Nightmare’s Gate Haunted House is another local GA haunt we’ve been visiting for yearsss, ever since their previous location. We were heartbroken when they were forced to move a few years back, but we are fans and visited them the first year in their new space. They were still getting acclimated, and we wanted to give them some time before checking them out again, so it had been a while since our last visit. The Nightmare’s Gate team has definitely settled into their new space… just in time to move again! They’ve found another new location and will be moving out of their current spot attached to the bowling alley and into their own building. This one will be their permanent, forever home…. And we are SUPER excited for them!
This year Nightmare’s Gate featured not one but TWO separate attractions – their classic haunted hospital PLUS the newly added Terror Falls which is in their new building. Luckily, this new building is just right across the street from their current space, so it made experiencing both haunts convenient and will hopefully make this move a little easier on them.
Nightmare’s Gate has always done a really great job of immersing you in their psychotic world. Their sets are extremely detailed and just make sense! This is the cohesive type of haunt we love to see! As you descend into the belly of the hospital, the boiler room FEELS like a boiler room, and every other inch of the hospital is just as meticulously designed. We seriously have no idea how they were able to so thoroughly transform a space next to a freaking bowling alley into a hospital ward. You can’t even hear any trace of the crash of pins! It’s almost sad they are going to have to rip everything down and rebuild... yet again…
The actors at Nightmare’s Gate are seasoned pros and SUPER engaging and interactive! These guys don’t have to only rely on jump scares to terrify you… everything they say and every move they make has been carefully crafted to bring their character to nightmarish reality. Not sure if it was because they had to staff two attractions this year or if Covid was still affecting their show, but there seemed to be less actors and more dead space than usual which resulted in a less scary visit for us this time. There are also some mainstay characters, the Nurse and the patient, Lannister, that we look forward to seeing every visit. But this time our buddy Lannister wasn’t there! We always enjoy his deranged banter, so his presence was definitely missed… even though we got to spend some quality time with the Nurse!
Because these characters’ personalities have been so thoughtfully honed, it’s a tall order to match makeup and costuming to ensure they are really brought to life, but the Nightmare’s Gate makeup team is up for the challenge! They use a great mix of makeup and masks and ensure everything is appropriate to the character and their space.
After the original haunted hospital experience, we travelled across the street into their new building and new attraction Terror Falls! Despite having only gotten started in June, Terror Falls featured a set design element SOOO spectacular that we can’t even put it into words!!! Trust us… you need to see this one for yourselves! We will say this though, it’s not called Terror Falls for nothing! Although this addition was awesome, the haunt undoubtedly had the feeling of a work in progress but was still impressive given the amount of time they had to work on it. Overall, it felt like a preview of what’s to come versus a full attraction, but we can see where it’s going, and we are HERE FOR IT!!!
A REALLY DOPE bonus about this trip to Nightmare’s Gate was that we ran into a group of people who follow us on social media! It’s so rewarding to meet fellow Haunt Junkies and get to compare notes. We are truly thankful for all our followers and love to hear that people checked out haunts based on our recommendations… and Nightmare’s Gate and Terror Falls are definitely haunts worth checking out! While we will continue to miss the old location and experience, this incredible team surely isn’t lacking vision, so we are really looking forward to seeing what’s to come in their new building!