CORNSTALKERS – ULTIMATEHAUNT.COM 2008 MAZE OF THE YEAR
For the past nine Octobers, Ultimatehaunt.com has provided an opportunity for you (the fellow fan) to vote for your favorite maze at Knott’s Scary Farm each season. Every year it is incredibly interesting to see what maze rises to the forefront and makes an impact on Knott’s Halloween Haunt history. For 2008, it was such a close race between two mazes that the race continued up to the very last day of voting. The majority of you voted for Cornstalkers and many of you voted for Quarantine, as the latter came in a close second. We personally thought at the beginning of the season that Quarantine would have run away with it – but we did indicate that Cornstalkers was a dark horse and as it turned out, it indeed was! We have thought about this for quite some time to analyze why Cornstalkers was voted for the Ultimatehaunt.com Maze of the Year. We will provide you some of our thoughts as well as share some thoughts from your fellow fans. For starters, looking back the past several years, the majority of mazes that have been voted “Maze of the Year” have indeed been “scare-based” (i.e., themes based on more of a serious subject matter). Since Ultimatehaunt.com has provided the polling for your vote for maze of the year (beginning in 2000), all but two mazes have been scare-based: In 2007 was Doll Factory, which was definitely based around the scare (a serial killer’s factory turning humans into dolls); 2006 was The Grudge 2 was based around the movies “The Grudge” and “The Grudge 2” and serious in nature (a classic haunted house story); 2005 was 13 Axe Murder Manor (again, a classic haunted house story); 2003 and 2004 was the Asylum (you can’t much more serious and scare-based than a murderous asylum) and 2002 was Curse of the Spider (for many, the fear of spiders is very serious). The remaining two years (2001 and 2000) were for Malice in Wunderland and Carnival of Carnivorous Clowns in 3D (respectively) and both those mazes were based on a “good-gone-bad” concept (and were the first two mazes that were presented in 3D at Knott’s Scary Farm….something else to keep in mind). Now we have Cornstalkers in 2008. Cornstalkers has continued the trend of a “scare-based” theme being your favorite maze. For now, let’s put aside the light references to Wizard of Oz because they were practically non-existent in our opinion. More on that in a bit… Cornstalkers appeared to provide a serious “creep-out” factor for many people. There is something to be said about going through unusually tight walkways of corn with very light audio/musical soundtrack and primarily just the sounds of crows. The carefully positioned scare-crow monsters mixed with the fake scare-crow props within the cornstalks was definitely unsettling for many. It’s a very basic concept (that is not new) that relied on the idea of less is more. Now, technically speaking, was Cornstalkers a “good-gone-bad” theme? On the surface, it certainly sounded like it. The following is the official description: "'We’re not in Oz anymore.' Dorothy has returned to Kansas, but she is not alone. Race through the cursed cornfield to escape the evil minions of the Wicked Witch. You can try to click your heels but the only way you’re going home is stuffed with straw and impaled by the Cornstalkers". Based on the description, it certainly sounds as if this maze is going to be Wizard of Oz gone bad. However, it is our opinion that the actual execution of the design itself was more fear-based. At the beginning, we saw the Wicked Witch carrying Toto and inside the middle of the maze was a bizarre display of a Tin-Man. We also were apparently caught in the wind storm….but other than that, we didn’t really notice too many clear-cut references to the Wizard of Oz (pardon us if more references were present in the maze – we just didn’t really catch them if they indeed existed). It appeared that the actual heart of the maze was within the cornstalks themselves (rightfully so). Yes, there was the barn toward the beginning and the large pumpkin thing(?) toward the end, but it’s our opinion that the true guts of the maze were indeed within the cornstalk walkways. The cornstalk walkways were where the true anticipation and scares were set-up to be. With all of this said, although on paper, Cornstalkers may have been a good-gone-bad theme, the final demonstration was fear-based in our opinion. In other words, without the Wicked Witch and Tin-Man set-ups, this maze probably still would have just as well received. We could be way wrong, but that’s simply our opinion. Let’s hear what some of you had to say about it: “This one was my favorite. Creepy maze and a lot of talent.” “A group of 7 of us went Saturday night to the Haunt and the Cornstalkers is without a doubt the best show there. It was so scary and very, very good. I loved how long the maze was one could not tell who was real and who was not. I did a lot of screaming!” |
“Vampires are great, clowns are cool also, but when you deal with people turning into monsters due to a foreign substance (such as Pyromaniax and Quarantine) are kind of cliche', really overkilled. The Labyrinth was cool, reminds me of Redbeard's Revenge. Alien Annihilation...I wasn't all that impressed. Club Blood was awesome. But none can compare to Cornstalkers"
"The reason that this maze was so awesome, besides being unique, was that the exterior was made out of actual corn stalks, as well as portions of the path pretty darn tight. Despite the lack of The Wizard of Oz influence, which was not really needed, the way the maze was laid out really disorients the guests. The theme of the maze could have centered around killer scarecrows that killed the farmers and are hunting others, This is the only hard part of of determining the theme of this maze
