Rotten Apple 907 presents SSSSS: 2022 Review
Rotten Apple 907, Burbank, CA
Today, our home haunt extravaganza continues to Burbank, to the current reigning champion of home haunts. Celebrating its 31st year of haunting, Rotten Apple 907 has how taken over the crown of longest consecutively running home haunt (to our knowledge) with Beware the Dark Realm’s final year last year (though Scott Sivley continues to haunt at Bones’ Gulch, so maybe that streak continues). And this year, their home haunt has gone to the serpents, as they present for 2022… SSSSS.
Yes. That’s the actual name of the haunt. Does it stand for anything? Well, my super accurate, in-the-know, ultra VIP sources claim that it’s a complex acronym that means Super Slithering Sinister Scare Snakes: The Maze. Did I completely make that up like Inside the Magic? Maybe. But what’s certainly true is that there is a high level of slithering content in this year’s maze, and it’s all fantastic.
Rotten Apple has come under the the allure of the serpent this year, and it’s temptingly awesome!
Rotten Apple has conjured up plenty of different themes over the years, which makes sense for a home haunt that literally creates a different story every single year. In just the past six short years that we’ve been visiting, Rotten Apple has tackled twisted fairy tales, undersea horrors, murderous English myths, and even a fun Haunted Mansion dance party! The tones of each of these haunts have ranged from fantastical to dark and brooding to festive. But this year, Rotten Apple seems to be going forked tongue in cheek with their wonderfully absurd home haunt.
The maze features a magnificently vibrant jungle interior.
SSSSS has a simple premise. The snakes have gotten out of control. They’ve infested an exotic jungle that also has bats and monkeys and spiders, and they’ve also made their way into a house, wrecking havoc inside. They could be anywhere… in the foliage, wrapping decayed corpses, springing out of boxes, and even standing proud on an altar worshipped by devout followers who wish to offer sacrifices to these sinister serpentine superiors.
There are snakes making meals out of every which thing.
What makes SSSSS so much fun is how much fun the scareactors have with the absurd notion of snakes taking over a haunt maze. Most everyone plays the problem straight, from a hunter in the jungle who warns guests of lurking danger and tries to take out a few basilisks overhead to a most unfortunate victim being consumed in his entirety by a massive, monstrous-sized ophidian to the master of the house almost having his neck taken out by a lunging serpent, struggling mightily to shove it back into a box. This is Snakes on a Plane meets a home haunt maze—with far less vulgarity.
The highlight comes at the end, when guests come upon a snake-worshipping cult (of two) who offer guests a means of escape. Only the way out is a red herring, blocked by a giant viper (which also seems to have nearly consumed the Easter egg troll that has appeared in every single Rotten Apple maze across the past three decades). The pair of snake followers, who seem to be channeling their best inner Sanderson Sisters, hiss and coo over their guests, distracting them for more strikes by more serpents. Those who stick around long enough might even learn the names of each snake—if they don’t run out in terror first!
And these aren’t just women- and children-eating snakes. They’re man-eaters!
Rotten Apple’s 2022 offering represents the ultimate spirit of a Halloween home haunt. It is spooky, fun, and a little bit scary (there are certainly a fair share of startle scares), but it’s not intense. Instead, this is a wildly entertaining experience that really reinforces the pure fun of Halloween—something that is sometimes lost in the desire to create the scariest or most overwhelming haunted attraction. The interior ambiance is sumptuous—beautifully lit and marvelously tropical. If Rotten Apple 907 ever tires of creating home haunts, they can certainly transform this year’s set into a tiki bar with pretty minimal effort (we suggest highlighting a Cobra’s Fang as the feature drink). And the overall atmosphere is a perfect balance between scary thrills and enjoyable frills. We may have only been experiencing a small fraction of Rotten Apple’s run over its long history, but we don’t feel overconfident in saying this year’s Rotten Apple is one of its best!
Make sure you don’t fall victim to sacrifices made to the order of the snake. Go visit Rottten Apple 907 this year—just make sure to escape too!
Rotten Apple 907 is located at 907 N California St, Burbank, CA 91505 and continues its operation this Saturday, Sunday, and Monday 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. Street parking can be a bit tricky and will likely require parking a little further away from the Meyer residence. Be careful as you drive through the area due to pedestrians and traffic.
Also, 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!
Architect. Photographer. Disney nerd. Haunt enthusiast. Travel bugged. Concert fiend. Asian.
