DementedFX Review (2019)

Just like everything else in Demented FX this year, the actors stepped it up a few notches. We have never had an issue with the acting at this haunt, in fact we always thought that they were as good as we could honestly ask for. They’ve always had direction and a motive and they played their characters quite well. But it seems the attitude needed to make a great haunted attraction is believing everything can always get better and there is no sleeping until it is better. Well all that work really paid off this year.

It felt like almost half the actors in Demented FX had written dialogue roles this year. The professor has always been the main role, although he is only seen on screen and never live. However, even after these few years of seeing his performance we are still incredibly impressed with his acting. We’ve seen quite a few haunts around the country and have seen a good handful of great actors. But this professor Friden is definitely the most professional actor we have ever encountered so far. He pulls off the role of a hyper mature scientist so perfectly we could swear he is an actual scientist if we ever met the guy.

Last year, I briefly mentioned the character of Doctor Arbor and how great he was with his role. This year we bumped into the same character again, only this time he’s (insert dramatic music) a SHE!? Just what kind of crazy things is Bio Med Corp up to now!? Just kidding. It was highly entertaining for me though. When we walked up to this new doctor I was asking myself, ‘Oh, where did Dr. Arbor go?’ and then she introduced herself as Dr. Arbor. So naturally I screamed ‘WHAT!?’ which she replied ‘Doctor Audrey Arbor’ and I went ‘Oh, okay.’ Never got a first name on the guy who played this ‘Arbor’ role. Anyways, she too was incredibly vocal and convincing. Not going to spoil what she does but she is clearly suffering from the effects of the infection and fighting through the pain of it all to help us.

Demented FX had a variety of characters with different motives this year. We loved the crazy laughing doctor who thought the cure for the outbreak was to actually infect yourself and she forced us through the tunnel filled with the toxins. There was a military soldier who trapped us in a cage screaming about how stupid we were to trust her. Even the first zombie we found was met with a few bullets from another soldier. Doctors, Scientists, Patients, Soldiers, they all had something to say and do instead of just hiding behind the corner waiting for us.

We can’t say enough amazing things about the cast entertaining the long lines outside and inside. Maybe four or five actors were roaming the grounds creeping out everyone. The characters were either military or infected or somewhere in-between depending on who they were trying to creep on. We hadn’t even entered the front door of the building before one of the crazy ones came running from behind us and tried to rip the gift shop door open like a lunatic. While we waited in the V.I.P. lounge, it must have been once every five minutes another actor would rush in screaming at everyone to get out before a zombie like creature came in and dragged him away. Sometimes the other way around. And they became very interactive with the crowds. One even went as far to munch on some girl’s hair. Another dared us to kiss the open wound on the top of his bald head. Great performances from this group of crazies this year. Demented FX is clearly aiming to fire on all cylinders this year and going forward.

While other haunts tend to jump from one theme to the next and have a variety of costumes every night, Demented FX sticks to their same story line and only incorporate a small variety of costumes to fit their story line. Therefore, they also have a lot more time to work on the authenticity of their costumes. The military personal are actually wearing bulletproof tactical vests and boots and helmets. They even carry around little tools on their vest like a real soldier would take, like a little flashlight. And the doctors are wearing blood covered lab coats and scrubs.

Pretty much everyone in the facility is infected to some measure. Unless the character is playing a soldier who just came into the building for the first time, every other character has chunks of skin boiling off their face. It had usually been hard to tell whether or not some of the actors even had make up on in this haunt in years past. But this year since a majority of them had characters we could spend a little bit of time with, we were able to appreciate all the hard work that went into giving them this crazy infected look every night!

Demented FX is now even easier to find in 2019 since the Meat Tank ride is right outside their front door. It is impossible to miss the giant 20 foot long trailer covered in bloody guts. The building itself stood out enough as it was. Big letters in the giant windows spelling out D-E-M-E-N-T-E-D-FX, each one with a different infected creature on it. A covered outdoor waiting line was put in place last year too, again something impossible to miss. And of course, they have the giant fried dough stand with blinking lights all around it. A blind person would have trouble NOT finding this place.

Parking is still mainly street parking up and down, but they do have a free parking lot in the back of the haunt on Clemente Street and another one directly at the corner of Jackson St and Clemente St. This has always been a concern for a lot of people we’ve talked to about Demented FX. The reality is that we’ve been coming to this place for four years now and we have never had a problem. The haunt is super easy to get to because it is a mere ������������������ mile off of a major highway. We have always been able to find a convenient parking spot. The only discomfort we’ve ever experienced is maybe we had to walk an extra 20 feet. The area is safe and sound and has never treated us poorly.

