by Evan Duggan
VANCOUVER, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- Lauren Sazak's screams can be heard bouncing off the walls of the "Hollywood of Horrors" haunted house at Playland amusement park in Vancouver.
After bursting out the exit of the terrifying labyrinth, Sazak had to think for a moment about why she had wanted to come to Fright Nights, western Canada's scariest haunt which includes eight haunted houses, each with a theme, at the park.
"I hated every second of it, but that's okay," she told Xinhua, laughing.
"I don't know. It makes me feel like I'm warm and sweating. I've just been like on a jog for like five hours or something. Yeah, it's kind of what I feel," she said.
It's a march of terror that is supposed to be fun, depending on your sense of fun. Around each corner of this haunted house is another monster, madman or creature from a Hollywood horror film waiting to lash out.
Among them is Michael Myers from the "Halloween" franchise, Freddy Krueger from "Nightmare on Elm Street" and Hannibal Lecter from "The Silence of the Lambs."
"Hollywood of Horrors" is just one of the eight haunted houses at the park, which also includes a wide selection of amusement park rides.
During each Halloween season, Playland is transformed into a haunted theme park with a full selection of rides, terrifying actors who wander the grounds, and the haunted houses.
The scares can be so terrifying that staff encourage children to be at least 13 years old before braving the park.
Each of the haunted houses has a theme such as toy dolls, phobias, darkness and clowns.
"It's a bit of an escape," said Lisa Modica-Amore, Playland's director of operations.
"People like to get outside of their day-to-day, get outside of the norm, and the really exciting thing about Fright Nights is that we push a lot of boundaries with some of the content in our attractions so there is really something for everybody," said the director.
Fright Nights attracts more than 80,000 visitors every October, making it the city's most popular Halloween attraction. The event runs through Halloween.
