Are You Ready to Rock?

Busch Gardens Tampa Bay has updated their Howl-O-Scream splash page with a teaser image for 2010 and the note: "Howl-O-Scream Is Gonna Rock!"

While we're not sure what this means for this year's theme, it at least seems better than last year's mascots: bored-looking vampire models.

Meanwhile, Williamsburg's Howl-O-Scream page claims a new "spooky" site will be up in June. We'll be checking back...

Reign of Terror creator Bruce Stanton featured on HauntCast

Bruce Stanton, creator of the excellent home-to-commercial haunt Reign of Terror, located in Thousand Oaks, California, is the featured guest on the April 2010 episode of HauntCast, the podcast for "haunters and Halloween fanatics."

Bruce talks about taking his haunt from his house, to a community center, and then to a busy mall, as well as the difficulty in opening a commercial haunt in the somewhat oversaturated haunt market of Southern California. (Although we would like to be the first to say that there can never be TOO many haunts in Southern California.)

We had the chance to visit Reign of Terror in 2009, and it was great! So much attention to detail, great scares, and great animatronics. The haunt was long—there were so many rooms, we lost count. And 2010 promises to be even better: Their Web site says they're planning to add 6 to 8 more rooms "with all new scares throughout."

2010's theme: Asylum for the Criminally Insane! And if any community needs an asylum, it's Thousand Oaks. Trust us, we've been there. Oh, how we've been there.

Here are a couple of pictures from last year's facade:

Ready For Freddy?

Tomorrow Freddy returns to the stalk victims in the remake of A Nightmare of Elm Street. So far reviews have been positive about this remake giving credit to Jack Healy who is now playing the man of our dreams.

If you can remember, Freddy's maze at Universal Studios Hollywood and Orlando proved to be one of the funnest and scariest mazes during those years. Here's a nightmarish flashback of Freddy's terror at Universal's haunts.

A Nightmare on Elm Street: Freddy's Nightmare (Hollywood 2007 & 2008)




A Nightmare on Elm Street: Dreamwalkers (Orlando 2007)

HHN Hollywood Updates

There have been some updates from our friend John Murdy, Creative Director of HHN at Universal Hollywood. He says that the last deal has been closed and now all the maze themes are locked in. No official announcements as to what we can expect will be made until June. He was asked if they will increase the number of mazes and his reply is that they have to go for quality over quantity as space they can use is limited.

In the meanwhile, Universal's House of Horrors is undergoing some upgrades that will include sets with an added Horror icon, and a lot of audio/lighting enhancements for the scareactors. The upgrade is expected to be completed by Mid May.

This all is promising news and hopefully HHN Hollywood can add at least one additional maze to their 2010 slate. We expect that Saw and Halloween will return in some fashion but don't expect for My Bloody Valentine to have a sequel. Of course, they may take a lead from Orlando and start with a completely new slate of terrors which also would be welcomed.

More to come...

Hitchhiking Ghosts Come Home

Here's an inspired yard haunt for all you haunt stalkers in So Cal to look forward to this year. Located not far from the orginal Haunted Mansion at Disneyland (a Scare Zone favorite) in Trabuco Canyon, Ca; this haunt looks like a fun and "not so scary" tribute to the Disney classic. Oh, when you go "don't forget your death certificate"!

The Haunted Mansion Haunt
Ever wish you could ride the famous Haunted Mansion attraction at Disneyland with a scarrier tone? For a few nights in October we transform our house into the Haunted Mansion with all the characters and effects you absolutely love! While all the Nightmare Before Christmas characters invade the real Mansion, the happy haunts are delighted to come visit us in October. During the walk through there will be appearances from Madame Leota, The Singing Busts, Little Leota, and MUCH MUCH more. Full sized jumping Animatronic figures and live actors are present. Mansion fans just can't get enough of this event!!! The best part, it's free with KING SIZED candy bars available for the first 30 children. Last year we had over 1500 people show up on October 31st and it was a blast! Small children might get spooked out by the enhanced haunted mansion soundtrack which creates loud lightning sound effects and bright strobe lighting. Hurry Back....... and check out our collection of pictures and videos!

2010 OPERATING HOURS AND DATES:

WALK THROUGH: 6 P.M. - 11 P.M. October 29, 30, and 31st Extended Hours if Necessary
MILLWOOD RD.
TRABUCO CANYON, CA 92679

Website: http://www.myspace.com/hauntedmansionhaunt

A Look Inside Fallout Shelter at Knott's

Westcoaster has put up some GREAT photos from Knott's West Coast Bash. Knott's revealed more detailed art for its newest maze, Fallout Shelter:

You can see plenty of hiding places in the "Barracks," and we can already imagine monsters hiding within the bunk beds, arms reaching out.

Some aliens, some nuclear war, what more could you want? (Although Alien Annihilation kind of sucked, Alien Attack was a great maze, so the alien theme really can be scary.) 

We can't wait to hear what the next maze will be. Halloween Haunt begins in less than 6 months!

Click here for even MORE photos!

Monsterpalooza: April 9-11, 2010

If you're in the Los Angeles area and looking for a little bit of horror, haunts, or Halloween this weekend, check out Monsterpalooza at the Marriott Burbank Convention Center.

It's really centered around horror makeup and sculpture, and we don't expect anything particularly haunt-related, but it should be a good time. If you're into doing your own makeup on Halloween or creating your own props, you might find this interesting.

