The Forest of Fear Review

Free parking. Short lines if you get there early. Massively fun!

Got happily lost in the maze of the Circus House because one of the workers kept mischievously misdirecting me -- HAHA!

At one point, I thought it was over and said to my party that I had a great time, only to be told that there was more to explore. Such a wonderful experience.

Big thumbs up to "The Conjuring" nun. She was awesome, and made our night! Super recommended. Dolly, who creepily entertained those waiting in line, was fun as well! The marionette was hauntingly beautiful.

One of the best Halloween experiences I have had in a long while.

This place was awesome. I've been to other haunted attractions, but this is by far my favorite. It's about 45 minutes long, and it's a lot of fun. The food and shops outside are also great!

I had a good time. Me and some of my buddies went last Saturday. The atmosphere was cool and they had a lot of the normal haunted house features but a bunch of other cool stuff and effects. Also it was a lot bigger this year than it was last year, and the expansion worked out well. Actors get into it and seem like they're having fun. I got to be a knife target as well so that was cool. Good place to go with friends.

Scary and thrilling all at once. The best Halloween experience I have had! Super terrific!

Decided to go with my boyfriend who loves going to Haunted Houses. Me not so much. This was my second year in a row going and I was actually excited because I knew it would make him happy. We were on line waiting which was moving quick which we were all happy about. My friend and I took a picture with mole lady who is pretty funny. She was happy smiling the whole nine..Pictures to prove it. Then things took a turn..The bouncer was talking to my friend as we were almost to the door as I said come on it's our turn. She said I can't I'm not allowed in because I touched one of the actors as per the bouncer. At which point I walked to the front asking for our money back. The very unprofessional woman that takes your tickets said I will ask the bouncer what happened and I'll see what I can do. At which point the bouncer said the actor felt that she was "mauled"!?! Really can't make his up. Then the owner came up to me and started getting angry and in my face telling me this is a family establishment lol Really because I can't couldn't imagine making this a family night out. Needless to say he was yelling at me telling me he will have me arrested for disorderly conduct if I didn't get the f**k off his property. Meanwhie I was calm the whole time looking for an explanation to this horrible misunderstanding. I would NEVER go back to such a place with such classless people if you paid me. I might add that last year the same lady was taking tickets and was as nasty as this year. I will never go back to that place again. The people were nasty. smh

Great place! 6 houses into one and great for all ages! Best haunted house I've ever been to! You never know what's coming next! Def get your money's worth

You like to be scared? Then pack a spare pair of clean undergarments and test your nerve. These crazy, ghouls would LOVE to have you for dinner...

Did NOT like a few low life's cutting the line that we stood on for an hour to get into the amusement poor security. Did like, after getting into amusement if you're claustrophobic was open many times you can look up and see the sky the one or two of the six Amusements that had a tent I asked if they were emergency doors that you could easily get out I'm claustrophobic and they said yes the doors are lit, one of the doors easily with one finger I pushed and it opened easily you would be outside of the tent and I stayed in it made me feel I wasn't trapped in side of it. I would have given this Amusement four stars if it weren't for the poor Security on the line we stood in one hour , that's fine but we didn't like other people that cut the line and got in within 10 minutes that made us stand there longer as they cut into the front of the line (poor security)

This is absolutely, positively - one of... if not the best haunted experience in the tri-state area! Amazing realism, cast is very diverse - they work extra hard to ensure that every soul gets an appropriate amount of scares during they're stay with them. Delicious carnival food and drink, inexpensive cost for fiends looking for a good time!

The wait time on the line is horrendous. We waited about 2 hours in the cold. They had actors dressed up as monsters walk through the lines to scare people.

When we were finally able to go in, they separated our group of seven people into two. We had a blast. We screamed and laughed throughout the whole thing. They provide a really diverse experience of junkyards, asylum, cemeteries and haunted houses. The makeup and thrills were done really well. Best I've ever seen.

My favorite room was the body bag room. I couldn't bring myself to walk through until my friends pushed me.

I would like to recommend going with someone who gets easily scared. It really sets the tone for this experience.

