Shiver Haunt: 2019 Review
Shiver Haunt, Santa Clarita, CA
Our late nightcap takes us back to the Santa Clarita Valley for one of our fun favorite home haunts from last year: Shiver Haunt. We absolutely loved our visit to Gwen Zimlin and David Rosenthal's backyard haunt last year--their first year doing a full-fledged haunt--and this was one of the highlights we had circled when we returned to the SCV last weekend.
Shiver encompasses the very essence of Halloween, combining startles and frights with a fun, twisted, and somewhat outlandish sense of humor that balances scares and enjoyment. We often see home haunters infuse their creations with a little bit of themselves, and to that end, Gwen and David have definitely injected Shiver with their sense of humor and their love for Halloween.
Shiver clowns make art, not violence. Well, maybe a little bit of both.
While last year's Shiver Haunt was essentially a haunted house variety hour, mixing a range of themes from clowns to zombies to evil nuns to zombies, this year's iteration is more homogenous. The clowns have taken over, and they make their presence felt in a variety of settings within the same backyard haunt layout that last year's version occupied.
There's less of a yard display this year compared to last. Instead, a singular and elegant tomb stone with "Shiver" lettering provides the bulk of the lawn decoration, and a few figures line the walkway to the front door and onward through the left sideyard toward the actual entrance of the maze. A static clown figure holds up a sign: SANTA CLARITA HAUNTS OR BUST!! We agree. The haunts in Magic Mountain country have been multiplying, and the quality for these newcoming home haunters is pretty fantastic!
MAKE CLOWNS GREAT AGAIN is one of numerous ways that Shiver Haunt shows off the wry sense of humor of its creators, Gwen and David.
Just like last year, the facade of Shiver is set away from the street, deep inside the property. Lit in green, it resembles a bit of a vine-ridden wall, but the relatively verdant and monotone exterior belies the almost zany aesthetics inside.
A dark hallway leads to the first encounter with a really cool glowface figure who makes for an incredibly photogenic sight. A monster might pop out of a hidden compartment, but then it's onto the largest room in the haunt, a sprawling, green laser-engulfing "swamp" that features a mix of live actors and carnival-esque animatronics to offer light scares.
Next, it's into the living room, where art is generated by a machete-wielding clown splattering blood against the wall. Make sure to stay for dinner afterward. On the menu: finger foods, eyeballs, and more gross delicacies. Just make sure not to wake the baby! A few more twists and turns brings guests to the highlight of the maze--an actual She Shed, complete with antagonistic scareactor telling men they're not welcome, not to mention a miniature Pennywise to terrorize guests out. The exit goes through the other side yard this year, back out to the front.
It’s all laughter until someone gets chainsawed.
“Don’t wake the baby…”
Shiver doesn't offer a notably long layout, but it's action-packed and interesting throughout, with no dead spaces in its compact route. The haunt's ambiance still retains the feel of a place that relies on a lot of store-bought props and furnishings, as opposed to custom, home-made pieces, but the real highlight of Shiver are the scareactors, who provide terrific energy and commitment and hysterical personalities that are over the top but ludicrously entertaining. They are clowns, after all. One might cry overdramatically, while another seems singularly focused and freaks out if anything detracts from said focus. There are ambush startle scare moments and slower, stalker scare tactics, but there's always a bit of a "wink wink" melodrama beneath it all. Shiver never takes itself too seriously, because that wouldn't really be in the Halloween spirit!
Don’t anger her. You don’t want to see her angry and thinking you burned down her she shed.
Shiver Haunt is also once again fundraising for a charitable cause this year, donating contributions to Mutt Match L.A., an animal adoption non-profit. With an extra week open and a a year already under their belt, we hope they'll be able to raise more money for the great cause compared to 2018. That's part of what we love about home haunts--so many of them partner with some great charities, and the scares and fun yield a double bonus of getting donations to groups who are doing great work!
Gwen has changed up the zombie baby mama for clown cribs this year.
Shiver Haunt is located at 26154 Montolla Ln, Santa Clarita, CA 91355 and will run again this weekend, Friday and Saturday, and also Halloween night, from 7:00 - 10:00. It's located pretty close to many other haunts in the Santa Clarita area, and it makes a great member in a SCV haunting spree!
Architect. Photographer. Disney nerd. Haunt enthusiast. Travel bugged. Concert fiend. Asian.
