20 Horror Movies About Haunted Attractions

With the cooler weather and red and orange foliage come pumpkin spice lattes, flannel, orchards, bonfires, hayrides, corn mazes, and rakes. As Halloween nears, jack-o-lanterns, ghosts and ghouls, horror movies, and all things creepy begin to make their appearance in the autumnal season. One thing fall wouldn’t be the same without are all the haunted house attractions, Halloween haunts, and fright fests. Who doesn’t want to get in the spirit and get their adrenaline pumping?

With all the masks, costumes, scares and props, it’s no surprise that haunted attractions make perfect, creepy settings in horror movies. The haunted attraction subgenre is mostly known for movies like Hell House LLC  and Haunt, but there are plenty more to be discovered. This list explores 20 of them.

The Houses October Built (2014)

This found footage horror movie follows five friends on an RV trip as they visit haunted attractions, documenting their experiences and interviewing actors. After angering staff at one of the houses, they’re stalked on the road on their way to the Blue Skeleton, a mysterious extreme haunt that changes location every year. The Houses October Built was partially filmed at real-life haunts. The movie begins with actual news reports of haunted attraction tragedies and features interviews with real actors.

Hell House LLC (2015)

When writer-director Stephen Cognetti created one of the best found footage horror films since The Blair Witch Project (1999), it marked the beginning of a longstanding franchise—a decade long and counting. What makes these movies so compelling are their lore and faux documentary approach. Each film goes above and beyond in eliciting raw terror by implementing creative scares. The first installment focuses on a group of friends who use the Abaddon Hotel, an abandoned hotel in Rockland County, New York, for their haunted house attraction. On the night of the opening, 15 people were killed. What happened has always been a mystery. A documentary crew investigates and takes a look at footage that was shot leading up to the tragedy. Fun fact: The movie was filmed at an actual haunt, the Waldorf Estate in Lehighton, Pennsylvania. 

The Funhouse Massacre (2015)

The Funhouse Massacre is a fun, wild ride of a comedy slasher. The movie begins at Statesville Mental Hospital, where The Stitchface Killer helps five famed serial killers break free—Animal the Cannibal, Dr. Suave, The Taxidermist, Rocco the Clown, and Mental Manny. After hitting the streets, the deranged group seek out the Land of Illusions Haunted Scream Park, a haunt based on their infamous crimes, and unleash horror on the attendees. 

Fear, Inc (2016)

Fear, Inc takes place during Halloween and follows a horror movie lover, Joe (Lucas Neff), who visits a haunted maze with his girlfriend, Lindsey (Caitlin Stasey). There, he’s given a card by a stranger for a company called Fear, Inc., which dedicates itself to providing a personalized haunt service. After dialing the number out of curiosity, they start to experience terrifying situations all based around beloved horror films. The movie makes some cool references to Saw, Friday the 13th, Scream, and Final Destination. 

Ruin Me (2017)

An event called Slasher Sleepout would surely attract any horror movie fan. Can these characters be blamed? Maybe the 36-hour escape room immersion experience being out in the middle of a deep forest and requiring you to sign a waiver would have been a red flag for some. Alex (Marcienne Dweyer) couldn’t care less about horror-themed entertainment, as she’s never watched a scary movie in her life. Still, she accompanies her boyfriend, Nathan (Matt Dellapina), when his friend backs out at the last minute. When blood is spilled, the campers begin to realize that the haunt’s asylum escapee game story isn’t built on fantasy. In order to survive, Alex is going to have to play along. 

Haunters: The Art of the Scare (2017)

Haunters: The Art of the Scare stands out from other entries on this list as a documentary. John Schnitzer begins by delving into the interesting history of haunted attractions. The film then sparks conversation about the controversies surrounding the most notorious modern haunts and provides insight from those in the industry. The exploration takes a darker turn as the movie dives deeper into the rise of immersive attractions, where the actors can do things like touch you, grope you, torture you, force feed you, and waterboard you. A large focus is placed on the infamous McKamey Manor.