An open letter to Forest of Fear, Sterling Forest, NY:

Earlier tonight (10/15/16) my nephew and I attended your production. At the 6th haunt of the night we entered without the usual "Don't touch us we won't touch you..." spiel which up to this point always happened just outside the haunt. Once inside the building an actor learned my nephew's name, Aidan. He instructed Aidan alone to "line up against the wall" when we tried to keep walking your actor said "Aidan, what are you stupid?!" To which my natural inclination was to keep walking. Your actor a medium height long dark haired man with a face painted white and black running down from his eyes (and I believe was wearing a bowler cap and a referee jersey) abruptly slammed his club in front of my nephews face against the wall next to him ( might I add his face inches away from our faces with a black curtain narrowly hanging between my nephews face and his club - my nephew could have had his hand on the wall and the actor never would have known) and again instructed us to line up. We stood there quietly and I said "no thank you, we'll carry on" at this point still trying to protect my nephew from further ridicule as I had absolutely no reason to believe that this guy had anything reasonable to say. After a few more jarring slams of the club and INCREASINGLY uncomfortable exchanges your actor delivered his don't touch, run, or use a flash message we then carried on throughout the house. I debated whether to say anything to some form of management that I could find and at the end, in an effort to spare another uncomfortable exchange for the next ticket holder, I reluctantly walked into the main office where I asked to speak to someone. A young lady in a yellow sweater behind the desk said "I'm not the woman to speak to about this but I'll get Gilly." As I waited for Gilly the young lady wanted to know what happened. I explained to her that the actor knowing my nephews name said "what are you stupid?". She proceeded to tell me that Gilly would give me the caveat "we recommend no children under 12" my nephew is 11. Frustrated, I walked out.

Never once, at any point was there a sign posted regarding the 12 year age identification, the gentleman who sold us our ticket said nothing about that (and I specifically told him my nephews age in case there was a restriction). Furthermore, if I recall correctly your radio ad says "Fun for the whole family". I'm not complaining because it was too scary. My problem is that your employee, a grown man, singled out, insulted, and embarrassed a child because this particular haunt was outside of the ordinary protocol that we had come to expect in your park. To add insult to injury I was met with yet another mishandled situation in your main office.

I'm from orange county, I live in orange county, my husband is a Sterling Forest volunteer firefighter. I am so disappointed that with the competitive nature of the haunted attractions I was met with such an amateur experience at my most familiar of these such attraction.

I'm not quite sure why I'm even bothering to raise an issue now other than in an effort for you to use this feedback to improve the experience for the next attendee.

Next time I'm going to Pure Terror.

Awesome new layout, committed actors, good food, reasonable prices, best haunt this year! Better than the headless horseman which in my opinion was overpriced and over rated.

Pretty large and a lot of fun. The wait is pretty long to get in so I suggest arriving early.

I've been going to the Forest of Fear for the last 3 years and I have to say it's gotten better and better. This year, instead of just the two houses they have 5 houses to walk through. Most of the actors were on point and very freaky. A definite place to go for a good scare.

As always, We had a lot of fun! The place has grown big time! Its a Fun time, my friends and myself love it!

Awesome awesome....scary as hell lol could have been a movie

Overall a good experience, but not for the inflated price this year. Used to be 20 dollars for what felt like more to do. Also no apple cider donuts this year :(

I was excited to go since lots of friends had recommended this but I gotta say I was underwhelmed. The location is FANTASTIC but it did seem like very "amateur hour". I always look forward to the CHAINSAW part of all haunted houses, but man.. all they did was stand there not even trying to scare us. It wasn't all horrible and most of the actors were committed to their craft but it just seemed rushed and just very "meh". Now the last house was actually awesome since it was an actual building and not just a "tent or some makeshift house" outside. I think value wise, it's not worth it. If it was $20 bucks instead of 30 I'd be worth it. BONUS: if you keep your ticket you can go back and do it all over again after you've gone in.

