Frightmares should thank its lucky stars that Lazarus Maze opened this year or this review would claim it was the worst hauntedhouse in the state. Keep in mind, this haunting experience is different from the rest of Utah’s haunted house world. Lagoon has simply found a way to keep its doors open a little longer by following the Halloween trend.

Customers park in a fog-covered parking lot and are immediately taken into the haunting environment that has become a seasonal staple for Halloween enthusiasts. A big orange Christmas tree made entirely out of orange lights greets them, setting the cheesy tone before anyone enters the gate.

The entire park is covered in spider webs, corn and elaborate props. Costumed actors lurk around dark corners. Also, most of the rides are open.

The park offers several shows. The best of these shows is the well-choreographed and entertaining Hackenslash Chainsaw Demonstration Team, a team of chainsaw dancers. The most annoying of the acts is the musical group Zombie Mambo, with its off-key singers and costumes more electric than the actors themselves. Other entertainment includes spooky storytelling the entire family can enjoy.

Children will love Spook-a-boo, a child-like haunted house where little ones can trick-or-treat and leave the house with enough treats to last the rest of their stay at the park.

Lagoon offers three haunted houses for adults; Nightmare Midway, Funhouse of Terror and the Labyrinth. They’re all small.

The sets have come a long way since Frightmares’ horrid debut in 1995, when it used plywood facades and rooms with bare walls.

Nightmare Midway and Funhouse of Terror each have good set design, but lack attention to detail — or detail that doesn’t belong in a room — such as a flashing red police light in a classic-style torture chamber.

The one room that had accurate and well-defined detail was a room filled with balloons, which was annoying but not scary. Another room with too much is a room with shredded white material that hangs down and chokes customers as they walk through it.

The actors are poorly trained and most seemed more interested in flirting with customers of the opposite sex waiting in line to enter the show. Inside the show, clowns walked through forests, Michael Myers walked through the clown room and other actors seemed lost.

The best actors were in these two houses, but don’t expect anything scary. Smile and nod your way through and you’ll survive the tour.

The Labyrinth might as well be empty. No one in the house knew what they were doing. Beetlejuice was poorly portrayed as a moaning “Night of the Living Dead” freak. The actor’s favorite scary line was, “Hey.” The house got boring fast.

The 75-foot line going into this house took a slow 45 minutes.

If looking for a day of riding rides and seeing Lagoon in a haunted light, take a jacket; it gets cold when riding rides.

If looking for the haunted house value, stay home and rent the “Blair Witch Project” instead, it’s cheaper, scarier and the actors are better.

For information on pricing and hours of operation, visit www.lagoonpark.com/fright_def.php.