Knott's Halloween Haunt 2017 Part 2

* Voodoo



While much is the same from last year, the route of the maze is backwards with the swamp first and then the buildings. This one has a very unexpected scare with lighting, sound, and a good scare actor making an excellent jump scare. I'm used to seeing that at Universal, not at Knott's, so it's a sign of them changing their game and creating higher quality scares. The lighting is much more mysterious and creepy, filtering through the trees. The insde of the houses are basically the same. It's a basic culturally insensitive maze other than that. the scare actors on bungeeds are the only other impressive stunt. The snake at the end is pretty cheesy.

* Pumpkin Eater



Pumpkin Eater is a brand new maze that takes the traditional nursery rhyme and makes it creepy and murderous. He seems to skin people's faces or carve their faces like jack o'lanterns. Going inside pumpkin is an experience. The first couple encounters with the pumpkin guts hanging down from the ceiling are dry, but the last one is wet, making it feel just like real pumpkin guts. Very startling when you aren't expecting it. The pumpkin has tortured and dead people along its walls with projection effects to make it seem real. Afterwards is a creepy corn maze, a grinder full of people, and people filled pies in a smoky oven. It's the most unique concept I've seen in a while and it offered quite a few scares.

* Dark Ride



Dark Ride is also a new maze that takes you into a defunct carnival ride where something obviously went wrong what with the dead bodies. It's a fun mixture of obviously fake cheesy scares and something that feels truly wrong. The scary tree scene is pretty much stolen from the Snow White Ride. Other rooms include a haunted library, weird neon electrocultions, and a pretty impress (but damaged) giant dragon. The Danny Elfman-esque soundtrack helps as does the effect when the power briefly goes out, stalling the animatronics, the lights, and the music. It seems that ex-workers have turned it into their torture chamber. It's an interesting concept, but it's missing something.

* Shadow Lands



This lackluster maze is back as another culturally insensitive installment. Samurai aren't really scary even when they're dead. Neither are geishas with loud fans. The only interesting part is the stuttery spider walk (which is missed in the video) of a long haired ghost woman. Everything else is painfully awkward and simply not scary. It's just a step above from the cowboy mazes.