The Damsels see Tom Devlin’s Monsters and go to an Easter Egg Haunt

Synopsis

It is rare that you get to go to a haunted house in April. Even more rare is that it is attached to a monster museum that you have been meaning to visit for a long time. But that exact adventure happened to the Daring Damsels this spring, and you, My Readers, get to hear all about it.

But first, a little bit of background.

According to IMDB,  Tom Devlin has been an SFX makeup artist since 2001. He started his career on Face Off, and since then, his company 1313FX has worked on over 160 films. In 2017, he opened a museum in Boulder City, NV, called Tom Devlin’s Monster Museum. Now Boulder City is about 45 min outside of Las Vegas. So you may wonder why it has taken us so long to go visit a museum that seems perfectly designed for us. Well, ask yourself how often you have chosen the restaurant/store/museum that is 10 min away over the one that is 45 minutes away, and you will have your answer.

This year, however, I read on social media that they were having an Easter Egg Haunt. I didn’t know if that meant we hunt for eggs in a haunt or if it was just a haunted attraction with bunny masks. But it had been months since we had gone through a haunt, and I was missing the vibe. Haunts always make me happy, and with the state of the world today, you have to find your joy where you can. It was even more exciting when I found out that they sold a ticket that let you go through the museum as well. The museum usually closes at 6 pm, but it would stay open late to honor the haunt tickets. So it would let us see something we had been meaning to see for ages, and go through a haunt in the spring. Date Night for the Damsels!!

Now I am going to review the experience as a whole, which does not lend itself to our usual haunt format.

First, we went through the museum itself. It was not set up like a traditional museum. It was more like a museum combined with a film set. Each of the displays was put in its authentic environment, with somewhat dim lighting and creepy vibes to boot. It started with some horror icons way older than Tom Devlin, making the museum a bit of a history of horror as well as just of Devlin’s Monsters. Each display had the facts or history of the particular monster or franchise, and some of the facts were ones even we didn’t know.

As the museum went on, it became more about Devlin’s work, showcasing things he had made himself, merch people had autographed to him, and ending with a video room playing previews and information about the industry. I have to admit, we didn’t spend too much time in here, as I was excited to go on to the haunt.

The haunt itself was around the corner in a small built-up structure. It definitely felt like a haunt, chainsaw sounds and all. We did have a good laugh over the fact that the entrance was labeled exit and vice versa. The line was all ages, and a child was even helping run the ticket table. It had a family-run sort of feel to it.

That feeling continued all the way through the haunt. I could tell that, in the Halloween season, it was a haunted mansion-type attraction. You went through rooms from an old-fashioned house, a yard with animals, that sort of thing. The actors were earnest, but their costumes were very much things probably pulled out of their own closets, with the addition of masks or makeup. The bunny masks for the start of the show were very basic, with costumes getting more elaborate as it went on. So were the scares. The actors seemed to be having fun, but their lines lacked enthusiasm in some parts. I wonder if that was because they were told to put their regular characters on hold to tell everyone “Watch out for the Easter Bunny” over and over again. There were a few good ones, like a girl who tried to get us to give her our eggs (there were plastic eggs all over to collect), and then she gave us some in exchange. The chainsaw person was also very enthusiastic and interactive.

We also ran into an old friend of mine and got to go through the haunt in a group of four. She was also a haunt person, so she volunteered to go first, which was nice. The friend she brought was not, so he was a bit anxious, as most haunt guests are. It was a good mix for a group.

We left smiling and laughing, with candy and eggs to take home. Some of the eggs were empty, and some had little prizes like pins from the museum. It was a fun night, not super scary, but worth seeing.

The Good

The Monster Museum was amazing. Getting to see all of the paraphernalia from my favorite genre was so much fun. And, unlike the Bagans Museum, it did not feel like it was only there to brag about what Devlin had done. It did tell about his designs and some stories about them, but it was more like sharing an adventure with friends. I especially liked the poster autographed by a lot of the actors from the Scream Franchise. They signed it in character and everything!

I also found out about a couple of movies I didn’t know existed. I had to come home and watch The Wishmaker, since the mask on display looked so cool. It was cheesy and fun, and I probably wouldn’t have asked to watch it otherwise.

The haunt had some good sets to it. One of the animatronics had all the farm animals moving their heads independently, which was somewhat neat to see. The actors did well for the all-ages type of haunt they were putting on. It was also very reasonably priced, with the combo ticket only charging $10 more over the museum price to attend the haunt. It was definitely a cute, small-town type haunt and gave that kind of feel. I left with the happy feeling I always get after going through a haunt. It’s like watching an old favorite movie; familiar and fun.

The Bad

The only negative parts about the museum were small. The movies in the theater section were very hard to hear. Even if I hadn’t wanted to rush off to the haunt, I don’t know that I would have sat there long and strained to hear them. Also, there was only one bathroom. On a normal crowd day, that might have been fine. But because of the event, the wait seemed almost as long as the haunt. I normally don’t like the idea of porta-poties, but they may have wanted to rent one or two to accommodate the extra people.

The haunt was only bad if you were expecting a lot. The first few actors could have been stronger, or their rooms stronger. It did get better as we went on. It was somewhat unclear why there was an evil Easter Bunny in this mansion, what we were supposed to do with the eggs, or why people were in animal costumes. I would theorize that this may have been behind some of the actors’ lack of enthusiasm. When you spend a long time making a character and years advancing that character, you are excited to bring them back to life every year. But to show up, be handed a bunny mask, and be given one line, you might be disappointed. Then you are left with the choice to decide what to do with it or just phone it in. There was a mix of both at the Easter Egg Haunt.

Overall

We had a very fun date night at the Monster Museum and Easter Egg Haunt. I loved seeing the museum after all these years of putting it off. It was definitely worth the trip. The haunt was fun and good for what we paid for it. We went home with a happy, comfy feeling after a night of horror-themed fun!