Scare Zone’s Haunt Rankings: 2010

Well, the 2010 season is over, so it’s time to rank our favorites! 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, please note that we’re ranking only those attractions we visited this year in the Southern California area only. There are a LOT of great haunts out there, but we just couldn’t get to them all. For a list of the places we visited and to read our full reviews, please click here.

Now, on to the list!

M. Leota’s 2010 Haunt Rankings

Best Sets/Props/Atmosphere:

1. Reign of Terror (Thousand Oaks)

2. Nightmare on Elm Street: Never Sleep Again (HHN Hollywood)

3. Haunted Hotel (San Diego)

Best Theming (consistent story/setting):

1. House of 1000 Corpses (HHN Hollywood)

2. Terror of London (Knott’s Scary Farm)

3. Submerged (Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor)

Best Individual Scene in a Maze:

1. Lighted hallway in Reign of Terror (Thousand Oaks)

2. Subway scene in Haunted Hotel (San Diego)

3.  School bus scene at the Haunted Trail of Balboa Park (San Diego)

Scariest Maze:

1. Friday the 13th: Kill Jason Kill (HHN Hollywood)

2. Theatre 68 (Hollywood)

3. Nightmare on Elm Street: Never Sleep Again (HHN Hollywood)

Best Scare-Actors:

1. Containment (Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor)

2. Friday the 13th: Kill Jason Kill (HHN Hollywood)

3. Theatre 68 (Hollywood)

Best Scare Zone:

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

2. Tie: Necropolis (Knott’s Scary Farm)/Klownz (HHN Hollywood)

3. Hell’s Bell Tower (Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor)

Best Maze Name:

1. Uncle Bobo’s Big Top of the Bizarre (Knott’s Scary Farm)

2. Friday the 13th: Kill Jason Kill (HHN Hollywood)

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

Best Value:

1. Theatre 68 ($10, or $9 with a canned good)

2. Knott’s Scary Farm (13 mazes for only $32 on certain nights)

3. Halloween Horror Nights Killer Deals Nights Pass ($59 for 9 nights)

Most Unique Experience:

1. The Cage (Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor)

2. The Haunted Trail of Balboa Park (San Diego)

3. Theatre 68 (Hollywood)

Best New Maze for 2010:

1. The Cage (Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor)

2. Submerged (Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor)

3. Virus Z (Knott’s Scary Farm)

Most Improved Maze (compared with  2009):

1. Cornstalkers (Knott’s Scary Farm)

[No others worth listing.]

Best Overall Maze of 2010:

1. Friday the 13th: Kill Jason Kill (HHN Hollywood)

2. Theatre 68 (Hollywood)

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

Best Overall Haunt of 2010:

1. Halloween Horror Nights, Hollywood

2. Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor

3. Theatre 68

 

Matt E. Horn’s 2010 Haunt Rankings

Best Sets/Props/Atmosphere:

1. Reign of Terror (Thousand Oaks)

2. Submerged (Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor)

3. House of Horrors (The Scream Zone at Del Mar Fairgrounds)

Best Theming (consistent story/setting):

1. Submerged (Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor)

2. Friday the 13th: Kill Jason Kill (HHN Hollywood)

3. Virus Z (Knott’s Scary Farm) 

Best Individual Scene in a Maze:

1. Subway scene in Haunted Hotel (San Diego)

2. Freddy school bus scene at the Haunted Trail of Balboa Park (San Diego)

3.  Stretching Hallway (Theatre 68)

Scariest Maze:

1. The Haunted Trail of Balboa Park (San Diego)

 2. Friday the 13th: Kill Jason Kill (HHN Hollywood)

3. Nightmare on Elm Street: Never Sleep Again (HHN Hollywood)

Best Scare-Actors:

1. Nightmare on Elm Street: Never Sleep Again (HHN Hollywood)

2. Theatre 68 (Hollywood)

3. House of Horrors (The Scream Zone at Del Mar Fairgrounds)

Best Scare Zone:

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

2. Hell’s Bell Tower (Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor)

3. Lunaticz (HHN Hollywood)

Best Maze Name:

1. Submerged (Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor)

2. Cornstalkers (Knott’s Scary Farm)

3. Friday the 13th: Kill Jason Kill (HHN Hollywood)

Best Value:

1. Knott’s Scary Farm (13 mazes for only $32 on certain nights)

2. Theatre 68 ($10, or $9 with a canned good)

3. Halloween Horror Nights Killer Deals Nights Pass ($59 for 9 nights)

Most Unique Experience:

1. Theatre 68 (Hollywood)  The Cage (Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor)

2. The Cage (Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor)

3. The Haunted Trail of Balboa Park (San Diego)

 Best New Maze for 2010:

1.  Submerged (Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor)

2. The Cage (Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor)

3. Virus Z (Knott’s Scary Farm)

Most Improved Maze (compared with  2009):

1. Cornstalkers (Knott’s Scary Farm)

2. Terror of London (Knott’s Scary Farm)

3. A Nightmare on Elm St.  (HHN Hollywood -compared to 2008 ‘Nightmare’ maze)

Best Overall Maze of 2010:

1. The Haunted Trail of Balboa Park (San Diego)

2. Friday the 13th: Kill Jason Kill (HHN Hollywood)

3. Submerged (Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor)

Best Overall Haunt of 2010:

1. Halloween Horror Nights, Hollywood

2. Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor

3. Theatre 68

Overall Assessment of 2010: It was really a great year for haunts! We were completely impressed by the reinvention of the Queen Mary’s Halloween event, and that visit was definitely a highlight for us this year. We also really liked the Haunted Trail, which took us from unique scene to unique scene on an outdoor trail throughout a park. Although we were initially skeptical of the return of the Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street mazes to HHN, we found them to be completely terrifying and two of the scariest mazes we went through all year. Finally, our visit to Theatre 68 was the perfect ending to our haunt season–you MUST get to this attraction! It has so many surprises and a lot of unique effects.

As for the bad: Knott’s really needs to step it up in 2011. They’ve been the rulers of Southern California haunted attractions for decades, but what they’re offering is no longer scary or unique. They still resort mostly to the same “monster around the corner” scare, and with increasing competition from HHN and Queen Mary, Knott’s can no longer rest on its reputation. We think Virus Z was a step in the right direction. We hope to see more elaborate sets like that. But most importantly, we hope they reevaluate their scare techniques, because we can see them coming from a mile away.

Also, our readers know we complained a lot about the crowd control issues at Universal. Man, that place was PACKED all month long! We hope they reconsider the way they process their multi-nights pass, as it took us almost 1.5 hours just to get in the park on the first night. They also may need to increase ticket prices and decrease the number of people they let in, as well as add a couple more mazes/attractions AND additional nights (like Thursdays and Sundays). We hope their impressive ticket sales this year leads to expansion in 2011.

We’re counting down to 2011 and can’t wait to see what all the haunts have in store for us. Scare Zone hopes to do more traveling next year…perhaps Florida, Pennsylvania, or Texas. Stay tuned for all the latest haunt news and rumors throughout the year!

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