Halloween Fun

The 9 best Dallas-Fort Worth haunted houses for thrills and chills

Dallas-Fort Worth does not lack for great haunted houses. In fact, given the number of scare factories spread across the area, we might be able to claim the most per capita in the United States.

So where should you get your screams this Halloween season? We've rounded up the best for your enjoyment — or terror, as it were. It's not a complete list of DFW-area haunted houses, but rather one that guarantees genuine frights.

All of the haunted houses are open every weekend through Halloween; check each event page for additional dates and times.

The Boneyard Haunted House
Don't go looking for the Boneyard Haunted House in Arlington this year; it's now at Southwest Center Mall in Dallas. It features a great blend of high-tech effects and good, old-fashioned blood-and-guts scare tactics. The Boneyard promises to be even bigger in 2016, complete with new scenes, animatronics, and movie-quality props.

Cutting Edge Haunted House
Cutting Edge is a dark attraction filled with terrifying live actors, amazing special effects, and incredible monsters. Located in a 100-year-old abandoned meat-packing plant in Fort Worth, it is an intense, multistory, multithemed haunted house that uses the building's former tenant as wicked inspiration. Set aside some time for this one, as it takes visitors an average of 55 minutes to explore Cutting Edge.

Dan's Haunted House presents Twisted Fate: The Death of Unkle Kreep
Most haunted houses go the standard zombie, clown, or serial killer route, but not Dan's Haunted House in Lake Dallas. For three years running, there has been a Japanese demon theme, with a continuing storyline involving the eerily named Unkle Kreep. His fate this year is designed to creep out any and all visitors, which is what we want out of any good haunted house.

Dark Hour Haunted House
The rare year-round haunted house, Dark Hour in Plano boasts sets worthy of a Broadway production, professional actors, and a strategic use of technology to produces a genuine theatrical experience. Themed around the Witch of Coven Manor, you're not likely to see higher quality scares anywhere in the area.

Hangman's House of Horrors
Changing venues this year is Hangman's House of Horrors, now located north of downtown Fort Worth. It's an oldie but a goodie, celebrating its 28th year serving up scares. The haunted tour includes three separate attractions: the classic Hangman’s House of Horrors, No Place Like Home 3D, and Zombie Outbreak. Additionally, the 19-acre property will be transformed into a festival area featuring live bands, food trucks, free photos, festival activities, novelties, and more.

Moxley Manor Open House
The claim to fame for Moxley Manor in Bedford seems to be unique on this list: It was featured in the 2014 feature film The Houses October Built, about a group of friends traveling across the country looking for the best haunted houses. It promises a new level of fear this year, with the addition of the new Pitch Dark Haunted House.

Reindeer Manor Halloween Park
This haunted house complex in Red Oak may sound cute and cuddly, but that just masks the horrors it has in store. The oldest haunted attraction in Texas features three separate areas: Reindeer Manor Estate, 13th Street Morgue, and Dungeon of Doom, plus a bonus area called the Shadow House that has a terrifying pitch-black maze, where you have only a glow stick to light the way from the entrance to the exit.

Six Flags over Texas presents Fright Fest
You can combine your amusement park screams with terror screams at Six Flags Over Texas' annual Fright Fest. Young kids can enjoy fun Looney Tunes action during the day, and then the zombies, clowns, and other freaks come out at night to scare you at four separate attractions. For less intense fun, check out one of the Halloween-themed shows.

Slaughter House/J&F House of Terror
Slaughter House has moved from Deep Ellum to Garland, teaming up with another haunted house, J&F House of Terror, to double your scares. Slaughter House is now in its 16th year, making it the longest-running haunted house in Dallas County, and it will once again terrify with its group of murderous clowns. Not much is known about J&F House of Terror, but they're promising an all-new haunted maze.

Slaughter House's creepy clowns are maybe the best of the worst in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

Slaughter House haunted house in Garland

Photo courtesy of Slaughter House

Slaughter House's creepy clowns are maybe the best of the worst in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

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Movie Review

Michelle Pfeiffer is an unappreciated mom in Oh. What. Fun.

Photo courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios

Michelle Pfeiffer in Oh. What. Fun.

Of all the formulaic movie genres, Christmas/holiday movies are among the most predictable. No matter what the problem is that arises between family members, friends, or potential romantic partners, the stories in holiday movies are designed to give viewers a feel-good ending even if the majority of the movie makes you feel pretty bad.

That’s certainly the case in Oh. What. Fun., in which Michelle Pfeiffer plays Claire, an underappreciated mom living in Houston with her inattentive husband, Nick (Denis Leary). As the film begins, her three children are arriving back home for Christmas: The high-strung Channing (Felicity Jones) is married to the milquetoast Doug (Jason Schwartzman); the aloof Taylor (Chloë Grace Moretz) brings home yet another new girlfriend; and the perpetual child Sammy (Dominic Sessa) has just broken up with his girlfriend.

Each of the family members seems to be oblivious to everything Claire does for them, especially when it comes to what she really wants: For them to nominate her to win a trip to see a talk show in L.A. hosted by Zazzy Tims (Eva Longoria). When she accidentally gets left behind on a planned outing to see a show, Claire reaches her breaking point and — in a kind of Home Alone in reverse — she decides to drive across the country to get to the show herself.

Written and directed by Michael Showalter (The Idea of You), and co-written by Chandler Baker (who wrote the short story on which the film is based), the movie never establishes any kind of enjoyable rhythm. Each of the characters, including competitive neighbor Jeanne (Joan Chen), is assigned a character trait that becomes their entire personality, with none of them allowed to evolve into something deeper.

The filmmakers lean hard into the idea that Claire is a person who always puts her family first and receives very little in return, but the evidence presented in the story is sketchy at best. Every situation shown in the film is so superficial that tension barely exists, and the (over)reactions by Claire give her family members few opportunities to make up for their failings.

The most interesting part of the movie comes when Claire actually makes it to the Zazzy Sims show. Even though what happens there is just as unbelievable as anything else presented in the story, Showalter and Baker concoct a scene that allows Claire and others to fully express the central theme of the film, and for a few minutes the movie actually lives up to its title.

Pfeiffer, given her first leading role since 2020’s French Exit, is a somewhat manic presence, and her thick Texas accent and unnecessary voiceover don’t do her any favors. It seems weird to have such a strong supporting cast with almost nothing of substance to do, but almost all of them are wasted, including Danielle Brooks in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo. The lone exception is Longoria, who is a blast in the few scenes she gets.

Oh. What. Fun. is far from the first movie to try and fail at becoming a new holiday classic, but the pedigree of Showalter and the cast make this dismal viewing experience extra disappointing. Ironically, overworked and underappreciated moms deserve a much better story than the one this movie delivers.

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Oh. What. Fun. is now streaming on Prime Video.

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