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Haunt Review: Knott’s Scary Farm 40th Haunt

Wednesday, October 3rd, 2012

For the past few years, we’ve been “a little critical” of Knott’s Scary Farm, which seemed to be falling behind as newer and more innovative haunts have populated the Southern California area. However, this year, there’s no mistaking that the venerable Haunt is back and ready to prove that there’s still more to fear inside the Scary Farm. We won’t call it a comeback because they’ve been haunting for 40 years, but this year Knott’s Scary Farm presents one of the most fun, nostalgic, and most importantly, scary Halloween Haunts we’ve experienced there in years.

In addition to being Knott’s 40th, this year marked the 20th anniversary of when the Scare Zone crew started haunt stalking together, and Knott’s was the first haunt we went to, beginning our obsession. So, on this trip, we went with a sense of nostalgia, reminiscing about mazes such as Uncle Ernie’s Madhouse, Lair of the Vampire, Terror Mountain, Toxichem, and Mother Noose’s Scary Tales, all of which  frightened us and haunted our imaginations.

Knott’s Scary Farm 1992 Map

Looking back to 1992, admission cost us $28, they had 8 mazes and attractions, Elvira was headlining her own show (“Red, White, and Boo Revue”), and Haunt ran for “only” 11 nights.  Now, 20 years later, admission “only” cost us $36 (Sunday night early in the season), they have 13 mazes, 3 scare zones, and Magician Ed Alonzo is the headliner.

To further help us reminisce, this year also features the 40th haunt Museum which offers a satisfying tribute to Haunt for the fans. Inside, there’s pictures and memorabilia highlighting some of haunt’s most memorable and scare-breaking moments. We were lucky enough to stop in during a signing by Ted Dougherty of his new book, Knott’s Scary Farm Halloween Haunt: A Picture History. As a side note, this book is must have for all Haunt Fans as it includes accounts and pictures from all the mazes, monsters and shows from Scary Farm’s 40 years.

Another cool addition for 2012 is an opening “scare-amony” featuring the Green Witch just outside the Haunt front gates. Because we followed our terror tips and arrived early, we were there to see the Green Witch rise up out of the fog and curse us all before the gates opened. It was really cool and prepared us for the new “theatrical” tone Haunt has adopted this year.

After the exciting opening act we ventured into the Scary Farm for the 20th time…

NEW MAZES

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.

Trick Or Treat

It’s strange when you think about it, but mazes themed to the actual holiday of Halloween are pretty rare. So we were very excited when the theme of this maze was revealed earlier this summer. And it did not disappoint: This maze was chock full of Halloween spirit.

The maze begins at the front door of the Green Witch’s house, where we were told to ring the doorbell and yell “Trick or Treat!” The door opens, and the Green Witch is there to greet us. Jack-O-Lanterns line the staircase, and the front rooms have special ghostly effects. The maze has a “haunted mansion” feel to it, and the Tricksters show up in various rooms along the way. You may recognize many of the sets from 13 Axe Murder Manor, but they fit in very well with the new theme.

This maze was much more theatrical than any other maze at Haunt. The Green Witch is a true character, and the Tricksters stop you in the end scene so you can be cursed by the Witch herself. Overall, the scares were a little weak, but we loved the atmosphere and story line.

Ratings:

  • Haunt Design: 5 skulls
  • Theming: 5 skulls
  • Scare Factor: 3 skulls
  • Overall Rating: 4.5 skulls

Pinocchio: Unstrung

He has no strings to hold him down, so you better watch out… This maze is on a new level for Knott’s Scary Farm. This is the kind of maze we’ve been screaming for, no lie! It has beautifully detailed sets, a full and understandable story line, and some new scare tactics. Past haunters will notice that the layout is the same as the former Doll Factory and there’s the similar scene of marionette girls moving in an disjointed fashion; however, the rest of the maze is an entirely new experience. The entire setting feels like walking through a bloody, after hours, version of Disneyland’s Pinocchio ride.

Just as Mother Noose’s Scary Tales did 20 years ago, 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.

This maze is not to be missed. We think it’s an instant Haunt classic. You really should go through it at least twice, in order to be able to fully take in all the scenes and first-class set and prop designs. We look forward to being terrorized by Pinocchio in the years to come.

Ratings:

  • Haunt Design: 5 skulls
  • Theming: 5 skulls
  • Scare Factor: 4 skulls 
  • Overall Rating: 4.5 skulls

Dominion of the Dead

After the demise of Club Blood and a brief respite from vampire mazes, Knott’s has brought back this “beloved” maze from the 90s. Unfortunately, we have fonder memories of 1992′s Lair of the Vampire. This maze has nothing fresh to offer, and the concept is as dead and tired as the fiddle-playing vampires lazily wandering around the halls inside.

This maze has all the old cliches about vampires: frilly shirts with ruffles, dying flowers in fancy vases, decadent furniture covered in velvet, paintings of vampires lying around on said furniture, etc., etc. The vampires stand around playing string instruments that are partly composed of human body parts. Before Haunt opened, we kept hearing how “detailed” this maze was going to be. However, it did not live up to this hype. Many of the walls were bare, with only a couple of vampire paintings thrown on for scenery.

If you’re a 12-year-old who loves Anne Rice novels or Twilight, this maze is probably for you. For the rest of us, it’s a boring trek through scenes we’ve experienced countless times in other vampire mazes.

Ratings:

  • Haunt Design: 2.5 skulls
  • Theming: 3 skulls
  • Scare Factor: 1 skull
  • Overall Rating: 2 skulls

The Evil Dead

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. To our disappointment, this ride ended up not featuring much in terms of a haunt layover. There was a slight increase in the number of monsters 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

Trapped

This was Knott’s first VIP/up-charge maze and a complete departure from their standard conga-line maze format. This maze costs $60 (for up to 6 people) and requires a reservation in advance. When we arrived at our reservation time, we were asked to read and sign a waiver. After we signed, we were ushered into a holding room, where we received more warnings from a personable hostess. We really didn’t know what to expect from this new “experience,” so we were a bit nervous.

Of course, we’re not actually going to tell you what goes on inside; after all, if you’re going to pay $60, you should get the full experience and be surprised. We can tell you that you’ll have to solve puzzles to progress through the maze, and there will be some uncomfortable experiences along the way. The actors inside are much different from other actors in the regular mazes: they are playing actual speaking roles and do a great job of staying in character as they interact with you. They’re there to help you figure out what to do in order to move onto the next room. Some of the puzzles were harder to solve than others, but the whole experience ended up taking us only 15 minutes to get through. Unfortunately, we didn’t find it to be very scary, but it was a very fun experience. We wished it were just a tiny bit longer–maybe just 2 more rooms would’ve made the $60 seem a bit more of a value. Nevertheless, we applaud their innovation with this concept and really hope they bring this back next year.

Ratings:

  • Haunt Design: 4 skulls
  • Theming: 3.5 skulls
  • Scare Factor: 3.5 skulls
  • Overall Rating: 3.5 skulls

RETURNING MAZES

Delirium

Back for its second year, Delirium is an indirect sequel to the past Asylum mazes, where now we’re going inside the mind of one of the demented patients. The entrance is amazingly elaborate where we have to enter the “mouth of madness” and then pass through the stomach of the bloody beast.  This opening scene features enlarged animated eyes, teeth and claws reaching for you, and it really draws you into Delirium’s nightmarish dimensions.

Once inside, we encountered many disturbing scenes, which included people spewing cockroaches, monstrously large flesh-eating maggots, and hideously bloody monsters hiding under the beds. This maze also featured some of most interesting lighting effects and props.

Delirium was once again one of the better mazes at Haunt. We love the nightmare/dementia theme that gets progressively more twisted as the maze progresses. This one will likely be around for a few more years, so we hope they can change up or add a few more scenes next year.

Ratings:

  • Haunt Design: 4 skulls
  • Theming: 4 skulls
  • Scare Factor: 4 skulls
  • Overall Rating: 4 skulls

 Terror of London

This maze has a good mix of monsters who are there to scare and those who’s presence is simply to add to the eerie atmosphere. Our favorite moment was in the outdoor graveyard where we encountered a surprisingly new and loud scare.  We liked the extended brothel and sewer scenes. And per our review last year, we like that in the final scene they switched out the Dr. Frankenstein laboratory for a dark and bloody torture chamber, which better fits with the proceeding scenes. We believe that maze may have a couple more years of “death” left in it at KSF.

Ratings:

  • Haunt Design: 4 Skulls
  • Theming: 4 Skulls
  • Scare Factor: 2.5 Skulls
  • Overall Rating:3.5 Skulls

Uncle Willy’s Slaughterhouse

Last year, our review of Slaughterhouse had this advice: “If Knott’s decides to continue Farmer Willy’s mayhem, which they probably will, they should redesign the layout, improve the lighting effects and props, and bring in more real-life victims.” This year, Knott’s has completely fulfilled all our requests. This maze was totally redesigned, and even though it’s shorter than before, we feel that it’s a vast improvement on an old theme. The maze has a much darker tone, and although the opening scene in the diner is a bit comical, the laughs end there. Inside the “Slaughterhouse” portion of the maze, the sets and actors are much more menacing than in previous years, and the monsters were able to scare us many times. Overall, this maze was one of the highlights of our night as it reminded us of another Scary Farm uncle named Ernie, who terrorized us 20 years ago.

Ratings:

  • Haunt Design: 4.5 skulls
  • Theming: 4.5 skulls
  • Scare Factor: 4.5 skulls
  • Overall Rating: 4.5 skulls

Dia De Los Muertos in 3D

This maze has been changed a bit this year, although the changes are not very major. They did add some street scenes with a more enclosed feeling, but unfortunately the monsters (and hence scares) were once again absent. For most fans, this is one of the least favorite mazes of Haunt, and nothing much has improved in 2012. The colors and 3D effects are interesting, and there are also some very cool looking scenes, like the church, graveyard, Amazon jungle, and Aztec sacrifice temple. However, there’s just something about this maze that prevents the monsters from ever really scaring anyone. We hope the Dead can rest next year and something new can take the place of this maze.

Ratings:

  • Haunt Design: 2.5 Skulls 
  • Theming: 3.5 Skulls
  • Scare Factor: 1 Skull
  • Overall Rating: 2 Skulls

Uncle Bobo’s Big Top of the Bizarre in 3D

It’s time for Uncle Bobo to pack up his Big Top and move onto the next town! This maze has worn out its welcome.  There have been a few changes since last year, but nothing worth writing about. As the years go on, Uncle Bobo’s has become almost entirely overtaken by toilet humor. We didn’t think they could put MORE flatulence and excrement into this maze, but it appears they have. It seems the clowns have completely given up on attempting to scare anyone and now merely shake their asses in sync with the farting soundtrack all night. Please, Knott’s, we beg you to flush this one!

