Lake George, New York: House of Frankenstein Wax Museum

With more torture tableaus than you can shake a stick studded with impaled heads at.

The attendants are careful to warn against having younger children enter the attraction. The squishy wrestling mat/Pink Floyd area features more of a creepy jungle/Creature from the Black Lagoon-type display. Another display was closed; not sure if it had malfunctioned or if they are putting in something new.

Most displays are animatronic, and some have green buttons you can push to make the tableau "happen." Definitely cheesy, but fun if you like hokey horror. They even had a fairly convincing Frankenstein's monster out front, taking pictures with people.

There's now a partner attraction around the corner, Dr. Morbid's Haunted House, where -- unlike House of Frankenstein -- live costumed actors scare you.

And the wax figure on the torture rack at HoF no longer rips in two, too many parental complaints according to the guide. He's now held together with duct tape!

This fall is the 25th anniversary of the House of Frankenstein Wax Museum in Lake George, NY. Last weekend, they had Boris Karloff's daughter there for the celebration.

As a child, I remember going to HoF vividly, for we would go to Lake George almost every year until I was about 15 years old. I haven't been there in over 18 years, so this vacation I HAD to see if they added anything new to the attraction.

First, the entrance and exit inside the attraction was switched around, so now you "walk backwards" through the place, at least compared to how it originally was.

The next thing you notice is that NOTHING has changed, with no new wax creations. In fact, the most notable thing was that "Megopolis, Man of the Future," is gone! In it's place, they have "The Zombie Drinkers," which consists of a figure standing over three open caskets with dead bodies in them, with IV tubes coming out of them. No explanation on the display card, so your guess is as good as mine.

Along the way, I also notice that they have started to use rubber masks on some of the displays instead of wax. To hide this fact, some of the areas are so poorly lit, you can hardly see ANYTHING anymore...and it used to be dark enough as it was!

One thing that IS new (and most likely the reason why they switched the direction you walk through the place) is the "Black Hole." It consists of a 15' walkway bridge with handrails on both sides, while a giant spinning drum with black-lit stars on it spins counter-clockwise around the entire walkway. As you walk across, your equilibrium is thrown off by the spinning, so you start falling to your right. Safety being a primary concern, they have an attendant standing in front of the Black Hole with a flashlight, who tells everyone to "Please use the handrails"...I can see the lawsuits already!