With “Nowhere to Hide” we successfully survived another year of Knott’s Scary Farm Halloween Haunt!
This year solidified Scary Farm’s reinvention with the most highly themed and exceptionally crafted mazes in it’s 41 year history. In comparison to other big SoCal Theme Park Haunts (er, Universal) Knott’s still wins big in creating the perfect feeling of a big Halloween celebration. Knott’s also benefits from having unique mazes themes that are not constrained by the pre-scripted story lines of movies and TV shows, thus allowing for more surprises throughout. The total number of mazes slightly decreased but it wasn’t noticeable given the quality of the mazes they do have (we also appreciate having fewer mazes to write about). We do miss was the haunt layover of the Timber Mountain Log Ride. Even though the ride’s scare factor had declined over the years it still was one of the most unique haunt attractions anywhere (and a nice way to get scared without having to walk).
The caliber of the shows was also increased with production upgrades made to The Hanging and the voluptuous return of Elvira. We did miss the new Possessed show. We had the intention to see it but among the exFRIGHTment of all the other haunt attractions we somehow forgot about it. We blame it on the fact that there wAS no visible signage or barkers to attract people in to see it. It seemed to get lost in it’s location in the back corner of the park, near Pinocchio and Forevermore.
They say there’s “Nowhere to Hide” but we didn’t know what we were hiding from as the Scare Zones has less of an impact this year. It goes without saying that the Ghost Town still sets the scary tone for the entire event but the other zones were far less interesting or memorable this year. The Tricksters from Trick O Treat were roaming the park causing chaos but it was all fun with no scares. We also noticed that the caliber of the talent in the mazes didn’t match to that of past years or at other haunts we’ve been to recently. Many of the mazes felt understaffed where we would wander through a few consecutive rooms before being scared. We actually encountered more blackouts (maze security) than monsters. We did notice signs saying that they were still hiring monsters, which isn’t a good sign (no pun intended) . Could it be that the budget trade off for more elaborately theme mazes took away from the the talent budget? Once they get the talent on par with the new maze designs Knott’s could be the unbeatable ticket in town.
With all this said we did have a great time at Knott’s Scary Farm. Going back always feels like a haunted homecoming for us. When it comes to horror the mazes are a little more mild than Universal’s but there’s still enough visceral eye candy and frights to keep your heart pumping through the night. If you could only pick one haunt to visit, Knott’s does offer a great value with it’s broad mix of mazes, experiences and shows all for very a reasonable price point. Nonetheless, we don’t know why in hell you a would pick just one haunt to go to.
Now here’s what you really want to read, our maze ratings. Since we went on a slow night, we didn’t buy the Fright Lane/Skeleton Key option so we didn’t get to experience the extra Skeleton Key rooms. We do think that this gimmick is great way to add value for those who cough up more money for front of the lines passes. We wish it was possible to just buy the Skeleton Key but we can see how that could cause further line backups. Our fellow Haunt Stalker at ThemeParkHD did manage to capture some great maze videos for us including the Skeleton Key rooms, which we’ll share with our reviews. Just be warned they are full maze spoilers.
We do our best not to spoil the mazes for those who’ve yet to experience them, so we won’t provide scare-by-scare reviews, but we will share highlights and our overall opinions from our own experiences in the mazes.
NEW MAZES
Black Magic
This maze was one of our favorites of the night. We were amazed by the detailed themeing and settings they created around this story. Using magic as backdrop for a maze provided continuous surprises throughout. There was definitely more than rabbits popping out of hats inside of here. The talent in this maze were some of the most impressive of all the mazes with scary magician’s assistants, victims of tricks gone bad, and an actual magician who did a quick card or handkerchief trick as you passed by. This maze also had a nice blend of light and dark scenes allowing for some good scares as your eyes adjusted with the lighting transitions If you get the time, we recommend that you go through this maze twice to make sure you get to capture all of the Black Magic inside of this maze.
Ratings:
- Haunt Design: 5 Skulls
- Theming: 5 Skulls
- Scare Factor: 2.5 Skulls
- Overall Rating: 4.5 Skulls
Forevermore
The Edgar Allen Poe theme has become more popular at haunts across the country in recent years with both Universal Orlando and Busch Gardens taking a stab at the infamous writer. Knott’s diverts from strictly recreating eerie scenes of Poe’s stories and creates the story line of a serial killer who is on a murder spree utilizing murder tactics from Poe’s fables akin to The Following. What we liked about it were some of the clever modernization of Poe’s stories into death scenes. The Pit and the Pendulum scene is incredible. While there was some good eye candy in this maze, it wasn’t always clear what was going on. In one scene it looked like we stumbled into Club Blood. The scares were also far in between. In comparison to Busch Garden’s Nevermore maze this maze has room for improvement. We see it being a good maze for the next year or two but overall this isn’t a theme they’ll need to keep bringing back… “Forevermore”.
