Knott’s, Forever Falling
By Haunted
June 3, 2013
Oh, how the mighty have fallen…is how I would have started
this article if Knott’s Scary Farm had not already fallen so far from grace in
the last few years, and by few, I mean the last decade or so. On Monday June 3rd
2013, Knott’s decided to release its first bit of information to the fans
on Halloween Haunt ‘13. They presented to Facebook and the die-hard fans, “Forevermore”,
designer Brooke Walters’ newest addition to the Haunt line-up of mazes. “Forevermore”
is an Edgar Allen Poe inspired maze described as a journey in
“the footsteps of the darkly
troubled writer Edgar Allan Poe through a nightmare conjured up by a modern
madman. Each of Poe's bloodsoaked and terror-filled tales will envelope you in
their insanity and horror...
Forevermore is gothic horror with a
modern day twist.” (Knott’s Scary Farm,
www.facebook.com).
Poe you say? Modern twist you say? I would say that FOX
Broadcasting Company execs are probably already gearing up for a lawsuit for
The
Following; if Knott’s were still relevant that is (
www.fox.com/the-following). Regardless,
I know that Universal Horror Nights Orlando is definitely laughing at the
audacity of Knott’s, who considers Orlando its biggest competition in lieu of
Hollywood, since Orlando has had a Poe themed maze in their 2011 season titled “Nevermore:
The Madness of Poe”. In point of fact, multiple haunted attractions and haunted
theme parks have already attempted this overdone and highly misunderstood
concept. Universal is joined by Busch Gardens' ‘Howl O’ Screams’ in Tampa, FL
with their maze “Nevermore”, along with Kansas City’s “The Chambers of Edgar
Allen Poe”, and Philadelphia’s “Haunted Poe”.
So how exactly is Walters’ “Forevermore”
considered to be the headliner this year at Knott’s’ 41
st Annual
Haunt?
Brooke Walters has become known for her flair for the gothic
and the Victorian; and not much else. Even her vampiric, post-apocalyptic street
zone, “Necropolis”, has Victorian highlights in its “steampunk” themed
costuming; a fashion aesthetic inspired by Victorian elegance and steam technology.
While in the description, the maze is said to have a modern twist, it says in
the same sentence that “Forevermore” is a “gothic horror”, so expect to see
some motifs that are consistent with Walters’ past designs.
Knott’s has been criticized in the past for being unoriginal
and repetitive, I find it hard to believe that the heads at Knott’s actually
think that “Forevermore” is going to be the maze that makes the 2013 season, as
all of Walters’ mazes have been viewed in the past. Not only is this maze’s
concept unoriginal, as previously asserted, but it’s not unique for Knott’s as
a whole. The past few years have seen gothic mazes “13 Axe Murder Manor”, “Doll
Factory”, “Terror of London”, “Dominion of the Dead”, and “Trick or Treat”,
three of which were designed by Walters. When is Knott’s going to grasp that
they need to take a step away from the gothic and the Victorian motifs
completely and stop borrowing from established material?
Another anticipated issue with this maze is the talent. Just
one year after the embarrassingly public and published, debacle with Knott’s’
icon character, “The Green Witch”, in which a talent verbally abused a guest,
we are presented with a maze that will assuredly have high verbal content. The
OC Weekly quoted the abused woman a saying,
“This is not what people are paying
for, to be insulted all night….It's like, you're bullied as a kid and now you
have to be bullied as an adult, too?....When did this become
acceptable?" (Woo, OC Weekly).
The park’s public response to last year’s incident was
“We have received a copy of this
letter and are investigating the situation. We do not condone this type of
behavior by our employees and will be reaching out to the guest regarding this
situation” (Woo, OC Weekly).
In all reality, all
the park did was allow their hundreds of talent to cyber-bully the guest online,
creating inappropriate memes with the guest’s personal photos off of her
Facebook page, issue a park-wide gag-order for only one night, and the
offending talent was not even suspended, let alone fired. Why Knott’s? Why
would you put out a literary inspired maze that will have guaranteed
talent-guest verbal interaction? More importantly, why would a corporation
allow this kind of abuse against their guests from their employees and expect
to succeed? I see a recipe “spelled” for disaster.
Now I know there will be those dedicated fans who will love
everything that Knott’s puts out this year, especially anything by Walters
since she is their star designer, and to them I say enjoy, but…even with last
years' 40th Anniversary bash, Knott’s’ bad reviews and lackluster
crowd numbers do not lie. Los Angeles Times’ Brady McDonald, famed Haunt
reviewer, stated that “the granddaddy of all Halloween theme park events has
gotten tired, old and complacent” and that “too much of Halloween Haunt
features recycled themes set in repurposed mazes with reused costumes”
(McDonald, LA Times). Knott’s has been on a slippery slope for quite some time,
and until some changes in power and an increase in innovative design occur, it
will continue that way….forevermore.
References
Woo, Michael. “Knott's Scary Farm Guest Claims
Monsters Harassed Her For Being Overweight”. OC Weekly. 19 Oct. 2012. Web. 3 June. 2013. http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/2012/10/knotts_scary_farm_guest_claim.php?page=2
