Welcome to our review of Knott's Scary Farm 2024! Last weekend we got to experience 2 nights of Knott's Scary Farm which also included the Boofet and early entry on Friday. 

We've got video walkthroughs of most of the mazes and our general thoughts on this years event. We will be back multiple times this season to check out more of the shows and spend more time in the scarezones.

​Let's head into the fog. 

Let me just start with this. We absolutely loved Dark Entities. It was an extremely underrated maze that never really found it's footing with the general audience. I think a lot of that had to do with the location of the maze. 

For this new maze in the same location they have moved the entrance to the other side of the building so hopefully that will help visibility. Because this maze absolutely rocks. Gus Krueger has created an absolute masterpiece that will be remembered along with the other top tier mazes of the past decade like Trick or Treat, Dark Ride, Origins and Wax Works. There is so much to see in this maze and I still don't think we've seen it all. Can't wait to spend more time in this one. I do wish this had a more visible façade like Widows. But that's a minor quibble and is difficult due to the location. 

I absolutely loved this maze. Another Daniel Miller masterpiece that seemed to be the most popular maze of opening weekend. Due to the theme of this maze there are going to be some people who will never go through this maze (like my wife) or people who will go through with their eyes completely closed. And I think that adds to the creepy nature of this maze. 

I'm not afraid of spiders at all but I was even creeped out by this one. In the most excellent of ways. 

My second favorite maze from Knott's Scary Farm last year was maybe my second favorite maze of this year after Eight Fingers Nine. Dark Ride, which this replaced, is in my top 10 all time Knott's Scary Farm mazes and this is a more than worthy replacement, and again will go down as a classic maze of the past decade. 

I think this maze has only improved this year and was filled with talent around every corner. I really just want to sit in each of the theaters and people watch. That's an upcharge I would gladly pay for. 

This was my absolute favorite maze from any event in 2023 and despite a few very last minute changes this year it still is an amazing love letter to Knott's Scary Farm. They've added a few things this year and I hope that they continue to add in more props from various mazes throughout the life of this one. 

This is a maze that ties right into the nearby Goreing 20's scare zone and I absolutely love it. Not really "scary", just more of a creepy vibe maze that often gets overshadowed by some of the other new mazes. But it shouldn't. It's very fun. 

​Origins: The Curse of Calico – Pierce the veil of time and discover the secret of the evil fog that hangs over Knott's Scary Farm in Origins: The Curse of Calico. Unearth the sinister paranormal activity that plagues the town as Sarah Marshall is put on trial for her suspected crimes of witchcraft.

The prevailing opinion was that this was going to be the last year for Origins: The Curse of Calico. However they've decided to retire Bloodlines this year (more on that below). This maze still very much works and the story is absolutely spectacular. That said, I do believe next year will be the final year for this classic maze. 

What can we say about Wax Works. Like Cinema Slasher, this maze had some big shoes to fill replacing the classic Trick or Treat, but it did it very well. This has been one of our favorites since it debuted and we are sad to see it go. But also looking forward to what will be coming next year. 

Like Room 13, this maze is not really about jump scares or even large scenes, but it tells an awesome story and really gets inside your head, which is kind of the point. The storytelling narration works very well here and has some awesome payoffs in the second half of the maze. 

I'm going to be completely honest. This maze has never really worked for me. Unlike some of the amazing storytelling of mazes like Origins, Eight Fingers Nine and Mesmer, this one has always seemed convoluted to me. 

The first year of this maze they had a pre-show video playing in the queue which kind of tried to make it make sense, but it never did. They've also cut out the pre-show inside the maze itself, which doesn't help with the story. Still, there are some great effects in here and some really cool black and white scenes that I absolutely love. 

If Knott's Scary Farm is retiring a maze after only 3 seasons you know it's one that never quite worked, and this one definitely never did. 

It's sad too because this maze is absolutely gorgeous with some amazing scenes. The first year they tried to have a shooting maze which they quickly realized didn't work. Unfortunately instead of completely revamping the maze to remove the shooting "scenes" and updating the script, they kept it all there. And it makes zero sense to have non-vampires telling you to hurry when there's nothing going on. If they had revamped this maze to remove any part of the shooting scenes/script it could have worked. We want to love this maze. We just can't. 

Kudos to the crew who worked on this maze and the talent inside, they are giving it their all. But we won't be sad to see this one go. 

Admittedly over our 2 nights we didn't spend enough time in the scare zones, which we will be fixing on future visits. We did however catch the amazing slider show in The Gauntlet and spend some time in Carnevil which has had some awesome additions this season. 