Ratings:
- Haunt Design: 4 Skulls
- Theming: 3 Skulls
- Scare Factor: 2 Skulls
- Overall Rating: 3 Skulls
Mirror, Mirror
… on the wall, WTH, that is all? Here, they let small groups into a carnival style mirror maze for a short period of time. We applaud Knott’s for trying to do something new but this maze seemed like it was thrown together at the last minute. While the glass was very clean and the frames were pretty, it was too small inside and the finale is disappointingly anti-climatic. **SPOILER** There really is no exit. You just wander around with a couple masked monsters in chase until they eventually open the maze’s backdoor. This maze had the potential to be better but it would need a much larger footprint, more monsters, and lighting tricks. The way this maze is setup, it will have the longest lines of all so we highly recommend going to it right at the beginning of the night, using Fright Lane, or skipping it all together.
Ratings:
- Haunt Design: 2 Skulls
- Theming: 2 Skulls
- Scare Factor: .5 Skulls
- Overall Rating: 1.5 Skulls
The Gunslinger’s Grave
Yeehaw! This maze is the epitome of the Knott’s legacy. In Gunslinger’s we’re taken through the haunted labyrinths of mine shafts, corrals, and salons. The layout of this maze is mostly outdoors with trails winding in and out of the Ghost Town buildings making it really feel as if we are out in the old wild west amid the Silver Bullet and Jaguar coasters rolling by overhead. The soundtrack was solid with frenetic Bon Jovi stylized guitar riffs. It was obvious that the “residents” of this town are less than happy to see us and it wasn’t fully clear but we assume we’re looking for refuge from alive or dead outlaws and towns folks. This maze had a few good startle scares but it wasn’t overly frightening. The talent was convincing in their roles as they were fully costumed in western attire, but for scares they just did a lot of yelling “get outta here” and kept cattle prodding us through the scenes. With a few more characters in more horrific makeup and a slower pace, this maze will be able to hit it the bullseye and we can see it becoming increasingly scary in the coming years.
Ratings:
- Haunt Design: 5 Skulls
- Theming: 4 Skulls
- Scare Factor: 2 Skulls
- Overall Rating: 4 Skulls
Dominion of the Damned
This is a new maze? It looked so similar to last year’s Dominion of the Dead to us. This is another maze with a cool soundtrack and superb set design but here the talent was weak and tired. Among the beautiful set pieces we encountered vampires who looked in desperate need of a blood transfusion. There were so many opportunities for big scares but after you walk by them and they’ve said their “boos” it seems that they simply go back to thinking about what they did or didn’t have for dinner. One of the missed opportunities in this maze was to have some of the lavish paintings used for drop panel scares or transparency images (an effect well used at HHN and Dark Harbor this year) , which would of brought about some good and memorable scares. Dominion is a nice showcase the different reiterations of vampires from the Nosferatu to the Anne Rice versions but it was hard to track the story line, which seemed to be like we were on a tour of The Natural Museum of Vampire History (hmmm that could next year’s vampire maze) . It seems that we’re Dammed to always have a vampire maze at haunt we just want to see one with the energetic and scary kind.
Ratings:
- Haunt Design: 5 Skulls
- Theming: 3 Skulls
- Scare Factor: 1 Skull
- Overall Rating: 2 Skulls
RETURNING MAZES
Pinocchio Unstrung
Last year this maze set a new bar for all preceding mazes at Knott’s Scary Farm. While it’s the same as last year, this maze is still one of our favorites. The entire setting feels like walking through a bloody, after hours, version of Disneyland’s Pinocchio ride. Pinocchio successfully twists the popular children’s story in a way that makes its feel as if we were trapped inside a dark storybook nightmare. What’s unsettling about the maze is how the once innocent characters are now placed into scenes of distress, gore, and horror. It’s rather tragic to see Gepetto, Stromboli, and the Blue Fairy meet their fates at the hands of a torturous wooden puppet who instead of becoming a real boy now wants to be a real killer. The monsters in this maze were consistently scary and high energy. In some scenes they even team up on victims. This is a now a haunt classic and we don’t see Pinocchio getting strung up anytime soon.
Ratings:
- Haunt Design: 5 Skulls
- Theming: 5 Skulls
- Scare Factor: 4 Skulls
- Overall Rating: 4.5 Skulls
Trick or Treat
This maze recreates a night of Trick O Treating gone bad. Once we enter the front door of the Green Witch’s house the journey cascades through a haunted mansion packed with sinister Halloween decorations and ghostly effects. The infamous Tricksters are also back creating mayhem in the various rooms along the way. This maze is shorter than the others, but it’s also has some of the strongest atmospheric environments and an interestingly theatrical finale. The scares were turned up slightly over last year but the focus of this maze is more on the fun of Halloween versus the scares.
