate Pass (50.00)
We had the fast pass and I loved it! We arrived at about 7pm and we were screaming by 7:30 — 7:45pm and on our way home by 8:30pm
Although immediate seems cool… you miss out on the fun and picture taking with the characters outside the Hunted House and that was one of the best parts of the event for me!
I would say if you are doing General Admission get there early because that line gets long fast.
We got there after some of the General Admission attendees and we got into the Haunted House before them, but if you cant upgrade it’s still worth going… so go!
The staff was friendly and the ones that were being scary were as well.
All I can say is this is one of the best Hunted Houses and I would say «COME AND GET FRIGHTENED IF YOU DARE!!!»
Enjoy!!!

House of Torment 2015
Contagium and The Abandoned
This place definitely «tormented» me for about 30 minutes this evening. I attended last year (Fear City) and do not recall screaming as much.
Attraction:
House of Torment is known to be one of the best in the U.S. (I believe I read it was #13) for a reason. They put A LOT into each «set» and everything is incredibly detailed. Chuck and his talented crew are known for creating movie sets so all the effects are professional and state-​of-​the art. There are definitely rooms where you feel like you are in a dream (muahaha or nightmare) and that is all that I will reveal!
When we were let in (Thank you Angela and House of Torment for the fast track no-​wait tix), we immediately felt the «Contagium» aspect and began our Haunted House experience. I’m definitely not going to give anything away! You must see the cool factors and experience the «spook factor» for yourself. I felt at times that my mind was playing tricks on me! (Kind of like an out-​of-​body experience).
Comparison to Last Year:
I definitely liked the Fear City/​Our Lady of the Cursed experience a lot more last year and I felt that that the whole thing lasted longer as well. (Hence the minus 1 star).
I liked how Our Lady of the Cursed was more interactive and the actors definitely personalized the experience because there was an actual «class» in the classroom.
House of Torment was a lot more «suspenseful» and I definitely screamed/​jumped more. In fact, there was a guy in the group I was put in that actually lost his balance from being surprised and fell at one point! I was sad that it ended so fast!
Improvements:
One thing that was better than last year’s Fear City was that the group I was put in was «isolated». Last year I felt that I could hear the people in front of me screaming (which took away from the experience) so KUDOS for listening and definitely isolating the groups so that we genuinely felt scared– like we were the only ones in the House.
Notes:
–Free Parking
–Bathrooms outside
–Last year I remember there being a concession stand and a Photobooth and don’t recall seeing it today. Both were fun «icing on the cake» touches that I miss and wish were here again.
Thanks again for an awesome scary night!

3.5 stars. This haunted house’s location used to be called Fear City (it’s under new management). This year’s attractions are called Contagium & Abandoned. Some other differences are that there was no live band this year, I didn’t see a stand that sold alcohol, and they did not have an area where you could take pictures with some of the characters (although you could always just take pictures with the characters while standing in line).
TICKETS: My fiancé & I were able to get the Skip the Line tickets (thank you, Angela!) and we’re glad we did. It’s only October 4^th and the general admission ticket line was still over 40 minutes for the Contagium attraction. We waited about 30 min with the Skip the Line tickets. I can only imagine how long the wait will be as it gets closer to Halloween. All in all, I highly recommend purchasing the Skip the Line tickets online to avoid a long wait.
PRICING: The Immediate tickets cost $ 35, Immediate tickets cost $ 45, General Admission is $ 25, Group pricing for General Admission cost $ 37.50 per person, and the Group pricing Skip the Line/​Fast Pass tickets cost $ 52.50 per person. There is a $ 2 service fee + tax if you purchase your tickets online.
HOUSE OF TORMENT VS last year’s FEAR CITY: Contagium contained elements that were similar to Fear City’s main attraction. Abandoned contained similarities to Fear City’s Lady of the Cursed attraction. I don’t want to give too much away so I will keep the details out, but I really missed having the interactive beginning of the second attraction. The makeup of many of the workers were awesome. Especially the creepy characters who walked around near the lines. They were really nice and did not mind taking pictures with me (I felt like a tourist!). However, there was something missing. Fear City had a man with a rat who was hilarious as well as a cute puppy that was dressed up. House of Torment does not. Thanks to the manager who asked for honest feedback at the end of Contagium! I appreciate it when business strive for improvement.
CONS: I can House of Torment can really work on having more workers inside of the attractions. Many of the sections were empty. My brother & his friend ended up scaring their friend throughout the night & one of the characters jokingly told them to «Stop doing my job!!!» Also, I miss the wonderful interactions of the Fear City haunted house. I’ve been to many haunted houses & don’t really get much out of people growling at me. I appreciated how the undead of Fear City really got into character.
PROS: I still think this is a great haunted house. Lots of cool make up & effects. I could see them trying. Their workers also didn’t smell of sweat and B.O. (this seriously happens in some of the haunted houses… gross). I would still say this is my preferred haunted house because there weren’t as many pitch black areas where I had to worry about bumping into walls and bruising myself up.

