Fright Factory 9/29/18
What do you do with 25,000 square feet in the basement of a couple of old, truly haunted, warehouses? Create a haunted Halloween experience, of course! So, the HRC decided to check this place out on Saturday, 9/29. The Fright Factory is located in the heart of the South Philly (PA) warehouse district. Not where you would expect to find a haunted attraction, but an absolutely perfect location. The Fright Factory has been in business for 18 years, and we see why! This place has a great maze of twists and turns that allows for optimal scares. They have utilized space effectively to keep you distracted and wondering, while setting you up for the big scare. The aisles are wide, which give you the feeling of vulnerability. You wonder where the scare is going to come from, but the lighting, timing, and effects make it so difficult to figure it out. This is the type of attraction where less actors is more; they had a skeleton crew of actors on the night we visited. For us, it was just the right blend of actors, props, animatronics, scenery, and natural ambiance. The scenes transitioned well. The swamp, insane asylum, barrel room and unholy room were standouts for us. Walking into the swamp room we were immediately distracted by a creature known to inhabit swamps. Then the swamp witch came out of nowhere! That room was the perfect swamp. Barb, in the insane asylum, was beyond creepy and played the “crazy patient” perfectly. Not sure what “number 7” smells like, but Barb made us question our deodorant! The zombie in the barrel room had the creepiest voice! We were certain he was using a voice box, but were later surprised to learn he just had a talent for making a really creepy voice. The unholy nun, in the unholy room, had her timing perfected. Just as we thought we were safe, and almost out of the room she came to life (or should we say, came to death). In multiple rooms, the actors not only startled us going in, they very quietly followed us out. This gave us some of the best scares, because we were so busy looking at the upcoming scene that we totally missed the creep following us. Fright Factory had some of the biggest animatronics we’ve seen in an indoor attraction. The standout star animatronic had to be the giant rat. Totally looked like a still prop; then he came to life!!!
The owner and manager informed us about 2 real ghosts that have been sighted in the Fright Factory. Not only were they seen, but 1 (the tall man) was caught on security cameras! The other apparition, a little girl, has been seen by multiple staff, but she’s pretty shy so she doesn’t hang around very long. Unfortunately, we didn’t see the real ghosts, but we still had a great time at the Fright Factory. Please make a trip to the Fright Factory, and tell them the HRC sent you. You will not be dissapointed!!
