If you’ve seen the apocalyptic horror film 28 Days Later, where a zombie-inducing infection affectionately referred to as the rage spreads rampantly across Britain then you have an idea of what Zombie Apocalypse is like.
The attraction—it’s an understatement to just call it a haunted house—drags you into the horror and chaos of a zombie-flooded world, where one bite from an infected being creates a domino effect of mayhem and death. Once bitten, you’re fate is nearly settled— you’re bound to be shot down like a rabid dog.
The entire area is painted like an army base, renovated from two old motels. You first go through the haunted house, and then in the end, if you want to, you can use a paintball gun to slay live zombies running through a caged area.
The house itself is rather interesting, but the ordeal was more exciting and fun than it is scary. Running seems like a good idea when traveling through a long, dark, empty hallway with a series of open doors out of which brain-hungry zombies can abruptly pop out..
But once out of their rooms, a tour guide and army sergeant shoots the zombies down before they can attack.
After running through the haunted house, you’re led outside to walk through a ransacked junkyard, where zombies burst out from the trash cans and behind large truck tires. A car starts up and runs into the wall—the driver makes it out alive, but zombies quickly swarm his fresh body.
Then there’s the Deadlight District. You guessed it—it’s full of zombie prostitutes. They’re chained to fences and mock walls from which they attempt to lure you in for business. For some kind of refuge, men with frayed hair and disheveled outfits try to sway the remaining survivors for their clan of bikers, living and breathing the sinful life that, in a world infected with zombies, might be your best hope for survival.
On the way to a large garage, a fervent religious extremist threatens you with eternal damnation.
As your escape to freedom continues, you run into the lab where the monsters were created, some still suffering the consequences of a blood transfer or an unintended bite. But you find later that the experiments haven’t stopped there: a mad scientist in one of the garages is still creating more freaks and zombies to chase down fresh blood for the night, creating an army for his psychotic control.
“The acting was impressive to me,” freshman Sterling Jones said. “The people who had given into the inevitable were crazy and the soldiers trying to prevent it were determined, and the acting showed it the entire time.”
After the 20 to 30-minute walk (and run) for survival, shooting the live zombies with paintball guns seems like a satisfying endeavor. But for $15, you’re given only 20 paintballs, making the shooting session something that can be passed up with little regret. The house costs $20, two dollars less than Netherworld. But if you’re really looking to shoot those monstrous beings, definitely get the combo of both the house and the shooting session for $30 and save $5.
Though the acting and outfits were a success, a few over-the-top aspects, like the car running into the wall, seemed unnecessary. Like many haunted houses, with a few adjustments, Zombie Apocalypse could cost a lot less than it does.