Ratings:

  • Haunt Design: 2 skulls
  • Theming: 2 skulls
  • Scare Factor: 1 skull
  • Overall Rating: 1.5  skulls

Virus Z (Featuring Carrie)

When this maze debuted in 2010, it was notable for its more elaborate sets and the sense of place it created. The maze had a coherent story, and it lacked the black walls and empty spaces that filled some of Knott’s other mazes. Creating more detailed and interesting mazes has been Knott’s new direction for the past few years (most likely in response to competition from Halloween Horror Nights), and we love to see them taking that route. And that is why we were completely baffled by the half-assed tie-in with the Carrie remake they tacked on at the very end of this maze.

We have no idea why or how Carrie White has come to be in a town infected with a zombie-creating virus in the 1960s. They did attempt to expand the school scenes to perhaps create more of a flow with the Carrie story, but it just doesn’t work. It’s so obviously a marketing gimmick–and for that reason it distracts from an otherwise interesting maze. Whoever came up with this lame promotional deal should have a bucket of pig’s blood dumped on his head.

Ratings:

  • Haunt Design: 3 skulls
  • Theming: 1 skull (for nonsensical Carrie tie-in)
  • Scare Factor: 3 skulls
  • Overall Rating: 2.5 skulls

Fallout Shelter

This maze bares some resemblance to the 1992 Toxichem maze, which featured radiated and toxic mutant monsters. There was a slight improvement to this maze over last year’s version. Once again, we were the only ones inside, so we received the monsters’ full attention. This maze does have some extraordinary animatronic props, and it’s very claustrophobic in sections. The problem with Fallout Shelter is that the story isn’t coherent and the theme is hard to get. In addition, it’s considered a 3D maze, but the 3D effects are minimal, so it’s hard to tell if there was anything that was really supposed to be in 3D. If anything, the 3D glasses merely cause a sense of disorientation, which makes everything a bit fuzzy and actually does contribute to the fear. But if this maze does return next year, we’d like to see some more props and a bit more 3D effects.

Ratings:

  • Haunt Design: 4 Skulls
  • Theming: 3.5 Skulls
  • Scare Factor: 4 Skulls
  • Overall Rating: 4 Skulls

Endgames: Warriors of the Apocalypse  

A new maze for 2011, Endgames was inspired (loosely) by the Hunger Games book series. Most of the maze has a standard post-apocalyptic, industrial feel with a bit of gore mixed in, but the twist to this maze is the addition of video screens throughout. The screens show live feeds of people walking through other parts of the mazes, which would be a great way to heighten the suspense…if those other people were getting scared. Crowds were light on the night we attended, so there wasn’t much action on the video screens. The feed is also streamed live on the Internet, but the live feed is filled with commercials, so if you have friends watching for you in the maze, they might miss you. But we do appreciate the addition of the interactive video effect. We see some potential in this maze as the years progress. Overall, we didn’t find it to be too scary, but the sets were pretty detailed and interesting.

Ratings:

  • Haunt Design: 4 Skulls
  • Theming: 3 Skulls
  • Scare Factor: 1 Skulls
  • Overall Rating: 2.5 Skulls

SCARE ZONES

Ghost Town: This is a Knott’s classic, and after 20 years, walking through the fog-filled streets doesn’t stop being a nerve-wracking  good time!

  • Scare Factor: 5 Skulls

Carnevil: Some disturbing antics from the Crazy Killer Clowns who are on the loose in the streets. These guys are fun and not very scary, but they are engaging with guests and full of pranks. These are also some of the biggest hams and will eagerly pose for your pictures.

  • Scare Factor: 1.5 Skulls

The Necropols: This is scare zone features Victorian Steampunk vampires in the most elaborate costumes of all the scare zones. Due to changes in Knott’s haunt operating policies the settings in this area were more sparse but the the monsters were still aggressively scary. They were even scaring people who dared to look down to text or who were walking out of the bathrooms (then having to go back in).

  • Scare Factor: 4 Skulls

Calico Mine Train – Curse of the Green Witch: This isn’t a scare zone, and it’s not a maze/attraction…we don’t really know where to classify this one. It didn’t even make it onto the park map this year, and we heard that there were no effects in the ride on opening weekend. However, we were glad to see that they have added a few Haunt elements to this attraction. Similar to the log ride, recent regulations from CAL-OSHA have now prevented actors from working in this attraction, so everything inside is just props or special effects. As you proceed through the ride, the driver of the mine cart tells the story of how the Green Witch was exiled from the town of Timber Mountain and took up residence inside the mine, where she cast her spell over the miners to do her bidding. The animatronic miners wear strange masks (e.g., a bunny mask, a bird mask), and there are a couple of Green Witch and skeleton props as well. The open cavern scene includes the return of the spinning ghosts and a pretty cool shadow effect of the Green Witch. While it’s sad that the Calico Mine Train, which housed some of the scariest mazes in years long past, will no longer be able to contain live actors, we’re glad that Knott’s still did something with this ride. And the story tie-in with the Green Witch was actually pretty cool. We recommend checking this out if the line is short.

  • Scare Factor: 1 skull

REPASS

There’s no question that Knott’s is still the “worlds largest and scariest Halloween party.” What differentiates Knott’s from Universal is that it creates a complete feeling of Halloween throughout the park. Where else can you actually get a mask and go trick or treating inside the haunt? They also offer the most variety of themes, shows, and attractions, where you’ll find everything from traditional Halloween ghouls to modern-day, adrenaline-pumping blood and gore, and everything in between.

This year, we may have been more nostalgic, but we can honestly say that we found the mazes to be scarier and more elaborate. There’s still some improvements that can be made, but Knott’s Scary Farm really is a cultural phenomenon, and we’re glad to see it coming back with a vengeance to retain its crown as the granddaddy of all haunts. There’s no longer a question that they’ll continue to reign over Halloween for 40 more years and beyond.

 Knott’s Scary Farm Fright Value: 5 Skulls 

Overall Rating of Knott’s Scary Farm 2012: 4.5 Skulls

Check our ratings guide for further details

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Scare Zone’s 2011 Top Haunts

Wednesday, November 9th, 2011

Well, the 2011 season is over, so it’s time to rank the best that we Stalked! Haunt experiences can be a highly individual and subjective experience; what may scare one person might not be frightening at all to another, and what scares you one night might fall flat on a return visit. For this reason, the Scare Zone writers will be providing separate rankings.

Also, while we did visit quite a few great haunts across the country throughout the year, please note that we’re only ranking the haunts we visited in California and Nevada during the “official” Haunt Season (September – October). For a list of all the places we visited and to read our full reviews, please click here.

Now, on to our 2011 Top Haunts   

*Maze also refers to an individual haunted house or walk-through attraction.   

 

M. Leota’s Haunt Rankings

Best Maze Design (lighting, sound, FX):

1. Haunted Play Presents Delusion (Los Angeles, CA)

2. La Llorona (Halloween Horror Nights, Hollywood)

3. Curse of Sarah Winchester (Winchester Mystery House, San Jose, CA)

 

Best Maze Theme (consistent story/setting):

1. Haunted Play Presents Delusion

2. La Llorona (HHN Hollywood)

3. Castle Vampyre (Freakling Bros.)

 

Best Individual Scene in a Maze:

1. “Hallway/bathroom scene”: Haunted Play Presents Delusion

2. “Flying Vampire”: Castle Vampyre (Freakling Bros.)

3. “Cockroach room”: Delirium (Knott’s Halloween Haunt, Buena Park, CA)

 

Best Maze Name:

1. La Llorona: Villa de Almas Perdidas (HHN Hollywood)

2. Endgames: Warriors of the Apocalypse (Knott’s Halloween Haunt)

3. Gates of Hell (Freakling Bros.)

 

Best Scare-Actors:

1. Circus of Horrors (Freakling Bros.)

2. Haunted Play Presents Delusion

3. Gates of Hell (Freakling Bros.)

 

Highest Scare Factor:

1. Tie: Castle Vampyre, Gates of Hell, Circus of Horrors (Freakling Bros.)

2. The Thing (HHN Hollywood)

3. Sinister Pointe (Brea, CA)

 

Most Improved Maze (compared with  2010):

1. Lockdown: The Asylum (Knott’s Halloween Haunt)

2. Hellfire (Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor)

 

Best New Maze for 2011:

1. La Llorona (HHN Hollywood)

2. Curse of Sarah Winchester (Winchester Mystery House)

3. Delirium (Knott’s Halloween Haunt)

 

Best Overall Maze of 2011:

1. Tie: Circus of Horrors, Castle Vampyre, Gates of Hell (Freakling Bros.)

2. La Llorona (HHN Hollywood)

3. Curse of Sarah Winchester (Winchester Mystery House)

 

Best Haunt Scare Zone:

1. Ghost Town (Knott’s Halloween Haunt)

2. Necropolis (Knott’s Halloween Haunt)

3. The Barricades (Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor)

 

Most Unique Haunt Experience:

1. Gates of Hell (Freakling Bros.)

2. Haunted Play Presents Delusion

3. Ghost Ship (Newport Beach, CA)

 

Best Value Haunt:

1. Freakling Bros. Trilogy of Terror (especially for the $10 fast pass t-shirt)

2. Knott’s Halloween Haunt

3. Reign of Terror (Thousand Oaks, CA)

 

Top 2011 Stand Alone Haunt

Freakling Bros. Trilogy of Terror

Top 2011 Theme Park Haunt

Halloween Horror Nights, Hollywood

 

Matt E. Horn’s Haunt Rankings

Best Maze Design (lighting, sound, FX):

1. La Llorona: Villa de Almas Perdidas (HHN Hollywood)

2. Haunted Play Presents: Delusion 

3. Curse of Sarah Winchester (Winchester Mystery House)

 

Best Maze Theme (consistent story/setting):

1. Haunted Play Presents: Delusion 

2. La Llorona: Villa de Almas Perdidas (HHN Hollywood)

3. Reign of Terror

 

Best Individual Scene in a Maze:

1. “Feed the Beast” in Circus of Horror (Freakling Bros.)

2. “Collapsing Bridge” in Hellfire (Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor)

3. “Flying Vampire”  in Castle Vampyre (Freakling Bros.)

