As we are all seeking that good haunt that scares us during the Halloween season, we look to where we will have to travel. Do we travel to Tampa, Orlando, or just wait til next year. If you live in the Sarasota/Bradenton area you have the fourth option. Frightmares Extreme Haunted House returns to Sarasota.

John Rusnak, the brainstorm behind Frightmares, opened up his bag of tricks to scare the brave “victims” in 2015’s presentation of this haunt. John has a lot of experience in building these scares as he has been doing it in Sarasota for many many years ……. and it shows when walking through. John is also the producer/director of the movie House of Blood, which helps demonstrate his love and passion to scare you.

There are 2 houses this year, and as always , I do use the 5 SKULL rating; 1 SKULL (child friendly) to 5 SKULLS (wet my pants scary). There were two separate houses this year and will be reviewed separately.

ASYLUM (3 SKULLS) [3 1/2 explained below)

I consider this one is the one to start out in. Very good visual effects and a lot of twists and turns to hide that unknown scare. Makeup and acting of the scareactors were awesome. I say start with this one because it will build the scare for the other house on a rising level.

FRIGHT FACTORY (4 SKULLS) [5 explained below]

This is by far the scarier of the two houses. The scareactors really got involved in their parts and the misdirection and tease were all there. I thoroughly enjoyed the walk through this one and wanted to go through again. There are a couple of child scareactors that by themselves could bring this to a 5 SKULLS. something about a child in a haunted setting is very creepy to me and when I walked through the rooms where they were present I started having my Exorcist and Poltergeist flashbacks. Well applauded and well done.

knowing it takes a lot to scare me so I observed people walking through and exiting.  Just about all of them came out saying it was very scary and one woman even did pee her pants (so her friend claimed). So based upon “victim” observation I would say ASYLUM gets 3 1/2 SKULLS and FRIGHT FACTORY gets the 5 SKULLS.

Frightmares is located in Ringling Plaza at 170 Shopping Ave in Sarasota. They will be open one more weekend to provide the scares that Sarasota is looking for. For more information you can check out their website or their facebook page. Tickets are only $16 each or get a group of friends together and a 4-pack for $55.

Courtesy of Frightmares I am giving away tickets for the final weekend. Be sure to follow me on twitter and retweet the contest entry message for a chance to win. Winner will be announced on Wednesday. If you to go, tell them the THRILLFREAK SENT YA!!!!!!

David “Thrills”
The Thrill Freak @TampaAmazeMe

David “Thrills” is an avid enthusiast of thrill parks and entertainment activities in the Tampa Bay Area. Be sure to follow me on twitter for live tweets or email me at tampathrillme@gmail.com for any questions or concerns.