The Fun House: 2021 Review
The Fun House, Montclair, CA
It’s well in the thick of Christmas season, but we still have hearts of coal, so today is a #FlashbackFrightday to Halloween season, when things were scary instead of merry, and crimson didn’t refer to the color of candy canes. Today’s update takes us to the last home haunt maze that I visited for the season and one of the last overall spooky destinations of this past October. This was the last of my San Bernandino County area haunts, after The Dreich Society’s Fear Fest Grindhouse and Straite to Hale’s Casket Creek—not to mention some favorite yard displays that I had enjoyed the previous year. But it was a brand new one for me—a place I found on the SoCal Haunt List called The Fun House.
Prior Tony trip, I wasn’t able to find any social media or contacts, so I honestly had no idea what to expect when I reached my destination. From the name, I could discern that this haunt would most certainly be clown-themed. And when talking to locals earlier in the night, this haunt had come up as a renown Halloween maze in the area. But everything is relative, and what might be very prominent locally may not compare as well to the big name home haunts that are more renown regionally. Would The Fun House live up to the chatter?
The sprawling front yard display has plenty of visuals to take in while guests wait.
Well, things began promisingly enough. When I arrived, I was impressed to see a lengthy line stretching through the front yard onto the sidewalk, and around the street corner of this suburban residence! It was actually almost intimidating, because a bulk of the line also filled the winding front yard, which was a themed experience in and of itself.
The theme of The Fun House was indeed clowns. The impressive front yard dismay was chock full of them, and they provided a taste of what was to come. A collection of store-bought animatronics, atmospheric lighting, and even a Home Depot 12ft tall skeleton provided quite the frightful scene, with maniacal clowns portrayed in sinister fashion. From a clown sucking in a poor child’s soul to another possibly barfing out a soul (are souls green?) to sinister jokesters poking fun at their own terrifying appearances, this attraction was certainly pointed about what it was about.
The Fun House has a mix of live actor and animatronic scares.
The maze itself ran along the side yard and backyard and was actually relatively intimate and somewhat brief. But what The Fun House lacked in real estate or more than made up for with intense scares that reverberated throughout the maze. Clowns popping out of nowhere, an up-close encounter with Pennywise, and even a chainsaw-welding pig mask butcher all worked together to instill terror throughout the maze.
The concentrated course also meant that the scareactors could all focus on each group intimately and have plenty of time to reset before the next victims, because the next group was not let in until the previous had passed the halfway point of the maze, and the line control attendant had been radio’d with the signal to allow the next group through. Not that they might want to if they were listening to the screams emanating throughout the maze. Without a doubt, The Fun House gripped each group with intense and visceral startle scares, and the cast did so relentlessly. By the time they were coming out the exit adjacent to the entrance, guests were practically tripping over themselves to escape!
What's even more impressive is that despite a pretty consistent and speedy run of operations, The Fun House maintained a solid line even at the end of Halloween night! Clearly, this house was where the scares were at, and the cast and crew of The Fun House did an awesome job in triggering everyone's inner coulrophobia! During the time I was there, I overheard stories of guests talking about previous years and relaying how much they enjoyed this Halloween tradition. And that’s what home haunts like The Fun House are really about—manifesting a passion and vigor in a way that also brings joy (and frights) to the local community and imbue indelible memories for guests as they grow up. To that goal, kudos to The Fun House for presenting a fantastic, well focused home haunt experience!
And as with any clown maze, there’s gotta be a Pennywise feature, right?
The Fun House is located at 4896 El Morado St, Montclair, CA 91763 and was open select Friday and Saturday nights the entire month of October plus Halloween night, typically from 7:00 - 9:30 (although they did stay open later if there were larger crowds). This haunt was plenty busy on Halloween night, and it’s a great example of a community-oriented home haunt that the neighbors and local folks certainly appreciate!
Architect. Photographer. Disney nerd. Haunt enthusiast. Travel bugged. Concert fiend. Asian.