Are haunted houses/forests ever _really_ scary? Maybe we're just too old/jaded to be really terrorized, but if you're looking for some spooky Halloween amusement, the Forest of Fear is fun, if not terror-inducing. You go through what amounts to a maze of buildings and some outdoor passages, populated by a cast of zombies, axe wielders, mad doctors, etc. Like Arrested Development, you're told upfront (and periodically inside the maze) that there's no touching, which pretty much caps how scary it can get. At one point, one of the zombies told us, "Man, you guys are unscareable. Ah well, go have fun!" We still had a good time, so if you're looking to get out of the city, combine this with apple picking for a full day!

I went twice, once with family and once with friends. Sunday was the best day, with almost no line at all. Sat night was more crowded, but the line moved quickly so it wasn't too bad.

The haunted houses are really twisty and full of gorgeous details everywhere you look. I wish we could take pictures inside the last house, of those beautiful props, costumes and makeup! You can go through the houses again if you want to try and see more of the sets. You can't take pictures indoors, but you can take epic selfies with some actors outside.

The tickets say not to bring kids under 12, and they're not kidding. I don't scare easily but I screamed a LOT, especially in the dark part. This is not a friendly hayride-and-scarecrows type of place, and we were glad we left our brave young nephews at home (ages 8, 9, and 12), they would've had nightmares forever.

Outdoors, there is food (carnival prices though), and picnic tables, and a couple vendors who are nice to talk to. It's a good break from the nightmares inside. Also, a couple really spooky/funny actors walking around, those were my favourite of all. With my family, we stayed about an hour, with my friends, we stayed 2.5hrs. (We'd have stayed longer except it was cold; bring a coat.)

Happy Halloween!

Really scary. Way faster lines than some of the other reviews said. Definitely worth the price.

Average Haunt overall in a very creepy location at night.

There are so many great actors and the detail is so amazing biggest and best haunted house I have ever been to.

The characters were scary and fun and interacted with people.

If I could give this place a zero I would because their were no actors and when we come across an actor they didn't do anything. All this place was a bunch of pallets mazed out. Looks like it was just throne together. No props , No Nothing. I went to this place because they say there number 1 in NY. That's a Joke.Lies ,Lies,Lies....Number Zero is more like it. If you want to waste your money and time then go but I will never be back to this place. I'm sure alot more people will be posting how bad this place is. I should of stuck with my two favarites in NY which are Headless Horseman and Pureterror ScreamPark. This place is a joke. I guess thats why they charge only $17.00 Groupon.....

Pretty good time. Could be use a dash more of terror.

Really cool experience. The hunted house was fun and long. They also threw knives at me. Idk why Google isn't letting me find the video

I went to the event on Sunday 10/18/2015 with my 14 year old daughter and five of her friends. Some of the characters and their fear tactics were borderline perverted especially for a group of young girls. I am a big fan of horror and attend many Halloween scare events but this one was different. A character that represented a women rapist dressed up with Bra's hanging from a key chain and walked around telling girls he gets wood real fast is pedophile material. Another character was pretending to masturbate in a bed luring girls to join him is not scary. Another character creeped up behind the girls blowing in their ears and touching their hair making comments on them wanting to braid their "pubies". THIS IS NOT SCARY BUT PERVERTED.

We wanted to take a group picture with the nun after the walk through. She told us to be patient as she continued her conversation with her friends and kept us waiting for a good 10 minutes. We decided that the nun wasn't that spectacular to wait for.

Maybe it was "teen" nite for the characters to act out their perverted fantasy's on guests but I will never go back again.

$25 bucks to get in. I thought it was were they held the Renfair, were you would walk do hunted trails. It wasn't. It was across the street in the lot. There was like 6 different stands selling merchandise and food. There was a tent that you had to wait in line about 45 min to get in to for a small walk through spook house . There was a coffin simulator that you can lay down in for $5.00 additional! WTF! Then they had the main Haunted house that we had to wait in line for over 2 hr to get into. So not worth it. Save your money and time. Don't go. The scariest thing there was the lines!

A little small which wasn't expected since the ren fair is across the street and huge. Not bad though.

