Arizona's Highest-Rated Cast: Inside Scarizona's Award-Winning Scare Actors

A haunted house can call itself “the scariest in Arizona” in its own ad copy. That is marketing. An independent reviewer walking the show and scoring the cast against every other haunt they have visited that season is something else, and it is how an award winning haunted house in Arizona gets named rather than self-declared. In 2024, that is exactly what happened at Scarizona Scaregrounds, and the result is a credential the attraction did not write for itself.

The Scare Factor, a professional haunt-review outlet that scores attractions nationwide, gave Scarizona’s performers a 9.0 out of 10 cast score inside an overall review of 8.35, and named the cast the Highest Rated Cast in the Southwest for 2024. Here is what that score actually measures, the second award that backs it up, and the people behind it.

What the Award Actually Says#

A “highest rated cast” award is not a participation trophy. The Scare Factor scores haunts across several categories on an in-person visit, cast among them, and the reviewers were specific about what they saw: “Scarizona brought the scares. Mayhem in Madness is built for cast flexibility … they came at me from all angles, and at no point was I ever bored or not on edge.”

That is a cast score built on commitment, not headcount. A large group of performers who half-heartedly hold a position is a different thing than a cast that stays in character and keeps finding new angles on the same guest. The 9.0 out of 10 reflects the second kind, inside an overall professional review of 8.35.

Haunt of the Year, Too#

The Scare Factor credential is not the only one on the wall. Arizona haunt directory azhauntedhouses.com has tracked Scarizona closely enough to name it the 2023 Haunt of the Year winner, with a 2024 Haunt of the Year nomination the following season. Two independent reviewers, scoring on two different methodologies, landed on the same conclusion in back-to-back years: this is one of the stronger shows in the state, and the cast is the reason.

That is the kind of proof worth checking before you commit a night and a ticket to any haunt’s own claims. For a fuller look at how Scarizona stacks up against the rest of the field, the best haunted houses roundup lays out the full scorecard, not just the headline.

Who’s Behind the Score#

Awards go to a cast, not to a marketing department, and the people who earn Scarizona’s are a real, named crew. Every monster the judges scored came out of one artist’s chair: Krista Dale, Scarizona’s Special FX Specialist, who has spent five seasons building the hand-crafted, single-artist SFX look that reviewers credited as part of the cast’s consistency. The operation runs under Director of Operations Allen Thompson, who has said the goal is a production “the equivalent of a movie or a TV show,” built and staffed in-house rather than outsourced piece by piece.

That production philosophy is also why the cast scores the way it does. One artist carries the look for the entire cast across all three haunts, and the full single-artist process behind that consistency gets its own breakdown. The performers themselves are seasonal: Scarizona’s cast is rebuilt every October through the Scream Team, and most of the people wearing that award-winning makeup started with none going in.

Why This Matters If You’re Deciding Where to Go#

Every haunt in the Valley says it is scary. A cast score from a reviewer with no ticket to sell is a different kind of evidence, and it is the kind this site leans on instead of a bare superlative. If you want to read more of what real guests and press have said, past the awards themselves, the reviews and press page collects the coverage directly, including the azhauntedhouses.com guest write-ups that back the Haunt of the Year nod.

Want to Wear the Makeup Yourself?#

An award-winning cast needs a new group of performers every season. Most of the current cast started curious, with no haunt experience, wondering if they could do it, and nothing more than that is required to try. Scarizona opens its seasonal Scream Team signup every October for cast and crew, Arizona locals only, no prior experience required.

If performing isn’t the draw but seeing the results is, the fastest way to judge a 9.0 out of 10 cast score is in person. Get your tickets and walk through Mayhem in Madness, Startled Darkness, and Dr. Death’s Haunted ICU, and decide for yourself whether the award holds up.