BUENA PARK – Elvira, Mistress of the Dark will be back, and four new attractions are joining the original theme park celebration of Halloween as well.
And, of course, there will be the usual hundreds of monsters lurking about Knott‘s Scary Farm’s man-made fog, trying to put a scare into the guests.
This will the 44th anniversary of the Halloween makeover of Knott’s Berry Farm, which will run on selected nights from Sept. 22 until Halloween.
Knott’s Scary Farm, also called the Halloween Haunt, began in 1973 with nine costumed monsters such as those from the “Munsters” and “Phantom of the Opera.” Over the years, the event has swelled in sophistication, size and popularity.
“The great thing about Haunt is we are finding innovative ways to plus-out the experience,” said Ken Parks, vice president of entertainment at Knott’s. “We’re looking at virtual reality and augmented reality. …
“But the one thing that makes us great is the basic (scare), and we never lose sight of that,” he said.
Thursday night, Knott‘s unveiled what this year’s Scary Farm will include.
One of the new mazes will take visitors to feudal Japan, where they will walk through an ancient Japanese temple and fend off demon samurais. Another will take guests through a bloody barn, filled with animals and a sadistic farmer and his sons.
Scary Farm’s most popular attraction, a maze called Black Ops: Infected, will move from Camp Snoopy to an even more expansive spot in the park to accommodate more people. But the objective remains the same: Visitors use laser blasters to battle a zombie apocalypse.
Elvira is back and will headline her own show, “Elvira’s Danse Macabre,” a masquerade-like dance and comedy horror review. For 35 years at Knott’s and on TV, Cassandra Peterson has played the sexy, playful character with a black bouffant wig and cleavage-showing gown.
There also will be the returning scare zones and other mazes.
“You’re going back and traveling to that Old West town, and you’re going to see the worst and most disgusting bandits found and the hairiest and scariest werewolves at Knott’s,” said Timothy “Gus” Krueger, a design specialist at Knott’s.
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