The Haunted House of Horrors

The Haunted House of Horrors was unfortunately a let down.
Thankfully, I got free passes, so I wasn’t as bothered as some of the paying customers. I had fun, but it wasn’t scary and it doesn’t compare to other haunted houses that have been running for over a decade.
First off, the lines to get in were outrageous. Most of the people there had pre-​paid and reserved their time to go, so I’m not sure why there was such a problem with crowd control. This caused a lot of disgruntled attendees. Not to mention the staff seemed very confused about where people should stand and who was checking IDs and distributing wristbands. There seemed to be a lack of management and order.
Once inside, I thought it was pretty cool that they had an indoor/​outdoor attraction that took you through the outdoor courtyard of The Old Mint. The Old Mint building is pretty cool, so it was pretty interesting that there were scares happening in the old vault. That said, I’m sure The Old Mint was not cheap to rent for this attraction and I think the venue rental probably ate up a great deal of their budget.
Unfortunately, the décor and actors were lackluster. Allegedly, there was a budget problem and rumor has it, a lot of actors did not end up getting paid. So, this essentially ended up being a volunteer-​staffed haunted house. Considering the price of tickets, I think it was not worth the cost to get in.
It was advertised that there was a game room, which sounded fun in theory, but most of the home-​spun games (like velcro darts and other cheap kid-​friendly games… think pin the tail on the donkey with non-​stick velcro) were broken and there was no one there to assist. There were a couple of video games set up to play and those worked fine.
There was a «blood bar» that had themed drinks in a blood-​splattered decorated room, but it still felt like cheap decorations (I know it’s probably cheap, but it seemed more like a home haunt than a professional installation. and that theme was felt throughout the whole attraction).
The downstairs scares did not have much continuity, and again, a few «scares» were alright, but some were really uninteresting like a hanging skeleton or something like that. There didn’t seem to be a theme or anything that led you on a path/​trail through the haunt.
Unfortunately, rumor has it, that this attraction lost money, and even some of the staff weren’t paid, so I don’t think it will be returning. The idea of it sounded amazing! It’d be amazing to have haunted house in downtown San Francisco in The Old Mint, but unfortunately, it sounded better than it actually was. Overall, it was great in theory, but failed in execution unfortunately.

I love hunted houses but this event was over sold.
You show up at the time slot (like a movie ticket) and scan your tickets while you are in a long line around the block. I asked some folks on the opposite wall from us waiting and they’ve waited 2 hours.
The scanner workers said that they have people from the last show still waiting in line so that our time slot is even longer. We were given the opportunity to come back a different day but this would put other customers in the situation we are in. My request for a refund was denied as there is a no refund policy. We left because after waiting over an hour in the cold and the line was still too long and there was no bathroom. Very disappointed of the management of this event as well as over selling tickets that they could not serve with a reasonable wait time.

I came here on Oct 30^th and i know this review is late. But it’s better late than never. I wanted an hour to get in around 630 and i was done by 8pm. When you get in you have to wait in line again. The people here really do put in a lot of effort to put the scare in its’ guest and i have to give them props for trying. But it’s really not worth the 14.00 groupon admissions fee because this was way too short of a adventure.

Went to The Haunted House Of Horrors on Saturday, October 26^th… After waiting three hours to get in, we were done in less than 15 mins. Only two rooms were running. They didn’t have any of the movies nor the Thriller show as promised in ads. The costumes and props were just the plastic/​rubber things you get at Spirit or the Halloween store… At $ 40 a ticket, it was a total waste of time.
We were told that it was opening night and an electrical fire forced them to not have half the place running. The person who claimed to be the manager also said that we could come back and use our tickets another day when everything that was promised in ads would be running. We asked if we came back, would we be able to just come up to the door with our tickets. He replied that no, we would have to wait in whatever line had formed when we came back. We told him that we didn’t have another three hours to waste waiting in a line another day and asked for a refund. He said we had to contact Eventbrite for a refund, he also gave us his email for reassurance that we were going to get our refund. As soon as we got home we contacted them for a refund; it is Nov 6, I have sent many requests to parties for refund and have yet to hear back from both of them…