 

Best Maze Name:

1. Habitat of Hags (Pirates of Emerson)

2. La Llorona: Villa de Almas Perdidas (HHN Hollywood)

3. Delirium (Knott’s Scary Farm)

 

Best Scare-Actors:

1. Gates of Hell (Freakling Bros.)

2. Haunted Play Presents: Delusion 

3. Sinister Pointe

 

Highest Scare Factor:

1. 3-way tie Freakling Bros. Mazes: Circus of Horrors, Castle Vampyre, Gates of Hell

2. Alice Cooper’s Welcome To My Nightmare (HHN Hollywood)

3. Sinister Pointe

 

Most Improved Maze (compared with  2010):

1. Lockdown (Knott’s Scary Farm)

2. Hellfire (Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor)

3. Village of the Dammed (Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor)

Best New Maze for 2011:

1. Sinister Pointe

2. Curse of Sarah Winchester (Winchester Mystery House)

3. Haunted Play Presents: Delusion 

 

Best Overall Maze of 2011:

1. 3-way tie Freakling Bros. Mazes: Circus of Horrors, Castle Vampyre, Gates of Hell

2. Sinister Pointe

3. The Thing (HHN Hollywood) Curse of Sarah Winchester (Winchester Mystery House)

Best Haunt Scare Zone:

1. Ghost Town (Knott’s Scary Farm)

2. Zombieville (HHN Hollywood)

3. The Gauntlet (California’s Great America Haunt)

Most Unique  Haunt Experience:

1. Haunted Play Presents: Delusion 

2. Ghost Ship

3. The 13th Floor at Circus Circus

 

Best Value Haunt:

1. Knott’s Scary Farm

2. Freakling Bros.

3. Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor

 

Top 2011 Stand Alone Haunt

 

Top 2011 Theme Park Haunt

 

Scare Zone’s Worst Rankings

This is where we load up the buried skulls and drive them off to the crematory. Of course, being in the world of horror, we’re aptly aware that not everything will die immediately or forever, but we can hope.

Worse Mazes

1. Slaughter of the Swines  and Maze of Mayhem at Bonnie Screams

2. Mental Maze at Pirates of Emerson

3. Terror Tram: Scream 4 Your Life at HHN Hollywood

Worse Value

Worse Haunt of 2011

 2011 Repass

This year we experienced new haunt environments along with new levels of scares. During the official haunt season (Sept. – Oct.), we ventured throughout California and out to Nevada to visit as many new haunts as possible. Along the way, we encountered one of the best haunts we’ve ever been to and one of the worst. We give credit to all the haunts out there who are challenging themselves to create new environments and stories to scare us with. While some of our reviews may seem harsh, we take haunting and our earned dollars seriously, so we don’t have tolerance for the so-called haunts who are more interested in taking people’s money than putting effort into a quality production.

There were many high-quality haunts and mazes that didn’t make our top list, but they did offer a great time and good scares such as Fear Overload, California’s Great America Haunt (the CarnEvil maze was great), Reign of Terror, Theater 68, and a few of the Knott’s Scary Farm mazes. We also acknowledge all of the great haunts out there that  we didn’t get to this season, like The Haunted Hotel, Old Town Haunt, and Coffin Creek, just to name a few. We’ll also be curious to see how first-year haunts such as Haunted Play Presents Delusion and Ghost Ship do in their second years, if they come back.

Finally, we have to thank our fellow Haunt Stalkers from Theme Park Tourist for sharing their UK Haunt reviews and all our other fellow Haunt Stalkers who shared their experiences and ratings with us this season and throughout the year. We appreciate all your support and engagement with our site, and we look forward to sharing more scare-ventures together.

Scaringly yours,

M. Leota & Matt E. Horn

Co-Founders & Writers,  Scare Zone

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Haunt Review: Reign of Terror 2011

Monday, November 7th, 2011

 

Sadly another season of Haunt Stalking is now over. During the last weekend, our final stop was at Reign of Terror (ROT) in Thousand Oaks, CA which ended up being  a very good way to close out the season. Last year ROT ranked as one of our top haunts for Best Sets/Props/Atmosphere and this year they managed to sustain their rapport of high quality haunt design while offering an expanded maze with more rooms and new scares.  With the return of the “The Haunted House” and “The Asylum” and the addition of a new segment called “Blood Manor”, ROT once again proved that it ‘reigns’ with high-quality set designs that make guests feel as if they’re inside a real haunted house.

We know that being repeat visitors to a haunt could diminish some of the scare factor as we have an idea of what to expect. So this year, we brought along a first time visitor to see how impressed and scared they were by ROT. As it would turn out, they were very much impressed and scared. Upon arriving to ROT we were greeted by the resident witch who welcomed us back and we also got to say hello to ROT’s creator, Bruce Stanton, who proudly welcomed guests as they entered the queue. ROT’s very elaborate pre-show line is still one of the best queues of any haunt we’ve been to; featuring weather effects, horrifying  props, and roaming scareactors. The line is akin to something you’d see at Disneyland and it also has a wait time similar to a Disney-line. The long wait can be attributed to the fact that they only let small groups in at a time to avoid lines from forming inside the house.  To bypass the long wait, we once again opted for the front-of-the-line pass which is an extra $7, but we found it to be worth it as the ticket proceeds benefit the local Teen Center and we’re deathly afraid of waiting in lines.

Given that haunt season has now passed we’ll describe in more detail some of the scares we encountered, or shall we say endured, while inside ROT. While it appears that no one is home, that will turn out just to be wishful thinking. The first scene places you inside the dimly lit and cobwebbed parlor entry of the house which features a fireplace, piano, and an old woman, looking like Mrs. Bates sister, sitting in a rocking chair slowly knitting.  The fun and scares ramp up in the second room where a seemingly dead woman is laying on a couch. We expected at some point she would spring to life, but she quietly lay, that is right until the last guests was about the exit the room and she then came to life scaring us all to death. For those of us in the front it was extremely suspenseful to walk past her in anticipation of her pending attack. This is just one of many examples of how ROT has mastered the ability to build up tension and sustain the suspense throughout the house. The timing of the monsters is always key to a good scare and they were able to keep everyone in the group on their toes regardless if they were in the front or back. There are some rooms, like the dining room and dark hallways where there were no scareactors present but we still apprehensive walking through these foreboding rooms.

Another great scare occurs in the kitchen where all seemed calm until a monster comes lunging out out of the refrigerator. This was the scare that had half of the group nearly down to their knees and throughout the rest of the house there were scares with monsters popping out of windows and from underneath beds or other furniture. They really go out of their way to ensure that the scares are not predictable with just a monster hiding around the corner. We did find a few of the triggered animatronic scares to the be off cue or broken down, but of course it was the end of haunt season so some wear could be expected.

The thememing inside ROT stays consistent as we ventured through just about every kind of room you could possibly inside a haunted house including closets, dining rooms, and bathrooms. The one thing that was hard for us to distinguish was the transition between “The Haunted House” and the new “Blood Manor” scenes but this may of been on purpose. Towards the end of the house there were some scenes with a lot of blood splatters and stains on the walls and furniture so we assume these were apart of the blood manor segments.

The transition to the “Asylum” maze is more poignant with a creepy “outdoor” scene bridging the transition to the Asylum. While we’ve grown a little tired of Asylum themes being used at haunts, ROT manages to keep it mostly scary. However, what tends to happen, and what we experienced here, is the scareactors who are portraying the “crazy patients and doctors” loose their scariness when they overact and start speaking too much. There’s a thin line between dramatic and corny and in a few scenes some of the them were just corny. It can be seen as a way to break up the tension, but we just like hardcore scares all throughout.

All in all, this was another great year for ROT. We’re glad to see that they’re continuing to build on the foundation they established as family yard haunt. Next year is supposed to offer an even longer house with more scenes. Given it’s permanent location, we would love to see them open during other non-traditional haunt holidays such as Valentine’s day. We also would like to see them open on more nights during haunt season as it was a challenge to get out see them when they were only open 2 nights a week and that may also help with the long lines. It’s obvious that this a popular local haunt and it’s well worth the drive from L.A.  to experience during the haunt season.

Ratings:

  • Haunt Design: 4.5 skulls
  • Scare Factor: 4 skulls

Overall Rating for Reign of Terror 2011: 4 skulls

*Click here to read about our skull ratings.

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Haunt Review: Ghost Ship

Friday, October 28th, 2011

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Since the beginning of this year’s haunt season, the one event our Haunt Stalkers have been showing the most curiosity and anticipation about has been Ghost Ship. We were curious too, as we weren’t sure how well people who run a haunted hayride would do being out to sea. Alas, as the time grew closer for our haunted voyage to set sail, we started to become worried; not because we were scared, but because of all the bad reviews we read from the opening weekend. All along, we had purposely decided “not to attend opening weekend for this new haunt” (Terror Tip #7) to make sure they could work out any potential problems that may (would) arise. This proved to be a good strategy, as our “voyage of the damned” wasn’t as bad as we feared it would be (we actually feared for an extremely shitty experience), but it wasn’t great either. Simply put, we found Ghost Ship to be an overly priced but ambitious effort to create a new haunt experience.

_MG_4798Ghost Ship is an interesting and unique concept for a haunted attraction. The idea of being trapped in a confined space, such as a ship sailing in the water, can amplify the feelings of vulnerability that many already feel when going to a haunt. However, the problem is that the actual ship they chose (a modern yacht) doesn’t lend itself well to a fully immersible haunt experience. We found the layout to be disjointed, with the top deck being used for the prisoner execution show, the middle deck serving as a 1930s (or so) themed bar area, and the bottom deck housing the inmate maze, which is thematically linked to the execution show but doesn’t correlate that well with the bar sets. On their site, the story of the ship is described as a place where the most dangerous inmates in the country are held; so why would a floating prison have a bar with a piano player? And although they may have intended for all decks to appear to be from the 1930s, we don’t think that the time period was very obviously presented, preventing Ghost Ship from ever establishing a true sense of place.

 

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When our cruise began, we were ushered to the top deck, where we were subjected to the execution show. Instead of being a show of pure horrors, it was pure comedy. We actually felt embarrassed for the (bad) actor who was trying to convince us that he was actually executing prisoners.  At one point he couldn’t get his chainsaw to start up, so he just slid it across the prisoner’s obviously rubber neck. The crowd erupted in laughter, and in fact, we were all laughing throughout the “performance.” There was another scene involving a fan and some water, so if you’re sitting in the front few rows, you get sprayed, which is unnecessary and does nothing to accent the show. In addition, it was below 60 degrees and breezy out on the boat, so why would they think their guests want to get wet? That’s not scary–it’s annoying.  This show was a real insult to everyone’s intelligence, and for $60, we felt it really lacked any kind of surprise or sophistication. The crowd was not pleased with this performance, and neither were we.