Events include demonstrations, live bands, vendors, a walk-through museum, and more.

http://www.rubberroom101.com/monsterpalooza2010/index.html

More Concept Art From Knott's

Knott's is really leading the pack when it comes to releasing teasers for their 2010 haunt. Last week, they released artwork for their new maze, Fallout Shelter (replacing Alien Annihilation).

6 Feet Under the Boardwalk

The Santa Cruz Broadwalk is a famous Northern California vacation spot and home to some classic horrors. You might also remember those Lost Boys who hung out there in the 80s'. Now the Boardwalk is in the process of updating one of their most famous attractions The Haunted Castle. The terror comes back to death this summer. The new ride system is described as being a classic dark ride without any shooting guns with 4-passenger cars, that may have some doombuggy style action.The Castle is going to be two stories tall, starting on the boardwalk level and then spiraling down into the terrors below on a floor underground to the beach level.

This upgrade also seems to offer more scares with state of the art animatronics and effects.
It's been reported that the rotating cars will begin your journey by traveling backwards down a creepy “tower spiral” section of track to the basement level. At the bottom, the cars will quickly spin around forward where you will encounter the first of many new surprises. Other scenes to expect include a trip through the Royal Kitchen / Banquet, Wine Cellar, Ghastly Caves, a Murky Swamp, a Torture Chamber / Dungeon area, a crypt full of coffins, a castle “furnace” scene and possibly some kind of scene of the underworld.

Sounds fun, so we'll see you in Santa Cruz this summer... 6ft under the boardwalk and beyond!

Here are a few videos with a look at the old ride and previews of the new one.

More Knott's Scary Farm News

R.I.P. Alien Annihilation, here comes FALLOUT SHELTER!


Over the weekend, Knott's announced the first new maze concept for 2010: Fallout Shelter. This maze will replace Alien Annihilation, their half-maze, half-laser tag offering. No details were given about the concept, but they provided this tag line: 


"The denizens are insane, and they haven't seen the sun in decades. True terror in the atomic age."


This concept is bringing back (bad) memories of "Revenge of the Dead," "Industrial Evil," and "The Underground." Knott's has been free of the postapocalyptic-themed maze for a while, so we suppose it was only a matter of time before that theme reappeared. No word as to whether laser guns will be involved in this maze. We hope not. 


We've heard that 2009 was the last year of Doll Factory, so we expect another new maze to be announced in the coming months. Also, it's about time Pyromaniax got a new theme. The log ride has a lot of potential, but Pyromaniax has been one of the worst mazes in the park over the past 2 years. We hope that with Universal's event building steam, Knott's will consider stepping up their game this year and add bigger and better concepts, and perhaps more innovative scares. We can't wait to find out!


Here's a video of Alien Annihilation, for old times' sake:

Knott's Halloween Haunt 2010: New Scare Zone Announced

Last month, Knott's revealed that the Gauntlet scare zone (located in Camp Snoopy) would be laid to rest this year and would be replaced by a steam punk–themed scare zone for 2010. They released a couple of early sketches of the costumes on Twitter. Today, Knott's announced the name of the new scare zone: NECROPOLIS!

They describe the scare zone as "Necropolis: the city of the dead where the fuel for their hideous machines is your very blood." Dun dun dun! We're scared. Well, not yet. We're still not sure if steam punk can actually be scary. But we're excited to be getting some Haunt news this early in the year, and we know that if anyone can make it scary, it's Universal! Err...I mean Knott's!

L.A. Haunted Hayride to Return in 2010

According to their Facebook page, the Los Angeles Haunted Hayride will be returning in 2010 for their second year. They claim that "big news" will be coming soon and that 2010 will feature new designs. We're excited to hear what this big news might be. We're hoping maybe an expansion of the hayride or an addition of a haunted house/maze. They certainly have the room for it on the grounds.

We attended in 2009 and were impressed by the event overall, given that it was their first year. They were pretty organized, and the sets were cool. Overall, we didn't think it was too scary, but it takes a lot to scare us these days. The price was a little steep ($25 Thurs-Sun), but if they added a maze or something else to that price, it might be worth it.

The location can't be beat, though. It really is in spooky ranch area, or at least as "ranch" as you can get just off the 101 freeway. And given that L.A. has no other haunted hayride, their lack of competition should really allow this event to grow. We'll keep you posted when we hear more about what they're planning for 2010.

In the meantime, check out some video from last year:

Early Rumors for HHN Orlando 2010

So we've got a few rumors circulating around the Internet regarding Halloween Horror Nights in Orlando. 2010 is an anniversary year (20 years, or "XX"), and of course that means a most likely "best of" theme this year. We hear the most popular icons will be back to host, as well as the possible return of some of the most popular mazes. (We're partial to Superstitions from 2001, mostly because of the hallucinogenic properties of a certain cocktail called "Eddie's Revenge". Don't ask.)

But really, didn't they already do this sort of thing back in 2006, with their "Sweet 16" theme? Exhibit A:

Other rumors include themed queues, expanded scare zones, and even more mazes (the most likely seems to be 10 mazes). (Side note: Those of us on the West Coast have our fingers crossed that HHN Hollywood expands their event this year to include more mazes as well.)

Finally, the new site HHN Rumors has a copy of a trademark renewal application for "Festival of the Dead." We at the Scare Zone have not seen this parade, but the word is that it wasn't that great. Maybe they're just protecting their intellectual property, but only time will tell if this is brought back. Be sure to check out HHN Rumors. It'll be a great site to watch for future updates about HHN Orlando.