BWW Reviews: NIGHTMARE: NEW YORK is Full of NYC's Greatest Spooks

The leaves are starting to change colors, Starbucks is selling the Pumpkin Spice Latte again, and seasonal Halloween costume shops are grabbing up every square inch of temporary retail space they can. It's almost October, and just about everywhere you look people are embracing the fall season and getting into the mood of Halloween. For it's 11th year, NIGHTMARE: NEW YORK is ready to scare the pants off of you as they take up their annual residency at the Lower East Side's Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center.

NIGHTMARE: NEW YORK's theme this year is legendary horror stories and urban legends of New York City. For native denizens of the cultural capital of the world, they'll see their childhood nightmares brought to life. For those of us that are transplants or even visitors of the city of dreams, we get an education in the spooky myths of NYC that are sure to haunt our psyches after we leave the attraction. No matter your relationship with the city, it's a win-win experience that will either have you jumping and screaming in terror (like my companion) or grinning and remarking how cool the whole thing is (like me).

The lobby/waiting area, complete with full-service bar, for NIGHTMARE: NEW YORK is keenly decorated in black and white graffiti and short news clip-like tales of New York City's real and imaginary monsters. The rules are posted as well, and detail that patrons and ghoulies are not allowed to touch one another, unless you are brave enough to have a stage blood X drawn on your forehead. (This is the "extra-crispy experience," meaning the actors can touch you and do more to scare you, according to the woman who sent our group into the spine-tingling abyss.) Also, guests are greeted with a photo-op before entering the line, so bring some extra cash if you want to take home a souvenir photo after your survive the haunt.

Once inside the house, members of the Lenape tribe instantly greeted us as they vengefully cursed the island we call Manhattan. The gore-covered skulls hanging above the cauldron in this scene set the tone for the whole experience, and the actors did a great job unnerving the entire group I was a part of. (In total, there were 6 of us, and only two were brave enough to have the X put on them.) Venturing onward, we found ourselves smack dab in the middle of Sleepy Hollow and coming face to shoulders with an imposing headless horseman. The house and its spectrum of specters introduced us wanderers to a seemingly insane Typhoid Mary, a giant gargoyle, an alligator in the sewers, a rat king, the newly legendary breed of super rats that survived Hurricane Sandy, and NYCs nastiest cockroaches.

Mixed in with these scares were themed rooms that were made all the more creepy by the haunt's actors' performing with scare-tacular accuracy. The ghosts of The Dakota, including a little girl who screams for no reason before being pulled through a wall and a man with the head of child, are particularly memorable. Meeting David Berkowitz, the .44 Caliber Killer and Son of Sam, as he yells at his neighbors dog was discomforting in the best ways possible. A graffiti-covered and trash filled subway car pulled from 1980s New York was made all the more frightening by the unstable and angst-ridden New Yorkers that trapped us in the middle of their psychotic feud. Yet, the scariest and most surreal part of NIGHTMARE: NEW YORK has the patrons of this haunt live out pretty much every New Yorker's biggest fear as their vision is completely obscured and each person is put through a twisting, turning maze by his or herself. Yes, you meet back up with your group before leaving this scene, but you're on your own for a handful of intense minutes before you find your safety in numbers again.

With an online price of $30 (which beats the $35 at the door price), NIGHTMARE: NEW YORK will cost patrons about $1 a minute to enjoy their fright-filled house of horrors. I'm not a seasoned veteran of commercial haunted houses, but I have to note this one didn't leave me trembling like I expected. With that said, I did keep reminding myself, "These are actors. This is fake. You are safe." In doing that, I smiled the whole through the house, laughed at my companion's constant freak out (which included screaming at emergency exits where nothing happened), and couldn't help but think of how well NIGHTMARE: NEW YORK executed their concept.

Venture out to NIGHTMARE: NEW YORK if you dare. They opened on Friday, September 26 and will continue to run through Saturday November 1, 2014 at 107 Suffolk Street, New York City, New York 10002. Tickets start at $30 a person, but they also offer $20 Student Rush tickets. For more information about NIGHTMARE: NEW YORK or to purchase tickets, please visit http://nightmarenyc.com. Also, you can check them out on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

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