Reign of Terror: 2021 Review

Reign of Terror, Thousand Oaks, CA

It’s been an interesting couple of years for Reign of Terror—renown in the Southern California haunt community as arguably the most gorgeous and immaculately themed, intensely detailed, disturbingly immersive haunted attraction in all of SoCal. With quality that literally rivals the production values of any of the major theme park and independent haunts (including the best of Halloween Horror Nights), Reign of Terror is an astounding experience, especially to the uninitiated.

For as long as we’ve been going to this event, it has held a permanent, year-round location in an upstairs space near the Gold’s Gym at the Janss Marketplace. But after the 2019 season, owner Bruce Stanton came into an opportunity to relocate downstairs and nearby to a more accessible location. Even though it would mean striking and transporting and completely rebuilding the massive and sprawling multi-theme maze, the chance was too good to pass up, and so last year, Reign of Terror packed up its multitude of skeletons (and flats and props and furnishings and animatronics and lighting and audio and technology systems and sets) and moved into their new location, just a good stone’s throw away from their old. Everything was ready for a fall debut—even with the Coronavirus pandemic in full effect—until the Ventura County Health Department put its foot down early fall and followed L.A. County in enacting a ban on haunted house attractions.

Reign of Terror’s grand re-debut, it seemed, would have to wait.

Welcome to the gorgeous mayhem that is Reign of Terror.

Fortunately, conditions were better this past spring for their annual March fundraising event, which operated for one night only. And guests who were able to make the evening were treated to a romp through RoT’s new digs. But that was a limited time engagement. A sneak peak… almost. A proper splash would have to wait until the fall, and fortunately, this year, with vaccines existent and prevalent and Southern California COVID cases keeping pretty low, Reign of Terror has been able to run its regular terrifying operations.

Oh look, this clown has brought some popcorn to enjoy!

Folks, this is what happens when you don’t wear your mask properly during a pandemic.

Reign of Terror may have moved downstairs to a new location within the same Janss Marketplace that it's been at for ages and gotten a new layout with a distant order of rooms from before, but it's still the same beautifully themed, incredibly detailed, never-ending haunt. Veterans of this haunt know that Reign of Terror is actually a series of mazes linked together into one massive mega-maze that sprawls over a hundred rooms and tens of thousands of square feet. Specifically, this year, there are over 130 rooms across 28,000 square feet. The addition of Unhallowed Ground brings the total number of themes up to ten, joining Containment, the Haunted House, The Asylum, Funhouse, Miner’s Revenge, Inbred, Casa Blood, Infected, and Quarantine. Some of these themes a bit redundant, and if we were comparing lengths to, say, a Knott’s Scary Farm maze, Reign of Terror would probably be more like five or six mazes in one. Still, that is a scope and scale that is unrivaled anywhere near these parts, and the resulting journey can take over 20-30 minutes to traverse!

Guests arriving outside at the new location will find the familiar Reign of Terror hearse parked right out in front, joined by a pair of towering Home Depot Giant Skeletons that were seen at the Awaken the Spirits mini-convention. A series of switchbacks forms the regular line, which can also stretch out to the neighboring buildings and continue down the sidewalk toward the parking structure. Keeping guests company are a motley mash of malevolent clown monsters who stalk and prowl and startle and prey on the squeamish or the inattentive.

Roaming clowns help warm the crowd up as they wait in line.

Once guests make it indoors, the interior portion of the queue is significantly shorter than in past years, taking up only a few minutes of wait time. The props and ambiance are the same set-up, but rather than enter into the mine shafts of MIner’s Revenge, the loading area are a trio of intake cells that start up Containment. From there, it’s into the maze!

The maze load-on takes on a prison theme this year instead of the mining ambiance of past years.