This new haunted house has a lot of potential. The historical venue is naturally spooky, the scenes and props were well-​built and gruesome, and the actors kept their performances fresh (I went through twice).
I stood in queue outside for only five or ten minutes (not bad at all). I was there at five o’clock on the final night (Halloween).
My first time walking through the traditional haunted house part of the event was not scary for two reasons:
1) It was still daylight out. The decorators should have blocked out the windows.
2) Everyone was marching through in a tight line, spoiling the element of surprise (jumping out at me is not frightening when I see it happen to each of the three people ahead of me). To solve this, I think the door-​ushers should stagger parties walking through the haunted walk, they shouldn’t limit you to walking through only once, and they should make it more clear that you don’t have to walk through as soon as you enter the building – they have other attractions, including a bar!
Once I realized this whole setup felt more like a Thursday museum «Nightlife» event, I had a lot more fun. Relax, have a drink, play a game, slip into the awesome movie room… and walk through the «haunted maze» portion at your leisure.
I’d like to see the organizers drop the whole «sign up for a specific time-​slot» design, as well as the «check you off for partaking of each portion inside just once» strategy – it seems petty. Just open the doors and let people come and go as they please… like Nightlife!
Still, I loved having a good, interactive scare. Cheers to their decorators, and double cheers to their actors. Thank you!

Like alot of people here, I was fooled by the website into thinking this was going to be super scary. That definitely was not the case as I barely got scared by the two «scare» areas. One guy who was supposed to be a zombie was so bad that I asked if he even worked there. My group definitely went through laughing vs. screaming.
Do yourself a favor and go to the Tenderloin and ride the 38 bus for some real scares!

UPDATE: I was able to get a full refund (not credit) through living social.
I wish I knew who ran this event so I can avoid this scam next year.
Good luck to those who have yet to receive a refund! Try contact BBB as a last resort.

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I don’t know how else to express my frustration and dissapointment with this haunted house.
Waited 2 hours to walk through empty halls to notice/​comment more on the interior of the building than supposed «haunted house» itself. I came to be scared, giggle, and laugh uncontrollably, but left tired and COMPLETELY unamused from waiting 2 hours and 20 mins in line. In line all I noticed were peoples dumbfounded facial expressions (in a bad way) upon leaving the venue.
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Got the tickets of groupon. My boyfriend and I were excited for the haunted house from great job that was done on the website and the «history.» However, when we got there it was not what we expected. But hey, maybe the front hallway was supposed to be not so scary for the kids since they had a «candy store». The bar area made things better, it was themed like the website stated which gave us hope that the rest of the place would be scary. So we got one drink and went to the line to start the haunt, which ended up being a HUGE disappointment.
We went fairly early so I’ll give them that, but even if it were dark outside there was no scare factor, we literally walked through, the actors were not acting at all sort of just hanging out. Downstairs we figured we wound finally see something remotely scary since it was indoors and sunlight could be blocked. Half of the rooms only had halloween props and a few with actors in them. The only room that seemed to have some effort put into it by the actors was the exorcism room.
What a waste of money. So glad I didn’t pay full price for it. After this bust we went to San Jose for the Great America’s Halloween Haunt and that was a million times better.

This was year one of the event and they did a great job of decorating and costuming the staff and actors! The full bar and the food options were better than one would expect. Some great frights!
Look forward to next year already!
They also had a costume shop and you could get professionally applied special effects makeup done on-​site!
Lines can be long, so be on time and splurge on the VIP express line pass!
Don’t go in costume! Go and have a good scream or several and make a great night with this as your start! We did!

The Haunted Mansion represents our culture. Therefore I think we should suggest ideas to improve it. The fact is that the space is cool, and its a great opportunity to meet new people, and make friends.
The event could incorporate performers cheering the customers standing in line. The house could be darker, and the performers could prepare a seriously creative presentation of sorts.
Being scared should be a consequence of the intellectual interaction within: There is a «spirit» of things to be fearful of, such as the meaning of life, the camouflage of corruption as an unrecognizable veil of decay, the pains that occur when dying, the uncertainty of death, the shortness of time.
Lots of people, plenty of space, a beautiful venue, and an awesome holiday… What a great chance to unite our souls as we envision our fears of death as motivation to live happier. To grow a strong morale.
Society is empty overall. And this event is proof of it, just as many others. I would like to see more people proposing solutions here. Although it might take a genius with lots of power to bring the holiness back to such days like these, were masses gather together to celebrate.