The Hanging is always very hit and miss. You're going to have people who absolutely love it, you'll have people who say it's the worst one ever, or people like us who are kind of in the middle. 

It's a pop-culture show, and I'll be honest many of the references don't work for me, but that's the nature of a pop-culture show, not everybody is going to know every reference. 

That being said, they heavily leaned into the "Six Flags" merger and for me that was worth it. I did talk briefly with showrunner Jeff Tucker after the show and as always they're still tweaking things, which they will do until the end of the run.

​It's always fun to see the show opening weekend and then towards the end because it won't be the same show. 

We did not see any of the other shows (we will later) or the Elvira thing (which isn't a show at all we learned).

We won't bother with the Elvira "display" on future trips, we were over her 20 years ago and this year it just seems like a way to sell merchandise more than anything. 

Lastly, we did the Boofet on Friday and I have to say, for the price it really doesn't seem worth it this year. The food was decent, lots of yummy desserts, and as always getting early entry to the 4 backstage mazes is a plus. However, there was never a line for Bloodlines all weekend, Wax Works was pretty much a walk-on and after 11pm Eight Fingers Nine was short. The only backstage maze that seemed to get a line all night was Widows, but I think that was more due to technical issues. 

Even on Thursday night with all of the invited media, we did not have front of the line or early entry and we finished every maze by 11:00pm. So the early entry doesn't really even seem worth it unless it's a super busy night. 

It also seemed that many people thought the same thing, because the waiting area for early entry was not crowded like it was in previous years. 

It's Knott's Scary Farm. It's the original. It's amazing. And it's well worth your time to visit. The two new mazes are spectacular, Ghost Town is, well, Ghost Town and the other scare zones are unique and exciting. There is definitely enough here to fill up one or multiple nights of Halloween fun. 

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We have lots of pictures and video to share with you as well, including walk-throughs of all of the new mazes for 2024. 

If you'd like to check out the event overview (no review) that I posted on Thrillgeek, you can check that out here. 

Before I get into my thoughts on this years event I want to start with this. I know how much the creators of Fright Fest Extreme love this event. I've known them for years, some for 10-15 years. They absolutely love this event and want it to be as good as it can be. 

That being said ... 

We've said this in the past, but we're going to have to say it again. The event is too big. I realize Six Flags Magic Mountain is the EXTREME park, but you can be Extreme by creating a smaller footprint.

​I don't know where the decision came to add 3 new IP mazes and also keep every single maze that has been there for years, but I'm guessing it came from very high up. Just so they could say they have the most. I will say I was honestly shocked when they announced that all of the mazes were coming back at Midsummer Scream. 

Trick r' Treat: This maze/house was featured at Halloween Horror Nights in 2018, and to be honest, we weren't the biggest fans of it. I absolutely loved the version at Fright Fest. Easily my favorite maze of this years event. It has the heart and fun of Trick r' Treat with some great scares. Kudos to the team for this one, and for getting it built in record time. ​

Saw 20th Anniversary: Saw was featured at Fright Fest in 2023 and at Scream Break earlier this year. The maze features some of the same scenes as the earlier version, but has definitely been enhanced for Fright Fest Extreme. We all really enjoyed this one and it is highly recommended. 

The Conjuring Universe: Another maze that is a repeat from 2023 but that has been completely revamped and plussed for 2024. This maze was super fun, had some fantastic effects and great scares. If we had one thing to suggest for this one, the effects in the first room need to last a bit longer when a new group enters. By the time we got to see Annabelle, all of the "Conjuring" effects were done. 

Stranger Things: This was a real "get" for Fright Fest Extreme and Six Flags, and I was really looking forward to it. I will say that the "upside down" sections were fantastic. However, being that this was just featured at Halloween Horror Nights last year, the comparison has to be made. I think the rooms here are too large and there is a lot of dead space. There are some very inventive scares here but I hope that if they bring this back next year they tighten it up a bit and make it a bit longer. They have plenty of room in this warehouse to do so. 

Army of the Dead: Based on the Netflix movie of the same name, Army of the Dead takes up the first half of Aftermath 2 that has been at Fright Fest for a number of years. If you've done Aftermath you know what the first few scenes look like, but once you get into the "hotel" the maze really shines. Some fantastic scenes and some funny stuff in here. They did seem to have some issues with the maze throughout the weekend, hopefully they've gotten them resolved. 

