Las Vegas's longest-running haunted house is putting out an open call for fresh nightmares. Asylum and Hotel Fear, the twin walkthrough attractions that have terrorized Meadows Mall visitors for nearly three decades, held auditions Saturday night at 6:30 p.m. in the mall's northwest parking lot near JCPenney, looking for new volunteer scare actors ahead of their October 2 opening.
According to FOX5 Las Vegas, prospective performers need no acting experience and only have to be 17 or older to try out, with registration also available online. The attractions return to Meadows Mall, located at 4300 Meadows Lane near Valley View Boulevard, for their 28th season this year. Their 28th season marks a long run for the local attractions.
A Family Feud Two Decades in the Making
The two attractions feature an evolving cinematic storyline, per the original FOX5 report, following the dark saga of two interconnected families 20 years after tragic events that first tore them apart. That narrative traces back to the fictional patient Mortimer Feoray, who was committed to Dr. Vander's Asylum for treatment before suffering a breakdown and carrying out a killing spree at the adjacent hotel, according to HauntWorld. The story has continued to evolve across the production's nearly three-decade run.
Rich Strelak owns and operates Las Vegas Haunts, the parent organization behind both attractions, having run the haunts locally since 1999. During the 2020 pandemic shutdown, the operation rebuilt the Asylum attraction entirely from the ground up and became the only walk-through haunt allowed to open under Nevada state health protocols at the time, a milestone the company recounts on its own blog.
From Volunteer Actors to Movie Sets
The organization provides meals before shows, holds cast parties and get-togethers, organizes off-season activities, and offers participation-based cast swag.
The permanent sets built for Asylum and Hotel Fear have done double duty as film locations, too. FOX5 reports the attractions have served as filming backdrops for The Immortal Wars and the Rust film trilogy, and Las Vegas Haunts notes on its own site that its Meadows Mall sets were the primary filming location for writer-director Joe Luhan's horror trilogy Rust, Ru2t, and Ru3t, produced by Carcass Studios.
Charity Drives Woven Into the Scare Season
Beyond the frights, the haunted houses lean into community giving. Asylum and Hotel Fear host the Socktober initiative, collecting new, unopened socks for unhoused individuals across southern Nevada, and they'll hold Scared Pink on October 15 to raise breast cancer awareness, donating $2 per ticket when guests wear pink, according to FOX5.
The attractions also continue a 13-year mental health support partnership with the Paradise Ranch Foundation, which provides equine-assisted therapy programs. The foundation was established as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in 2013 to fund Horse Assisted Therapy programs for trauma survivors and special needs families, according to the Paradise Ranch Foundation, funding its work in part through Las Vegas Haunts ticket donations and its annual Pirate Fest.
A Changing Fright Market
FOX5 reports that the sets have earned national acclaim from Forbes, Parade and USA Today over the years; Asylum and Hotel Fear now feature two distinct walkthroughs for visitors each season.
Universal Destinations & Experiences launched Universal Horror Unleashed at AREA15 in August 2025. Asylum and Hotel Fear draw on decades of local history, custom-built sets, and a volunteer network willing to show up for auditions in a mall parking lot on a Saturday night.