Wow, on a quiet street which divides the industrial from the residential is this haunted ware house with at least 20 different rooms and with seemingly every scary, frightful theme from your childhood/​conscious/​sub-​conscious state. From the beginning we were frightened by a very realistic walking dead lady — she needs to eat a raw onion to make it even better for us. The goblin was also very creepy and convincing. I don’t want to spoil any of the fun so I won’t go into each room and experience but here are a few noteworthy things:
1) the Cta Chicago theme was top notch
2) the inflated hall can trigger a claustrophobic attack
3) don’t bring anyone under 10, it’s a little bit much
4) if you are the last one in your group, always look behind you
5) if you are the first one in your group — ha!, be afraid. Be safe and stay in the middle of the pack.
6) this is the longest series of rooms I’ve ever experienced and I’ve been to many of these over the years. I was glad to get out to stop checking over my shoulder.
7) they try to touch on every sense (with smoke, lighting, water, lack of lighting, loud sounds) you will be scared and disoriented.
Well done and to think this place is just 8 minutes from home, I should stop by more often. :)

I came here with some friends for the special Zombie Apocalypse Laser Shooting Event. FYI the actors are not allowed to touch you and vice versa. We were given guns that were simulated to be like the real guns professionals use. They were super heavy and big! We paid extra for the extra round so we got a total of 2 courses. We first got there and then waited in line for about 30 min before we got our guns and it was our turn. The first course felt like it was maybe 15 minutes long… it was pretty fun! As soon as you shoot the zombie in the head (when they are flashing green), they will flash red and die (well the are supposed to die) — some of them keep going. I remember one time I kept shooting at his head even though he was already red– and he kept coming after me so I screamed «WHY WON’T YOU DIE, YOU’RE DEAD!» lol it was funny. Some people in my group’s guns kept malfunctioning– they tapped the magazine and cocked the guns but they still didn’t work. This happened to some of them in both courses which is unfortunate– there’s no way they would have used 150 rounds on single fire by the time their guns stopped working.
Anyway, some actors were really into it– ie we shot one that went to the floor and she was making like choking noises and seizuring on the floor. Then we got back in line to get more ammo and to go to round 2. Round 2 seemed like it was only 10 minutes. It was fun! It’s always funny when there is a zombie in the back that creeps up behind our last person in line. The last scene was pretty good– there was a zombie that would spring forward with jail bars and once he reached the end, it made a loud banging noise.
Overall, I thought this was super fun. It was really expensive though– $ 40 for 30 minutes… if it was cheaper we would go more often but I think this is a once a year type thing! I’d recommend you try it out!

Awesome two parter haunted house experience! I came here twice this year! First time was through a special Unilocal Elite event back in early November — Thanks Angela! The Friday I went on was extra packed — I heard many overwhelmed staff say that the crowd size was abnormal for so early in the month but it was due to a groupon deal that was also being offered that same evening. There was a gothic looking band in the center of the waiting area which kept things entertaining!
The second time I came was with a group of teenagers from my scholarship program. We got hooked up with tickets through Chuck who was able to give us a discounted rate! The teens all loved the haunted house and everyone had a great time. Their favorite parts were in Fear City with the all black and all white rooms. We ran into Chuck at the end of the evening to give our thanks and he even gave us a bit of info about how the white room was created last and most people say is their favorite!
Overall we had an awesome time and I really loved and appreciated Chuck’s hospitality! I will definitely be back to continue supporting this haunted house!

Thanks to Little Unilocalers for introducing us to this place! Having two young kids, I would never think of a haunted house as a Halloween activity but the kids version of this place totally convinced me that fun can be had for the kiddos without me worrying about them having nightmares at night.
Chuck, whom I imagine is the owner of the place, was more than welcoming and you can tell that he takes pride in bringing spooky fun during the Halloween season. In order to make it kid-​friendly, the haunted house was trimmed down to about 20% of what it would normally have and absolutely no gore; even «dead bodies» were covered up. Various characters, who were ironically friendly, led our group through the path.
An absolutely great time; now if I can just muster up enough courage to go to the adult version of this haunted house!

