Rotten Apple 907 presents Evil in the London Fog: 2021 Review

Rotten Apple 907, Burbank, CA

Earlier this week, we noted how this year, Beware the Dark Realm was celebrating 50 years of fears this season—an impressive feat of longevity given how difficult, taxing, and complex haunting can be. But it’s not the only Epic Home Haunt celebrating a big milestone this year. Perennial favorites and First Home Haunt Other Than Higgins Manor That Westcoaster Covered, Rotten Apple 907, are also enjoying a notable anniversary this season. With the exception of last year, Diane and Preston Meyer and their talented family and friends crew have been putting on a haunted house walkthrough for three decades, and this year marks Rotten Apple’s 30th haunted maze. This feat is even more impressive when considering that they present a different theme every year, meaning that very little of each previous season’s haunt is reused without significant rework.

The entry into Evil in the London Fog feels like a passage into a Gothic crypt, but it leads into 1800s London, which maybe felt the same back then?

This year’s theme is Evil in the London Fog and sees a return of a more gory and blood-splattered aesthetic that Rotten Apple has largely kept away from over the past decade or more. Certainly, since we’ve been visiting, Rotten Apple’s scares have never had to feature any props or scenes that were violent or explicit. But after a year like 2020, it’s understable that anyone might need an avenue to release some pent up aggression and stress, and maybe this year’s bloody Brit aesthetic is the way to do it.

Evil in the London Fog focuses primarily on two tales of London lore: Jack the Ripper and Sweeney Todd. Guests arriving at the haunt will find a distinctly English facade, with (faux) brick and stone facades, a pub storefront, and generally European stylings. The entrance to the maze is once again at the corner this year, and it leads directly into Victorian-era London, down a narrow, winding corridor tightly packed with shops. Newspapers printing the sordid crimes of the day are plastered against the walls, and the mystery of “Jack the Ripper” is prominent among the headlines.

It’s quiet and a little eerie, but one might think that this could be just a peaceful little lane to stroll. But no sooner does that enter the mind that a door on the side opens, and a woman lunges forward, crying for help. It seems Jack the Ripper is in the vicinity, stalking the premises, and this victim—played by Diane’s daughter, Melissa—has already had a first-hand meeting. She calls out a warning as guests pass, and sure enough, in the distance, a cloaked figure carrying a distinctively threatening blade appears by a wide door, then scurries through and disappears around the corner.

Jack the Ripper strikes a menacing pose.

This might be the chance to end this reign of terror by stopping the killer in his tracks, so moving forward seems like the prudent thing to do. But as visitors move through the doorway and make the turn, the victim behind utters one last warning about Jack coming up behind them. Sure enough, Jack the Ripper ambushes the guests from behind, even though he had previously been ahead! What ghostly action is this?? Surely, he could not have moved through walls?

As guests recover from the fright and move onto the next scene, they’re confronted with evidence of plague and pestilence. Bodies pile up at the street corners, flanked by rats (some grotesquely enlarged) enjoying their human meals. A plague doctor pops out of a storefront without warning, but it may be too late at this point. Guests may already have been exposed (although fortunately, the masks that every entrant should be wearing has hopefully offered some level of protection). Sharp-eyed fans of Rotten Apple may even spot the recurring troll Easter egg that has appeared in some scene in every Rotten Apple production ever done.

The effects of the plague are evident in a graveyard transition scene. Clearly, these folks were not “getting better,” and they were brought out and buried. Guests might stop to eye the beautiful ambiance and read the gravestones, which offers the perfect chance for a serpent to strike out of an alcove. It’s not clearly exactly why there are snakes in 1800s London, as planes had not yet been invented to transport them over. But maybe it’s the illness causing hallucinations.

Mrs. Lovett offers the finest baked goods for the cannibalistic patron.

At this point, the maze transitions to the second half, dominated by Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Guests enter Mrs. Lovett’s Pie Shop, where they find the proprietress hard at work with her meat pies, each full of wonderfully scrumptious ingredients like rats and roaches and various human body parts. The baker is kind enough to offer a sample to guests passing by, but it’s probably best to politely decline.

Guests turning the corner run into Sweeney Todd himself, played by Preston Meyer not in drag or even wearing a wig this year—a combination that might disappoint fans who have come to expect the Rotten Apple patriarch to cross-dress as a character every year. If there is any such sign, however, Todd can make sure to literally cut it out with an oversized pair of shears. A customer sitting on a chair may have already found out, though his bare head seems to indicate that Sweeney Todd can at least offer a very intimate shade.

Another turn brings guests to an extension of the Sweeney Todd theme, as a young child is seen toiling at a meat grinder, pulverizing human limbs to use at Mrs. Lovett’s. Driven by a maniac butcher (the in-real-life incredibly genial Galen Augustus), this people processing intern has no choice but to keep working, lest he go in himself!

This seems to be the end, but there’s one last surprise just as guests reach the exit. A jump scare featuring a werewolf of London (or perhaps an American werewolf in London?) offers one final thrill before guests pry their way back out onto California Street to enjoy the cool, safe air of Burbank.

Once again, Rotten Apple 907 has delivered a wonderfully immersive, richly narrating home haunt of stellar quality. The emotional and storytelling journey that this haunt takes is utterly fantastic, and this year’s English sensibilities evoke an eerie and enchanting environment strewn with the crimson croup of the mythology explored. Rotten Apple 907 continues to tell compelling and scream-filled stories each Halloween season, and even after thirty years, they’re still going strong and will continue to be churning out home haunts for as long as they can! We definitely hope they won’t be stopping anytime soon!

Sweeney Todd strikes a cutting pose in Rotten Apple 907’s Evil in the London Fog.

Rotten Apple 907 is located at 907 N California St, Burbank, CA 91505 and continues its operation this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evenings from the strict hours of 7:00 - 10:00pm. Admission is free, but donations are welcome, and they will again support the Volunteers of Burbank Animal Shelter. It’s a great maze with great ambiance and great scares for a great cause!

Be careful as you drive through the area due to pedestrians and traffic. Be sure to wear a mask if visiting. And, again, allot a bit of time to cruise the neighborhood afterwards and check out some of the fun home haunt yard displays nearby. Burbank and Toluca Lake have a ton of great Halloween yard displays, and they’ll be fantastic to check out this Halloween weekend!