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.

Reindeer Manor Halloween Park in Red Oak has three separate attractions to scare visitors.

Photo courtesy of Reindeer Manor Halloween Park

Reindeer Manor Halloween Park in Red Oak has three separate attractions to scare visitors.

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Movie Review

Shaun the Sheep gets PG-spooky in new movie for the Halloween season

Photo courtesy of Aardman / Sky UK LTD / StudioCanal 2026

Shaun the Sheep in Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom.

Since his introduction over 30 years ago, the Aardman Animations character Shaun the Sheep has been almost as popular as the studio’s flagship characters, Wallace and Gromit. There is never a shortage of trouble Shaun can get into as he leads his flock and proves to be a thorn in the side of his farmer and Bitzer, the farmer’s loyal sheepdog.

His antics lead everyone down some slightly spooky roads in the new film, Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom. At first, things are only slightly awry as Shaun and the flock are growing a secret pumpkin patch to have their own jack-o-lanterns. But when the farmer accidentally destroys the pumpkin patch, Shaun tries to regrow it quickly with a Frankenstein-esque experiment.

However, disaster looms when Shaun uses an old bottle of Hair-Gro as the container for the serum he creates. Naturally, the balding farmer uses it on his head, and everyone soon discovers how truly successful it is, with pumpkins growing out of control and the farmer sprouting hair all over his body. Through a series of mishaps, the farmer becomes the titular beast, creating mayhem while Shaun and others try to stop him.

Directed by Steve Cox and Matthew Walker, and written by Mark Burton and Giles Pilbrow, the film goes down just as easy as every other Aardman project has. They get the Halloween vibes started from the opening credits, with things like the sheep doing the “Thriller” dance, and continue the fun throughout, referencing everything from Psycho to Friday the 13th in a nice, PG way.

With no script — every character is mute save for reaction noises — the movie relies on sight gags for its humor, and the Aardman team is endlessly inventive in that respect. Sometimes it’s small things like a sheep using toilet paper rolls as binoculars, and sometimes it’s something like forcing the Bigfoot-like farmer to be shaped into a rectangle as he escapes through a window. But there’s a never-ending stream of such moments, so even if one doesn’t tickle your funny bone, chances are the next one will.

The biggest benefit of the characters not talking is that there’s no need for deep character development. The filmmakers do a great job of giving the basic traits of each character, and then use those attributes to color everyone’s actions for the rest of the film. Shaun is the troublemaker, the farmer is a bumbling fool, Bitzer is preternaturally smart, and the town’s vet is empathetic, and the combination of those characters and others makes for a highly entertaining blend.

Like all Aardman creations, Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom is a fun lark that doesn’t make its audience think too hard. With just enough references to keep viewers engaged but not so many as to be overbearing, the film puts its well-worn characters to good use once again, delivering a Halloween season story that can be enjoyed by people of all ages.

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Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom is now playing in theaters.

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