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Moving down to the middle deck, Ghost Ship does have a somewhat nice ambiance in the bar area. This setting had decent mood lighting, a few interesting props, live music, fog, and roaming scareactors.  On our particular cruise, they were also offering short-term discounts on food and drinks. We didn’t eat or drink anything on the cruise, as most of it did not look appetizing (the offerings included hot dogs and pizza that looked similar to elementary school cafeteria fare).

We also didn’t understand the cage-fighting inmates they had in the middle of the room. We’re not sure how cage fighting makes sense in the middle of a ghostly piano bar. Like the execution show, these cage-fighting monsters weren’t even the best of the worse actors. Speaking of, during our trip, there was some kind of incident between the lounge singer actor and a guest. While we didn’t see what happened, we suddenly heard a female guest scream and start claiming that the singer smacked her with the microphone and broke her fingernail. The actor claimed that the guest had touched her. As the guest screamed about her broken nail, the scareactor started cussing back at her. The guest kept it moving, but the singer kept ranting and cussing. Security did get involved–after the incident was over. While we certainly abhor the abuse or harassment of actors, we felt that this actor’s foul-mouthed reaction was out of line. Perhaps she should have excused herself from the stage to regain composure instead of going on a tirade.  This really brought down the mood of the event for those of us who were in the vicinity of these shenanigans.

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On the bottom deck is the short but sweet maze. Composed of only 8 rooms, surprisingly it had a few high-end props and professional looking sets, which we actually found to be impressive, especially for the confined space they’re in. We saw a lot of guests getting terrified in the maze, but in full disclosure, they also seemed like the kind of people who get nightmares after watching The Munsters or Scooby Doo. We think the groups they were letting in were too big, and a few of the scareactors were being overly dramatic, which was borderline corny. We went through the maze 3 times, as there wasn’t much else to do in this ship. It seemed like the actors were trying to stop people and stand in their way in a desperate attempt to prolong the maze. Overall, there were about 2 decent scares out of the 8 rooms, and the story line was consistent– but then, how could it not be with only 8 rooms?

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After paying $60 for our tickets, we disembarked feeling pretty unsatisfied. We believe there is potential with this concept, but in order for it to work, it needs to be more sophisticated. It definitely did not live up to its promise or hype and has a long way to go before it can be considered a must-see haunted attraction in our book. Our recommendations for improvements include that they do away with the show on the top deck and make it the bar. They should then build out the maze to cover 2 decks. The maze should build more of the 1930′s nautical theme to better fit the setting. We also think that for $60, they should include some food or appetizers for free along with a couple of drinks. All of this would increase the perceived value of Ghost Ship significantly. The other option for the food and drink is that they can reduce the overall ticket price so guests don’t feel as bad about being upcharged for these items. We can understand why some people felt ripped off and upset about their Ghost Ship experience. For us, it was overpriced and not too scary, but there are worse haunts out there. Perhaps the folks from The Haunted Play should be leading the design for this event instead. With a few upgrades to the operations and overall management, this could one day be a first-rate haunted attraction. But as it stands now, it’s lost at sea.

 Overall Ghost Ship Rating: 1 Skull

 

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Haunt Review: Theater 68 Haunted House

Wednesday, October 26th, 2011

Haunted House October 14-31

Late in the 2010 haunt season we were on a quest to find more haunts before the last Trick o’ Treaters made their way home. Cruising down Sunset Boulevard into the dark side of Hollywood (east of the 101) we stumbled upon a small unassuming theater. Little did we know that inside we’d find a suspenseful and visually entertaining haunt experience.

This year we returned to the dark side of Hollywood to find out what Theater 68′s 18 Nights of Horror Haunted House had in store for it’s 6th year. Coming from Haunted Play’s Delusion, which is just 3 miles down the street, we couldn’t think of a better way to conclude a night of “theatrical haunts”. What amazed us last year, was how they transformed the very small theater into a large haunted house. Knowing about their space limitations, we didn’t expect there to be anything new with the layout, but once again they managed to surprised us. This year, the house has been built up with a second level addition. This new level has allowed them to further maximize the space and offer a slightly different experience over last year’s.

Victims are immediately brought into the world of the haunted house with a ‘pre-show’ video that begins as soon as you step inside a cramped dark room. Along with the video, the sound of a constant ringing phone can be heard which was also unnerving and a tactic we’ve experienced somewhere else this season.  After the video, guests are then ushered into the house for a fun romp.

What we really liked about last year’s version, was how they required you to pause to take in the scene and wait for a scare. The waiting part really added to the suspense and tension. This year, the haunt felt more rushed which did detract from the scare factor. For example, in the first scene, we were faced with two people in the mists of a sinister face carving act, but before we could take it in, one of them quickly rushed us up the stairs to the next scene and we didn’t get to see or really understand what they were exactly doing.  The scare factor did increase by the third scene where we ended up in the house’s small rooms that placed us up close and personal with the actors.

One of this haunt’s strongest assets is the talent of it’s cast and the detailed set design. As expected, both give a high caliber show. The actors seamlessly blend sophisticated theatrical acting with traditional haunt scares. There are many small and claustrophobic spaces you have to travel through, and one of our favorite sets from last year, which involves a “disquieting metamorphosis” in one of the rooms, is also back.

In our own experience some of the timing seemed to be off, which we attribute to the quick pace we somehow ended up on. The story from the pre-show also seemed to of been lost by the time we were in the 2nd room as the scenes continuously started to feel less associated with each other as the show (maze) went on.  Given that our small group of three were the only ones there at that particular time, perhaps if we all went through individually, it would of been an even scarier experience for all of us.  We could also only imagine that doing this production for 18 nights is a big commitment  which requires a large amount of motivation for the actors to stay ready for the random ‘victims’ who show up throughout a slow weeknight. With that said, we still believe Theater 68′s Haunted House is worth seeing, especially if you never been before. The ticket is low cost and the parking is free.

If you live in (or near) L.A.  and have already been to all the other haunts, we highly recommend you plan a night out to see Theater 68′s Haunted House and The Haunted Play’s ‘Delusion’. While not associated, together they both offer a satisfying haunted night on the town.

Ratings:

  • Haunt Design: 4 skulls
  • Scare Factor: 3 skulls

Overall Rating for Theater 68′s Haunted House 2011: 3.5 skulls

Click here to read about our rating system.

 

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Haunt Review: Freakling Bros. Trilogy of Terror (Las Vegas, NV)

Friday, October 21st, 2011

A few miles north of the Las Vegas strip, we pulled into the nondescript parking lot of an unremarkable suburban shopping center. The three attractions of the “Trilogy of Terror” were set up in a U-shaped formation. We made our way to the ticket booth and paid $27 for all three attractions. It was early in the night, and the lines were pretty short. The paintings on the facades of the mazes were cool but a little basic. There were some fog machines going, and even one of those colored spinning lights favored by low-rent DJs. We’ll admit that we didn’t think it looked completely awesome from the outside. But as anyone who’s watched a horror movie should know: you shouldn’t be fooled by outward appearances; the real evil is never what you expect.

We’ve been going to haunts for 20 years. We’ve been through  a lot of mazes/haunted houses/walk-through attractions. And we can easily say that Freakling Bros. Trilogy of Terror in Las Vegas contains the three craziest and scariest haunted attractions we have ever experienced.

Attractions

Circus of Horrors

The show really starts in the line, as a freaky clown takes your ticket while an evil ringmaster looks on from the steps above, deriding the clown and threatening him with violence for being too nice to the customers. It was an entertaining but subtle act, and it instantly reminded us of the movie Fun House, which fit in perfectly with the circus haunt. Only small groups are allowed inside at a time, although it’s timed well and the line does move (unlike the lines of torture at Bonnie Screams). While in line, we watched people exiting the haunt–some were running, some were screaming, but they all had a huge, dazed smile on their faces that told us something crazy was going on inside. We even saw two groups leave the maze through the Chicken Exit. It had been a long time since we’d been in an attraction like that, so it really started to get us amped up and curious about what was inside.

 

Before entering the maze, the Ringmaster drew us close together and told us the rules (typical stuff like don’t touch the actors or props, etc.). Once inside, we found ourselves in a room with a couple of freaks and no exit. Immediately, we sensed that this was going to be a different type of attraction, not the standard type where you just keep walking, pushing your way from scene to scene through shredded curtains. In fact, in many of the rooms, you have to open doors yourself or wait for something to happen before you can proceed. Needless to say, this really increases the suspense. We feel that it would be a felony to spoil the amazing scares with too much detail in our review, so we will keep it general. What you will not find in this attraction are black-light gimmicks, clowns with chainsaws, frenetic circus music, and silly 3D effects. The Freakling Bros. have mastered the art of lighting only what they want you to see. This maze has doors that open by themselves, a crazy room with inflatable balls that you have to actually pick up and move out of your way in order to get through the room, and a particularly suspenseful and ingenious ending involving “feeding the beast” that had us screaming and laughing like crazy. There are extended interactions with a some of the actors, all of whom were top notch. We exited this attraction breathless from screaming so much. We thought, “That must have been the best one of the three. Nothing could top that.” Boy, were we wrong.

Haunt Design: 4.5 skulls

Scare Factor: 6 skulls

 

Castle Vampyre

It’s hard to make a vampire attraction scary. Vampires are just lazy, narcissistic zombies, who spend their immortal lives making their castles look fancy. But not in Castle Vampyre. After waiting in a longer line and watching yet some more people leave through the Chicken Exit, it was our turn and we were again given the spiel about not touching the actors, etc., and let inside. Inside, it did look like an old castle. The mood and lighting were set perfectly. The monsters came at us from all angles–under the floor, behind the walls, out from the ceiling. In a dark passageway, a creepy hand seemed to float out from the wall right in front of our faces. Although it never seemed that there were too many monsters in any of the mazes, we were amazed at how the scares seemed to be nonstop. This maze had some unique setups, including a room that at first appeared to contain only 2 mirrors on the walls. It was only when you stepped in front of one of the mirrors that you realized it was actually a doorway you had to step through, not a mirror (and so, like a vampire, you don’t see your reflection). This is an example of how well the Freakling Bros. manage to make you disbelieve everything you see, which leads to disorientation and a huge amount of suspense.

Another room had no way out, and the ceiling started to close in on us. We literally had to crawl our way out of a door that finally opened on its own. This maze also had one of the craziest things we’ve seen in a haunt: a vampire who flies above you and straight at you.