There is a large indoor waiting line before we entered the attraction. They have a bar serving a few draft beer, ciders, and wines. The wait can be a bit longer than most other haunted attractions because there is so much story to take in, and the actors are all trained to keep the groups separated as much as possible. Which, by the way, is another thing that makes this haunt one of the best ever. We can’t tell you how often we step out of the way to let the group behind us go forward, or step back for a minute to let the group in front of us move ahead. I have NEVER had that issue at Demented FX and it is so underappreciated in the haunt community it makes me want to break everything around me! Point is, they know how to keep you entertained thoroughly. They even have a bar right at the ticket booth right inside as you enter the building.
We did have to get padded down for anything illegal or suspicious. Glad to know they are looking out for everyone’s safety too.

The building has more of a haunted historic factory vibe going for it but once you are inside, that thought completely changes. The atmosphere sends out a loud club vibe when we see the 2 giant projector screens playing everything from rap music videos to weird creepy videos someone found online. It is hard to distinguish this is actually a haunted attraction when we enter a room and the laser lights and moving all over the graffiti walls. But it’s not like we didn’t get scared at all, they had the creepo army marching around keeping us on our feet. Thank God for that bar, we would go crazy just standing in the line which could take quite a while.

This is the number one thing Demented FX is known for, and they are killing it! Get ready for some crazy creatures to come out of nowhere. Watch out for rooms that will shake underneath you. They have lighting effects that would make most of Hollywood jealous! This is Demented FX’s crown achievement and it keeps getting crazier every year.

I’ll start off by saying there are a few lighting effects in Demented FX that I have seen far too many other haunts use incorrectly. It was a real pleasure to finally see some of these beautiful effects working the way they were intended. Lasers, strobes, colors, they always seem to know exactly how it’s supposed to work.

The owners of Demented FX sort of started their careers in the haunt industry as special effects designers. A lot of their work we could find in their haunt, and it’s fantastic to see some unique fresh stuff out there. Even some of the props we have seen at other haunts usually get altered all for the better at Demented FX. Sometimes it’s just too loud or not fast enough, but they figure out what to do.

Some of the big show stopper props I just learned this year were originally designed by a child. And one of them is still the scariest thing I have ever encountered in my haunt journeys. Imagine telling your child to draw a monster, and then bringing that drawing to life. That is what happened, and now it haunts my dreams forever.

The story of the Bio Med Corp facility keeps getting more elaborate every year. Last year, we learned that the scientists were trying to make super human weapons for the military and something went terribly wrong. This year, they added a huge story line with the Meat Tank experience. We can gather that some time has gone by and there is an outpost of survivors somewhere in this post-apocalyptic world. But the theme has always been about a laboratory that was trying to play god. Originally, it started out as a gene splicing research facility that found a way to clone human DNA. Not sure if the whole military weaponized creatures is completely connected but its all part of the same genre.

As I stated before, Demented FX is getting very good at covering all of these categories. But still to us, the biggest and best thing about this haunt is the fact that it is probably the only haunt we have ever been to that puts us into an actual story. An unmistakable theme with characters who are actually contributing to the main plot in their own way. As interactive as most haunts are, this is the next level S#!& we are talking about!

I had to bump into the owners before we took off for the night and just congratulate them on everything they have done over these last six years. With as many haunts I have been to, most people would assume I have seen some actually scary stuff. Nobody would be wrong in assuming so but there really is only one haunt in New England that has actually, in all sense of the word, Scared me!

The animatronics are Big and Mean and sound beautiful and move even better. They do everything they can to block out the sounds of air compressors or moving metal. The actors are not just great at what they do, they are legitimately crazy!

I have a great time at pretty much every haunt I go to and I would recommend almost all of them to anyone. But the one in New England that has ever come even close to making me turn around and going back is Demented FX!

For the only haunt in New England that truly follows a compelling story, great animatronics, great cast, incredible detail, two bars with seasonal drafts, a simulated ride, you can’t put a real price on the experience you could have. But they went ahead and said it’ll be about $25 dollars. Which is almost exactly how long it took us to get through the whole attraction. One dollar per minute of entertainment is pretty good considering what kind of entertainment we keep getting at this awesome place!

Also, they just added a new gift shop at the very end of the haunt. New beer glasses and mugs, t-shirts, hoodies, even colored eye contacts! I grabbed myself a pair for only $20.

They had a fun photo booth this year that actually turns your picture into a moving GIF. They set a pregnant zombie lady on a rolling gurney and let us do whatever we wanted to her. It is now in a GIF format that shall NEVER BE SEEN! But a lot of people seem to really enjoy it.

Demented FX presents Haunted House presents Bio Med Corp. (Official title) really is a breath taking place. I always recommend it as the place that runs their effects the way everyone else wants their effects to run. And now they are creeping into every other category of what makes a haunt so great! The passion for this haunt is real, I can feel it every time I walk in there. The community that they are building will be around for a long time to come and this will be the haunt everyone wants to talk about!