Prism Haunt presents Nightmares Manifest: 2020 Review
Prism Haunted House, Mission Viejo, CA
Aaaaaand after a week+ break because I was on vacation, we’re back with more Halloween things! Today, we’re stopping by Mission Viejo to check out Prism Haunted House, a home haunt we discovered on Halloween night last year! Like many home haunts, Prism is eschewing its usual walk-through maze in favor of something a little more socially distanced this year, but rather than settle for a “mere” yard display, they’ve gone the route of creating a full-fledged, technology-laden haunted show for guests to watch!
Prism’s MiCRO Laboratory appears once again this year, but in safer open air format!
Guests can also spot other happenings in adjacent spaces.
We return to the scene of last year’s monstrocities by visiting Prism’s MiCRO Laboratory once again, where we find an elaborate set-up around the driveway of this corner-location home. A medley of laboratory equipment, computers, lights, valves, ductwork, and supplies has been set up, and a little further to the right and beyond, guests can observe the Prism laboratory workers focused on their scientific endeavors. Every once in a while, illuminated sensors will appear to scan the crowd, all while the low and ominous hum of the machinery and devices suggest an eerie preparation for something yet to come.
Our anticipation proves correct once the “show begins,” as the main doorway opens to reveal a hideously misshapen figure in a lab coat conducting final preparations. This is Dr. Sanguine, the mad scientist we encountered at the end of last year’s Prism maze, and he’s back with a new experiment this year that’s sure to turn out terrifyingly wrong.
Once everything starts, the main lab door opens, revealing Dr. Sanguine.
Without going too much into details and spoilers, it turns out that the good doctor, with the help of his artificial intelligence companion system, has conjured up a contraption that can extra volunteers’ dreams to manifest in real life. Don’t worry, there are failsafes and protection designed into the system, so all observers will be safe at all times. …Or will they? Well, you can probably guess the general gist of what might happen next. But the fun is in the ride and the showmanship.
He has selected an audience volunteer to test his new dream-extracting device.
Prism’s Nightmares Manifest haunted show impresses with its high tech incorporation of cinematic scenes mixed with a few live action moments played out across the entire front yard property of the house. The show itself is a little over five minutes long, with showings recurring about every 15 minutes, and the plot is relatively straightforward and foreseeable. But the level of synchronization of lighting and fog effects, timed triggers, audio-visual media, and sprinkling of live actor encounters really makes this home haunt production a fun and honestly astounding presentation. Creator David Fefferman started working on the haunted show back in June and filmed all the scenes with home-built custom sets. He also worked in the special effects editing and video composition all from scratch on his own, relying on zero commercial-bought content. That level of dedication and creativity really must be commended, because it presents a level of sophistication and endeavor that even many commercial haunts don’t attempt, let alone amateur haunters.
It goes to show that the level between professional and non-pro really isn’t that clear, and more often than not, it’s the passion and commitment placed into a haunt that highlights the resulting quality. This year’s haunted show feels like a progression of the tools that Prism Haunt has been assembling over the past couple of years to continually build on their haunt, and David has already started envisioning how the high tech features of the show might be incorporated into a future walk-through maze to bring elements of interactivity and storyline progression triggers. To put it bluntly, it’s all very cool.
Well, it extracts a little more than dreams. Maybe some nightmares too!
I’d also like to speak a bit to the commendably robust COVID policies that Prism Haunt has instituted. The Feffermans have admirably taken the novel Coronavirus pandemic very seriously in arranging the presentation of their haunt this year and have implemented steps to control audience turnout, staging, and viewing. Tickets must be reserved online in advance as a way to manage capacity.
Guests who arrive are encouraged to park up the street from the actual haunt, on Tarrasa Lane or Montilla. From there, guests line up on the sidewalk at the corner of Tarrasa Lane and Chamelea Drive, literally a whole block away from Prism Haunt’s actual location where Chamelea turns a corner. The waiting spots are spaciously allotted to allow each group of guests to be well beyond 6 ft apart, and when the moment arrives, guests are sent down the street along Chamelea to the viewing area in front of the house. There, chalk-lined circles on the ground have been marked out on the street and across the front of the Fefferman residence, laying out over a dozen spaces spread out away from each other. Not only does this keep groups socially distanced and separated from each other, it affords everyone a good line of sight for the show.
As someone who has believed that everyone shares the responsibility of taking mitigating steps to limit the spread of the novel Coronavirus, I really commend the Prism Haunt folks for having an organized and streamlined plan for how to deal with COVID precautions.
Oh, okay. Well, things have escaped and spiraled a little out of control.
All in all, Prism Haunt’s Nightmares Manifest is an entertaining and remarkable haunted show that provides a bit of science horror fun for this year’s uniquely constrained Halloween season. Well done to the Prism team for their hard work producing this superb home haunt production!
Prism Haunt is located at 24465 Chamalea Dr., Mission Viejo, CA 92691 and runs Fridays through Sunday evenings from 7:30 - 10:00pm each night now through November 1st. Tickets must be reserved in advance online via their EventBrite link. They do cost $3.99 - $4.99 plus fees, but consider that the equivalent to a typical home haunt donation.
Architect. Photographer. Disney nerd. Haunt enthusiast. Travel bugged. Concert fiend. Asian.
