Today marks the release of the highly anticipated Evil Dead remake. Earlier in the year we were all treated to a graphic red band trailer (below) featuring some extreme gruesomeness that began to wet our appetite for more blood. The movie premiered last month at SXSW and received a wide range of reviews from being “another remake ripoff” to “a modern horror classic”. No matter how it’s sliced by critics and fans the movie is on track to be this weekend’s Box Office winner. In fact, it has already out paced its revenue expectations.
Of course for us, with every successful horror movie franchise comes the question of “how good of a haunt will it make?”. Well, last year Knott’s Scary Farm (KSF) tried to answer that question when it secured the rights to The Evil Dead and used the theme as an overlay for their log ride. It was actually a surprise move by KSF as many expected to experience The Evil Dead at Universal Studios Hollywood’s Halloween Horror Nights (HHN).
Evil Dead had long been at the top of the list of haunt fan requests–for HHN. We don’t even think many ever seriously considered the possibility that Knott’s would take on such a property. In the past, Knott’s has featured mazes based on movies (The Grudge, Quarantine), but the vast majority of their mazes have always been original concepts. Evil Dead is a cult classic and a property that we know John Murdy had been wanting to feature at HHN, so it almost felt like Knott’s stole the rug out from under Universal. With that said, we think there is still the possibility of seeing The Evil Dead at HHN as unfortunately, KSF didn’t do the best job with it. We’re not sure how the studio felt or even if they cared about The Evil Dead log ride but if given the chance we believe that HHN could do the movie more justice in comparison. In our following review from last year’s KSF you’ll see why –
Haunt Review: Evil Dead at Knott’s Scary Farm
Twenty years ago, the Timber Mountain Log ride was transformed into Terror Mountain. The mountain was filled with monsters and scenes of carnage throughout. It was a very scary ride as riders felt vulnerable sitting the the open logs with monsters attacking from every direction. In recent years, the log ride hasn’t been nearly as scary. You could count all of the monsters on one hand, and the haunt props were scarce. Early in the year, we had heard that the ride wasn’t getting a haunt layover; however, at the end of the summer, there was a surprise announcement that it was being themed as The Evil Dead for haunt.
We were excited to see the Evil Dead being featured at Knott’s, and believed the log ride was the perfect setting for this theme. However, to our disappointment, this ride ended up not featuring very much in terms of a haunt layover. There was a slight increase in the number of monsters (compared to last year) and a few new props such as the infamous “Book of the Dead.” But it’s obvious that the CAL-OSHA crackdown on monsters being stationed along the flume and management’s push to keep haunt from interfering with the experience of day-time guests have taken their toll. Outside of the soundtrack and a few nods to some iconic scenes in the movie, the ride really could of been any haunted cabin in the woods type of theme. It also didn’t have any kind of consistent story line as they just made the scenes fit wherever they could along the flume and in the mountain.
Furthermore, we were a little disappointed that this ride wasn’t really based on the classic Evil Dead movies. Instead, it promoted the upcoming 2013 remake. It really seems that this was a last-minute addition made to secure some sponsorship dollars. We still like think the log ride is a fun attraction–just don’t go on it expecting an intense or elaborate haunt experience We also recommend that you get on it early in the evening before the lines get too long.
Ratings:
- Haunt Design:2
- Theming: 2
- Scare Factor: 2
- Overall Rating:2