Hell Fest (2018)

Ratings be damned, Hell Fest is the most fun you’ll have watching a movie about a Halloween haunt. Production went all out with the scares and visuals. Saving this film to watch on the holiday with a bucket of candy and your favorite snacks is strongly recommended. The story begins with a young woman being brutally murdered at Hell Fest when she becomes separated from her friends. Mistaken as a prop, her body isn’t found for three days. Flashforward three years, and a group of college students visit the titular horror-themed park on Halloween night. While inside, they’re stalked by the masked psychopathic killer. 

Blood Fest (2018)

Blood Fest is a horror comedy about a teen who, along with his friends, attends Blood Fest, a horror festival that celebrates the genre on an enclosed ranch by recreating the most iconic “cinematic scare-scapes.” Upon arriving, the founder and showman gives a speech about horror being dead. Employees in pig masks start attacking people with chainsaws, and the crowd realizes something is very wrong. The entire festival is being recorded to make a real movie and there appears to be no escape. 

Hurt (2018)

Hurt is a Blumhouse production that follows Rose (Emily Van Raay), whose husband, Tommy (Andrew Creer), returns home from military deployment a few days before Halloween. The two are doing their best to reconnect. In hopes of injecting some normalcy and intimacy back into their relationship, Tommy suggests visiting their favorite Halloween haunt, the Haunted Hayride, like they used to do in the old days. The attraction triggers Tommy’s PTSD, and their failed date sets the stage for a sinister evening beyond anything they could have imagined. A masked killer has set his eyes on them. 

Haunt (2019)

The Bold Type’s Katie Stevens stars as Harper, a college student living in Carbondale, Illinois, who’s struggling with an abusive relationship and a dark, traumatic past. After her boyfriend’s most recent attack, her roommate Bailey (Lauryn McClain) encourages her to come out with her and a group of friends to a Halloween party at a bar. At the end of the night, they decide to check out an extreme haunted house attraction. Upon entering, their phones are confiscated and put in a lock box, which proves to be a huge mistake. They quickly learn nothing is pretend in the creepy establishment. If they want to survive, they’re going to have to outsmart a mask wearing cult. 

More horror movies about haunted attractions…

Scary Movie (1991) A movie that was essentially lost for nearly two decades. It follows Warren (John Hawkes), a teenager who visits a spookhouse in a small Texas town on Halloween and becomes paranoid that an escaped mental patient may be lurking around.

The Houses October Built 2 (2017) After being rescued, the group from the first film decides to face their trauma and go on another haunted attraction road trip. 

Talon Falls (2017) A group of teenagers take a road trip deep into the woods of Kentucky to visit a Halloween scream park, and discover that the scares they’re witnessing are very much real and being performed on innocent victims. If they don’t fight back, they’ll end up becoming part of the attraction. 

Hell House LLC II: The Abaddon Hotel (2018) Eight years after the events of the first movie, an investigative journalist and her crew break into the Abaddon Hotel to uncover more of the mystery behind what happened the night Hell House opened and ended in tragedy.

American Fright Fest (2018) A horror film festival is held at the abandoned asylum of a small town, where escaped prison inmates arrive to unleash terror.

Extremity (2018) In order to confront her psychological trauma, a young woman participates in an extreme immersive attraction called Perdition, but it turns out to be more hellish than she could have imagined. 

Hell House LLC III: Lake of Fire (2019) A billionaire reopens the Abaddon Hotel to use for an immersive theater production. More of the hotel’s history is exposed. 

Fear Pharm (2020) Four friends visit a haunted corn maze on Halloween and are hunted one by one by the owners, who plan to use their skin for pharmaceutical purposes. 

Haunted Trail (2021) A group of friends are shocked to discover there’s a killer loose on a loacl haunted trail. 

Monster Inside: America’s Most Extreme Haunted House (2023) An extremely disturbing documentary about McKamey Manor, the controversial haunted house attraction where survival-style games are enacted. The film delves into its owner, who was arrested on charges of rape, assault, and second-degree murder.