The Frightmare Compound

Frightmare is a double haunted house off of an off street in Westminster. The Frightmare experience consists of two haunted houses. Since this was my first year here I am not sure if they change the scenarios every year or not.
One haunted house has the concept of a haunted mining town. The set up is really cool and there are parts that are indeed genuinely creepy. The actors do a pretty good job of scaring you by coming out of their cubby holes and breathing down your neck or standing so still you don't notice them.
I won't go into detail as to what I saw here so I don't spoil the experience should any one want to go.
The second haunted house seemed much shorter than the first one. This was set up as a circus gone bad with scary looking clowns lurking in the corners.
Both haunted houses were a lot of fun but both were confusing to get around in at various points. I was glad someone else was in the lead because at some points I had no idea where to go. Being disoriented in a haunted house is of course the point in going through one but I have been to plenty where the pathway was more clearly marked and more helpful. It might not seem like a big deal but when someone jumps out at you with a chainsaw then you want to get away from them ASAP!
Often times besides being disoriented there was parts in the haunted houses, especially the second one when you are not really on sure footing. It is alarming at first but take your time so you don't crash and burn in the haunted house!
Another precaution with going to Frightmare is be sure you tuck in your phones and wallets securely because lots of people lose their belongings in this place. There are several instances when you have to stoop over and one where you crawl so keep important belongings tucked away safe and have fun!
Frightmare was the second haunted house I have been to this year and I have the high hopes of knocking two more out by the end of the holiday! Halloween is indeed MY holiday and I have the intention of owning it every year! When you go to these places though, heed what the disclaimers say. The people who run these places are not out to ruin your life by telling you to follow the rules.
Due to many other complications this year I did not do my own haunted house which I love to do so I go to other peoples haunted houses! Happy Halloween!
P.S. At one instance through here was a man playing with real cockroaches! I was like, "Whoah! I signed no waiver for you to throw that thing at me!"He didn't but that got me to thinking if there are really any haunted houses where you actually DO sign a waiver to have real creepy crawlies thrown at you. Many haunted houses have the hype that you have to sign a waiver but don't when you get there and are your standard haunted houses. The 13th Floor is just such a place. I think they are a chain because they have several locations in Colorado but the one I went to by Denver Coliseum had the waiver hype but in the end was not a waiver signing haunted house. Any of my readers that know of a bonafide waiver haunted house, I would like to know about it! Not too sure I would go but I just want to know if they exist. I want to hear real experiences though and not hear hype. It is not valid saying my friend was here and got a real spider on her. Sorry, don't believe it. Because that is what I heard about the 13th Floor too!

I was so hopeful for this place. The reviews were great, and the concept was awesome. However, it was vastly disappointing.
For starters the pre-show (the people walking around the lines and parking lot in costume scaring people), was disappointing at best. You got a DJ in a demon mask and some chick in a doll mask carrying around a bunny covered in fake blood. It sucked, especially when she kept stopping to talk to people and standing by the DJ to fake dance while she pulled her underwear up.
Next the line was stupid long. The VIP line moved 5x faster, and they kept the tickets coming for it apparently. We got there with a short line and waited nearly two hours because they didn't regulate how many VIP tickets they sold. And it wasn't worth it.
I gave 2 stars because the place was amazingly designed. The settings were well crafted and extremely well thought out, though it was difficult for people like my mom who has a bad knee (and there was no warning for this). None the less, well designed. However they did not have enough actors to fill their spaces. Some were very open and there was pretty much one actor per section. It really ruined the effect. There was nothing to distract you so that you didn't see the scare coming. The end result was equivalent to being startled, not scared. Even the 7 year old little girl came out of it saying it wasn't scary.
It was not worth the $22. It was clear they were trying to maximize profits as best as possible by hiring as few people as possible, and the end result was that it was startling, but you get lost in the scenery with nothing to be a surprise.
I'd recommend City of the Dead.

We used the VIP coupon for four last night. We arrived a few minutes before it was ready to open. I'm not sure what the difference is with the VIP coupon. We waited to enter the same as nonVIPs waited to enter. Maybe they went on a shorter route. It wasn't crowded on a Wednesday evening.

The vast majority of the scares are people suddenly appearing, and sometimes growling at you. It's so dark that in many places you can hardly see anything, and a couple of times we weren't even sure which way to go (once we actually exited a corn field into part of the parking lot, and had to retrace our steps to finish the route). You couldn't really see a lot of the actors, though you could hear them behind, next to or in front of you.

In a few instances, the scares were really thought out and that was the best part. A couple of actors, including one who was almost hidden next to a tow truck and a woman on a gravestone, made everyone jump when they revealed themselves. There was one set piece scene with a priest and a possessed woman that I enjoyed. I would like to have seen more set pieces and less jumping out, but then I'm over 40 and old so maybe that's not what haunted houses are about! I kept slowing to look at the decorations and settings and eventually a group behind us caught up, so I'm guessing you are expected to go faster.

My son loved it - his first haunted house. I liked it. The corn field was the best part, the wind blowing through the corn and its location apart from the noise of the other settings made it very spooky, and there was an unexpected surprise within it. I like and support local businesses, and Frightmare is worth the time. Hats off to the actors who pull off the scares every night.