Our Hellhouse experience

Last night we decided to preview Hellhouse before we took our youth group on Wednesday, which happens to be halloween night here in the US. We thought that we might have a better picture of what to expect if we attended it first.

We left our apartment at 7.10pm, and arrived at the location 7:30pm. The temperature at that time was about 60F (16C). There was already a line at the ticket counter, so we waited. The information on the website indicated that we should be there one hour before our planned entry into the house. So we expected an hour's wait before we actually got to enter. We waited in line for 20 minutes to buy the tickets for $10 each.

After that, we were directed to wait in another line. So we went, and patiently waited. We were sandwiched between 2 youth groups. The group behind us talked loud the whole time, and their attitude and language was rather obnoxious and questionable. By the time we reached the end of the line, we had waited for 3 hours standing in line in temperature that had dropped to about 55F (14C). Although we had our jackets on, we were cold, and my back was already hurting from standing for so long. When it was time for us to be grouped, I asked an official if we could be with the group ahead of us, since it was just the two of us. He then moved us to the group twice ahead of us. Yes, we GLADLY moved ahead!

Finally, we're standing in another line and ready to go through security check before we got on a hay-ride to the house located in a remote location. When the van with the trailer finally arrived 15 minutes later for our group's turn, we got in and enjoyed a short ride through an off-road trail behind a hill. That short ride saved my back. By the time we got off the trailer, the pain was gone.

So we arrived at the remote location...lo and behold, another line awaited us. I confess, I rolled my eyes. It was 11:20pm. We were still in the open cold as we snaked through that line. What an ordeal. I was beginning to think, what have I done to deserve all this trouble? Waiting in line felt so hellish already. Talk about going to a hellhouse...!

We finally stepped into the Hellhouse at 12:05am. We were led through various scenes of murder and death. There were scenes depicting a school shooting, drug usage, cutting/self-injury, witchcraft, abortion, murder, heaven, and hell. We were escorted by "demons"-actors dressed up like grim reapers wearing halloween masks. In each scene there were more of these demons influencing the actors into making terrible decisions.

Personally, I felt that the demon characters were annoying, and frankly, quite cheesy. There was a couple of them that actually had their faces painted; those were the best and more convincing ones. Some of the scenes were well enacted, namely witchcraft and cutting scene, the abortion scene, the molestation scene, and the hell scene. These scenes had the best effects and were most convincing. The rest were just so-so, in my opinion.

We were led to the final room where a short challenge was presented to the group. I thought the preacher did a good job wrapping things up in the short time that he had. Lynn thought he could have done better, but considering the time restraint he had before another group arrived, he did OK. He gave an option to go to another room if anyone wanted to get right with God. Then he dismissed the rest of us.

The whole journey inside the Hellhouse took us about 45 minutes. We got out at around 1am, tired, cold, and not really that impressed. Our concluding impression was that the 45 min show was worth the $10, but definitely not worth the 4.5 hours of waiting in the cold. This was undisputedly the longest line we have ever been in our lives.

So, if you're wanting to go, be prepared to WAIT....LONG.