The Creepy Hollow Haunted House, near Houston, is one of the Top Haunted Attractions in the nation.
Photo courtesy of Creepy Hollow Haunted House
Looks like everything's scarier in Texas. The Haunted Attraction Association, which bills itself as the official voice of the haunt industry, has certified 14 official “Top Haunted Attractions” around the nation. On the list is Creepy Hollow Haunted House in Rosharon, about 35 miles south of downtown Houston.
The scary attraction features three frightening haunted houses at one location, including the mobile viral genetic research facility of Nouveau Genesis Corporation gone awry, the Dark Woods area of dense forest located behind the Nouveau Genesis Corporation, and Pitch Black a holding facility adjacent to Nouveau Genesis located at Creepy Hollow.
An all-inclusive $30 ticket gets thrill seekers into all three of the main attractions. Group discounts of $5 off are available for groups of 15 or more guests, but require a reservation. The Creepy Hollow Haunted House is open Friday through Monday night (October 28 -31) and on November 4 and 5.
From Wednesday through Sundays throughout the year, guests can play a virtual reality zombie first-person shooter game wearing VR headsets in the Creepy Hollow Escape Room.
Most of the other top haunted attractions on the list are in the Midwest or on the East Coast. They include Field of Screams in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and The Factory of Terror in Canton, Ohio. The closest attraction to Texas is Ruby Falls Haunted Cavern in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Tom Rhys Harries and Naomi Ackie are patient and doctor in Clayface.
The history of DC Comics in movies has been hit-and-miss, especially when it comes to anything not directly involving Batman or Superman. Over the years, films have been headlined by heroes like Catwoman, Green Lantern, Aquaman, Shazam, the Flash, and more, and while some succeeded, none left a lasting mark on moviegoers’ imaginations.
Much like they did with Joker, the powers-that-be behind DC Studios productions are trying to entice viewers with a no-holds-barred story in Clayface. Matt Hagen (Tom Rhys Harries) is an A-list movie actor with both critical and commercial appeal. Unfortunately, a night of celebration for his recent Oscar nomination leads to him sleeping with Theresa (Ruby Sear), the girlfriend of Markos Szabo (David Dencik), a prominent mobster in Gotham City. Markos then enacts revenge by taking a razor to Matt’s face.
Desperate to find a way to look like his old self again, Matt seeks out Dr. Caitlyn Corr (Naomi Ackie), who’s conducting cutting-edge nanotechnology research that can heal any kind of damage. While the solution works on Matt, it also has the side effect of his body doing unintended things, even morphing into those with whom he comes into contact. After initially struggling with his new body, Matt decides to use his powers to enact revenge on those who’ve done him wrong.
Directed by James Watkins (Speak No Evil) and written by Mike Flanagan (The Life of Chuck) and Hossein Amini, the film is only intermittently entertaining as it tries to sell its ridiculous premise. Right from the start, it seems like the filmmakers have been given a limited budget, as everything from the sets to the CGI to the stilted dialogue feels cheap. For a film coming from a major studio, the whole thing comes off as schlocky and undercooked.
Watkins and his team try to make up for that shoddiness by delivering R-rated thrills like nudity and body horror, but those elements can only distract for so long. Much of the film is spent dealing with Matt’s trauma, and the downbeat nature of his body issues combined with very little action makes the movie not very fun to watch. The film also tries to make hay with more than a doctor-patient bond between Caitlyn — who has a boyfriend on the police force — and Matt, but like the most of the film, it never connects.
It’s not until the final third of the movie that the filmmakers land on the tone they should have been using the whole time. Matt’s ability to transform himself, while illogical and confounding, provides multiple over-the-top, funny moments and some legitimately creative kills. Instead of taking forever to set up Matt/Clayface’s origin story, Watkins and his team should have just cut to the chase and let him loose to see what the character could truly do.
This is the first big role for Welsh actor Harries, and while he’s not exactly magnetic, he proves himself worthy of the lead role. Ackie is also fine, but after several years of trying to advance up the Hollywood ladder, she may be running out of time to show she’s a star. The supporting cast has a couple of familiar faces, but it’s mostly lesser-known actors who do nothing to indicate they deserve bigger showcases.
It’s difficult to imagine any non-DC Comics fans having a strong attachment to the character of Clayface, and the film fails to make the case that he should be a continuing character. The poor quality of almost everything that appears on screen is indicative of the kind of effort and money that was put into the film, and sometimes you really do get what you pay for.