We have raved about the incredible quality and overwhelming level of detail in Reign of Terror before, and the same holds true this year. Scenically and visually, this is the most extensively beautiful haunted attraction in all of Southern California and possibly the entire Western U.S. The caliber and realism of the theming, props, decor, and mayhem is absolutely incredible, and although no photos are allowed inside the maze at all in order to preserve the intrigue and mystery, the level of set dressing and overall presentation is absolutely astounding. The indoor queue may offer a taste, but it hardly holds a lick to the actual maze.

Beyond merely looking pretty, Reign of Terror also employs a mix of live actors and animatronic scares that keep guests on edge and always guessing which figure is truly static and which will spring to life. Part of this is due to necessity—with a maze so long, it’s incredibly challenging to find enough live talent to properly stock the maze. This is especially true with the hiring shortages across the country this year for most starter wage employments. But where many mazes over-rely on animatronics to the point of predictability, Reign of Terror deftly mixes up the two to keep things interesting. Both live scareactors and animatronic figures can be found in open sight, tucked behind corners, and even in hidden compartments. Every other maze keeps live actors behind elements like drop portraits, but Reign of Terror might throw a small zombie horde behind one, snarling and grasping into the maze space to get at guests as they pass. Layered over the reconfigured layout that removes many elements of familiarity for returning guests, this arrangement helps keep the experience thrilling!

Reign of Terror is a collection of chilling environments, vividly set to one’s worst nightmares!

We did encounter one glaring issue on our visit this past Saturday evening, however. For the first time ever, our trip through Reign of Terror turned into a haunted conga line similar to what happens at big theme park haunts like Halloween Horror Nights or Knott's Scary Farm. This has never happened to us in previous visits, where the haunted line portions were very limited. In Saturday's case, it was at least 80% of the maze, which took away from the creepily cozy, all alone feeling we've enjoyed in most prior visits. And though a Saturday in the middle of October should mean that an experience like this is to be expected, Reign of Terror has always prided itself in being able to maintain a level of intimacy for its guests and avoid a train of visitors filtering through each space.

On the plus side, this did allow for more time to admire all the exquisite sets and props and furnishings! For haunt enthusiasts such as ourselves, this was definitely a plus. But we did miss that feeling of having most of the maze to ourselves.

Reign of Terror is back and longer than ever.

This setback was not enough to dampen our experience at Reign of Terror. Perhaps because we appreciate pro haunts more this year after they were almost universally forced to close last year, or perhaps because we’re allowing an understanding pass to most attractions this year, as COVID is still active, we still enjoyed ourselves greatly while we went through Reign of Terror. The entire experience took nearly forty minutes, and for the price we paid, the avalanche of content certainly made it worth it. That said, we would recommend visiting on an off-peak night like Sunday (Reign of Terror has only been running Fridays and Saturdays thusfar this season, but that changes this next weekend) to get a better chance of avoiding the haunted line.

With more freaks and shrieks than ever before, Reign of Terror remains a can’t-miss pro haunt for any Halloween season fan. The experience is truly unparalleled, and the extraordinarily high quality of the entire production makes this distant drive worthwhile for any spoopy peep!

The queue gives merely a glimpse of the quality and exquisite environments in the actual maze!

Reign of Terror is located at 225 N. Moorpark Rd, Thousand Oaks, CA 91360, across from the parking structure at the northwest side of the Janss Marketplace. The event runs select nights through Saturday, November 6th. Tickets are $30 for regular timed tickets admission and $55 for immediate access and can be purchased online (fees added on) or on site at the ticket booth (cash only for in-person ticket purchases, though). However, due to the popularity of the event, buying online is highly recommended. Parking at the Janss Marketplace is free. Reign of Terror follows Ventura County health guidelines. Masks are required to be worn at all times when entering, but at this time, there is no proof of vaccination required.

It seems like Reign of Terror is truly moving into “theme park haunt” levels of popularity. The haunt has always been amazing, but its location has been a deterrent for many. That doesn’t seem to be the case anymore, at least judging from our trip last Saturday, and the success if definitely well warranted!