Haunt Design: 5 skulls

Scare Factor: 6 skulls

Gates of Hell

This attraction is “Rated R,” and no one under 17 is allowed inside without a parent or guardian. When we read this on their web site, we thought it was probably just hype. But after going through the first two attractions, we actually were nervous about going inside this one. We couldn’t imagine how it could be more extreme than the first two, both of which had us screaming the whole way through.

In line for Gates of Hell, they make you sign a waiver. This waiver says, among other things, that you will be touched and hear offensive language, and you agree not to retaliate. The waiver also mentioned that people with claustrophobia and asthma should not go inside.  We hesitated only a moment before signing. Again, we drew in close to hear the warning spiel, this time from the Grim Reaper himself. Only this time, he warned us that we would be verbally abused and touched. “What the hell is going on in there?” we thought. But we had no time to worry, because we were quickly ushered inside.

We were greeted by a shirtless guy in a gas mask who tells us to follow his directions if we want to survive. He then separated us and put us into tiny “lockers” and shut the door. This is obviously where the “claustrophobia” part comes in. This part does go on for a bit, so if you are claustrophobic, or even just nervous in the dark, your anxiety levels probably will go sky high. But it’s over soon enough, and we began to make our way through the maze.

The attraction takes you through various scenes of horror–suicides, murders, grizzly and bloody scenes. Beware of the dead, because they are likely to suddenly come back to life. There are also passages of complete darkness. Most disconcerting was the lack of music in this haunt–it was replaced by the sound of a busy signal from a telephone, sometimes interrupted with a classic telephone ringing. You may not think this sounds scary, but the sounds were jarring and unexpected. And if you think about it, what do you feel when you hear a telephone ring? Anxiety, because you’ve been conditioned to want someone to answer a ringing phone. It’s so subtle, but effective.

Again, the scares were nonstop in this attraction. People did grab us–our feet, arms, shoulders. In some scenes, the actors pushed us through doors or physically blocked us from moving forward. The “verbal abuse” occurred in only one scene and was not too shocking, but the scare was excellent. Finally, at the end of the maze, we met a woman who prepared us to face Satan himself. But she had a “shocking” surprise that had us screaming for mercy.

Haunt Design: 4.5 skulls

Scare Factor: 6 skulls


Summary

We were completely blown away by the Trilogy of Terror. Each attraction was better than the one before it. We recommend visiting the attractions in the order we did: Circus of Horrors, Castle Vampyre, and then Gates of Hell. Although the sets inside were detailed, they of course don’t reach the level of, say, Halloween Horror Nights. But theme park haunts surely have budgets many, many times greater than the Freakling Bros. Nevertheless, we were very impressed with the level of detail inside. We also think that the scares are more intense and better executed than any other haunt we’ve ever experienced. These attractions are long and truly terrifying. We can definitely see why some people left through the Chicken Exit.

If the lines are long, they have a Fast Pass for an additional $10 that gets you to the front of the line. And the best part is that the pass is a Freakling Bros. t-shirt, so for $10, you get to the front of the line and a shirt. This is one of the best values we’ve ever seen at a haunt. We definitely recommend purchasing it.

You may notice that the scare factors for these haunts have gone off our typical 1 to 5 skull rating scale. Freakling Bros. is the first haunt to earn a 666 skull rating from Scare Zone! We hope that you will plan to visit this amazing haunt. Freakling Bros. made our entire trip to Las Vegas worthwhile.

Overall Rating for Freakling Bros. Trilogy of Terror: 6(66) skulls

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Haunt Review: Queen Mary Dark Harbor 2011

Monday, October 10th, 2011

Queen “Scary” On a Steady Course Through Dark Harbor

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The Queen ‘Scary’ has docked again at Dark Harbor! Last year, Queen Mary was able to successfully change course and offer an exciting new haunt experience that was not only scary but creatively impressive. This year they’ve maintained a steady course with all the high-end effects, unique story lines, and most importantly, the horrifying terrors we experienced last year.

It seems that with a successful year behind them and some positive reviews, many, many more Haunt Stalkers have returned this year to discover one of our most highly rated haunts. While all the mazes are the same as last year, there’s still those who’ve yet to experience them. And for those who did visit last year, the mazes are all worthy of a second visit, as they’ve all been extended with more monsters and more comprehensive story design.

The story of the Dark Harbor sirens has also been elaborated, picking up from last year’s initail voyage. With the vengeful sea-she-demons (say that three times fast) now fighting among each other for domination of the night’s scare-tivities. High above, from on top of the Hell’s Bells Tower, they take turns proceeding over the harbor by taunting and challenging innocent victims who dare to cross their path.

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The Dark Harbor experience immerses guests as soon as they walk in the gates, or in this case, crates. You enter by walking into a long tunnel of metal shipping containers filled with fog and eerie lighting. With monsters lurking in the corners, it’s truly scary and the best entrance to haunt we’ve ever experienced. The long tunnel passage leaves victims inside the the expansive barricades scare zone which lies in the middle of Dark Harbor.

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Once inside, there are 5 mazes to choose from, monsters lurking in walkways, and sliders surprising unsuspecting guest from all angles.  In addition, there’s live music, the Mariners bar area, and unique food vendors through out. We did find the mixed drinks to be very watered down so we recommend those of you who want a little libation to just stick to  beer or wine.

MAZE REVIEWS

We use a 1-5 skull rating system and evaluate the mazes on design and scare factor. 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 on the effectiveness of the mazes.


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Village of the Damned (in the village): This maze was significantly improved over last year. There were more monsters and the pacing of the scares was better throughout the maze. We also like how the maze flows between indoor and outdoor settings making it feel like a forbidden journey through the village.  They also utilized the sets better to distract victims and surprise them with tag-team scares (beware of any open coffins you many encounter). One of the highlights include a dark armored guard room with solider “statues” scattered across the walkway which was very foreboding to walk through, to say the least,. We still don’t get the jungle-type landscaped tunnel at the end of the maze which is an anti-climatic end to what is otherwise a very well themed maze.

Ratings:

  • Haunt Design: 4 Skulls
  • Scare Factor: 3.5 Skulls

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The Cage (in the dome): This maze is very disorienting  with lots of metal and mirrors and fences and hanging heads and jarring noises. This year they made it even more intense with an elaborate and long entrance tunnel filled with flashing red lights. The lighting in this maze is amazing as every light setup enhances the scares in some way. The monsters in this maze do have generic masks, but it actually works as they seem more like crazed human stalkers who are wearing masks to conceal their identity as they attack you. You can get a little  lost in this maze as the pathways are not clearly marked (on purpose) giving the Cage true maze feeling.  There is also a new segment with walls lined with hands which is one of the creepiest haunt sets we’ve been through this season.

Ratings:

  • Haunt Design: 4 Skulls
  • Scare Factor: 4.5 Skulls


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Containment (on the ship): This maze seemed identical to last year’s version. The story is about a virus breakout on the ship, infecting passengers and crew alike, so we have to make our way out of the infirmary before we catch anything or get caught.  There was some interesting makeup and props used throughout this maze. While we didn’t find it too scary, the group of young ladies in front of us were literary paralyzed in fear. Perhaps, if we didn’t get blocked up behind them, we would of also experienced more scares. Overall, we recommend that they consider using this area of the ship for a different theme next year.

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Golf Management Company

Ratings:

  • Haunt Design: 2 Skulls
  • Scare Factor: 2 Skulls


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Submerged (on the ship): This was a favorite last year, but it seems this maze has sunk a little. It begins below the ship’s decks as water pours in from all around. Victims are drowning and coming out of the dark and water. The opening scene for this maze is well crafted with real water pouring everywhere and a few well-placed animatronics. The smell in the first passage is almost unbearable, smelling like sewage, but being a haunt, it accents the uncomfortable drowning feeling of this maze. While the maze felt a little longer, there seemed to be more dark passages between scenes which were void of monsters. While they were suspenseful to walk through, it was disappointing not getting scared in them. The finale of the maze takes place inside the ship’s pool room, which is reported to be haunted in real life. While the empty pool looked very cool with the lighting and overflowing fog, we again had hoped for more ghosts to assault us.

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Golf Management mpany

 

Ratings:

  • Haunt Design: 3.5 Skulls
  • Scare Factor: 2.5 Skulls

 

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Hellfire (on the ship): The ship is on fire and everything is getting crispy. With the fire victims begging for our rescue we cautiously made our way through this often dark and smokey maze. Being on the ship, the layout of this maze is similar to Containment and Submerged but it has the the best effects of the three. There were some impressive lighting effects with floors and walls appearing to be smoldering in the heat. They also used trick floors to give the sense of falling in the dark over the engine room which was one of the most spectacular and unsettling effects at Dark Harbor. The monsters in this maze were also very menacing popping out of unexpected places and even sliding down walls and pipes.

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Good Will Hunting Screenplay

One issue with this maze is that before you can go in, they require that each group takes a photo inside booths set up outside the entrance.  This process  backs up the lines severely and was making many guests in line very upset. This doesn’t seem like a good way to get people to buy a picture as they are annoyed and therefore unmotivated to buy a picture. They should have the booths set up on their own with monsters waiting outside to entice guests to pose with them.

Ratings:

  • Haunt Design: 4.5 Skulls
  • Scare Factor: 4 Skulls

Terror Tips

Arrive before opening at 6:15, gates open at 7. Purchase tickets online (here) to receive discounted admission. If crowds are big, we highly suggest buying the front of line pass for an additional $20. We also recommend you see the mazes in the following order: 1) Hellfire 2) Submerged 3) Containment 4) Village of the Dammed 5) The Cage.

Scare Zone’s Overall Rating for Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor: 4 Skulls

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Haunt Review: Halloween Haunt at California’s Great America 2011

Friday, October 7th, 2011

The Scare Zone crew took a trip to Northern California and checked out the Halloween Haunt at California’s Great America (CGA). Given that this was the third haunt we went to in one evening, we ended up arriving in the later part of the night. So, we did get to get see everything but missed all the shows (which we’re never big on any way). We did catch a glimpse and listen to the talented Blood Drums as we left the park at the end of the night.

This was our first visit to their haunt, and we were very curious about it given that it’s a spin-off of Knott’s Scary Farm. The fun part for us was looking for the similarities and being able to compare the two haunts as they have quite a few mazes that are similar to current and past ones at Knott’s. We’re also glad we went because Cedar Fair has recently sold the park to private investors. So, unless they decide to continue, this could possibly be the last year that CGA offers a haunt. We hope they do continue as the new ownership will also give them the opportunity to offer even more with this emerging and high-potential haunt.