On Friday Oct 21 I attended forest of fear and now Ive worked for several other venues and I felt like I knew what to expect. BOY was I wrong I had never been so scared every we're you try to turn Bam u get hit all over again all 7 Houses were amazing when they say there number 1 in New York I believe it no questions ask forest of fear is a MUST SEE

EXCELLENT HAUNT!!!! I LOVE THIS PLACE! I go every weekend in October!!! all of the actors props makeup and slaughterhouse scenes are top notch and professionally done!!! the best haunt in the US!

I went to the Forest of Fear when I was a child. It was easily the best Halloween experience I've ever had. They used at least half of the grounds used by the Renaissance Fair during the summer. The place was huge and it was filled with costumed actors in every corner. They were always in character. They were scary and fun. There were lots of things to go to and see. There were shows. There were events. It was great.

I hadn't been there in years so I went back again in October, 2011. I could hardly believe my disappointment. It's nothing like what it used to be. The main problem is THERE IS NO FOREST. They don't use the RenFair grounds anymore. It's across the street from there. The single attraction is a haunted house. It was decent, as far as haunted houses go, but that was it. (It certainly wasn't the best haunted house I've been to.) If I wanted to go to a haunted house, I'd do so in my area. Or in the city. I didn't drive three hours for that. And it was still expensive.

After the haunted house, which takes ten minutes tops to go through, we exited and were very confused. There were portable for-rent carnival rides around us. Carnival rides and a couple of food stands. Not Halloween themed, mind you. Just standard, see them all the time, boring, not Halloween-like at all carnival rides. The kind that are set up in your local mall's parking lot during the summer. It was boring, stupid and it sucked the Halloween/scary feel of the haunted house right out of you. Not to mention it was October, so riding those things would be cold and miserable.

I don't know what happened. Either the people who ran it years ago got lazy or there are new people managing it now and they are naturally lazy. Seems to me like they thought they could make an easy buck by renting some spinning rides, selling stuffed bears and pretending it was the "Forest of Fear" so they could get by on reputation alone. I'd be very surprised if they had any repeat customers. There were two, maybe three people dressed in costumes walking around. They didn't really do anything besides pose for photographs. Yeah. Real spooky. I can just feel the chills moving down my spine.

This is NOT the Forest of Fear. It's a cheap knockoff. It sucked. I felt so ripped off by this. I can't explain how excited I was to go back there. And that garbage is what they sold us.

If you want to do something scary and fun for Halloween, go somewhere else. It's not worth it. It's not worth the money. It's not worth the drive. Go have a good time and I sincerely hope you have a Happy Halloween.

Don t bother with this place. Amateurish effects and the actors still talk with Ren Faire accents.

Headless Horseman & Pure Terror is where it s at!!

A very scary experience for teens and adults, not for young children.

This place is terrible my children never want to go here again I would NEVER recommend this place to anyone

Love this haunted house! Its huge now, and what you see in the ad is what you get. Scary as hell too. No one touched us.

Good for kids and with friends. You'll be reminded that no one will touch you and you won't touch them. It's a fun type of scary, nothing traumatizing.

It was a good experience. Some things we're predicable. The "blind" room was thrilling. Reasonable prices for food and souvenirs. Not for little kids.

As haunted houses go it wasn't to bad but we had to reserve an entry time and still had to wait a full hour on line. The sets were ok but nothing special. For some reason they had to repeat the warnings of don't touch the actors and no photography at every section, which were continous so didn't make any sense and definitely diminished the atmosphere.

I've been going to the Forest of Fear every season for years now and with each year, they get better and better. This year blew me away though. I couldn't believe how awesome it is. I highly suggest everyone come out and see everything they have done this season. By far the best I've ever seen it. Also, the detail alone that went into the rooms, costumes, and everything else makes this place something everyone should experience.

Awesome experience! The right amount of scary and fun mixed together and I've never been to a haunt that great in my life. Definitely going again and bringing friends.

Excellent haunt! Extremely creative. Makeup is amazing. The actors do a great job.