Rottentail's Revenge - Necropolis Underground
Rottentail's Revenge @ Necropolis Underground Haunted Attraction 7130 Western Select Dr. Indianapolis, IN 46219 http://www.necropolisunderground.com
Date of Visit: 4/8/23 Reviewer: Lindsay
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When you think about Easter, it probably evokes a lot of happy memories, doesn't it? Cute bunnies everywhere, searching for eggs in the yard, waking up to a basket filled with treats. But for the residents of Necropolis Underground, Easter isn't quite the joyful occasion it is in the world above. The ravenous rabbit, Peter ROTTENtail, has returned with all of his evil bunny minions to menace the Dead City once again. And if you're unlucky enough to venture down there when they've arrived, you won't have to worry about hunting for any eggs... you'll be too busy trying to escape from the rabbits hunting *you*!
Rottentail's Revenge is a seasonal event held by various haunts under Sindicate Haunted House Group - one of which is Necropolis Underground, a multi-attraction haunt complex located literally underground in the city of Indianapolis. Admission prices for these events remain the same as they are during the Fall season, starting at $35 for General Admission and going up to $70+ for Front of the Line access. Parking is free and plentiful, with spots both in front of the haunt itself and around the complex it calls home.
From the moment I stepped into their lobby, there was absolutely no doubt this was an Easter show. Waiting in line for tickets, I noticed some poor child- who looked to have had a bad run-in with Mr. Rottentail- slumped over their Easter basket. More decorations adorned the counter, including colorful egg lights. But the real eye-catcher was the huge portrait of the rotten rabbit himself off to one side, offering a backdrop for groups to take souvenir photos. (I'd love to know who makes these photo ops? They're fantastic.) Heading into the queue next door, the atmosphere was considerably dim and foggy, yet I still noticed additional decor here and there: bunnies on the walls, eggs scattered over a broken down car.
If you ever plan to attend one of these events, I highly recommend arriving early enough to buy tickets and hop in line prior to opening. Necropolis puts on an energetic preshow every night, switching up the music and theme to match the event before turning their monsters loose on the crowd! Sure enough, a cheery tune of "Bunny bunny bunny, you're so funny..." began playing in the queue, while unsuspecting groups milled about. Unfortunately for them, things didn't stay innocent for too long before we were under attack! Several twisted bunnies and other scary characters swiftly had the line under siege - including the beastly bunny Rottentail himself! I saw some really creative costumes here; my favorite was a toss-up between the post-apocalyptic rabbit with skulls on his shoulder pads, and the mad magician wearing a suit covered in severed rabbit heads. (Shout out to the latter for being so entertaining to watch and interact with! He was all over the place: scaring people, jumping on the car, trying to gross out customers. At one point, he had a few of us mesmerized with his custom deck of cards, wondering if he might perform a magic trick... I jumped when he suddenly thrust one in my face. Awesome!)
Another great way they celebrated the theme was to arm the line actors with Easter candy and plastic eggs. These were handed or tossed to patrons waiting in line; some were empty, while others contained candy and small toys. By the time it was our turn to go in, we had all been thoroughly "egged". (I met up with our friends at The Scare Factor for this adventure, and went through with Joanna, one of their team members. Always a good time!) So nice of Necropolis to do that for everyone.
All four of the Underground's houses were taken over by Rottentail and his minions: Nightmare House, Cemetery of the Damned, Dead & Breakfast, and The Bunker. I won't get into the storylines behind each one, but you can visit Necropolis' website if you want to know more, or check out our full review from the 2022 season (www.thehauntedhoneymooners.com). I will say the haunt's team did a great job of decorating most of them for the event, though I'd imagine sprucing up a haunt complex of this size (and then taking it all down afterward) is no easy feat. Among the decorations we saw were painted bunnies with scary faces, big inflatables, eggs of all shapes and sizes, and props wearing rabbit ears. The only house I felt was lacking in theme was Cemetery, and to be fair, it's a dark and "busy" haunt that would make it hard to notice much holiday stuff.
There was a sizable and dedicated cast of actors working the event, and most characters we encountered incorporated the Easter theme in some way. We got a startle right off the bat in Nightmare; foiled by the bunny acting as a decoy, we weren't expecting the one wielding a chainsaw to come charging out the door right in front of us! Some of the bunnies pretending to be statues got us as well, particularly the one on the front porch (who earned my first cuss word of the night). Moving over to the Cemetery, the "Ether" Bunny was fun, and we got a kick out of him holding his chloroform rag up to our noses. More evil rabbits hunted us in here - there was a big and scary one lurking in the dungeon, and we enjoyed interacting with the one who tried to cast a spell on us later... even if he did want to feed our souls to Rottentail. One of my personal best scares for the night came from a bunny girl in Dead & Breakfast, who accused me of following her. I argued that she was following *me* instead - she immediately dropped to the floor and crawled at me! Should've kept my mouth shut, I guess. That hotel was probably the hardest house for us to escape from; we were trapped between some very bad bunnies at least once, and had one in a red shirt aggressively pursuing us through the "rabbit hole", as Joanna called it. Once we finally got out and made it to The Bunker, we were greeted by a cute white rabbit, who led us into the waiting room and sent us off with a warning to be careful, because "Dr. Cutter's up to some crazy sh*t!"
Yeah... about that. The "crazy sh*t" the doctor created was probably the huge psycho bunny that attacked us near the end of the house, with blood soaked fur, a razor sharp smile, and carrying some sort of weapon. I owe my friend and the group behind us an apology because I about ran them all over when he showed up.
If you and your group are lucky enough to evade Rottentail's clutches, something a bit less scary waits at the end: the Dead City Festival! This is the Underground's midway, where you can buy tickets to participate in some fun extras like axe throwing, two escape rooms, games, and more. Make sure to check out their merch counter, too - they usually offer a special t-shirt for these events, and they are really nice. (Hey, Necropolis... we love the shirts, but how about selling the event posters, too? We were talking about how we'd like to buy them.)
I enjoy every show Necropolis Underground puts on, but have a special spot in my heart for Rottentail's Revenge, and do my best to see it every year. 2023's version was yet another egg-citing entry in their line of Easter events. Most of the building was well decorated, the costumes looked awesome, the cast seemed to be having a good time, and let's face it - scary bunnies are just plain fun! The line actors handing out eggs to customers was a big hit, too. You can't go wrong with any event Necropolis does, but if you can be there in April, I encourage you to give this one a chance. Didn't get to face that horrible hare this year? Follow the haunt's Facebook page for the latest info on their "Halfway to Halloween" show, to be held one night only on May 6.