La Ronde has two new haunted houses and I tried them at my own risk

In Montreal, journalist Louis-Philippe Messier travels mostly on the run, his desk in his backpack, on the lookout for fascinating subjects and people. He speaks to everyone and is interested in all walks of life in this urban chronicle.

Haven’t reached your October scare quota yet? Roaring aliens tormenting their captive humans and unfriendly ghosts of deceased actors populate La Ronde’s two spooky new labyrinth courses to celebrate Halloween.

Do any of you remember the old mechanical haunted house in La Ronde, called “The Witch’s Mill” and decorated on its facade with a red dragon?

• To have: “It’s shameful”: remains of legendary La Ronde rides abandoned outside

We moved around in a trolley on rails in front of rudimentary machines that were more cheesy than frightening. Well, those days are over.

The two new haunted houses that La Ronde offers during its traditional October Fright Festival rival and are inspired by cinema.

There are references to the franchise Alien in the brand new “space” haunted house called “Alert Base” set up in what was the Nintendo building in the 1990s.

As for the new Phantom Theater, agitated by unhappy and noisy spirits, its Parisian character from the end of the 19^e century gives it a picturesque appearance.

Often ingeniously pieced together with pieces of old, dilapidated rides, these decorations sometimes command admiration.

So, we widen our eyes and say to ourselves: magnificent! We momentarily forget to be afraid.

Real theater

The haunted houses offered in 2023 are plays divided into several scenes, with around ten actors to animate each of the five houses.

Faced with an actress playing panic behind a window, I have the impulse to try to get the prisoner out of there before telling myself that, if I break the window, I will be expelled from La Ronde for vandalism.

In the corridors, you sometimes have to feel your way, arms outstretched in the darkness to find your way… hoping that no one will suddenly appear screaming (which happens a few times).

Two very screaming French visitors fearfully took refuge behind me during the haunted trails. But since surprises often come from behind, they had more than their quota of scares. Well done for them!

Like movie scripts

“I build haunted houses like horror film scenarios where there are moments of surprise and fear, quieter moments, sometimes two surprises in quick succession,” says Paul-Patrick Hébert, the Grand Manitou of five haunted houses.

“We have been working on our two new houses since last winter, it’s a long-term team effort.”

“With Base en Alerte, we went into an area still unexplored for us, the extraterrestrials, to scare without the supernatural aspect,” adds Martyne Gagnon, a veteran of La Ronde who directs the Fright Festival.

In addition to the two new courses, three other haunted houses from past years are being produced again: there are “Nightmares” (a long bad, distressing dream), “Cirque Diabolique 3D” (with evil clowns) and “La Ferme Maudite” (outdoors, which only opens in the evening).

At 5:30 p.m., a show called Awakening is present. About forty monsters come out and dance in the fashion of Thriller by Michael Jackson before heading into the crowd to “scare” the children.

There are new monsters: the bloody Angelica, modeled on Carrie, the majestic Skeleton King, who greatly impresses children, the Mummy, equipped with a club, and the Porcelain Doll, who seems to come out of a Japanese horror film.

Hearing the children laugh and scream while they run around the monsters immerses us in a truly joyful Halloween atmosphere.