Here's a quick rundown of the returning mazes, we all know what's there, but I definitely have some thoughts. 

​Willoughby's Resurrected: There was a new entrance this year, gone is the intro room where you had to walk down a few stairs, which is fine. Nothing new in here and a little light on scareactors. 

Sewer of Souls: Another returning maze that actually seemed to be much better this year. I don't think there were any changes in the maze itself, but this was packed with scareactors. 

Aftermath Nocturnal Hunt: I know the park is labeling this as a 'NEW' maze, but think of the second half of Aftermath 2, but reversed, and a few new twists and turns, and there you have it. 

Truth or Dare: Now in it's 3rd year, this really promising theme of a maze really doesn't deliver. We did do a video walkthrough of this maze, it was 4 minutes long, there were 4 total scareactors in the maze. 

Vault 666: I'll be honest, I've never been the biggest fan of this maze, and it doesn't really bare any resemblance to it's first iteration which was some Island of Dr. Moreau thing going on, and now it's just a mish-mash of things. It's well passed time to retire this maze. 

Condemned: They have abandoned the "house party" theme for Fright Fest and gone back to the original theme of the maze. I'm not sure why, but this is another maze that should be retired. 

Scare Zones are really where Fright Fest (Extreme or otherwise) has always shined. And this year is no different. 

New Scare Zones include: 
​

• Plaza de la Muerte – Step into the spectral celebration of Día de los Muertos, where vibrant colors blend with eerie shadows in an immersive dance of spirits and traditions.
• Underworlds of Oz – Journey through the dark side of Emerald City and the mystical realms of Oz, where twisted enchantments and ominous shadows consume the golden path, and the line between fantasy and nightmare blurs into a chilling adventure unlike any other.
• Grimmlore Ridge – Enter a chilling realm where fear takes root and grows wild, leaving the daunting calls of ravens and crows echoing through the twisted branches and shadowed alleyway.

And the classic returning scare zones including Nightmares, Devil's Triangle, City Under Siege, CarnivHELL, The Deadzone and Exile Hill. 

The question always comes down to "would you recommend this event", and this year the answer is yes. Despite a lack of scareactors in a few mazes and a few mazes that have been around for more than a few years too long, the event is always a blast. 

That being said ... 

Six Flags Magic Mountain is simply too big to have haunts and scare zones in every nook and cranny of the park. It's literally exhausting trying to get everything done in one night. I ran a 1/2 marathon the weekend before in the extreme heat and I was honestly more tired from Fright Fest than I was from that race.

Not only does having a large footprint for Fright Fest require an amount of scareactors that are simply not available in the busy Southern California Halloween market, it also requires makeup artists, costuming, line control staff, maze security and more. 

I would much rather them concentrate on QUALITY over QUANTITY. And for too long, they've been concentrating on quantity. 

If I was in charge this is how I would change Fright Fest in 2025. 

​The Willoughby's are a Fright Fest staple, and they should always be represented at the event. They are as classic to Magic Mountain as any of the parks classic coasters. That being said, Willoughby's Haunted Mansion needs a complete facelift. In fact, I would completely abandon the existing location and move it to where Vault 666 or Condemned are. 

In addition I would retire Sewer of Souls and Exile Hill. Meaning no haunts or scare zones up on the hill. 

Truth or Dare, Condemned, Aftermath and Vault 666 should be retired. If Trick r' Treat is coming back, let's give it a permanent location in the warehouse where Truth or Dare is. I'd love to see what they could do with that space and that IP. 

If Willoughby's is moved to Condemned, The Conjuring should be moved to the Vault 666 location. 

This means that instead of 11 mazes with varying levels of quality and some devoid of talent, you have 6 mazes (Saw, Trick r' Treat, The Conjuring, Stranger Things, Army of the Dead and Willoughby's) where you can move those resources to. All of your mazes are located from the front of the park to back near Apocalypse. No more Exile Hill and no maze near Tatsu. The only scarezone outside of that area would be Nightmares, which definitely should not ever leave. 

Lastly, abandon superfluous scare zones just for the sake of having "more than any other park". If you can't fill the scare zone with scareactors, it shouldn't exist. So while we loved the lighting of Grimmlore Ridge, it's simply not big enough and there weren't enough actors there. This also applies to The Deadzone. I'd much rather them concentrate on filling up the centralized scare zones with monsters than having 1 or 2 monsters in a scare zone. 

Have you visited Fright Fest Extreme this year? What were your thoughts? 

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