Club Fear presents Twisted Manor II - The Final Chapter: 2021 Review
Club Fear, Santa Clarita, CA
Guess who's back? Back again? Club Fear's back. Tell a friend!
After a year off due to the Coronavirus pandemic, one of the Santa Clarita Valley’s best home haunts has returned with another chapter in its killer clown tale! Club Fear’s Twisted Manor II - The Final Chapter is a sequel to the utterly fantastic 2019 Twisted Manor maze—which itself was a prequel to the previous year’s Nightmares maze. A sequel of a prequel? Well, it’s just a premise, and once guests are inside the twisted confines of Master Rellik’s abode, time won’t matter anyway… because for them, it will end.
After going dark for 2020, the haunted house at the end of the street is back to feast on fears.
But before one steps inside Twisted Manor, guests must first approach this ominous house at the end of Clearidge Drive. Looming like the haunted houses of scary stories past, Club Fear has become quite a hot spot for haunting fans and fiends. with its prominent location at the end of the cul-de-sac, the immediate neighborhood around this residence has taken on a bit of a Halloween street party during the nights that Club Fear is operating, helped by the fact that the street is blocked off from vehicular traffic just after its final intersection.
Guests approaching Club Fear can take in a beautifully haunting cemetery display to the left of the house before getting in line. Bathed in supernatural green, with intricate tombstones and projections relaying the apparitions of sinister spirits, the haunted yard display would be a wonderful attraction just on its own. But of course, there’s also the maze, which is once again located wholly within the three car garage of this residence and masked behind a built-out facade that obscures the full view of the actual house.
The cemetery display outside is beautifully lit.
Guests may wait in the regular standby line for free or opt for an express lane with a $5 donation, and they both feed into loading blocks adjacent to the graveyard display before guests venture inside for the preshow. Much like two years ago, the initial space is a cozy foyer where an unseen spirit of the house reads out the maze rules and also paints a bit of the picture of Master Rellik. Once this is finished, rather than sending guests out the main door of a foyer, a hidden side panel opens up, beckoning guests down the hallway.
It doesn’t take long for Rellik to notice the guests’ appearance. A somewhat twisty layout brings visitors past a couple of clowns already crawling out of the woodwork, but suddenly, guests encounter a dead end, marked only by a portrait of Master Rellik. Here, one of the really awesome dynamic moments of the maze occurs, as the portrait comes to life, and the wall actually starts tilting and moving in toward the cornered victims!
Inside, this clown is beautifully lit, and eager for fresh meat!
Fortunately, the pathway behind opens up to a new space, and guests scurry away, hoping for some semblance of safety. If they’re looking for it, they won’t find it here, because more fiends seem to emerge from the shadows. The maze continues to twist and turn, ducking past what looks like suspicious waste barrels and into a sewer where further horrors await. Everybody floats down here, as more jump scares strike from various compartments.
Fortunately, there’s light at the end of the tunnel, marked literally by the return of 2019’s laser swamp that the sewer appears to dump into. Those who make it through find themselves back outside onto the driveway, having escaped Rellik’s grasp—for now.
This year’s Club Fear offers yet another tight but terrorizing experience that remarkably packs a lot of content into its intricate and intimate layout. The monsters are fantastic, with plenty of energy and great timing, and there is hardly a dull moment. The misdirection and false trappings add to the turmoil of the journey, pulling tricks that aren’t often seen at most haunted mazes. All in all, creator Jason Shields and his crew have pulled off yet another fantastic production—one that we look forward to seeing more for years to come!
Going into a tunnel marked by skulls? Seems innocent enough…
Club Fear is located at 23501 Clearidge Dr, Santa Clarita, CA 91354 and continues its run this Friday and Saturday, October 29th and 30th, from 7:00 to 11:00pm. Like the other big Santa Clarita Valley haunts, it will not be operating Sunday, Halloween night. Admission is free, but a $5 donation can get a front of the line pass ($10 for a front of line pass for every night). In addition, popcorn is also sold at a little concessions stands on the curb. Parking in the Clearidge Drive neighborhood can be a little challenging because of how busy this attraction has become and the general holiday vibe on the weekends (and if you think that’s impressive, come back for Christmas, when literally every single house in this neighborhood is decorated for the winter holidays). Club Fear has become a premiere staple of the Santa Clarita haunt scene and a premiere SoCal haunt, period. Don’t miss it before Rellik and friends disappear this year!
Architect. Photographer. Disney nerd. Haunt enthusiast. Travel bugged. Concert fiend. Asian.
