Entertainment
Halloween 2: Xania’s return
Tue, Oct 6, 2009 (4:23 p.m.)
Boo.
The only thing scarier than a truly ghouly haunted house is being deathly afraid of haunted houses in the first place. I once had a not-so-great experience at a haunted house in my hometown. After I got a good scare from a man wielding a buzzing chain saw, a wolfman doused me with a bucketful of ice water. I wanted to run, but there was nowhere to go, what with all the bodies crowding the attraction, all the actors and slowly moving displays of corpses crawling from their graves. I was trapped. Hours later, home, dry and utterly freaked, I scrawled a fierce journal entry, using as strong language as a precocious first-grader can get away with.
And every fall since, I’ve scoffed at the season’s bumper crop of haunted houses.
It was my evil Weekly colleagues’ suggestion that I work through my fears with some sensory immersion. So Sunday night, I gave Fright Dome and its five haunted houses a chance. My goal: surviving two. Inside “Hillbilly Hell,” I dodged the denim-overalled, white-trash undead and homicidal zombie hicks. But all this was child’s play compared to “Jigsaw’s Revenge,” one of two Saw-inspired attractions.
Calendar
- Fright Dome
- Through October 31, 7 p.m. to midnight
- $34.95, Adventuredome at Circus Circus
- Beyond the Weekly
- Fright Dome
It wasn’t so much the audio-animatronic bodies writhing in torture-porn peril, or the diabolical machinery poised to wrench the hired actors from tit to tail. No, it was the pure sensory overload: female ’tweenager screams, strobe lights, pitch darkness, an endless maze of confined corridors and the constant touching from body bags and props. I brought along a tall, strong man and then proceeded to use him as a full-body shield.
When a rabid, silver gorilla-man (Fright Dome’s owner, it turns out) began taunting me, I buried my face in my companion’s shoulder blades. That’s when a killer clown (no doubt smelling my fear) took a running start and slid right to my feet with a menacing glare. I was about to faint dead away when it occurred to me—that would put me on eye level with the fiend. So I did what any first-grader would do: I burst into fat, hot tears and had to be taken out a back door. Score: Haunted houses, 2; Xania, 0.
Fright Dome scary? In a word: yes.
-
Wednesday
2012-02-15
The Strip
-
Wednesday
2012-02-15
Hard Rock
-
Wednesday
2012-02-15
Drink Specials
- More ›
-
Friday
2012-02-17
The Strip
-
Friday
2012-02-17
The Strip
-
Friday
2012-02-17
Las Vegas Hotel
- More ›
-
Sunday
2012-02-19
$5 drinks with text
The Strip
-
Sunday
2012-02-19
The Strip
-
Sunday
2012-02-19
Reduced priced beer and shots
Local Bands
- More ›
-
Monday
2012-02-20
Palms
-
Monday
2012-02-20
Las Vegas Weekly
-
Monday
2012-02-20
The Strip
- More ›
Facebook Activity
Most Popular
- Most Read
- E-mailed
- 1. The Situation plans a special Valentine’s Day date, his TV spinoff
- 2. Las Vegas Valentine's Day dining guide 2012
- 3. Kate Upton, 19, is 2012 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition cover girl
- 4. Strip Scribbles: Drama for Claire Sinclair and Marston Hefner
- 5. Celine Dion talks Whitney Houston, drugs on ‘Good Morning America’
- 6. Whitney love all around ... almost
- 7. Photos and videos: Kate Upton, from S.I. Rookie of the Year to cover girl
- 8. This week: Ali, Sports Illustrated, V-D, MAGIC and Mob Museum
- 9. Sample fare from the world's most exclusive chefs in Las Vegas
- 10. Strip Scribbles: Claire Sinclair photo, Paris Hilton, Union at Aria
Discussion:
In an effort to increase the dialogue on our stories, we will be requiring Facebook accounts to leave comments on lasvegasweekly.com stories. We believe that Weekly readers are likely to have Facebook accounts already and more apt to comment on this site with that account rather than have to create an account with us. If, however, you do not have a Facebook account, click here to sign up for one. If you have questions, comments or concerns about this new commenting policy, please let us know.
For any other questions related to commenting on Weekly stories, please read our full policy.