What a complete scam, operated by professional crooks.
First of all, this is my second review because my first was flagged and removed — first time it’s ever happened to me on Unilocal.
Secondly, my review on their Facebook page (
) was deleted and I’ve been subsequently banned from any activity on that page. I’m not the only one either — ANY negative comments will be removed. Read the other reviews and see the screenshots, see for yourself.
I went to this mockery of a haunted house on Sunday, and had high hopes based on all the advertising. First off the logistics were poorly managed. There was no sense of where to go once we entered, nor any schedule. One worker told us the «next maze will begin at 2pm,» and then another person told us 2:15pm. No biggie.
Then we were shooed into a room for a «Thriller» performance. It was basically a bunch of poorly costumed club hoes doing a dance routine, save for one aerial silk acrobat who actually had some talent. It was utter shit — terrible music and the choreography was off. Several of us just walked out in the middle of the show. I actually felt embarrassed to be there!
The maze itself was a huge joke. The Old Mint by itself is a spooky building, but it was cheapened with Halloween decorations you’d find at Walgreens. The «professional actors» were wearing cheap, consumer-​grade costumes… NOT professional, Hollywood-​quality costumes or makeup as advertised.
To make a long story short, you’ll follow a brightly-​lit path where the aforementioned «actors» just walk up to you and yell in your face. The jester in particular was awful and annoying. The worst costumes were the zombies. The fake blood was pink and the makeup was laughable. There was one guy with a hunchback clown costume that was kinda cool, but nothing you couldn’t find at a Halloween store or Amazon.
The second part of the maze was downstairs in the vaults. Again, this would have been better off without all the chintzy decorations because of the Old Mint itself. But no, it was ghetto-​fied and pathetic. Inside each room they staged an act, such as a devil on a throne, an exorcism, and a butcher shop. Each one was pretty weak, and it was difficult to enter the rooms because so many people were rushing to get the hell out.
So that’s my lengthy review, since these stand-​up professional CON ARTISTS flagged my first review. Please, please save yourself some time, money and sanity by avoiding this AT ALL COSTS.

UPDATE: The business contacted Unilocal to have my photos removed, but I still have the screenshots if anyone needs or wants them (might help with proving a fraudulent charge, maybe).
I contacted Eventbrite to let them know the business is referring all refund requests to them, and then ignoring all those requests. Eventbrite needs to step in and issue refunds for those that have requested it (I read through the payment manual, and Eventbrite HOLDS ALL FUNDS UNTIL THE EVENT IS OVER — so we need to act fast before the haunted house pockets it!)
If they can’t or won’t help, I’m disputing the charge with my bank and reporting them.
People paid up to 50 $ a ticket for this garbage. This is criminal!
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This place is a total SCAM. I don’t need to reiterate what everyone else has already said, so I’ll spare those details.
But what’s more than all that, this place deletes all the negative stuff people have said from their Facebook. I took a few photos before the company deleted the comments, as proof. They deleted the review feature on their FB page (there were 25 one star reviews when I looked yesterday at 1 pm) and they deleted all the comments on their photo (including someone linking to this Unilocal page lolololol!). Then they block you from posting again! Sound scamy? That’s because it is.
And to top it off, they put up fake Unilocal reviews to try to up their rating (case in point: Joseph C., below). «Joseph» here thinks y’all who went this weekend should «purchase discount tickets and go again!» He thinks you all were in damp spirits because of the line and your moods (not their crappy haunted house) ruined the experience for you. Shame on you all! Can’t you all be more understanding?! Remember, «this is there first yr they ever attempted this.»
Lame, lame, lame. Lets all demand our money back. So far, they’ve ignored all my requests, so I’m going to Eventbrite next.

These guys ruined my first Haunted House experience ever. It was not worth the discounted price I paid for the ticket (17 $), feel sad for the folks who paid the full price (40 $).
The management was poor, only 1% of the scare actors were scary and the overall experience was poor. The volunteers had no idea what was going on, and they seemed completely clueless.
Give me my money back, I’d say.
A better haunted experience would be just having 10 good actors inside this old Mint building, with no music or props. Also not much ghostly props or decoration required (the building in itself can be spooky) .and just let in a dozen people inside at a time for 15 – 20 minutes. This will be worth the money.

