Mall Massacre, Oxford, AL

On the weekend of October 22-24 we drove over to Alabama to check out some haunts.  Our first stop on Friday evening was Mall Massacre at Quintard Mall in Oxford, Alabama.  Initial impressions can be deceiving, but not really that much in this case.  The wooden que line that reminds us of a cattle pen may still have some splinters, so watch those fingers.  One of the claims made by Mall Massacre is stated in the quote below, which we took directly from their website:

"We are in a 17,000 sq/ft building and we have used every inch of the space to have something waiting for you around every corner. Hope you make it out alive!!!!!!!"

Now let me explain why this is relevant to us.  They have not used every inch of their space for scaring you.  In all honesty they need to revisit their configurations of space in order to do that.  There is a lot of space for a graveyard at the beginning, as well as a huge open space behind the scenes that you stumble into when you reach the end of the trail.  If the spaces within the trail were meant to scare you then it wouldn't be done by only having a motion sensor light turn on in a dark room where there are no characters or animatronics to scare you.  A light coming on?  That's your scare?  Seemed so.  Oh, boy.  Between the nonexistent scares, the confusion of the ending, and the claims that they did not live up to we had no choice but to score low.  We both agreed that there is a lot of potential there, especially since this is an event that was an outdoor/trail haunt in previous years.  Now they need to learn how having a building is different from being outside and figure out how they are going to amp it up in the future.  Mall Massacre rates only 1 severed head from Haunt Review, but we hope they will get better in the future if they can maintain their location and reinvest their finances wisely.  After all, backyard haunts are the foundation that the industry is built upon and we want to see them thrive and develop into marvelous professional attractions that make the entire haunt community proud.