HALLOWEEN 2006 Main Page
By Shrub
Ripley’s Nightmare at the Wax Museum is in year 2 of its return to the scene after a hiatus from putting on the Halloween show. As they are a part of a chain of professional entertainment oriented businesses (which includes the year round haunted attraction Ripley’s Haunted Adventure located in other cities), it is their job to provide a visually stimulating experience for their visitors. This is where Nightmare at the Wax Museum excels.
The more animated section of the haunt consists of the sections that are set up and torn down on a nightly basis and they are more thickly populated with roaming creatures. Usual sights like clowns and body bags are surrounded by more creative fare such as a wild western ghost town (cover your ears) and a room that feels like walking though an optical illusion with clicking scissor fingers trying to lop off your appendages. This is a very simple but effective area.
The highlight of the night for me was a newly redone room with an old theme. A graveyard inhabited by zombies. I believe it was home to some werewolves last year, but this year it really stuck out. It was downright cinematic in its presentation. All of the colors blended and shaded perfectly, it took zero imagination to feel as if you were under a moonlight sky. And the zombies in their cool masks based on the famous Lucio Fulci “Zombie” movie poster were moping masterfully. The only thing that would have made it closer to walking through a movie scene would have been if they were chomping for your brains!
[ Nightmare at the Wax Museum Website ]