Dent Schoolhouse 2013 Review

The Dent Schoolhouse: Cincinnati, OH (Dent)

Elisabeth
The actors, sets and makeup were wonderful. I really enjoyed going through there and there were some genuine scares. Would definitely go there again.

Teresa
The Dent Schoolhouse is a very atmospheric haunt. Being in an actual old schoolhouse, it is definitely nightmarish. And it is decked out in all kinds of creepy detail in every room. And there are some awesome animatronics. There’s a new one this year that was jaw-dropping. The scare actors are great, but I wish there were more of them. And I was disappointed I couldn’t see the Queen City Slaughter Yard which is new for this year, due to rain. Oh well, it is a good excuse to go back. I was hoping for some serious chainsawing! What I love the most about The Dent though, is hanging around outside and watching the wandering queue line actors sneak up on people, victims running and screaming from the chainsaw, and the Ecto-1 driving up in all its glory, sirens blaring as the Ghostbusters theme music plays over the speakers. Especially creepy this year were two of the queue line entertainers, two girls dressed in old school-girl clothes, offering live worms to incoming “students”. One girl even put them on her face, much to the disgust of those watching. I’ve never seen that at a haunt before. Great fun!

Gus
The Dent Schoolhouse is one of the most fun haunts in the Cincinnati area, hands down. Even before you head in, the plethora of actors outside are entertaining. Our group often finds itself hanging out after going through the haunt, watching the actors preying on new visitors and girls running screaming from grisly chainsaw-wielding psychopaths. Great fun. Another thing that makes Dent so great is they are consistent to their theme. Charlie the janitor has killed a bunch of school kids. The haunt takes you through different highly detailed school themed rooms. The addition of the library was a welcome sight this year, along with the homage to Ghostbusters. It fit in nicely when the Ecto 1 showed up with some local Ghostbusters. The only real criticism is that Dent has become rife with animatronics. I personally find robots much less intimidating than real live actors that can get your face, but maybe thats just me. Overall, this is a great haunt to get you pumped up for the Halloween season.

Todd
Every haunt fanatic in the Tri-State area knows that The Dent Schoolhouse is now considered to be the ultimate haunt within 3+ states of Ohio.

In my mind, I compare The Dent Schoolhouse with Disney World…stay with me here. Anyone who has been to Disney knows that it is the brightest, most polished, high budget amusement park in the world. Does it have the biggest and baddest rides? No, it doesn’t. Other parks like Cedar Point have the top-notch thrill rides. Yet most people who have gone to Disney World find themselves wanting to go back again (and perhaps again and again). For me, it’s because there’s something about Disney Word that provides pure escapism. The themes are so fine tuned that there’s always something to do, to look at and to discover.

The Dent Schoolhouse is my Disney World of haunts. It may not have the most scares or thrills, but it’s an absolute marvel that I will never tire of.

I’ve never seen any other haunts that have the caliber of props, incredible detail and defined theme that The Dent Schoolhouse maintains year after year. Without seeing it with your own eyes, it’s hard to visualize just how much detail there is but the amount of thought and creativity put into each room feels immeasurable.

2 new additions that I noticed this year were animatronic zombies pushing their way through doors in the basement. That’s one of the coolest props I’ve ever seen. The other was the homage to Ghostbusters – the levitating librarian quietly reading in the bookshelf aisle.

One may argue there is an overuse of animatronics. They are liberally placed throughout the entire haunt. Personally, I am not put out by this since it’s just more to look at and experience.

The Dent Schoolhouse has its central character, Charlie, just as Disney has Mickey Mouse (ok I’ll stop with the comparison now). My point is that Charlie IS The Dent Schoolhouse. The Charlie character symbolizes a brand that The Dent Schoolhouse has famously established and engrained itself into haunt culture.

When you’re on the grounds outside the building there is an excited energy that I do not feel at most other haunts. There are always actors walking around to entertain (or scare) you. Just standing around can be amusing. It feels almost like a party, watching someone with a chainsaw chase a poor young girl up the hill or a random actor making someone jump on their way to the ticket line. Big Baby was especially entertaining this year.

The bottom line is that I know I’m going to have a blast when I visit The Dent Schoolhouse both inside and out. If you’re taking any time to visit haunts in the area, this one is an obligatory stop.

Frightmaster
The Dent Haunted Schoolhouse continues to be one of the best haunts in the tri-state area and definitely a favorite! It was a dreary rainy night when we visited but the line to enter snaked back and forth at least seven or eight times proving that this is a haunt worth waiting in line for, even in the rain.

You enter the schoolhouse via the schoolyard where the “detective” aka the infamous Damian Reaper, warns you about the strange things going on in the old schoolhouse and about the kids disappearing. You then are free to enter the building itself. This is the start of a very long journey down into the depths of terror. You see many rooms that seem to be frozen in time from the early 1950’s when the house was really an actual schoolhouse in Dent. There are many, many animatronics in the haunt, more than I have ever seen in any other haunt. So many in fact that I was starting to wonder if all of the human actors had left the building.

The first third of the haunt takes place on the first floor but then you descend into the basement and that’s where they turn the scare factor up a notch. The old boilers and pipes in the basement brought a sort of Freddy Nightmare on Elm Street atmosphere to the place and it only gets worse as you meet face to face with Charlie the janitor. I really like this character because he is just so creepy and truly makes you believe he could be responsible for the disappearance of the schoolkids without ever saying a word. He just quietly follows you around so you keep looking over your shoulder. He gave me chills and made me want to run out of there!

The haunt is very long and you truly get your money’s worth of screams and surprises. If you’re into cool animatronics, then this is the place for you. Great atmosphere, design, infinitesimal attention to detail in every room, very professional actors, great haunt!!!!

Overall score: 3.60 Skulls (Excellent)

Check out our photos from this visit!

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