Purchased a ticket a day in advance for the 9 – 12 Saturday night slot through Eventbrite. Got there the night of at 10 pm, only to be told that the line had been cut off (2 people before me!!) and that they had reached maximum capacity. And that I «could come back at another time”– WTF.
No, I purchased a ticket for a specific 3-​hour time period. And I’m going out of town this week. They couldn’t have figured out max capacity ahead of time?
Then, I was told I could get a refund if I went to the front. Just figuring out where that was/​getting there took 20 minutes, and then was told that there was a «Refund Button» on the website and I could get my money back that way.
Checked today (two days later) and I’m not seeing any refund button on Eventbrite.
SCAM– total scam! I want my money back, my bus fare back, and like 3 hours of wasted time back.

AWFUL. Don’t even bother going.
Even though I bought tix at 60% discount, I still want a refund. You get a 3 hr window to come visit (plenty of time right?). We bought the 9−12am window and our friends had lined up at 8pm. We had heard from our friend that the organizer said they were at capacity and were going to turn people away who didn’t line up by 9pm (WTFFFFF.) In reality, they turned away ppl by 11pm but STILL. if the ticket said 9−12am you should still be able to go by 12am. There was nothing on the ticket about capacity limits or that last viewing was at 11:30 or anything.
The marketing for this haunted house was pretty good. Scary fliers and facebook postings of «200 actors» and «25 chambers of horror». In reality, it was more like maybe 20 actors (terrible costumes… michael myers mask didn’t even fit his face. womp womp) and 5 «chambers» of total darkness/​glow sticks and girl actors screaming in your face. Scary right? The ONE maze (website & flyer says 2 mazes) was sparsely decorated and had too much light!
The Old Mint looks huge on the outside but they only use 2 floors and for those 2 floors, it def was not worth the money. Maybe I would pay $ 5 for the event but no more than that. The movie wasn’t even playing for our night/​time slot and the «carnival games» area just looked plain sad.
UM, can you put up a schedule so we know when all the events will be open!!! We got jipped out of everything. No movie, NO fashion show (didn’t wanna see it anyways but still. included in the price), No «Do or Die battle game zone» (not even available), No thriller show, No picture area where they catch you screaming or where you’re supposed to be able to take a picture with Frankenstein or Count Dracula… WHERE IS EVERYTHING?!
We ended up leaving and walking to Local Edition. Our better part of the night.

I had a good time here. There were other reviews for this place; everyone giving it a 1 star or less and I’ll tell you why. We came here on Saturday night (the weekend before Halloween) and it was PACKED! The lines were to the back of the building and around the complex next door. This was probably around 9pm/​10pm-​ish and our tickets said 9pm-​12am. When we got there, the security guards told us they are cutting the line for the night (meaning they weren’t going to allow any more people in). What a bummer! They did tell us we can come back the next day and our tickets would still be valid up until ¹⁰⁄₃₁.
It sucked for numerous reasons:
1. the tickets we bought said (for ¹⁰⁄₂₆ only) but then all of a sudden, it’s valid for any day.
2. long ass lines
3. tickets were around $ 14 (if you order online through SF Funcheap)
But on the bright side, we came back Sunday around the afternoon and BAM, no lines. Barely any lines. There was one small group in front of us and they were just scanning their tickets. I think it was much more enjoyable during the morning/​afternoon b/​c it was less scary (let’s be honest here, I am a wuss). The place is set up as individual «exhibits» where you start at «entrance 1» and you walk through «stories.» People are dressed in different costumes and they try to scare you via the surprise element but like I said, it was during the day and there’s plenty of sunlight so that factor is taken away. Then you go to the next exhibit. There’s about 4 main exhibits that we went through (which included the small corn maze outside). There’s also a movie theatre but we didn’t stay for that. There’s also suppose to be some «game room» but when we were there, they had some issues or whatever it was that was under construction so we didn’t get to do that either. Didn’t see the fashion show that I read about so I have no comment on that. There’s also a bloody lounge but it was closed (I’m assuming b/​c it was in the afternoon).
I guess if you want to just see the exhibit without peeing in your pants, come in the afternoon. It’s more kid friendly anyway. If you want to wait in line and piss in your pants, go at night. The actors and actresses were good sports too; letting us take pictures and stuff.
Other than that, $ 14 is pretty expensive. I can’t imagine paying full price for this ($ 40).

