October 7-13, 2004

mixpicks

Specters at the Spectrum

Finally, someone has woken up to the bald fact that haunted houses needed a bit of a modernization. Let's remember the traditional model was cozy, furnished and more spacious than most people's cramped city apartments. But now—now Philadelphia is being offered a new model for a terrifying locale. It's the Wachovia Spectrum!

For the next month or so, the huge concrete-and-guardrail structure will be filled with the living dead. No, not their usual punters—more like frozen corpses come to life, longhaired Gothic entertainers and vampires sporting duds from Zipperhead. Within the huge space, taken over by "Nightmares on Broad Street," you move from attraction to attraction (finding your way by touch, as the whole place is in pitch darkness): Visit the cold store for spine-chilling creatures, the Freezer, movie-inspired scares like the Mummy's Revenge (pictured) and the Van Helsing Experience, and hometown horrors like Ben Franklin-stein.

Nightmares on Broad Street, through Oct. 31, $20, suitable for 7+, Wachovia Center, 3601 S. Broad St., 215-336-3600, www.nightmareonbroadstreet.com.

—Juliet Fletcher