Homemade haunted houses surely have their charm, but to have the boo scared out of you, there's only one place to go -- Knott's Scary Farm in Southern California. This yearly affair from Knott's Berry Farm, transforms the park after hours into a scarefest with creatures of the night roaming around a darkly lit (and smoke machined) landscape.
In its 33rd year, Knott's Scary Farm really does the haunted theme park right. It features 12 haunted mazes with different themes (a couple of them are even in 3-D). To do this, they modify some of the sections of the park to create a truly gory and gratifying atmosphere. If you're a frequent visitor to Knott's Scary Farm, some of the mazes are familiar but you can never tire of medieval monsters, scary clowns or sexy vamps they have populating the park.
Of the new mazes this year, the best is 13 Murder Manor. It's located in a tucked away corner of Knott's where one of the most uneventful maze was last year. Expertly crafted, it has creepy rooms, undead inhabitants and some truly chilling sound effects. By far, the greatest addition to Knott's rich maze legacy.
Rounding out the Scary Farm experience are the exceptional shows put on throughout a given evening. Ed Alonzo returns yet again for a satisfying show of the macabre illusions and humor, while Festival of Freaks offers up the kind of carnival side show attraction rarely seen these days. Zamora the Torture King eats fire and pushes needles through his arm (and watch him dare you to take a picture of it on your Miss Electra a woman who allows electricity to be shot through her system who in turn shoots it back at the audience. This is great stuff and not to be missed.
The park also keeps many of their roller coasters running during Knott's Scary Farm and they're even more terrifying at night.
And finally, Knott's offers up "The Hanging," a yearly stage show that mixes current pop culture references with fun stunts as anybody and everybody who you hated during the previous year (from Tom Cruise to Britney Spears) get stabbed, shot at or thrown out windows leading up to the customary hanging of the most offensive offender. This year's theme, heavily skewered the Disney pantheon of characters while also taking a knock on Six Flags sagging bottom line. It's one of the nice things about to show to see an amusement park make fun of celebrity, itself and the theme park experience without having to apologize for it.
Expect the park to be packed this close to Halloween, but if you live in Southern California, Knott's Scary Farm, is the place to be. At some point, every theme park has tried to emulate this formula, but Knott's so far has been the place that gets it right year after bloody year.
For more information go to: www.knotts.com
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