Fear Is the Point - California Court Rules Chainsaw Chase Is an Inherent Haunt Risk

This California decision addresses one of the more dramatic and viscerally frightening experiences offered at haunted attractions: the chainsaw chase. A patron injured during or as a result of a chainsaw chase scene brought suit, and the California court applied primary assumption of risk doctrine to dismiss the claim.

The court’s analysis centered on whether the risk was so inherent to the nature of the activity that the operator owed no duty to protect against it. The court found that being chased by a chainsaw-wielding actor is precisely the type of intense, frightening experience that defines modern haunted attractions. To eliminate such elements would fundamentally alter the nature and appeal of the activity. Therefore, patrons who voluntarily attend haunted attractions featuring such elements necessarily assume that risk.

The decision recognizes an important distinction: the chainsaw is theatrical (not a functioning weapon), the chase is choreographed (not random violence), and the patron knowingly enters an environment where such experiences occur. Under primary assumption of risk, the operator owes no duty to prevent the very risk that defines the attraction. This doctrine provides operators with meaningful protection for attraction features that are conspicuous and inherent to the experience, provided those features are operated safely and do not involve reckless disregard for patron safety.