As for the sets, monsters and the music...all were perfectly executed with surgical precision. As I said before, the cornstalks were the perfect element of the maze, making it hard for the guests to determine which scarecrow was real, or fake, thus throwing the guests into a state of paranoia. The monsters blended in with the surroundings thus increasing the scare factor to maximum overdrive, unlike other mazes which can often be predicted, since monsters in the other mazes have a specific area to cover. But in this maze, the gloves are off because you really can't figure where everything is. Monsters in this maze did not socialize with each other, and went all out in scaring the guests going through the maze. The music was very appropriate for this type of maze, reminds me of "Children of the Corn " series but with scarecrows as the children. They did not overdo it, thus exposing their location. The monsters used stealth, scouting out their prey, then scare the living hell out of them. These monsters ought to train the other monsters (except, of course, Black Widow's Cavern and Pyromaniax, which both have limited spaces for their monsters) in the art of stealth, and knowing when to find the right target for the perfect scare. Of the six new mazes, this one freaked me out the most. The only other one that slightly freaked me out was Quarantine. Alien Annihilation stunk, and the rest were too awesome to get scared. But Cornstalkers rules this year's Haunt for its theme (even it really didn't have to use The Wizard of Oz for its theme), uniqueness, using killer scarecrows as the monsters, which breaks the mold of traditional monsters, and being mostly an outdoor maze using natural products (cornstalks) as the maze walls. That, in itself , kind of consider this a 'green' maze. Sorry for the ecological humor. That's all I have to say. If anyone else has an opinion of this maze to consider this Maze of the Year.....step up to the plate.”
“ The maze was AMAZING. The monsters blended in so well, you couldn’t even see them. IT WAS GREAT!”
“Simple. But this maze was great!!”
“Overall, the set design was great. It goes to show, that it doesn't have to involve a tremendous amount of painstaking hours, with turning tunnels, walls, and out-of-this-world special effects, to make it truly terrifying. The actors were great, in the fact that they didn't really have to speak, or make any sounds; just a simple movement of a stalk of corn was enough to scare me. That mixed-in with the fact that you couldn't tell if the monsters were real or fake "until it was toooo late" also made it worth while. The line moved quickly and the maze itself ran rather smoothly as well. On a scale of 1-to-10, I gave it an overall 9.”
Another factor to keep in mind involving the success of Cornstalkers was the fact that it did not carry a ton of weight entering into the 2008 season. Most of the media attention was centered around Quarantine (which, was the right thing to do…since the movie world premiere took place at Knott’s Scary Farm). With little expectation and build-up to Cornstalkers, it appears that most people did not know what to expect going into the maze, which could have led them to be pleasantly surprised.
Some additional food for thought: Both Club Blood and Cornstalkers appeared at other Cedar Fair parks in the 2007 season prior to both of the particular themes being brought to Knott’s Berry Farm. However, upon reviewing video and photographs from the other parks, it appears that that the Knott’s Berry Farm versions of both mazes seemed to differ in several ways. Also, when you place Knott’s Scary Farm Halloween Haunt talent in these mazes they will simply be different (no, we’re not saying BETTER – just saying DIFFERENT) than talent located in other parts of the country. Did these factors make a difference on the overall impact that Cornstalkers had at Knott’s Scary Farm? Perhaps….the themes/concepts were at least tested out on audiences prior to coming to Knott’s Berry Farm. In other words, Cedar Fair could have taken the factors that worked with those mazes and kept those elements in mind while designing the Knott’s versions. Just something to keep in mind.
Also, one of the fan opinions above does make a good point: Nothing like Cornstalkers has appeared at Knott’s Scary Farm before. Knott’s has hosted movie mazes in the past (Grudge 2) and has hosted fantasy-based themes, vampire themes, etc. as well. However, in over three decades (going on four), Knott’s Scary Farm Halloween Haunt has not hosted a maze revolving around scarecrows. It is such a simple idea and to be honest, it’s surprising that the event did not have something like it before. However, based on your votes, it is a theme that stood out against the rest.
With that, we are pleased to provide you with a picture tribute to the 2008 Cornstalkers outlining some of the great scenes and characters in this fantastic maze. Many of the photographs were taken by our good “fiend”, John Kennedy, so we hope you enjoy them!
By the way, if you were disappointed that Cornstalkers was voted as the Ultimatehaunt.com 2008 Maze of the Year, it’s that much more important for you to vote! Every vote counts, especially when it’s a tight race like this year!
A HUGE congratulations go out to the monsters, talent, props, lighting, design, construction and all of the various departments that made Cornstalkers come to life. It is the blood, sweat and tears that these departments put forth in order for each of us to have a wonderfully frightful time! Thank you for your votes and enjoy the pictures!
