Since 2004, The Scare Factor has provided Halloween fans with haunted attraction reviews and directory listings. Their reviews are written by a network of professional “Scream Teams” from around the world. As of September 2026, 33 separate teams were listed on the website, and 2,300+ haunts were included in their directory. The quality of their reviews and extensiveness of their directory already set them apart as a top-notch place to go to find a quality haunt near you. Now for 2026, they have launched a new feature that provides customized recommendations based on your haunt preferences. The Scare Factor’s Haunt Advisor will find the best haunts for you personally, not just present a one-size-fits-all list of the “scariest haunts” to visit.
After setting up a free account on The Scare Factor’s website, set your general area. Then use filters to generate your customized haunt list.
At launch, the preferences include “Scariness” (On a scale from “Light Scares” to “Peak Intensity”) and then four other criteria that can be adjusted from “Not Important” to Essential”:
Once set, you will receive a customized list of haunts that match your preferences. You will be able to read the haunt’s official Scare Factor review, see any photos or videos from the Scream Teams, and read any user reviews.
Next, you can “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” listings, save listings, or add them to your “Bucket List”. Each of those actions will help the Haunt Advisor to learn your likes and dislikes, further shaping the list as the haunt season continues.
How does the Haunt Advisor rank its haunts? The biggest weighted factor is The Scare Factor’s official reviews from their Scream Teams. Each review ranks a haunt on 7 categories with a score of 1 – 10:
Each review will include a detailed breakdown of each “score sheet”. According to their website, a simple scoring breakdown is:
After the official reviews, other factors taken into account are written reviews, thumbs up or thumbs down, saves, and bucket list adds.
This is not a pay-to-play ranking list. Haunts cannot pay to have their haunt shown more in these customized lists. The Haunt Advisor is driven by actual guest experiences and is designed to be difficult for one sour customer or a couple over-zealous owners & their loving family members to skew results. Between the professional and guest reviews, you are much more likely to get an accurate idea of what each haunt holds before visiting.
Another important aspect of the Haunt Advisor is that if a haunt is scarier than your desired level of “Scariness”, it will not appear on your list. No one is helped by sending a nervous first-time haunted house visitor to the most extreme show in the county. Sometimes the highest rated haunt in your area is not the best fit for what you want out of the evening, and the Haunt Advisor’s algorithm is built with that in mind.
I have a lot of respect for The Scare Factor’s founders, Tyler and Nora Proffet. They put in an insane amount of effort and care into their directory, reviews, videos, and this new Haunt Advisor.
If you are looking for haunts near you, or just curious what else is out there around the world, I highly recommend checking out www.thescarefactor.com. You can also follow their Facebook page, Instagram, Tiktok, and Youtube channel.
Since 2004, The Scare Factor has provided Halloween fans with haunted attraction reviews and directory listings. Their reviews are written by a network of professional “Scream Teams” from around the
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