Clowns have been a fixture at Knott's Halloween Haunt for years.  Killer clowns, to be exact - have been ruling their part of the Scary Farm with an iron fist (or rubber chicken), horrifying guests at every turn with everything from shaker cans to mini chainsaws.  With mazes such as Uncle Ernie's Madhouse and Carnival of Carnivorous Clowns, the Haunt has been home to these sinister sillies for a decade now, with their latest home being dubbed Killer Clown Kollege.  And yeah - it's been said so we'll repeat it - it's a great thing that Knott's didn't decide to spell "Clown" with a "K" - or else it would have gone down in Haunt infamy as KKK!

So here's where the deep meat is, folks...

Like the Vampires at Haunt, you either are totally into the Clowns, or you are not.  It's not that the talent is bad - in fact, over the years, the clown mazes have spawned some of the greatest recent talent the Scary Farm has ever known.  It's the fact that there are lots of people out there - many of us here at Theme Park Adventure as well - that simply do not like "funny" Haunt mazes; never have, never will.  The downside to that, is that anti-fans of "fun" mazes go in to something like Killer Clown Kollege already with a bad taste in their mouth.  So in the case of KCK, the talent has to work extra hard to impress a lot of guests.  If the clowns are so-so or even having a bum night, it spells disaster for the entire experience, whereas guests can go through a "scary" maze such as 13 Axe Murder Manor and have a relatively boring journey but still be scared just because the maze itself is spooky.  There's no doubt about it - the talent in KCK had their work cut out for them and will continue to have to work to raise the bar again in 2008.

That said, we felt the talent in Clown Kollege was great.  Typically, this is always a great group - full of energy, full of surprises and absolutely right up there with the best talent anywhere on the Scary Farm.  While we found the amount of talent sometimes on the weak side within KCK, those that were present - such as long-time Theme Park Adventure reader/friend Zinger - worked their asses off double-time to ensure that guests were entertained, frightened and had fun.  Props to Zinger - she was always in "overdrive" when we'd come through her maze; made us very proud of our little TPAer!

The design of Killer Clown Kollege was fantastic - definitely a lot of love and talent went into creating this maze (as well as a wealth of poop and pee humor - LOVE that).  Design-wise, this is perhaps one of the nicest clown mazes the Haunt's ever had.  The detail was great and the theme was spot-on.  There was no mistaking what the story behind this maze was.  And that is a good thing; very often, the theme of a maze gets clouded or simply lost - leaving guests confused or, more often than not, not caring or remembering about the experience once they go home.

Were the props and design elements of Killer Clown Kollege good?  Some were great - God bless the "Farting Clown" blowing bubbles; genius and gross, just the way we'd expect it to be!  The entire maze was fun - and we did come away from Haunt '07 surprisingly impressed with this effort.  Do we enjoy KCK as much as something "scary" such as Doll Factory or Asylum... probably not - only because most of us get off on frightening and scary mazes as opposed to silly.  There are also a ton of people out there that piss themselves when it comes to clowns - we understand this and so do the folks who populate the halls and shadows of KCK.  And to those truly unnerved by clowns, we say this to you: Welcome to Hell.  You won't be disappointed.

Killer Clown Kollege had a fantastic opening year, and we expect big things from this crew in 2008 - they owe it to their heritage, their current fans and the Haunt virgins that will come through the fog for the first time this coming season.  We fully anticipate the talent to bring it hard and be a force to be reckoned with; we'll be waiting and watching!

If you're a fan of mazes in general and don't care whether they are scary or not, Killer Clown Kollege is a great addition to the Halloween Haunt lineup and should not be missed.  If you prefer your mazes dark and spooky, KCK should definitely NOT be at the top of your list because dark and foreboding, it is not.  Now, if you're visiting the Scary Farm and just want to see some kick-ass talent working it out... enroll yourself immediately in KCK.  You won't be disappointed!

Not bad for a bunch of clowns!

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