Screamfest

I went this year (2015) with my fiancé (40) and my two friends (35 & 36). This was the worst thing we had ever been too. The set up looked as if they designed it at a high school level. Not one of us jumped the entire time. The only thing we enjoyed is that we could have a drink. I am sure you all worked very hard but this was not really built for adults. This is a teenager fest where they all sit on the ground inside in a huddle and drink from a coke bottle that clearly had booze in it. The prices were outrageous and even the spere’s you had to pay extra for were gross and i couldn’t even see out of them. All of the haunted houses that are outside basically had a ton of teenagers that would pop out and scream with such a pitch that wasn’t scary it made me def. I am sorry but i will not be returning and i will be advising everyone not to attend.

Money grab is the biggest fear! $ 8 for paintball from a stationary gun behind a fence? Mildly scary haunted houses. One is so dark you can’t even find where you are going. More annoying than scary. Freak show with Ryan and Amber-​Lynn is the best part of ScreamFest.

Well i keep it short and sweet since the other reviews are very in depth. Did we have a good time– meh it was ok. Did i get scared? Not really. Ive definitely been to better haunted houses, and they have never cost me $ 25 each person at that. The price is too much, almost got charged for parking ($ 13) and then if you want to do anything else it adds up really really fast. I didnt feel as though the ‘scream fest’ was much more than a few adolescent teens with masks trying to pop out from a wall and spook you. It would have been better if they just put all the haunted houses together maybe? and it is SO very MUCKY so dont wear nice shoes or heals, you will definitely regret it.
I wont be going again or next year and do i suggest you go? Well you can formulate your own opinion, but i will be telling my friends that its not worth the hefty price tag.

Screamfest has moved to the stampede grounds this year. They now have 6 included houses and 2 for charity. There are also rides and entertainment (so they say. more later)
The advantage of this is more space, a liquor license and it’s accessible by train.
I love halloween, and remember taking screamfest in back when they were just 1 house and located in the old military base back in my teen years. I’m pleased to say it’s grown since then and has become a bit of an epic halloween carnival. By attending this year I was hoping it had matured with me now that it’s PG13 and serving liquor. I will go over the good the bad and the ugly of the fest in my latest visit.
What you will find here in 2012:
6 regular haunted houses — all specific themed and well done
2 additional houses that cost $ 3 in killer cash each ($ 2 if KC is bought in a combo or $ 3 if KC is bought inside) these were their best houses and recommended
3 rides (potentially… more under «the ugly») — they have gyroscopes which are not for the weak stomached ($ 6 KC) and they are suppose to have a coffin ride and an Egyptian ride simulator which we not there when we were there.
They have a stage with fire performances and a freak show. There should have been live music and other performers but they were not there our night. Entertainment is included.
They have about 8 unique carnival games where you can win prizes ($ 3KC each)
You can get a temporary tattoo ($ 3 – 5 KC each) and buy all kinds of comic and led flashing gear.
There are zombies and creepy characters walking around — they have a portrait studio if you’d like your photo taken with some — $ 20 each.
They have a food concession (cash only) with typical stampede ground fair. They have a bar as well (I didn’t go in) and they are pushing alcohol quite hard which I found strange for the venue .
The good, the bad and the ugly:
Good:
— Seemed to be a HUGE hit with the Jr. High aged crowd. I think this demographic has a huge advantage now that the fest is on the train route and not located at COP. For the lazy drivers you’ll now have to pay the outrageous stampede parking rates.
— I like that they have branched out into different areas adding to the fun on top of the houses
— I liked the charity houses (they were my favorite of the 8) and I would recommend buying killer cash and seeing these if you go. Benefits to the kidney foundation.
— Although I didn’t find the houses scary myself (I’m pushing 30) some of the effects were pretty cool.
— The games were unique, the prizes halloween themed largely, some were challenging but they are not too hard so the kids won’t win. We won something every game and we’re not expert carnival gamers by any means. I quite like my new skelanimal and some of the other plushes I won — which takes back to my younger days.
The bad:
— boy had this gotten pricey! $ 25 per person to walk in the door. $ 35 if you want $ 15 in killer cash (each charity house is $ 3 KC so that will use $ 6 KC of that $ 15 KC. They gyroscope was $ 6 KC, the games are $ 3 KC. $ 3 KC to reenter a house). If you want shorter lines you’ll shell out $ 45 with $ 15 KC in your pocket for extras.
The ugly:
— One very disappointing thing was the organizer’s poor communication. Their website details a coffin ride, a Egyptian simulator ride and a gyroscope. At the gate you’re told you need to buy killer cash for these things and if you buy it there it’s a bit cheaper. 50 feet later, once you’re inside you realize the coffin ride and the simulator ride were not set up anywhere. No one inside has ever heard of these things you just bought killer cash for which is very upsetting.
— If you look of the website and think — woah that’s some awesome entertainment and I want in on that! You might be disappointed too — only 3 of 6 acts were playing when we were there. They were good but I wish there was the other acts .
— we nearly saw a young teen get ignited on fire because a fire performer let go of the flaming hula hoop and it landed close to the front row (potentially they scariest thing that happened that night!)
In conclusion, this was an OK date night even for a ~30 yo couple that LOVES Halloween. It dropped a couple stars because of the expense ($ 70 for the two of us for 8 houses and 3 carnie games each — no food or alcohol or other purchases and we parked far away with street parking and walked into the park). I would have given more stars again if the website or ticket booth attendees clearly reflected what I was going to have available when purchasing killer cash. We would have only upgraded one entry to a combo had we known there were no rides we’d do inside. I was also let down by the lack of some performances I was hyped for. If the entertainment and rides were there it had the potential for 3.5 — 4 stars — maybe it’s more happening closer to Halloween?

Leave it to the Pumpkin Queen to want to review such an event ;)
I love Halloween. I mean, REALLY REALLY love it. More then Christmas, more then my Birthday. So naturally, I’ve been to Screamfest… a few times.
Quickly becoming an annual event (I know for certain it’s been around for four years now), it caters to the Halloween season as Calgary’s biggest ‘haunted house’ type venue. It’s found a home at Canada Olympic Park and the prices are $ 20 for weekend nights or $ 15 otherwise. This gets you access to all the haunted houses and the games tent (but Stampede-​like games are $ 3 a pop). There were 5 haunted houses this past year which were housed in semi-​trailer truck carriages with different themes like ‘Terror Under the Big Top’, ‘Bates Motel’ and ‘Nuclear Nightmare’. This past year even included ‘Lucifer’s Labyrinth’, an outdoor jaunt complete with an overdose of fog (which way is out?) and guys with scythes and chainsaws pretending to be your worst nightmare.
To my shock, instead of setting up an appropriate atmosphere of spooky fear-​building music, the central courtyard, despite its terrific bonfire surrounded by pumpkins, was blaring with top 40 music. Yes, I know Fergie and Nickelback can be frightful but it’s not quite the mood music a smart person would choose. I do give it kudos for a creative games tent with better prizes then the Stampede and even a chance to crawl into a coffin that closes and shakes about. The haunted houses themselves won’t do a thing for those of us who don’t scare easily. We saw almost every scare coming. But the giddy lil teen girls were having a ball so clearly Screamfest gets their thrills and chills from that demographic.
Bringing the under 12 crowd is at the discretion of Mom and Dad. How much can your lil boo’s handle? I mean, one haunted house is pretty much entirely in the dark. I’d say most under 10 would not handle this too well… it’s an inundation of sights, sounds and things that go bump in the night… even if they’re playing ‘my humps, my lovely lady lumps’ in the background. Yeah, in retrospect, that WAS kinda scary.