This is closer to what a haunted attraction should be than any of the other attractions in the Niagara Falls area. The House of Frankenstein, located on Clifton Hill in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, is a collection of tableaus throughout a winding maze that goes up and down. There are no "live actors" to startle you. At this haunted attraction, the point is to make you scare yourself!

Most of the tableaus seemed like rejects from old wax museums. There was a rather boring "Phantom of the Opera" who played the organ (we could see the machinery for the animatronics), a wax figure of the old Universal Wolfman, who comes rolling down a hallway on a mechanical arm, and a booth containing Dr. Frankenstein hanging from a noose. Each of these booths is operated by pushing a small orange button, like at a carnival, or the Science Centre. These displays could be replaced with newer, better ones.

Further on things got better. There were winding hallways lit by blacklight and with really impressive "graveyard" artwork painted on the walls. Emerging from the hallways we found a small theatre with a Frankenstein pinball machine, and a small monitor showing the original Frankenstein movie in its entirity. Kitchy? You'd think so, but these people are smart! We sat down on comfortable benches and watched the movie for a bit. We felt content, untroubled, safe, all we needed was some popcorn. The point of this room, we soon discovered, was to lull us into a false sense of security!

Leaving the room we entered the last leg of the journey, darkened (but not black) hallways that twisted and turned. The hanging rubber skeletons were good, I wasn't expecting to walk into them! There were lots of side halls to try, which lead to more animatronic tableaus. These ones were good, though. The bride of Frankenstein, lying on a stone alter, moaning and raising her head to look at you, and a werewolf skulking in an old archway. The best, however, was the huge Jack-in-the-box. Now, Jack-in-the-boxes are scary enough on their own, as far as I'm concerned, but this one was about five and a half feet tall, shrouded in shadows, and adorned with skulls. Traditional Jack-in-the-box music begins playing from the box, but it quickly becomes a distorted cacaphonic rendition of the tune we know from our youth. The thing that finally springs out is wonderfully, deliciously evil! Right out of a nightmare.

The scariest part of this entire attraction was a simple hallway. You come to a bend in the hall. To your left you can see light, and this is obviously where you have to go, but there is a door to your right made of an iron grate, and with a sign that says "Enter at your own risk!". Who can refuse such an entreaty? I pulled open the door and stepped in. My girlfriend urged me not to. She was genuinely fearful. Why? Simple, because this was not the way we were supposed to go, this was a choice, and we didn't know if it would be the right choice. Would it lead us away from the exit? We didn't know. I won't tell you what it was, I'll just suggest you be adventurous.

The House of Frankenstein could be the best haunted attraction in Niagara Falls, all they need to do is update some of their displays. So far, it is one of the only haunted attractions I would recommend to others. You may even get some good ideas for your own home haunt!