THE HANGING
A staple of Knott’s Scary Farm since 1977, The Hanging has gone through many incarnations, and recently found a new home at this years haunt, but the show remains the same.  For the uninitiated, The Hanging is a lampoon of the past years most annoying media darlings, with the most (un?)worthy being symbolically hung at the shows finale.  This years show involves stunts, spurting blood, multiple jabs at the U.S.’s nightmarish crapfest of an election, and none of the candidates or former candidates is exempt, nor should they be, they created this circus, let them have their desserts…. Chewbacca mom, Charlie Sheen, Tarzan, Coachella hipsters, San Diego Comic Con (this place smells like Cheeto’s & virginitiy!), and everyone attempting to Catch’em All!

Without a hint of irony, I sat there collecting Pokeballs from the nearby Pokestop the whole show, even as they hung my beloved Pikachu as the finale.  Love something?  The Hanging as either lambasted it, or will get to it shortly…

ELVIRA’S DANSE MACABRE
his year’s Knott’s Scary Farm involves the return of an old (Hey! Whaddaya mean’old’?!) Hush, Elvira!) favourite…Elvira, Mistress of the Dark!  We were super lucky to catch the Halloween Queen’s second show and once again, the woman delivers her three trademarks…boobs and camp!  The opening video starts off showing Elvira on summer vacation, and her trials and tribulations of getting to the stage, including her ‘manager’, Old Nick, himself, in a fab shiny red suit, a cameo by none other than Retro King himself, Charles Phoenix (I knoooow)!  The show itself starts with a lively dress, a song by our Queen, and some talented dancers for “Elvira’s Danse Macabre”.  Three dance numbers, aerialists spinning on a giant chandelier, more aerialists on silks, a fire performer, Scary-Oke for a chance of sharing the stage with our Queen for a few moments and a shot at being a lucky victim of her snark…a killer show topped off with a poisonous cherry on top, aka The Hostess with the Mostest!

Elvira will be performing two shows a night for the run of Knott’s Scary Farm, and will be doing a signing after her first show across the way where her merch is being sold.

Unpleasant screams…

SCAREZONES

CARNEVIL
Synopsis: Knott’s Boardwalk is taken over by “CarnEvil”, where the freak show and countless clowns crave your undying attention. 

Thoughts: Depending on whether you are afraid of clowns or not this area will either be terrifying, comedic, or both.  The actors clearly have a lot of fun with their role and it makes for a fantastic zone with many different personalities emerging.

DEADLY 7
Synopsis:
 Prowling the darkest corners of Scary Farm’s midways and scare zones, the Green Witch and her Deadly 7 are a sadistic crew guilty of more terror than meets the eye.  Each of the monsters represent one of the seven deadly sins and makes terrifying surprise appearances throughout the park each night.

Thoughts: I was looking forward to seeing these particular scare actors, but unfortunately I never saw any of the seven deadly sins or the Green Witch during either of the nights I attended.

FIESTA DE LOS MUERTOS
Synopsis: Fiesta de los Muertos fuses dance music, colorful costumes, and larger than life stilt walkers in a dance party scare zone with even more characters than last year to create the ultimate late night celebration of Dia de los Muertos.

Thoughts: The Dia de los Muertos scare zone is festive and colorful with the skeleton faced actors roaming around.

GHOST TOWN STREETS
Synopsis: Ghost Town Streets is the original – and still more terrifying scare zone – that started it all.  Bands of half-human, half-animal monsters prowl the streets and inhabit the fog. Beware the notoriously startling Sliders who lunge from every fog-filled corner of the land. 

Thoughts: This is always my favorite scare zone, where the fog is heavy laden.  This is a must when you visit Scary Farm.

THE HOLLOW
Synopsis: From within the fog, the legendary Headless Horseman and his army of the undead are ready to unleash a reign of terror in the newest scare zone, The Hlalow.  Guests entering the frightful 6-acre area will be terrorized by the souls of fallen soldiers and local farmers that have escaped their shallow graves. 

Thoughts: This is a new scare zone for 2016.  I like that the location is much darker which allows for a scarier ambiance to it.  I think if there were some fog being pumped into the area it would be truly terrifying.  I definitely enjoyed the theming and the makeup in this zone.

Overall, Knott’s Scary Farm is an event you are going to want to make sure you get too.  It’s encapsulate the Halloween spirit in a way that so few haunts do now-a-days. Our advice would be to get a Front of the Line pass so that you can get through all the mazes and experience the Skeleton Key Rooms, just make note that the Skeleton Key Rooms can have quite a line so your best bet is to try and get to those first (along with Black Ops: Infected) before hitting up the mazes.  All of us who attended Knott’s Scary Farm had a fantastic time and we here at Nightmarish Conjurings definitely suggest you go during this Halloween season.

For more information on Knott’s Scary Farm, visit their website at www.knotts.com/scaryfarm and follow them on FacebookInstagram, and Twitter.

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