November 2, 2010 Steve Ahmad

Halloween 2010 Recap: Knott’s Scary Farm, Universal Studios Horror Nights, Weekend of Horrors, and More!

Don’t forget to click the images for Hi-Def resolution and the gallery below of even more Halloween carnage not seen throughout!

Reset your countdown calenders, shop Halloween clearance stores, and start preparing for next years Halloween. But before you get going, take a look at what our Halloween 2010 was like! Halloween time brings out the freaks in geeks. We were fortunate enough to visit Knott’s Scary Farm’s Halloween Haunt, their associated Scion Night event, Universal Studios Hollywood Halloween Horror Nights, Weekend Of Horrors convention, and a local Orange County resident that takes Halloween decorations to the next level.

Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park is notorious for its Knott’s Scary Farm Halloween Haunt. This year’s event ran on selected dates from September 24th to October 31st having had 13 mazes, 3 scare zones, and 7 shows for your entertainment. Slaughterhouse, Fallout Shelter, Lockdown-The Asylum, Club Blood, Terror of London, The Doll Factory, Dia De Los Muertos in 3D, Black Widow’s Cavern in the Mine Ride, Sleepy Hollow Mountain in the Log Ride, Uncle Bobo’s Bigtop of TV Bizarre in 3D, Virus Z, Cornstalkers, and Labyrinth encompassed the 13 mazes. The Hypno Chick, The Hanging, Blood Drums, Hacks! Die! Die! Die!, Zamora The Torture King, Inferno, and Ed Alanzo’s Psycho Circus were the sitting entertainment of Haunt nights. This was more than enough to keep patrons entertained for what the ticket prices go for.

This was the 38th Haunt since its start and probably one of the best. The mazes were true to their form. Plywood walls, gruesome props, and elaborate lights and sounds. Two mazes that stood out from the rest were Slaughterhouse and Dia De Los Muertos. Both had familiar characteristics and was portrayed well. Slaughterhouse had more butchers than a meat house and the maze even had places where you would be sprayed with water, making it seem that it was blood from some of the gruesome killings!

Dia De Los Muertos had the option to be seen in 3D and it was well worth the $1 charge for the pair. The maze had psychedelic themes and optical eluding parts that made you think twice where you were walking.

The shows were entertaining with daredevil fire acts, comedic magicians, drum circles of death, and more than meets the eyes! Traditionally the show to see was The Hanging, and at this year’s Hanging we got to see Justin Bieber fall victim to the corporate B.P. oil officials, Mike “The Situation”, “Snooki”, the A-Team, the Expendables, Katy Perry, Glee, and more with the Ghost Town sheriff running the show. The most important part to making this entire Haunt work was the talent. Street walkers, maze monsters, show performers, and vendors alike all make for the Haunt of a lifetime. The monsters earn what they get paid; minimum wage most likely and scares! Overall Knott’s Scary Farm was truly one of the best this year, but still contends firmly with Universal Studios Hollywood – Halloween Horror Nights.

Universal Studios Hollywood is well known for their production values being that they are an amusement park situated on and owned by a major movie studio. It is no wonder that they put on a great themed event; Halloween Horror Nights! As one would think, Universal Studios pulls all the tricks out of the hat and provides a visually stunning comprised event. With the movies SAW, A Nightmare On Elm Street, Friday the 13th, Rob Zombies – A House of a Thousand Corpses, the arsenal of Universal Studios graphic novel theme Vampyre: Castle of the Undead, and infamous child’s play killer Chucky on hand for an onslaught of 6 mazes, it’s no wonder that this event brings the hordes to come see what the grounds of an amusement park and the guns of a movie studio can bring together.

My favorite maze of the event would have to be the Chucky maze, since it includes a tram tour and a walk on maze of the different movie sets including War of the Worlds and Psycho. It’s like a hiking experience as we were given a tour on the tram, only to find out that we were kicked out and had to walk towards a creepy maze. Walking through the destruction of a neighborhood with a giant airline crashing is pretty cool, with corpses all around. We were able to walk through the woods while creatures were waiting in the shadows to scare us and walk through the Psycho set with a bunch of men dressed as Norm Baits mother wielding a knives. We went back onto the tour tram and watched a camera surveillance of Chucky causing more damage. In the end of the tour, we see Chucky doing his dance while hip hop music is playing.

The maze that was different from the rest would have to be Rob Zombies – A House of a Thousand Corpses. We were given 3D glasses, the red and blue kind, and let’s just say the maze was trippy inside. Everything looked surreal and felt like anything could pop out at any moment. Another interesting maze was the Saw maze. Inside the maze contained many memorable scenes from the movies, including Jigsaw in the bathroom laying down dead and bloodied victims locked up inside cages trying to free themselves. There was this one area where this girl was trying to free herself by sawing her arm off.

The Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street mazes were OK. Every room and corridor contained either Jason or Freddy popping out. At this point in the story, these famous monsters aren’t scary any more. They just look cool now, and last time I checked, cool isn’t scary. Overall Halloween Horror Nights was just as we thought, lots of money into the production and everything seen before coming to life. One thing that sets Universal Studios and Knott’s Berry Farms Halloween events apart is quality. They both offer the best in what they can provide. Universal had the money to provide stellar sets and costumes. Knott’s had the talent to bring out the freaks and give a good scare. So if you want to relive a horror film in real life or be creatively amazed by some great talent, then both would be great for next years Halloween calender!

Universal’s stage show to go see was the Bill and Ted’s Excellent Halloween Adventure. Bill and Ted tries to prevent their deaths and goes on a journey of pop-culture land and meets up with Antoine Dodson (Bed Intruder guy), Old Spice guy, Justin Beiber, Snooki and The Situation from Jersey Shore, Ari Gold from Entourage, the Prince of Persia, Aang from Airbender, B-Team, Glee, Iron Man, and more. It’s a very random skit with musical cues happening at random times with Enrique Iglesias, Lady Gaga, and Pitbull.

Weekend of Horrors convention held in Burbank, California, was another great event honoring the greats that encompass the horror film industry. The event showcased local artists, independent horror films, horror merchandise, actors. producers and directors in the industry.

Bruce Campbell from Army of Darkness, Norman Reedus from Blade 2 and Sean Patrick Flanery of SAW 3D, Adrienne King of Friday the 13th, Robert Z Dar of Maniac Cop, Ken Foree of Dawn Of The Dead, and many more were all present throughout the weekend event giving autographs and snapping pictures with guest.

The highlight of the weekend was no doubt the appearance of Bruce Campbell. His career stands on a pedestal for his work in the Evil Dead and Army of Darkness films. His appearance was great and he provided the audience with his witty humor, jerk-off humility, and uncanny way of making everything seem regrettable and well worth it!

The event in its entirety brought you back to some of the roots that has made horror cult films into what they are today. It was a great way to get into the swing of Halloween. It definitely brought some chilling memories back from movies past and present, and gave you a sense of how far the industry has come.

Finally we bring you the Timothy “Tim the Tool Man” Taylor of Orange County. While Southern California has its top-notch events to attend for Halloween themes, some people just find the best way is to do it themselves. Located in Santa Ana for the past several years, on the cross streets Santa Ana Ave and Wilson St., there is a house that goes above and beyond what the typical decorator will attempt. With vampires, mummies, dolls, witches, graveyards, fog machines, lights, cauldrons, skeletons, live talent, live music, spiders and more, this truly is the crème de la crème when it comes to cheap, home made entertainment!