We liked CGA’s haunt and thought it was a substantial them park haunt offering.  It is obvious that this is a young haunt, which has both its pros and cons. For the positive, the monsters in the scare zones and mazes had some of the highest energy levels that we’ve seen at a haunt. They really cared if they scared. The mazes also seemed fairly long, which is also a good thing.  In addition, the staff let only small groups enter the mazes at a time, allowing more opportunities for individuals to get scared. The downside was that the set designs of the mazes weren’t very elaborate and, minus a few new designs, they looked more like mazes that we went to in the late 90′s or early 2000′s. The wait times were also longer, but we guess that’s the tradeoff for being able to go into the mazes in small groups.

RATINGS GUIDE:

One our ‘Terror-spondents” wore a heart rate monitor to measure how scary the mazes really were by seeing how much their pulse increased. We’ll include these new pulse ratings along with our traditional 1-5 skull rating system. 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 on the effectiveness of the mazes.

MAZES

Cornstalkers - Scarecrows ready for the new harvest of flesh.

This had to be one of the longest mazes at CGA and is about double the length of the Knott’s version.  This is an outdoor maze, and it has some very tight walkways along with areas where you can pick a path around different obstacles. If you don’t (or do) choose wisely, you could end up in the direct path of one of the monsters.  In one section, we tried to be slick by zig-zagging through the haystack,s only to be apprehended by a monster who was sneakily waiting in between the two paths.

Compared to Knott’s, this version also features a larger variety of  monsters such as pitchfork-wielding farmers and maniacal moonshiners. However, Knott’s has more mini-houses to pass through and higher-end special effects. Like Knott’s, CGA’s Cornstalkers relies heavily on the monster-around-the corner scares, but with its length and many dark areas, it was slightly more suspenseful, with the monsters blending well into the cornstalks and haystacks.

Ratings:

  • Haunt Design: 2 Skulls
  • Scare Factor: 3 Skulls
  • Pulse Rating: +24

Club Blood- The infamous vampire night club ”takes another bite” out of your nightlife!

We were not fans of Club Blood when it was at Knott’s, as we didn’t find vampires dancing to techno music to be very frightening (well, maybe the techno music was). This incarnation of Club Blood was surprisingly good, and we experienced some of our biggest scares of the night inside this maze.

The sets were slightly more elaborate than the other ones at CGA. We liked how the story started with a journey through the vampires’ lair, saving the actual club scene for the maze’s finale. We also liked the use of doors and curtains to divide the scenes, which was a common feature of many of the CGA mazes. Having to push doors and curtains open added the scare factor and anxiety of not knowing what’s coming next. There also was a disorienting room that used fog and bright lights to hide what was waiting inside. Some of the other highlights included a nice opening scare, before we even got inside the maze, and without giving it away, an intense final scare that really took us off guard. It was far from the usual “boo” scare!

Ratings:

  • Haunt Design: 3.5 Skulls
  • Scare Factor: 4 Skulls
  • Pulse Rating: +37


Slaughterhouse Annihilation (*New for 2011) – A one of a kind factory tour to see how your favorite meats make it on to the table.

While this is a longer version compared to Knott’s, the sets aren’t nearly was interesting or elaborate as those found at Knott’s. We also thought that this maze felt somewhat generic, with each scene looking similar to the other, a few monsters wearing Leatherface masks, and the very predictable monster-around-the corner scares. This felt like the typical cannibal-chainsaw-slaughterhouse haunt you’d find anywhere.

We heard that the finale of this maze was supposed to have a big surprise, but it didn’t seem to work when we went through. We tried to wait for it, but nothing happened. This maze could be improved if they made it darker, like the Knott’s version, and utilized some the unique scare tactics we saw in CarnEvil and Club Blood. We also suggest they take a close look at the staging of their sets and props as we got banged up a few times by the protruding edges. It would be really scary if someone got startled and fell against some of the sharp edges we saw on the table tops and butchers’ counters.

Ratings:

  • Haunt Design: 1.5 Skulls
  • Scare Factor: 1.5 Skulls
  • Pulse Rating: +18

 

Toy Factory -Buyers beware as your favorite toys have now been turned against you)

This is different from The Doll Factory at Knott’s, where not only the dolls, but all of our favorite childhood toys and games, have turned mean and deadly. This maze had a slightly humorous tone with bloody versions of Operation, Monopoly, and Hungry Hungry Hippo.

The number of actual surprise scares were minimal in this factory but the monsters in this maze really did a good job acting like the toys they represented with dramatic mechanical movements. We do have to say that the GI Joe and Raggedy Anne monsters stood out for their aggressive terrorizing, which made Chucky look like . . . Child’s Play. The sets were just average in quality with a few elaborate props, but the winding layout made it fun to go through.

Ratings:

  • Haunt Design: 3 Skulls
  • Scare Factor: 2.5 Skulls
  • Pulse Rating: +28

 

Werewolf Canyon - A pack of blood-thirsty werewolves are out for revenge for those who invade their domain.

This maze is located in the queue for the Rip Roaring Rapids ride, which provides the ideal setting for this theme with its thick folliage, tall trees, rock walls, and dirt walkways. The maze begins by going through a cabin that has obviously been ransacked by the wolves. These sets were highly detailed, and they have a look similar to Universal’s Friday the 13th mazes.

As we walked through the mostly outdoor maze, we were expecting to encounter some big scares and nasty werewolves, but that rarely happened. The scariness of the maze ended up being more from our own anticipation than any actual scares (we’re not sure what it is about banjo music, but it does add to the suspense). Most of the maze felt empty, and there seemed to be less than 10 werewolves in the entire “canyon.” We also could see them hiding along the pathway as the outside lights illuminated their shadows standing behind the temporary bushes.

After waiting for over 30 minutes for this maze, we were disappointed! Being the longest wait of the night, the end result was less than satisfying. They shouldn’t have been keeping the distance between groups so big as it made the wait even more frustrating to endure, and it seemed the monsters’ timing was off, with instances of us taking them by surprise.

Ratings:

  • Haunt Design: 2.5 Skulls
  • Scare Factor: 1.5 Skulls
  • Pulse Rating: +13

 

CarnEvil 3D - Step back up as the killer clowns, freaks, and demented animals have returned to town.

This maze was staged indoors, which provides a greater ability for elaborate layout, set, and lighting designs, especially for 3D effects. The line for CarnEvil is fun, with a deranged ape-man roaming around and the CarnEvil rap song (where can we get it?). The employees had the timing between groups at the right length as we didn’t have to wait long but we never encountered other “victims” inside the maze. Similar to Club Blood, the use of curtains and doors added to the suspense; no one wants to be the first to find out what’s hididng behind these things.

What we really liked was the creative use of all the possible scary elements of a carnival theme. Going beyond clowns, the addition of animals and other sideshow freaks increased the variety of scares and made the maze much more fun and interesting than Uncle’s Bobo’s Big Top of the Bizarre at Knott’s.  We also liked the unique scares they had, such as the cotton candy cart, cobra lair, and the animal cages.

From our experience, this maze was the highlight of the night. Everything was effectively executed, and they made clowns scary again. After going through this maze, we could only hope that Knott’s takes a few cues (if they insist on keeping the clown theme) and get their clown maze up to par with this twisted circus of freaks.

Ratings:

  • Haunt Design: 4.5 Skulls
  • Scare Factor: 4.5 Skulls
  • Pulse Rating: +43


Black Widow’s Cavern - Dare to enter the old, abandoned loggers run, now overrun by deadly spiders.

This is a haunt layover on the park’s log ride. We were uncertain if it was even worth going on because unlike Knott’s, this ride doesn’t have a mountain or much cover around the flume to hide any monsters. However, we’re glad we did go on it, as they did an impressive job with the limited setting they had.

The line for this ride could provide some good opportunities for scares, but it was only covered in cobwebs and featured a few large inflatable and animatronic spiders.  The first half of the ride takes place close to ground level, so they added some additional cover to the existing mill tunnels and filled them up with monsters. With the limited space, they still had more monsters per square foot than any other haunt we’ve been in. One of our issues with Knott’s is how they don’t have nearly enough monsters inside their log ride haunt. While most of the scares in Black Widow’s Cavern are redundant “pop-up” scares, they’re effective as some of the monsters work to distract riders so others can pop out of unexpected places, and they keep coming nonstop. They also use some “loud” props to accent their scares.

After the ride ascends to the top of the flume, there are no more haunt elements, but the finale drop on this ride is intense as it’s steep and features a bump that gives the log some great speed and air time. Fortunately, riders don’t get soaked, so it’s still tolerable to ride on cool nights.

Ratings:

  • Haunt Design: 2 Skulls
  • Scare Factor: 3 Skulls
  • Pulse Rating: +28

SCARE ZONES

Dead Man’s Cove: This was the foggiest of the scare zones and the monsters did a great job at interacting with the guests, but they weren’t very scary.  2 Skulls

The Gauntlet: The monsters in this zone had some every elaborate makeup and costumes and were stalking guests in full force.  3 Skulls

Underworld Alley: This was a very fun scare zone featuring a long covered fog tunnel. There were many screams coming from victims walking through this zone, including our own. 3 Skulls

Scare Zone’s  Overall Rating for Halloween Haunt at California’s Great America: 3 Skulls

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Review: Winchester Mystery House Delivers Halloween Magic

Thursday, October 6th, 2011

Each year, new haunts pop up around the country, and as they search for their position in the increasingly crowded haunted attraction market, they have to distinguish themselves from other haunts in some way. Haunts have to decide what theme, or story, their maze/walk-through/haunted house is going to tell that will make guests want to visit their haunt rather than the one in the next town over. There are standard themes (vampires, horror movies, hillbilly cannibals) that can be adopted, or more original ones to be invented. And some even combine multiple themes into a single haunt (have you ever walked through a haunt and progressed from vampire lair, to alien autopsy, to slaughterhouse? Because we certainly have). But with all of these possible themes, the iconography and spirit of Halloween itself can sometimes be lost in a maze of cannibal butchers and killer clowns.

But not at Fright Nights at the Winchester Mystery House. Their haunted attraction has captured the elusive magic of Halloween in a nearly perfect way.


The “Curse of Sarah Winchester” maze is located on the grounds and in the outbuildings of the famous Winchester Mystery House (WMH) estate in San Jose, California. The haunt tells the story of Sarah Winchester and the house she built to keep the spirits of those killed by her husband’s Winchester rifles at bay. The house itself has an interesting history and many ghost stories that go along with it, so WMH had a great pre-existing story on which to build their haunted attraction.

