I like to consider myself a haunted house enthusiast. I am on the constant look out for haunted houses I may run through. I have yet to find a haunted house that truly scares me; I guess that is what happens when you spend your teenage years acting in one. You discover all of the tricks behind the scenes.
Sadly New York City’s Times Scare did not exceed my expectations, it did however meet them. Were they high expectations you ask? Moderate, I would say. Walking through this dark hotel/asylum you notice a lack of actors running around. You may pass through many rooms without encountering a single crazy actor. I believe it takes a lot of people to make a haunted house scary. Not only were the rooms empty from people but most were too dark to really appreciate the gore and sinister atmosphere of each room.
The few actors you did run into were pretty creepy and very believable. Not once did an actor break character, it made the whole experience more convincing. The actors do need to be more careful about hiding their smart phones. Just because the room is dark doesn’t mean I can’t see the screen light and hear its buzz. Number one rule of a haunted house: No Cell Phones. A cellular phone device is not scary what so ever, unless it has the ability to take over your brain and that is not the case here. An actor needs to make their “victims” believe they are actually walking through a real haunted place, that there is a small possibility that they could be in actual danger. When a cell phone goes off it brings you out the horrific moment and back into the reality that these people are just like you and me. They just wear horrifying make up at work.
Overall I had fun and it was a decent haunted house.