Unfortunately, we had very similar experiences as described by other Unilocalers.
I first heard about HHH through VC, who had recently gone to Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights with RM. J and I decided to join in on the fun and do something different this Halloween. We got a pretty sizable group to attend, and were pretty excited in the days leading up to the event. The website promises quite a few scare opportunities– mazes, «chambers,» movies, games, etc etc. You can purchase tickets for entry during different 3hr windows. We chose Saturday night from 9PM-​12AM, and wondered whether we would really need the entire 3 hrs to explore all the «haunted horrors.» Our plan was to meet in front of the Mint Building at 9PM… but after some intel from passerbyers, we decided to meet at 8:45PM, since it seemed like the lines were getting long.
THE GOOD:
— um… good-​natured staff? I felt kinda bad for the woman in charge of scanning tickets and passing out wristbands… she was totally bumrushed by the crowds.
THE BAD:
— poor management. The lines were pretty disorganized, both inside and out. We heard that some people waited 2+ hours to get inside… they must’ve been SO disappointed, since it only took us MAX 1hr to complete all the attractions
— only ONE maze, which wasn’t even very scary.
— waiting in lines to enter the chambers = getting a preview of everything happening IN the chamber… NOT scary.
— Cheap costumes. Cheap «actors.» NOT SCARY.
— NO MOVIE and really crappy «games”/arcade.
THE UGLY:
HHH was a complete waste of time and money. If you’ve already purchased tickets, you would probably be better off NOT ATTENDING. Seriously… its that bad. I think it would’ve been worth it to us if 1) we paid under $ 10 per person, and 2) did not have to wait in any lines. But that’s not the case. Maybe they were just getting the kinks out on opening night, but it was so poorly organized/​managed… I feel bad for anyone who paid full price (I can’t believe they were charging $ 40+!!!).
PS — The best part of the whole night was scaring SS, who would literally scream at just about ANYTHING. I spent more time finding ways to make her scream than screaming myself. We spent the majority of the time laughing at her reactions. :]

Sunday night, October 27^th 2013, Approximately 8pm:
Initial line made it all the way to the corner of the street but was not intolerable for a wait-​perhaps 10 – 12 minutes at the most.
Note on your wristband that there are 4 boxes titled SCARE1, SCARE2, MOVIE, GAME. We only experienced the haunted house (SCARE1 & 2), which was a good time! It was hilarious-​scary, not run-​out-​the-​emergency-​exits-​scary. Maybe it’s because they were deep in a shift or because we were laughing at each other getting scared so intensely that everything became funny… either way, it was worth a movie ticket price for sure-​especially if you appreciate novelty!
My only disappointment is the excess of drunk adults ruining it for the performers (and therefore other paying patrons). ADVICE: Wait as long as you can for space behind a bigger group, especially if they’re adults that have been boozin’. Some of these people were grabbing the genitals of the actors, talking $h*T to them, being outright rude and obnoxious and so when we strolled in all jolly, the scene had already been broken down and they were being asked to «Stop» or «Calm down». Ummm buzz kill. Like, big sober buzz kill. (The worst kind!)
ADVICE TO MANAGEMENT OF HAUNTED HOUSE: Please direct your employees to remove the disruptive people and maybe offer them a voucher to return when they’re sober? Probably 40% of the experience was watching drunk people take advantage and molest the performers, which I’m not going to deny is pretty comical-​except when you see them do it over and over again and they are just belligerent.
Otherwise, it was a great experience. The bar areas were reasonable in space and had good music. The top «SCARE1» was more the traditional haunted house style and the bottom «SCARE2» was a hallway with scare rooms, great work to all the performers out there-​they are talented among the trenches! If absolutely nothing else, The Old Mint is an incredible building and perfect venue for this event.

A BIG WASTE OF DOUGH!!!
…thank goodness i only paid 14 bucks for a ticket, felt so sorry for the poor fellow behind me on the line who shed more than 30.
Location was good, acting was ok but so poor in make-​up and props.