Remember that feeling of being chased out of a haunt by a manic with a chainsaw? It’s almost a feeling of nostalgia for me now—I haven’t experienced it in at least 10 years. But Dead Time Dreams, a haunt in San Jose, CA, rekindled that love for me. It wasn’t that Dead Time Dreams did anything truly innovative or awe-inspiring—no—rather, they just put on a good classic haunt with fun characters, an immersive experience, and some good scares. Oh, and that chainsaw wielding maniac that chases you out.

I was traveling to San Francisco this past weekend, crossing my fingers that Blackout would be open by then (sadly it was not), and wanted to hit up some Northern California haunts while I was up there. I heard of a few good ones like the Pirates of Emerson but it was just a little too far from where we were staying in San Jose. Instead, we looked locally and found one rated well on Yelp. It wasn’t recommended by our friends, it wasn’t raved about by the internet, but it looked fun—and sometimes fun is exactly what you need.

We arrived at Dead Time Dreams and parked easily. It is a large venue, all outside with the haunts occurring under a tent. Head left and there is a large pumpkin patch and 10 or so large inflatable bouncy houses for the kids. And kids were definitely there—and a lot of them. They charged by the hour for bouncing, so if you have kids, it actually sounded like a pretty good deal. But if you’re an adult with no kids, then I’d suggest heading straight, into a large tent.

The haunt is set up like a carnival: there is a fortune teller, some free carnival games, a Midway Express game complete with skeletons in bumper cards, an ice scream stand with bloody eyeball cones, and a spin wheel of death to determine how you will die. A brutish clown with a chainsaw posed for pictures and scared many young girls, and a smaller scrawnier performer bounced around the area, stopping to dance or tickle patrons. There is even a mini film room playing classic horror movies.

For 20 dollars, you get access to two haunts (or you can find a Groupon for about 15 dollars): Devil’s Sacrifice and Backwoods. We started with Devil’s Sacrifice. They allow 4 people in a time and do give you enough time in between to avoid the conga line effect. The haunt itself was pretty standard in terms of haunts: dark zig-zag passage ways and lots of jump scares. The theme provided some good costumes, devil imagery, cemeteries, and a cool version of hell. But other than the theme, there was little to no interaction with the actors, no immersion, and nothing quite unique.

However, Backwoods was where things started to become fun. Our host was full in character, snorting, stuttering, telling us we smelled pretty. He was very interactive and a blast to play with. He sends us yelling to the rest of the maze that fresh meat is on its way. This maze replaced the jump scares with character interaction. There were still scares,

Remember that feeling of being chased out of a haunt by a manic with a chainsaw? It’s almost a feeling of nostalgia for me now—I haven’t experienced it in at least 10 years. But Dead Time Dreams, a haunt in San Jose, CA, rekindled that love for me. It wasn’t that Dead Time Dreams did anything truly innovative or awe-inspiring—no—rather, they just put on a good classic haunt with fun characters, an immersive experience, and some good scares. Oh, and that chainsaw wielding maniac that chases you out.

I was traveling to San Francisco this past weekend, crossing my fingers that Blackout would be open by then (sadly it was not), and wanted to hit up some Northern California haunts while I was up there. I heard of a few good ones like the Pirates of Emerson but it was just a little too far from where we were staying in San Jose. Instead, we looked locally and found one rated well on Yelp. It wasn’t recommended by our friends, it wasn’t raved about by the internet, but it looked fun—and sometimes fun is exactly what you need.

We arrived at Dead Time Dreams and parked easily. It is a large venue, all outside with the haunts occurring under a tent. Head left and there is a large pumpkin patch and 10 or so large inflatable bouncy houses for the kids. And kids were definitely there—and a lot of them. They charged by the hour for bouncing, so if you have kids, it actually sounded like a pretty good deal. But if you’re an adult with no kids, then I’d suggest heading straight, into a large tent.

The haunt is set up like a carnival: there is a fortune teller, some free carnival games, a Midway Express game complete with skeletons in bumper cards, an ice scream stand with bloody eyeball cones, and a spin wheel of death to determine how you will die. A brutish clown with a chainsaw posed for pictures and scared many young girls, and a smaller scrawnier performer bounced around the area, stopping to dance or tickle patrons. There is even a mini film room playing classic horror movies.

For 20 dollars, you get access to two haunts (or you can find a Groupon for about 15 dollars): Devil’s Sacrifice and Backwoods. We started with Devil’s Sacrifice. They allow 4 people in a time and do give you enough time in between to avoid the conga line effect. The haunt itself was pretty standard in terms of haunts: dark zig-zag passage ways and lots of jump scares. The theme provided some good costumes, devil imagery, cemeteries, and a cool version of hell. But other than the theme, there was little to no interaction with the actors, no immersion, and nothing quite unique.

However, Backwoods was where things started to become fun. Our host was full in character, snorting, stuttering, telling us we smelled pretty. He was very interactive and a blast to play with. He sends us yelling to the rest of the maze that fresh meat is on its way. This maze replaced the jump scares with character interaction. There were still scares,

Remember that feeling of being chased out of a haunt by a manic with a chainsaw? It’s almost a feeling of nostalgia for me now—I haven’t experienced it in at least 10 years. But Dead Time Dreams, a haunt in San Jose, CA, rekindled that love for me. It wasn’t that Dead Time Dreams did anything truly innovative or awe-inspiring—no—rather, they just put on a good classic haunt with fun characters, an immersive experience, and some good scares. Oh, and that chainsaw wielding maniac that chases you out.

I was traveling to San Francisco this past weekend, crossing my fingers that Blackout would be open by then (sadly it was not), and wanted to hit up some Northern California haunts while I was up there. I heard of a few good ones like the Pirates of Emerson but it was just a little too far from where we were staying in San Jose. Instead, we looked locally and found one rated well on Yelp. It wasn’t recommended by our friends, it wasn’t raved about by the internet, but it looked fun—and sometimes fun is exactly what you need.

We arrived at Dead Time Dreams and parked easily. It is a large venue, all outside with the haunts occurring under a tent. Head left and there is a large pumpkin patch and 10 or so large inflatable bouncy houses for the kids. And kids were definitely there—and a lot of them. They charged by the hour for bouncing, so if you have kids, it actually sounded like a pretty good deal. But if you’re an adult with no kids, then I’d suggest heading straight, into a large tent.

The haunt is set up like a carnival: there is a fortune teller, some free carnival games, a Midway Express game complete with skeletons in bumper cards, an ice scream stand with bloody eyeball cones, and a spin wheel of death to determine how you will die. A brutish clown with a chainsaw posed for pictures and scared many young girls, and a smaller scrawnier performer bounced around the area, stopping to dance or tickle patrons. There is even a mini film room playing classic horror movies.

For 20 dollars, you get access to two haunts (or you can find a Groupon for about 15 dollars): Devil’s Sacrifice and Backwoods. We started with Devil’s Sacrifice. They allow 4 people in a time and do give you enough time in between to avoid the conga line effect. The haunt itself was pretty standard in terms of haunts: dark zig-zag passage ways and lots of jump scares. The theme provided some good costumes, devil imagery, cemeteries, and a cool version of hell. But other than the theme, there was little to no interaction with the actors, no immersion, and nothing quite unique.

However, Backwoods was where things started to become fun. Our host was full in character, snorting, stuttering, telling us we smelled pretty. He was very interactive and a blast to play with. He sends us yelling to the rest of the maze that fresh meat is on its way. This maze replaced the jump scares with character interaction. There were still scares,