Ratings:
- Haunt Design: 5 Skulls
- Theming: 4 Skulls
- Scare Factor: 2 Skulls
- Overall Rating: 4 Skulls
Endgames
What does it look like when you combine The Running Man, Mad Max, UFC and the Hunger Games? You get a standard post-apocalyptic, industrial maze with some cool animatronics and an infusion of technical glitz. The fun of this maze comes from the video screens placed throughout showing live feeds of people walking through other parts of the mazes. It’s really hard to know what’s going on in this maze. Even the monsters seemed confused. At one point we were cornered and chased by characters talking with fake British accents. Did we stumble back into The Terror of London? We still don’t find this maze to be scary, but the sets are detailed and interesting. We do hope that the end of this game is coming soon.
Ratings:
- Haunt Design: 2.5 Skulls
- Theming: 1 Skulls
- Scare Factor: 1 Skull
- Overall Rating: 1.5 Skulls
Delirium
The Delirium continues in the maze that is credited for setting a standard for Scary Farm mazes. This maze features some very disturbing scenes completely emerging us inside the minds of the former Asylum maze’s demented patients. Inside, you can expect to encounter people spewing cockroaches, monstrously large flesh-eating maggots, and hideously bloody monsters hiding under the beds. This maze also features some of most interesting lighting effects and large scale props at Scary Farm. We love how the nightmare/dementia theme gets progressively more twisted as we venture further into the maze. This maze has the potential to bring out more craziness for a few more years, and we only hope that in doing so they continue to push the boundaries of Delirium even further.
Ratings:
- Haunt Design: 5 Skulls
- Theming: 5 Skulls
- Scare Factor: 3 Skulls
- Overall Rating: 4 Skulls
Uncle Willy’s Slaughterhouse
The meat at Uncle Willy’s continues to stay fresh! The balance of comical and dark horror is sustained throughout the trip through this slaughterhouse. This maze seems like it’s a subtle homage to the campy 80’s horror flick Motel Hell. Beginning with a fun romp through the local diner soon enough we discover that we’re the secret ingredients to Willy’s popular meat (not sure that was written right). This was our first maze of the night as it opened earlier than the rest and even with some daylight still creeping in the sets were still suspenseful to walk through with all the heavy machinery grinding around us. The actors here are some of the most menacing of all the Scary Farm mazes and created the kind of scare we’d expected for the rest of the night. It seemed that this is the maze were a lot of the veteran talent works. After going through this maze it’s hard not to think about the fact that there are two Pink’s Hot Dog Stands at Knott’s…mmmmm.
Ratings:
- Haunt Design: 4 Skulls
- Theming: 5 Skulls
- Scare Factor: 4 Skulls
- Overall Rating: 4 Skulls
EXPERIENCES & SHOWS
Trapped: The New Experiment
Unfortunately we paid $60 for this maze. Fortunately we were able to get a group of 5 to go in and split the costs. A disappointment compared to last year’s Trapped maze, this year’s version focused more on puzzle solving vs. suspense and scares. It’s really a scripted scavenger hunt. The sets weren’t very dark and they relied on B-level talent to unnerve us by yelling profanities as loud as they can. In the end we were more unnerved by the feelings of dissatisfaction from the experience. The designers of this maze need to watch less Fear Factor and see more Scare Tactics. While the experience has some uniqueness to it, overall we think the only thing that gets trapped here, is your wallet.
Ratings:
- Haunt Design: 2 Skulls
- Theming: 2 Skulls
- Scare Factor: 1 Skull
- Overall Rating: 1.5 Skull
The Witch’s Keep (Calico Mine Train)
The Evil of CAL-OSHA has forever cursed Knott’s once great haunted rides. The log ride was a victim and now the Calico Mine Train is hanging on for dear life. This used to be a very scary attraction but ever since they haven’t been allowed to have live actors inside it’s become a place where you just sit there and see spooky stuff. There are just a couple of interesting animatronic and visual effects but unfortunately there’s nothing much to see here compared to the regular ride. It really is just as they say, a haunt experience. It’s also good place to sit and rest your legs for 10 minutes but not worth a waiting in a long line for especially if you’re looking for a scare.
Ratings:
- Haunt Design: 2 Skulls
- Theming: 2 Skulls
- Scare Factor: 0 Skull
- Overall Rating: 2 Skulls
Elvira’s Sinema Seance
This show is two handfuls of fun. Of course everyone’s favorite ride at Knott’s Scary Farm is Elvira. Her big… return keeps the crowd alive with musical numbers, tongue in cleavge jokes, and some high grade stage effects. This time around our Mistress of the Dark gets sucked (or is it the other way around) into scenes from classic and contemporary horror movies such as Blair Witch Project, The Birds, and Paranormal Activity. Also, not to ruin the fun but you can only imagine the kind of booby trap she winds up in during a scene from Saw. Sinema Seance is a good as it gets when it come to Theme Park Halloween shows. It’s a spooky and kooky Vegas style variety show that fully mounds, er rounds out Knott’s Haunt experience. We also have to give a hand to Elvira as she’s looking great and is back where she belongs during Halloween Season.
- Overall Rating: 5 Skulls (racked… ranked by Elvira Fans)
Knott’s Scary Farm Overall Fright Value: 5 Skulls
Overall Rating of Knott’s Scary Farm 2013: 4 Skulls
Check our ratings guide for further details
