Pumkin Jack's Haunted House presents Stranger Things Season 4: 2022 Review
Pumkin Jack’s Haunted House, Santa Clarita, CA
We’ve got a late night #FlashbackFrightday tonight to… two weeks ago, and our final home haunted house stop in the Santa Clarita Valley on Halloween weekend. If you haven’t read through our trips to Wildwood’s Haunted Farmhouse and Insane Haunt Productions / Fright on Lewis Way, check those out. If you have, read on!
Three years ago, we went to Pumkin Jack's Haunted House (no second P) for our first time ever. And they promptly announced that their 2019 season to be their last. But like Michael Myers (who was featured in their 2019 Halloween maze), pro wrestlers retiring, and Marvel movies, the end is never really the end, and if you stick around long enough, you'll undoubtedly see something come back.
Case in point, Pumkin Jack never quite went away. It just went quiet. The thick of the pandemic is 2020 obviously limited most haunted attractions, period. And last year, Pumkin Jack created a small haunt aimed at their neighborhood but didn’t really advertise anything. But this year, this venerable, Santa Clarita Valley haunt and focal point of everything around it and it's immediate neighborhood returned with a bang! And it did so tackling one of the biggest IP hits of the year, Stranger Things season 4!
Welcome to the Creel House. You’re not particularly welcome.
The approach to Pumkin Jack’s Haunted House was ominous-looking enough on our last visit, with the ominous Myers House looming at the head of the Landeen family driveway, illuminated in eerie blue hues accented in warm, orange tones at the windows. But this year, the Pumkin Jack team brought the Victor Creel House to life with an amazing, double-height facade that towered over the sidewalk and seemed to glow an ominous, backlit red as though emanating energy from the Upside Down! With windows boarded up and a familiar rose stained glass window at the door, the Creel House exterior was about as spectacular as any we’d ever witnessed—both in a home haunt or a professional haunt!
Vecna manipulates everything inside this evil home!
The impressive work wasn’t limited outside, though. Inside, the maze took guests through all the major beats of the latest season. After first trespassing into the Creel House and finding the interiors still looking like they did half a century ago, guests encountered, Chrissy, the cheerleader, who seemed bound by supernatural forces and telepathically controlled with menacing energy. As the lights flashed and strobed, she glared and bent her neck and torso in unnatural angles before suddenly springing forth with a jump scare.
A hallway brought guests toward the iconic ticking grandfather clock, with that recognizable Vecna chime sounding off all around. A sudden, Halloween Horror Nights-style strobe and jump scare revealed a scientist trying to flee an emerging rift into the Upside Down. A quick retreat led to the Russian prison, where Hopper and other captives were being held. There was no time to help free him, though, because an unseen force seemed to propel everyone forward. Of course, it was Vecna himself, now with Chrissy in his grips and prepared to wrench her suffering out of this life.
Escaping to the outside, guests found themselves in a graveyard, only to be ambushed by a possessed Max, looking decidedly insidious. Going back was not an option, so it was time to go running up that [figurative] hill and out of the cemetery. But that is where Pumkin Jack’s final “kiss goodnight” moment was waiting—a chainsaw scareactor, a feature finale of all of Pumkin Jack’s mazes, was lurking with malicious intent, and he chased many a screaming guest out of the maze and onto the driveway!
This Max certainly doesn’t seem as empathetic and caring as the one in the series!
Pumkin Jack’s Haunted House once again produced and impressive and professional level haunted house that paid terrific tribute to the franchise it was modeling. Its winding passages and tight knit spaces were packed with jump scares and sudden frights. The talent wase creepy and completely in character. The ambiance was chilling and perfectly suited for a haunted house. It all made for quite an amazing walkthrough!
We don’t know if Pumkin Jack will be back next year to continue a new run, or if this was a one-time comeback. But if this renown Santa Clarita Valley home haunt does return next year, it will definitely be a must-visit on Halloween weekend!
The Creel House in all its amazing glory!
Pumkin Jack’s Haunted House is located at 28603 Natalie Lane, Santa Clarita, CA 91390 and ran the last weekend of October, Saturday the 29th through Monday the 31st. Hours were approximately 7-10pm. Street parking was available in the neighborhood, and a stroll around the area was mandatory, as there were plenty of other fantastic Halloween displays—some coordinated with Pumkin Jack’s this season—including the Eddie Munson Experience and the Mind Flayer Experience, as well as Santa Poco / The Three Amigos and numerous unnamed haunts with some fun Halloween theming!
Architect. Photographer. Disney nerd. Haunt enthusiast. Travel bugged. Concert fiend. Asian.