I’m kind of staggering between 3 – 4. Overall, the set up of the place is really creepy! The location is on spot («where am I…) and the line really built up the anticipation. There were actors who were interactive and there was a band performing called V is for Villains. That was pretty cool! The line was still a bit long.
Okay, on to the Fear City haunted house. I’m veryyyy into horror/​haunted houses, etc, so I was expecting to be scared. I wasn’t really scared or too startled. It may also depend on the group you go with. Our group (they lead you in groups of 6) was walking pretty fast so we finished the house in maybe 15 minutes or less. The actors and set up was all very elaborately laid out so that was nice. I’ve been to a few haunted houses at amusement parks and elsewhere and I feel that the scare factors of those were a bit more than of this one. I want to give props to the actors for trying their best to scare us and to playing their roles pretty well.
I preferred Our Lady of the Cursed! This was a bit more fun and a bit creepier. The set up was really coool inside.
It was a really fun experience overall and I had fun within the haunted house. Thoroughly entertained lol.
Please note, porta potties are available outside and they have beer/​popcorn and other snacks at the end.
So in terms of scare factor, I’ll give a 3/​5, but in terms overall production, this place deserves a ⁴⁄₅. Thanks Angela for the tickets!

The ‘Meh. I’ve experienced better’ rating I gave this is due to how good the first year I went (2012) was compared to this time. The 2014 year was just a repeat of 2013. There were no major changes in the show. As it currently stands, just go one year and then don’t go back (as there was literally no change to the main haunted house (or once every few years so they can make a few changes).
the secondary house was some Hades theme last year and this year was a ‘haunted catholic girl’s school’. This one just had some people killing priests/​nuns while yelling «don’t touch me priest»… It wasn’t really scary/​jumpy. But it was better than the Hades thing last year.
Another major issue is the lines take forever. They force people to purchase the VIP line, otherwise you will have a 2 hour wait as opposed to a 20 minute wait for the VIP line. The people would take a group of 8 from the VIP line to go through the haunted house. Then they would take a group that was half VIP and half regular folk. So the VIP line moves at a rate of 3x.
Finally the band playing while we were stuck in line was barely a band. They would ‘play’ music while an MP3 of the song was actually playing. While playing
’Closer’ by Nine Inch Nails the song music there was a drum beat. There was no drummer in their band. Further the synthesizer player wasn’t doing the drum beat nor the keyboard portions of the song. At the end of the song (around the 6 minute mark) there is just a keyboard going. The notes are high, which indicates the the right end of the keyboard. However the player kept her hands at the left/​low end of the board and didn’t even move them to go with the notes. Finally about half the time the guitarist wasn’t playing and just standing there, but the guitar kept playing. While I have no problem with the music, but if you are just going to play a song just play it and don’t pretend that you are performing.

TOTALLY WORTH THE WAIT
How do you get a grown, mature (mostly) man to shriek in fear? No, it wasn’t that my IRA took a plunge, I moseyed on over to Fear City in Morton Grove. Unilocal hooked me and my honey up with free tickets. (Thanks, Unilocal!)
They have two lines in this incredibly large warehouse, and the VIP line jumper admission will set you back for $ 35 (which still took us 50 minutes from entering the building to getting into the attraction). For $ 10 cheaper, you can snake in a line and I dare not guess how long it would take to get in. There is also another attraction at the place, Cursed, and the cost to get in is less. If you buy both, there’s a discount. I actually had tickets for that one too, but I was still running with adrenaline and didn’t want to wait another hour to get in.
The good news is that they have a decent goth metal band playing in the waiting area so you can enjoy some live entertainment. They also sell beer and wine for about $ 5, so it’s not like there’s nothing to do. Short of the wait, this is very much a five star attraction.
ON TO THE SPOOK HOUSE
These are state of the art fear tactics! They can’t touch you and you can’t touch them, but you’ll want to grab somebody because you will be scared. The elaborate areas inside the house run from operating table, to abbatoir, to suburban hoarders, to alien spaceship. There’s a lot inside of there. I was moving at a very fast pace through most of it because I was running away from the monsters. It still took me a half hour to go through the attraction. The attention to detail is so amazing, I want to go back to look at the decorations in the various rooms. With blackouts, strobes, black lights, audio effects, air bursts, water drips, drop ceilings, the sensory overload is palpable. There was even this weird parachute birthing tunnel thing that you have to pull your way through. The alien room was the coolest. White fog with black light strobe, it seemed like a dream. All was very cool until the grey appeared out of nowhere 4 inches from my face. I yelled pretty loudly. Oh well, that’s the point. You’ll feel relieved and happy when it’s over. This place is much better than a roller coaster in my book. Add the amazing actors in full makeup and masks who follow you, pop out unexpectedly and generally just creep you out, it’s a total winner.
Fear City was the best adrenaline inducing attraction I’ve been to! Check out groupon for a two for one coupon this weekend only. And wear your big boy pants.

Beyond the good props and make up, this place does a great job setting the environment and let you freak yourself out! It has very detailed rooms that make it feel like places you can actually believe and relate to daily life. Mt he subway and ball park for instance area great. There are times where it’s just quiet and spooky, no real elaborate scares but these can be the creepiest moments since they set it up.
They have very neat tricks and I won’t ruin any surprises but I really recommend this place if you are looking for some good scares and creepy scenarios. The line is not too bad and their lot is organized, overall it’s a nice easy in and out.