The attraction begins in front of the house, where you encounter the caretaker lurking about the porch. Ambient lighting in the windows of the house and rows of Jack-o-Lanterns really pull in the Halloween theme right away. This is actually part of the line, but it sets the tone and spirit for the attraction immediately.

The first real scene is a sort of creepy playground with some scary child props and a creepy scareactor asking for her mommy. This scene is spooky and has some great lighting, but we weren’t entirely sure who these children were supposed to be. Given the tight coherence of the rest of the maze with the legend of the Winchester house, this was the one scene that didn’t seem to fit.

After leaving the children, you enter the estate grounds where men in old-time Western wear wield the Winchester rifle in your face. Towering scarecrows with Jack-O-Lantern heads loom above to create an impressive scene. The lighting throughout the maze was great and really set an eerie and haunting tone.

The maze winds between indoor and outdoor sets, for example, through the pump house and then back outside into the gardens. The scent of cooked flesh greats you in some scenes. Throughout the attraction, we were very impressed by how good the scareactors were. Although it was only opening weekend, they were fully in character, and the scares were very well timed. There are a lot of “team” scares, where one actor will distract you while the other actor comes up right behind you. The maze was stocked full of actors, and at times, the scares seemed relentless. We screamed in almost every scene. There was hardly a lull in terror. Two of our favorite scares include an actor who seemed to lunge right out of the ground and another who completely surprised us in the parking lot scene. In fact, the actors in the parking lot scene should be especially commended for their perfectly timed scares.

The climax of the maze is the seance scene with Sarah Winchester herself, dressed in black and calling the spirits. There are some pretty awesome effects in this room. We found ourselves completely stopped to just watch what was happening. But don’t linger too long, because there are Native American spirits lurking just around the corner!

Finally, there’s a bloody hay maze to go through with some more scarecrows looming high over you.

Overall, we really loved this attraction. Each scene was completely detailed, perfectly lit, and told the story of the Winchester Mystery House while bringing in the true icons of Halloween, such as Jack-o-Lanterns, scarecrows, and ghosts. And make no mistake: this attraction is SCARY! There are a lot of unexpected and well-planned scares.

$15-20 (depending on the date) is a bit pricey for a single maze, but it’s actually really long. It took us about 12 to 15 minutes to go through. We actually think it’s worth paying extra for the VIP ticket ($25-30), as that ticket not only gets you to the front of the line but also lets you go through as many times as you want in a single night. This maze is so detailed that you’ll definitely want to go through more than once. We went through three times and got scared in new places with each round.

If you’re in the California Bay Area this October, be sure to check out this haunt.

Curse of Sarah Winchester Maze: Ratings (rated from 1 to 5 skulls)

Haunt Design: 5 skulls
Scare Factor: 5 skulls

Flashlight Tour

The Winchester Mystery House is also offering a flashlight tour during the Halloween season. This tour seems almost identical to the daytime tour, except they’ve turned the lights off. During the tour, there’s an emphasis on ghost stories associated with the house, but with 20 people shining their flashlights all over the room, it’s not really that dark, and not scary at all. In fact, we recommend skipping the flashlight tour and coming back in the daytime to see the interior of the house, if you’re interested. The details and architecture are unique and worth seeing, so it’s actually a silly idea to take the tour with the lights off. But they do offer a maze and flashlight tour combo ticket. Be aware that the flashlight tour is 65 minutes.

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Haunt Review: Knott’s Scary Farm 2011

Thursday, September 29th, 2011

This past weekend we kicked off our seasonal “Haunt Stalking” with a trip to the original theme park Halloween Haunt, Knott’s Scary Farm (KSF). We have a special affinity for KSF as it was the first haunt we went to 19 years ago, which began our ongoing obsession with haunts. In the past, Knott’s has offered some of the most original and scary mazes around, such as Dominion of the Dead, Nightmares, Uncle Ernie’s Madhouse, Red Moon Massacre, Santa Claws Mountain, Curse of the Werewolf, Deadman’s Wharf, Toxichem, and Revenge of the Dead. However, over the past few years we have become concerned that the original scare factory seems to be losing its touch and becoming a monster retirement home.

Last year, we were very disappointed with KSF as many of its mazes felt dated and the scares were few and far in between. With Universal now offering one of the scariest and most elaborate haunts in Southern California and smaller haunts such as Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor, The Haunted Trail, and Sinister Pointe introducing new scare tactics, it seemed as if KSF was riding off in a hearse to the haunt graveyard.

There was excitement about Knott’s new 2011 mazes, Delirium, Endgames, and Invasion Beneath, which promised to continue the innovation we saw in last year’s Virus Z. In addition, older mazes like Uncle Bobo’s Big Top of the Bizarre were supposed to be upgraded to become “more sinister” experiences.

Going to KSF this year, we were somewhat skeptical, but also hopeful, about their ability to ramp up the scares. So, this year, we’re glad to say that KSF was successful in pumping some new blood into their haunts. Overall, 2011 is more elaborate and scarier than it has been over the past few years. We like the direction that they are headed in, but it still doesn’t have the level of intensity that we’ve come to expect over the past 19 years.

REVIEWS:

One our ‘Terror-spondents” wore a  heart rate monitor to measure how scary the mazes really were by seeing how much their pulse increased. We’ll include these new pulse ratings along with our traditional 1-5 skull rating system. 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 on the effectiveness of the mazes.

MAZES

Lockdown – The Asylum: The inmates really are running the asylum in this nightmare prison, and insanity reigns supreme. The inmates are out of their cells and their minds. And don’t scream for help, this hostile takeover has the authorities running for cover!

Last year, we were thoroughly disappointed with our experience inside this maze. It was low energy and we even saw one monster accidentally scare another. However, this year Lockdown is by far the most improved and even scariest KSF maze of 2011! The monsters were rampaging all over, literally chasing us down the dark corridors where it almost became hard to catch our breath between scares. While many of the scares in this maze still rely heavily on the monsters hiding around the corner, they accented their scares with loud banging and had two sided walls where they could scare you twice around the same corner. The  loud sirens and mix of flashing lights and dark rooms added to the maze’s disorientating effect.

As a theme, Lockdown is getting a little old and generic. But with this year’s energetic talent and amped up scares it’s hard to say it should be replaced. Perhaps Knott’s can create a new way for us the experience the madness inside the Asylum in 2012?

Ratings:

  • Haunt Design: 3 Skulls
  • Scare Factor: 4.5 Skulls
  • Pulse Rating: +46

Delirium *(New for 2011): In the deep recesses of the mind, on the clouded brink of sanity, lies the wasteland of Delirium. A place so gruesome that our imaginations fall short in comprehending its horrors. Reality slips away as the line between the waking world and nightmare dissolve. Welcome to complete madness.

After escaping Lockdown, you immediately go into this maze. While it’s nice to go from one maze to another, it also can be distracting as it would be better for guests to have a moment to catch their breath, and reset their pulse, before venturing directly into another maze.

Like Lockdown, this maze is an indirect sequel to the past Asylum mazes where now we’re going inside the mind of one of the demented patients. The entrance is amazingly elaborate where we have to enter the “mouth of madness” and then pass through the stomach of the bloody beast.  This opening scene features enlarged animated eyes, teeth and claws reaching for you, and it really draws you into Delirium’s nightmarish dimensions.

Once inside, we encountered many disturbing scenes, which included people spewing cockroaches, monstrously large flesh-eating maggots, and hideously bloody monsters hiding under the beds. This maze also featured some of most interesting lighting effects and props at KSF. It’s obvious that they put some time and money into this maze. We did notice a few familiar scares from past mazes like Malice in Wunderland and Nightmares, but they were used in new ways and would only be obvious to veteran Haunt Stalkers.

What we enjoyed most about Delirium was the fact that they didn’t just rely on the typical ”monsters around the corner” scare. They used new scare tactics such as monsters in the ceilings, walls, and under the floors. They also had a couple of double scares where the monsters teamed up to terrorize victims. This was definitely the best of the new mazes and lived up to its hype. We hope they continue to make moderate changes to this mazes to keep the nightmare fresh in years to come.

Ratings:

  • Haunt Design: 4.5 Skulls
  • Scare Factor: 3.5 Skulls
  • Pulse Rating: +30

Terror of London: Step back in time and into the fog-filled streets of London where a host of infamous characters are on the prowl terrorizing city dwellers.

 

This maze still has some of most elaborate sets at KSF and has kept a consistent level of  scariness over the past few years. This year, there did seem to be many more monsters inside this maze as we were immediately assaulted by multiple monsters during the first scene, which takes place inside a London pub.

This maze has a good mix of monsters who are there to scare and those who’s presence is simply to add to the eerie atmosphere. Our favorite moment was in the outdoor graveyard where we encountered a surprisingly new and loud scare.  We liked the extended brothel and sewer scenes. And per our review last year, we like that in the final scene they switched out the Dr. Frankenstein laboratory for a dark and bloody torture chamber, which better fits with the proceeding scenes. We believe that maze may have a couple more years of “death” left in it at KSF.

 

 

Ratings:

  • Haunt Design: 4 Skulls
  • Scare Factor: 3.5 Skulls
  • Pulse Rating: +21

 

Slaughterhouse: Farmer Willy will think you are prime beef as he sets out to auction you off to the highest bidder, tenderize you with his chainsaw, and grind you into a tasty meat treat.

This maze features some of Knott’s goriest set pieces. One of our favorite scenes is still the human head garden which reminds us of the 80′s classic movie Hotel Hell. This year’s incarnation was consistent with last year but there seemed to be fewer monsters compared with last year and many of the monsters’s masks looked like, rubber masks.  It also would of been better had more of the slaughter “victims” been real actors in makeup opposed to dummies and animatronic props.

If Knott’s decides to continue Farmer Willy’s the mayhem, which they probably will, they should redesign the layout, improve the lighting effects and props, and bring in more real-life victims.

Ratings:

  • Haunt Design: 2.5 Skulls
  • Scare Factor: 2.5 Skulls
  • Pulse Rating: +17

The Doll Factory: A twisted museum of death and disfigurement as you are pursued by the Marionette Murderer, a psychotic killer who turns his beautiful victims into life-size porcelain dolls.

This year we were the only ones inside the maze which made a big difference compared to our experience last year. Most of the monsters act out scenes to create a sense of creepiness, but we were rarely startled, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing as each maze is to designed to offer guests a different experience. The highlight of the maze is the back-bending, backwards-walking doll girls who are extremely disturbing to look at. There are some elaborate scenes, such as the doll sewing room and mannequin freezer, but many are showing their age and wear from the years of use.

