A train traveling through Atlanta and carrying mysterious artifacts collected by Frightmares Inc. derailed, causing several containers of cargo to crash onto Atlantic Station property. Soon after the crash, strange events began to transpire. There were abnormal sounds and unexplainable disappearances. Frightmares Inc. did what they could to contain the situation, but was it enough? Are the quarantined artifacts the cause of the series of events that began to unfold? This is the back story for Atlanta’s newest haunted house, Containment.
This recent addition to the city’s many haunted attractions got a lot of attention this year as Halloween grew closer. It’s not as well known as Atlanta’s other haunted houses, such as Netherworld, but thanks to its location in Atlantic Station, it has drawn a large crowd over the past few weeks. Like most people, I love good scare, so I decided to check it out.
Waiting with a group of people to enter the attraction, I grew more and more excited. Luckily there wasn’t a long line, so I only had to wait for a few minutes. To kill time, I started chatting with an employee about what I might expect inside. He told me that some people don’t make it to the end, and I began to feel nervous. I couldn’t chicken out now, though, because it was my group’s turn to go.
As I walked at the front of the group through the decorated intermodal containers, I kept getting distracted by all of the different effects. Each room had its own spooky scene. Some had electronic zombies and bloody dummies set to move towards me on cue, or actors hiding until they get the opportunity to surprise me. I turned each corner hesitantly, expecting something truly terrifying, but unfortunately I was constantly disappointed.
I admit there were a few times when I shrieked from a surprise here and there, but overall I didn’t get the scare I wanted. Most of the actors were mediocre and the majority of the effects were extremely predictable. The only type of person I could imagine not making it to the end would be an elderly woman or a small child.
Not only was it not as terrifying as people advertised it to be, but Containment lacked the professionalism seen at Atlanta’s other haunted attractions. In comparison to my night at Netherworld a few years ago, my $25 could’ve been much better spent. Although I remember the Netherworld attraction to be shorter, and have a longer wait, the overall experience in comparison was much better for tickets to be the same price.
At Netherworld, the atmosphere is more frightening because the effects are less predictable and although the actors can’t touch you, they can still make you run in terror back to you car in the parking lot. At Containment there were points when I would have to walk through a train container, then outside past honking trucks or maybe a few hidden actors to get to the next cargo box. One section even had different size mirrors all over the walls, as if they expect you to be scared by your own reflection.
In my opinion, if Grady students pulled together some expensive Halloween decorations, trailers, actors in costumes and creativity they could easily create a similar experience in the Grady parking lot. Containment is not at all worth the hype. For anyone interested in visiting this not-so-haunted attraction when it returns to Atlanta in the years to come, save your cash if you actually want a good scare during the most frightening month of the year.
