The Scare Zone

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

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

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