This will be the Doll Factory’s fifth and final year, and while it seems to have been a haunt favorite, we believe it’s truly run its course…3 years ago.

Ratings:

  • Haunt Design: 2.5 Skulls
  • Scare Factor: 1.5 Skulls
  • Pulse Rating: +8

Dia De Los Muertos in 3D: The screams of La Llorona echo around you and the creatures of the night crawl from their crypts.

This maze is known more for its design and 3D effects rather than scares. Visually, the maze is very stimulating, with a lot of black light and bright colors. There are also some very cool looking scenes, like the church, graveyard, Amazon jungle, and Aztec sacrifice temple. However, this year, the maze had nearly no monsters in i,t and any ones we did encounter seemed tired and lazy with their scare tactics, which was very disappointing. Perhaps our timing was bad, but this maze also wasn’t very scary in years past. One room that did get us scared was the one with hanging skeleton piñatas, where some turned out to be real-life monsters.

While we’re screaming “no mas” for this maze, we assume that KSF will bring it back again next year. !Que horror!

Ratings:

  • Haunt Design: 3.5 Skulls
  • Scare Factor: 1 Skull
  • Pulse Rating: +6

Uncle Bobo’s Big Top of the Bizarre in 3D: It’s the greatest slaughter on earth with clown carnage galore!


 

 

 

Back in 1992, the first maze we ever went in was Uncle Ernie’s Madhouse, a clown maze which scared the crap out of us (like an unloading clown car). But over the years, we’ve grown tired of the KSF clown mazes, which have basically featured the same sets with different names (e.g., Carnival of Carnivorous Clowns, Killer Clown Kollege).

This year, the most current reincarnation of the clown maze for the past few years, Uncle Bobo’s, was revamped, and the improvements are noteworthy. While it still has a tone of  “humorous horrors,” they also added some more dark scenes to really distrub those who suffer from Coulrophobia (fear of clowns). We particularly liked the ice cream room, which featured a decaying clown corpse frozen inside an ice cream cone.

The killer clowns inside also have stepped it “right up” and were more aggressive and menacing than in years past. Our criticism is that this maze is still all about the “monster around the corner” scares, which are very predictable and not scary. Even 19 years ago, Uncle Ernie’s featured clowns on bungees who jumped off of platforms at unsuspecting guests.

It seems no matter how much we cry, like the tears of a clown, a clown-based maze will be an ongoing signature of KSF. Therefore, we can expect Uncle Bobo’s or another crazy clown uncle to return to next year’s haunt. As long as they continue to be more scary than funny, we’ll go along with it.

Ratings:

  • Haunt Design: 3 Skulls
  • Scare Factor: 2 Skulls
  • Pulse Rating: +26

Cornstalkers: Plunge into rows and rows of rotting corn and try to evade the blood thirsty monstrosities seeking to impale you on their razor sharp scythes.

This maze is exactly the same as in previous years. The sets do seem to get more basic as the years go on, but it is one of the darker mazes at KSF with very narrow walkways that provide a suspenseful and fun journey through the set up cornfield. There also is an impressively large animatronic monster featured in the maze’s final scene. Some of the scarecrow masks and costuming could be more elaborate, as they look very similar to the Batman Scarecrow villain masks.

There actually seemed to have been too many monsters inside this maze. There were so many, not all of them could even hide. This is also a maze that is scariest when you go through it in a small group. If you end up in a line inside the maze, the scare factor diminishes significantly. Unless, you suffer from formidophobia.

Ratings:

  • Haunt Design: 3 Skulls
  • Scare Factor: 3 Skulls
  • Pulse Rating: +30

Virus Z: A small town is overrun by infected cannibals, zombies and blood-thirsty corpses.

Last year this maze was one of the best. This year it was lame. We guess it hit the sophomore slump, which we’ve seen before with other mazes, such as Cornstalkers and Lockdown. While it still has a very impressive set and some of the better make up effects,  the monsters were low energy and lazy. We even missed the vending machine zombie who scared the mess out of us last year. The best scene of this maze is the office set, where we found the monsters with the most energy lurking in the cubicles. The other problem with this maze is that it has many large open areas, so it is harder to get scared. Coupled with lazy monsters and it becomes an instant bore. Next year, they need to create tighter walkways and give the monsters some vitamin B12 before this maze’s rating becomes a buried skull.

Ratings:

  • Haunt Design: 3.5 Skulls
  • Scare Factor: 1.5 Skulls
  • Pulse Rating: +6

Fallout Shelter: Where the insane residents haven’t seen the sun since the Atomic Age.

There was a slight improvement to this maze over last year’s version. Once again, we were the only ones inside, so we received the monsters’ full attention. This maze does have some extraordinary animatronic props, and it’s very claustrophobic in sections. The problem with Fallout Shelter is that the story isn’t coherent and the theme is hard to get. In addition, it’s considered a 3D maze, but the 3D effects are minimal, so it’s hard to tell if there was anything that was really supposed to be in 3D. If anything, the 3D glasses merely cause a sense of disorientation, which makes everything a bit fuzzy and actually does contribute to the fear. But if this maze does return next year, we’d like to see some more props and a bit more 3D effects.

Ratings:

  • Haunt Design: 3 Skulls
  • Scare Factor: 2.5 Skulls
  • Pulse Rating: +24

Sleepy Hollow Mountain: Travel thought the dark woods of Sleepy Hollow featuring the legendary headless horseman along with ghosts, ghouls, witches and goblins.

This is a haunt layover on Knott’s famous Timber Mountain Log Ride. This was a little better than last year, when it debuted. The potential for this attraction is great, but it still falls short. It still has the problem of having very few monsters. In the past haunt versions of the log ride, we remember there being many more monsters attacking from the sides of the waterways. On the final lift hill where there are a lot of great places for monsters to pop out, it just never happened. It didn’t happen last year either. We do wonder if CAL OSHA, which has been much stricter on theme parks in recent years, has had any impact on where monsters can be inside the ride.

There are some great looking set pieces, and the mountain’s atmosphere helps to sustain the ride, but at the end of the night, the effect of a good haunt is lost without the presence of monsters terrorizing us through out the ride.

Ratings:

  • Haunt Design: 3.5 Skulls
  • Scare Factor: 2 Skulls
  • Pulse Rating: +18

Endgames: Warriors of the Apocalypse: The world as we know it has ended.  The survivors in this barren desert have scavenged to rebuild society.  The rich and the powerful have turned all others into slaves for sport.  Enter the post apocalyptic arena where gladiators are forced to battle to their deaths for entertainment.  Are you game?

A new maze for 2011, Endgames was inspired (loosely) by the Hunger Games book series. Most of the maze has a standard post-apocalyptic, industrial feel with a bit of gore mixed in, but the twist to this maze is the addition of video screens throughout. The screens show live feeds of people walking through other parts of the mazes, which would be a great way to heighten the suspense…if those other people were getting scared. Crowds were light on the night we attended, so there wasn’t much action on the video screens. The feed is also streamed live on the Internet, but the live feed is filled with commercials, so if you have friends watching for you in the maze, they might miss you. But we do appreciate the addition of the interactive video effect. We see some potential in this maze as the years progress. Overall, we didn’t find it to be too scary, but the sets were pretty detailed and interesting.

Ratings:

  • Haunt Design: 3.5 Skulls
  • Scare Factor: 2.5 Skulls
  • Pulse Rating: +18

Invasion Beneath: LIVE FROM KNOTT’S BERRY FARM: Details are sketchy but eyewitnesses report that the Calico Mine Ride has been invaded by creatures of unknown origin through a large fissure in the earth’s core.  The creatures posses advanced weaponry and are extremely hostile.  The military has just infiltrated the mountain to try and rescue the survivors and combat the violent attacks.  Stay tuned…

Every time the Mine Ride gets a new theme, we get excited. We remember the old days when the Calico Mine Ride was one of the scariest Haunt attractions, and we hope that a new theme will inject new life into an old favorite for us. Sadly, for at least the past decade, the Mine Ride has not been scary, and 2011 is no exception. The new theme is simply confusing. There are monsters in military fatigues and machine guns. There is evidence of aliens who, to our frustration, never really materialize (imagine how awesome it be to really deck out the Mine Ride with some seriously creepy aliens?). There’s also a scene with three giant grim reapers that does not seem to fit with the theme at all. (Someone didn’t get the memo that Cavern of Lost Souls ended years ago.) Like the log ride, this attraction also lacks the number of monsters needed to make it scary. Again, we suspect that the small spaces between the mine train and the walls are probably an occupational hazard for monsters, and that’s why we don’t see them in there anymore. Despite this year’s disappointing theme, we won’t give up hope for the Mine Train. We know it has the potential to be great. We’ll keep waiting.

Ratings:

  • Haunt Design: 1.5 Skulls
  • Scare Factor: 1.5 Skulls
  • Pulse Rating: +9

SCARE ZONES

Ghost Town: This is a Knott’s classic, and walking through the fog-filled streets doesn’t stop being a nerve-wracking  good time!

  • Scare Factor: 4 Skulls
  • Pulse Rating: +32

 

 

Carnevil: Some disturbing antics from the Crazy Killer Clowns who are on the loose in the streets. These guys are fun and not very scary, but they are engaging with guests and full of pranks. These are also some of the biggest hams and will eagerly pose for your pictures.

  • Scare Factor: 1.5 Skulls
  • Pulse Rating: +2

 

The Necropolis: This is the newest scare zone, premiering last year.  It features Victorian Steampunk vampires in the most elaborate costumes of all the scare zones. This year, the monsters were much scarier, and it was an improved experience over the first year. The monsters were even scaring people who dared to look down to text or who were walking out of the bathrooms (then having to go back in).

  • Scare Factor: 3 Skulls
  • Pulse Rating: +24

Shows

Ed Alonzo’s Psycho Circus of the Bizarre: The Misfit of Magic brings slight-of- hand, slight-of-mouth and slight-of-mind to this insane, psycho-sensory, twisted production.

This was the only show we stopped to watch, and we’re glad we did. It was very entertaining. We found ourselves wishing the show were actually longer so that we could see more of Ed’s magic tricks. His humor was a bit corny, but it worked. There were a few too many “dance” numbers. If they could replace the dancing with more magic, this show would be awesome. Definitely stop in to see this show if you have the time.

Overall Scare Zone Rating for Knott’s Scary Farm: 3.5 Skulls

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