Haunted Calgary 2023 Review

October 27, 2023 at 7:23pm
By Jason Stettner

This is a special Halloween event, it’s Haunted Calgary 2023 which runs through October on weekends. It is a haunted house experience that is present within the underground parkade of the New Horizon Mall.

It’s easier to access if you drive in or go through from the ground floor of the mall. I suggest the former, you can park in there right beside the event and then walk over to the selected area. It’s heated, so you should be relatively warm while taking in the experience. As a bonus, there are bathrooms right beside the area as well.

The event is back to full swing just like last year so you’ll enter following the various signs and then queue up to take in what the experience has to offer. You may have a bit of a wait depending on the particular night, and when you go to experience it time slot wise. There are typically some line entertainment elements that come into play as well.

This year’s offering was even larger than the previous year which was impressive. It doesn’t offer multiple houses being one large housing experience. This setup allows for at least twenty-five minutes of time when walking through it at a steady pace. If you go faster you’ll likely speed through it, so I do suggest just taking your time as it’s about experiencing the right jumps, the right performances and the right moments throughout.

If you go too fast it just won’t line up well for you, at least not as it’s supposed to be if that makes sense. They are even better this year at setting things up with a middle corridor where some actors may cross. I did accidently enter this a couple times. The production value of the environments is really good as usual, and the acting is quite great. I did actually get a bit of a jump scare a few times, even though it was a quieter night I was invited on.

As always, props to the shocking lady as she’s fun to see in action. She definitely was rather inviting this year which was enjoyable for video, had a friend too. There’s also themes to the different areas you visit while walking throughout this area. Some are dark, others use lighting to their advantage to create a unique atmosphere.

There’s neat sound being played, and voice from those you’ll see while touring. It’s well spaced out in terms of the folks around you, I never saw any other group while I was touring. They also added some neat side features that you might brush up against, nothing too intensive but a fun interactive element for sure.

They have expanded their gift area too this year with some neat options alongside having photo choices. You can get professional photos done or also take your own within specifically setup dioramas which was awesome. They even have ring lights, a very nice touch for the modern era.


It was in general a delightfully horrifying time once again! It provided a fun experience, and I think it’s probably the best spooky option we have in the city by far. Seriously, production value and acting wise they do seem to nail it every single year. There’s also a decently sized gift shop towards the end of your tour, they have some neat items there if you want a souvenir or more.

I think they made some nice improvements once again and it delivers a good length. I do ponder if we’ll see a return of multiple houses down the road like they used to have but I was more than pleased with the length of this one as it was by far their longest beating even the previous year by a good amount. It’s well themed, well setup and an engaging time to enjoy for the value you’re likely looking for during a Halloween time.

Again, it’s probably your best scare city wise from what I’ve seen and look forward to hopefully attending again next year. I do thoroughly enjoy my visit each year, it's a great event. You can read our thoughts on Screamfest from the past year below. You can check out our Calgary hub for more coverage from within the city.

Read our Screamfest 2022 Review
View our Calgary Hub