Nashville Nightmare really amped up their game for the Nashville Nightmare Before Christmas holiday event. As described in the press release it truly was a “Twisted holiday tale with hundreds of lights, themed attractions, festive eats, and add-ons for the whole family. The Haunted house turned into a Christmas horrorland with Krampus and his twisted helpers turning holiday cheer into holiday fear.”

There were Christmas horror photo ops with the naughty/nice chair, inflatable Jack, a sleigh, and holiday additions to a few of the normal Halloween setups. My favorite was the Grinch photo op in the beginning. I loved all the lights, Christmas characters, and trees. The haunted houses were spooky as always, but with a festive glow. The last house was by far my favorite, with the whole Nightmare Before Christmas cast adding an extra touch (Jack Skellington, Sally, Oogie Boogie, and the mayor greeted us). Everywhere you looked there was twisted Christmas decorations, and small changes here and there. The mist was brought down, a candy forest was added. I enjoyed it so much, I had to go back a second time to take it all in.

The best door host goes to dirty Santa, who played his part stupendously. The best character roaming was Art the clown, who was seen lurking around “taking out the trash” all night. We also greeted Krampus, a twisted elf, and the Grinch who obliged with photos.

The clown maze had creepy reindeer instead of clowns, but that was the only change I noticed. The actors weren’t as interactive as in the past.  The secret bars had holiday drinks and decked their monsters in ugly Christmas sweaters, which was fun. We played the zombie shootout, but it seemed like the targets weren’t working correctly. We failed at the two mini escape games, but had fun trying.

It was another fun evening at Nashville Nightmare. I don’t understand why it wasn’t more crowded, but better for those of us who were there.

Even the naughtiest of elves can be nice. And this year they were collecting donations for Vanderbilt Children’s hospital. All proceeds went to purchasing toys, art supplies and more for patients this holiday season.

Until next time…