How about themes that didn’t make it to reality?

I have had some pretty whacked out ideas for themes. I can tell you about this and you’ll see why.

You quoted H.P. Lovecraft. I wanted to do something called Dementia. It was supposed to be a countdown maze for the millennia. In my mind it worked. We were going to do this countdown for a serial killer who would be killing to the countdown. There was more to it…with weird…..Well, I’m having a hard time describing it and that was what the problem was!

In my mind, I could draw it and eventually communicate it. It would have been [H.G.] Giger-ish and Lovecraft-ish with these god horrors who take over. I know, it sounds nuts! It sounds like I should be in the Asylum!

Anyway, that was my point…..I couldn’t sell it. It wasn’t like selling Hatchet High or something quick and easy to understand.

Some of these other maze themes...it’s a marvel they ever got made. Like how do you sell The Body maze? You can be attacked by Anti-bodies? It sounds so silly on paper. But I went through it as a kid and I actually kind of liked it. That obviously was one person (Tom Cluff) who had a straight and clear idea for the theme and wanted to do it and there wasn’t anyone tinkering with the concept.

There are a lot of themes that fall to the wasteland. We generally list 10-15 themes to consider each year. Some of them pop up to the surface and we’re like, “Whoa! That’s cool!” Things that maybe we’ll get to do in the future, like Killy Wonka or Dismalland, but probably not (primarily due to copyright issues). We want to be on safe legal ground.

It was actually kind of fun. Everyone gets a little star struck sometimes. We would have meetings with pretty big people: Sam Raimi, the director of Spiderman and Evil Dead. He was the Producer and also the American liaison to the Japanese Director of the "Grudge 2", who also directed the first "Grudge". That part of the project was really fun.

It was definitely a challenge to take a movie, which at that point we had only read the script, and design a maze around it. We didn’t see the movie until most of the maze was done. It was interesting.

I don’t think that people were originally sold on the idea for the maze. The idea was driven by Michelle Wischmeyer of Knott’s Berry Farm Public Relations. She received a call from Columbia Pictures/Sony Pictures. Sony was looking for a project with "Grudge 2". The first "Grudge" was pretty cool, in my opinion. Charles Bradshaw (Director of Entertainment) asked if it would make a good maze and I told him that she [Michelle Wischmeyer] should pursue it.

It started off with just talking with the studios and they initially weren’t sure about us and we weren’t sure about them. It was a big difference from what we are used to here because we had to convince another person/company on the idea for the maze.

Initially I was worried about the fact that this might suddenly come upon me and I wouldn’t be prepared. I took it upon myself to rearrange one of the floor plans that we were working on and re-do it to the Grudge 2 design; changing, not so much the layout, but changing the rooms (the props, etc.) and really work it out.

Then, the producers came out to talk to us, in sort of an initial meeting to see if this thing was viable. They were pretty impressed that we had a ground plan at the time. The reaction was great and they were really nice about the whole thing. We had the meeting and they really wanted it and they really wanted Knott’s to do this.

We negotiated to have the premiere here, which was a great move by Public Relations. Kudos to them! It was a fun event!

Artistically, of course there were limitations. I had to stick with what was scary in the "Grudge", which was the girl. In part two, there was a woman, Itako, who was the mother who had been force-feeding her daughter bad spirits. We had to get the scariest moments from both the first part and the sequel but make it look right.

Every step of the way we kept Sony in touch with what we were doing. We got to see an early print of the movie to help us. We got all of their artwork. In a lot of other ways, it was easier because we knew what it should look like.

That’s key to an art group: If they get excited about a project, they will work on it until it’s perfect...or near perfect.

For starters: Many people have asked about the current trend of the “good-gone-bad” themes present in the themes of the Haunt mazes. Many people feel that although some comedy relief may almost be necessary at the event as a whole, they feel that the good-gone-bad themes are relied upon too much recently and takes away from Knott’s Scary Farm actually being a frightening experience.

What is your reaction to this statement and what is your opinion regarding the recent onslaught of good-gone-bad themes?

Good-gone bad. I personally think there is a place at Haunt for good-gone-bad mazes. I think there should be a balance of good-gone-bad and scary, but I also personally believe the balance should be more scary that good-gone-bad.

It’s a balance we have to strive for. We want to try to do 25% “kitschy” mazes (we call them), which are not as dark, but more humorous or lighter and the remaining 75% we want scary and dark. We try for some kind of balance.

In some years, we find that we are a little too kitschy and need to draw ourselves back. We like to balance our scares and how everything works, globally throughout the park.

Sometimes we intend to be scary but it turns out to be a good-gone-bad (Like Feary Tales).Our full intent for that maze was to be scary but I think a lot of people look at it as a good-gone-bad theme.

Humor and horror are deeply engrained within each other. Some people cannot get scared unless they had a laugh right before, which we know and understand. That’s why I believe there is a need for that laugh. They are very closely connected psychologically. Humor catches you off guard and preps you for the scare.

Beyond that, I have to admit those themes are fun to design. As a designer, you get the most entertainment out of them. Now, I’m not saying that that is what shapes a maze, but it’s definitely something to be looked at.

There needs to be some tinge of humor. Asylum is one of our darkest mazes. But you have the Karen Carpenter Bulimic section and it’s funny, but you get scared because there are these creepy girls running around with vomit on themselves.

Another example is that there are a lot of funny things written on the Asylum walls. If you ever get a chance, go through just to see the painted details.

One factor is location vs. age. If we have to throw it away, we’re redoing the theme. The exception was the Asylum. We had to throw it away so we rebuilt it because we liked the theme. That is the primary factor on why a maze will leave.

We used to be on a schedule with three new mazes every year and all of the mazes were rotated every three or four years.

There are themes that fans, as well as us, simply love. Industrial Evil, Clowns, Vampires. I can almost say that Vampires will always be here. I can’t imagine the event without them.

If the theme tires out, that is another factor. Usually, if it’s a good theme, it will probably return. I’m sure you’ll see some of your favorite themes return.

As far as the future generally, I believe we will continue to be an industry leader in the scare and continue to strive for that.

Sure!

You are the ones who drive us. I try to make the scariest maze possible.

I am thinking about those of you reading this when designing a maze. I am thinking about the ultimate scariness and what would freak me out. I am thinking about the Haunt fan. I know the average guest will get freaked out by a shaker can. I want to be creeped out as the designer and I know you do as well and a shaker can isn’t always going to do that.

It’s the monster’s job to jump out and scare. My job is to leave you feeling hollowed out, scared and freaked...and hopefully give you nightmares for a long time to come.