Can You Handle The Halloween Haunt, The Scream Machine?

The Scream Machine is a fast and furious haunt located in Taylor, Michigan. It has an outdoor but sheltered waiting area with great entertainment while you wait for your turn.

The Scream Machine is in its fourth season at its current location, and improving every year. It’s around 8,500 square feet, and they have made excellent use of every inch of it. It may not be as big as some haunts, but there are some very clever tricks they pulled off in making sure you hardly notice the difference in size.

In 2016, Dr. Strach decided to build The Machine after studying people’s fears and learning to understand them. The Machine is meant to bring out those fears and study your response as you navigate its gauntlet of terror.

A bit of warning… once you step into the machine, there won’t be very many moments to catch your breath. It’s a very intense haunt with incredible characters brought to life by a combination of amazing makeup, great costumes, and superb actors… at least, that’s what the good doctor would like you to believe. I would also like to give a shout-out to the actor that was taking tickets at the entrance. He was the most entertaining ticket person I’ve come across in a haunt.

The Scream Machine is like walking through scenes from several horror movies with completely different styles spliced together, and it works perfectly with the backstory. It’s a pet peeve of mine when I see so many haunts with backstories that don’t seem to have anything to do with what’s actually going on. You won’t find that issue here. You’ll even meet Dr. Strach.

This was a first time trip to The Scream Machine for my group. Half of us don’t scare easy, so we go to take in the art of the haunts with hopes of a few jump scares along the way. The other half goes for the scares.

Here’s the thing… this place terrified our half that goes for the scares, but it even got to the other half at times. The art of it took a back seat, as there was no time to slow down and take in very much detail aside from the incredible characters that interact with you. And that’s not a bad thing.

But you won’t find just scares here. There was also a fair amount of dark humor from some of the actors that had my entire group laughing. There’s a certain trio in a unique room that excelled at this.

I wish I could describe certain instances, but I can’t. You have to experience them for yourselves. The actors know how to make an entrance and brought to life the most memorable characters I’ve come across in a haunt. But, I cannot conclude without saying that there were two particular instances, using a combination of effects and exceptional characters, where I truly felt like I walked into a horror movie.

The Scream Machine typically takes around twenty minutes to go through, and has an optional escape room afterward. It’s a modular haunt, meaning they don’t have the building for the entire year. They only have six weeks to build and two to tear down. This means that the haunt is completely reworked every year.  It’s wheelchair accessible with fair ticket prices and upgrade options to skip the line.

I definitely recommend it… it’s for science, after all.