13 places to get your fright on this Halloween season

With Halloween creeping up on us, here are 13 activities – all within 100 miles of Columbia – guaranteed to scare you before the end of October.

ATTRACTIONS

The Final Door Escape Room

You have 60 minutes to escape – or else. The Final Door has four escape rooms, and three are perfect for Halloween: Sacrifice, Blackout and Zombie Apocalypse. In Sacrifice, use your wit to solve puzzles and escape your captors before one of your team members is sacrificed by a cult. Blackout features pitch black conditions for portions of the game. In the zombie escape room, there is one hungry zombie chained to the wall. Every 5 minutes, a buzzer sounds and the chain is released another foot.

Open Tuesday through Sunday at 930 Knox Abbott Drive, Cayce. $25-$35. www.thefinaldoor.com

Hall of Horrors Haunted Attraction

For this season’s Hall of Horrors, themed “X13: Evil Consumes You,” Brentwood Behavioral has reopened for additional clinical trials of the controversial drug, Xperiment13. As the story goes, Dr. Frederick Darling is looking for more volunteers “for testing purposes.” Be warned.

8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 8 p.m. on Halloween (a Monday) at 1153 Walter Price St., Cayce. Blackout Nights are Thursday, Oct. 20 and Thursday, Oct. 27. General admission, $10; RIP admission (skip the line), $20. www.hallofhorrors.com

The Dark Knight’s Terror Trail

The Dark Knight is home to three guided haunted attractions: An indoor haunted warehouse; a frightful hike in the woods; and a Zombie Zone, where you go head-to-head with zombies. New this year are 5-minute escape rooms. Spend five minutes solving problems so that you can escape and not add to the body count in Rigg’s Morgue.

Thursday, Oct. 20-Sunday, Oct. 23; Wednesday, Oct. 26-Monday, Oct. 31; Friday, Nov. 4 and Saturday, Nov. 5 at 2076 Highway Church Road, Elgin, about 20 miles from Columbia. Box office open until 11 p.m. $13-$22; escape rooms cost an extra $5 (or two for $8). www.darkknightsterrortrailsc.com

Disturbia Down South

Get your Halloween spook on at this outdoor haunted attraction in the woods of Gaston. Not recommended for the faint of heart. Children under age 12 must be accompanied by an adult.

Sunset to midnight every Friday and Saturday through Saturday, Oct. 29 at 2601 S.C. 6, Gaston, about 20 miles from Columbia. $12. www.facebook.com/disturbiadownsouthsc.81

Deceased Farm

This self-guided haunt encompasses six buildings surrounded by a 2-acre haunted corn maze. And there’s “3-D-ceased,” in which the terror surrounds you as you don 3-D glasses. Note: Characters may touch you! Not recommended for children younger than 12.

For something less scary, check out the zombie paintball shooting gallery, make s’mores over the coffin fire pit, or enjoy a cold one at Deceased Brews.

Thursdays through Sundays and Oct. 31 at 382 Olde Farm Road, Lexington, about 22 miles from Columbia. Thursdays and Sundays through Oct. 23 are $16. Fridays and Saturdays, and Oct. 27-31 are $20. Fast pass is $35. Cash only, ATM on premises. www.deceasedfarm.com

Terror Falls Haunted Farm

Includes four Haunted attractions: Dead & Breakfast, Terror Trail (wander through the mine, swamp and the “gauntlet”), Field of Distortion and Terror Falls Hospital.

Haunting begins at dark Friday, Oct. 21, Saturday, Oct. 22, and Friday, Oct. 27-Sunday, Oct. 30 at 370 Mack St., Gaston, about 25 miles from Columbia. $15 for all four attractions. Cash only. ATM on site. www.terrorfalls.com

Gilbert House of Terror

This outdoor haunt includes 13 fun and thrilling scenes for nine nights of fright.

7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 21-Sunday, Oct. 23 and Friday, Oct. 28-Monday, Oct. 31 at 739 Harley Taylor Road, Gilbert, about 29 miles from Columbia. $15. www.gilberthouseofterror.com

Kreepy Hollow Haunted House

A haunted house complete with strobe lights, special effects and moving floors, occupied by masked villains, clowns and the undead.

7:30 p.m.-until. (10:30 p.m. Thursdays) at 1155 Joe Dority Road, Bishopville, about 48 miles from Columbia. Will not close until the crowd stops coming. $20; fast pass, $35. www.kreepyhollow.net/index.html

Zombie Attack

Hop into a ZRV (Zombie Response Vehicle) equipped with paintball guns and save the city from a zombie apocalypse.

7-10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays through Oct. 29 at 1680 E. Main St., Rock Hill, about 68 miles from Columbia. $25; plus $7 for additional paintball rounds and $15 for a fast pass. www.charlottezombies.com

Scarowinds

Wander through Zombie High School, the Psycho Circus and Dark Harvest corn maze, complete with possessed scarecrows. There’s also a defected toy factory, a hospital room filled with twisted medical experiments and scares zones like the Bloodyard.

7 p.m.-midnight Saturdays and Sundays through Oct. 30 at Carowinds, 14523 Carowinds Blvd., Fort Mill, about 81 miles from Columbia. 7 p.m.-1 a.m. Saturdays. $55.99; $39.99 if you order online. www.carowinds.com/scarowinds

Field of Scream

The Field of Scream is a corn maze that specializes in bringing your nightmares to life. If you’re looking for a spine-tingling experience and some great entertainment, the Field of Scream is the place to be.

Starting at dark Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through Oct. 30 at 2480 Pacolet Highway, Gaffney, about 95 miles from Columbia. Open until 1 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays and until 10 p.m. Sundays. $12. www.fieldofscream-sc.com

MOVIES

‘Family Possessions’

Columbia filmmaker Tommy Faircloth has a new paranormal/slasher film out called “Family Possessions.”

Shot on location in Columbia, Charleston and Greenville, North Carolina, “Family Possessions” is about a young girl named Rachael who inherits her estranged grandmother’s estate. As soon as Rachael and her family move into the mansion, strange things begin to happen. As they struggle with the decision of whether to stay in the house, they realize that some family secrets should remain buried.

After the screening, there will be a Q&A session with the cast and crew followed by behind-the-scenes video with bloopers and outtakes from the film.

6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 29 at Tapp’s Arts Center Skyline Room, 1644 Main St. $10 in advance, $12 at the door. www.tappsartscenter.com

‘Clowntown’

Jeff Miller, a graduate of Brookland-Cayce High School and the University of South Carolina’s media arts program, has a new horror feature he wrote and produced called “Clowntown.”

A group of friends is stranded in a small town and stalked by a gang of violent psychopaths dressed as clowns. Miller said his movie “has nothing to do with the South Carolina clowns who have been in the news lately.” But if you hate clowns, don’t see it.

11 p.m. Friday, Oct. 21 at Nickelodeon Theatre, 1607 Main St. $10. nickelodeon.org/films/clowntown

This story was originally published October 18, 2016 at 9:18 PM with the headline "13 places to get your fright on this Halloween season."