Once in a blue moon, a maze comes along at Knott's Halloween Haunt that literally re-defines the Scary Farm.  It is no secret to anyone that The Doll Factory falls into that category with a distinct and heavy thud.

In its debut year, The Doll Factory has instantly earned itself a place amongst Haunt favorites such as The Asylum, Baits Motel, Dominion of the Dead, Nightmares and The Underground.

But what makes a maze such as this an instant hit?  There are several key factors that have to come together to form the "perfect storm" at Haunt, if you will.  The first and foremost is the talent the maze employs.

Everyone that we encountered each time we passed through the putrid halls of the Doll Factory was on his or her game, regardless of time, regardless of day of the week.  The crew was fired up about their new maze (rightfully so), and their enthusiasm and pride came through loud and clear.  It didn't matter whether or not it was immediately after park opening, or the very last group of the night (which we were at least once with the Talent Captains telling everyone they could wrap it up); this group was ON FIRE the whole time, every time.  THAT is the way to do it and all other mazes present and future need to take serious note of this bunch because they simply rocked the house all month long.

Major, major props to the talent of The Doll Factory.  When you have a great maze with "blah" talent, it never works.  When you have a maze that is amazing with talent that absolutely owns - then you have something spectacular.

And so let's mention the maze itself.  Good God - what an amazing design!  Brooke Walters was the driving force behind the creation of The Doll Factory - and she is one hell of a talent herself.  The creativity that went into the design of this maze is mind-blowing.  Brooke's focus and vision of a sadistic, sensual, bondage-laden chamber of horrors where women are turned into a madman's playthings - is something Knott's Scary Farm has never seen before.  And the vision of The Doll Factory played out incredibly well.  What we got in the end was one of the most intense and dark maze experiences the Haunt has ever hosted.  Thank you, Brooke!  On behalf of Haunt fans everywhere - thank you for a nightmare come true!  Major props and huge love for you, Brooke!

The soundtrack to Doll Factory was also very well done - special props to both Brooke as well as Adam Hankinson on mixing the music and recording the very creepy, Now I lay me... Down to Sleep.. tracks.  Bravo!  BRAVO! 

The Build and Paint crews should also be very proud as well as the Props team - everything about The Doll Factory was amazing.  And we should point out that this maze had the very first articulated and animated facade in the history of Halloween Haunt; a first for the Scary Farm, kids!  After The Doll Factory's amazing moving facade features, we expect to see more mazes following suit in the future.  Good stuff!

So let's get down to it.  In case you have been living under a rock in Siberia somewhere, you have heard of "That Girl."  The nickname pertains to one of the talented women of The Doll Factory, first name Jill.  And no - before you go killing yourself looking for hours, she does not have a MySpace.com page!  Sorry, stalkers and far-out fans!  That's the way the dot-com bounces!  Anyway, Jill's been a Scary Farm fixture for a while now, first thrilling Theme Park Adventure staffers (and fans alike) in 2006 as one of the amazing Grudge Girls from The Grudge 2 maze.  In fact, in 2006, TPA honored Jill with the Screamy Award for Best Single Talent in a Haunt Maze or Attraction.

And she brought it again in 2007 when she became the single-most talked about maze monster of last year's event.  This time around, Jill was transformed into a half-living, half-dead life-sized doll.  Her animated and almost robotic movements, coupled with her solid black eye lenses made passers-by completely freak out, as their minds scrambled to determine whether or not she was actually real.  And when it occurred to people that yes, she was real - panic set in and night after night, thousands of visitors attempted to wrap their heads around what they were actually witnessing as they scooted around her, trying to make damn sure they didn't get too close!  It was sheer genius - art in motion.

Jill brings to mind another maze talent that made quite a name for himself as well - Skittles, who became infamous as part of the Carnival of Carnivorous Clowns family.  He was a force to be reckoned with as well; eventually he made his way onto Streets and currently resides in Silver Bullet, but there was a time when Skittles had his own loyal following - and the attention of Theme Park Adventure - in his own little room deep within the walls of C3.  Jill is following suit, but has indicated that she may not want to hit Streets; she is comfortable where she is, in mazes - and that is perfectly fine.  Without certain individuals staying in the mazes, we wouldn't have legends such as Sandy - the Vampire Queen, who has been a vamp maze fixture for years now.  There is nothing wrong at all with not moving to Streets; that isn't for everyone.  One thing is for certain in this case - no matter where Jill ends up, she will bring it, and bring it hard and we will love her for years and years to come.

Again, this isn't being dwelled on to slight the rest of the crew - everyone in The Doll Factory was incredible.  Due to the nature of our reviews, Screamy Awards and being in touch with the fans around the world, there was no way we couldn't spend quality time mentioning Jill and the impression she left on both fans and monsters alike this past year.  Our hats are off to this master of her craft!  Fantastic, Jill!  Never stop!

The only thing that we would like to see improved upon in The Doll Factory this coming Haunt is, just like all of the other mazes and attractions at the Scary Farm, a better back story explanation.  Whether this is done via a paragraph in the guide map, newspaper clippings along the queue or a projection (newsreel style) on a screen mounted near the entrance to the maze - we would get so much more out of these experiences.  We'd know who or what was behind these killings or maybe why he turns women into his gruesome playthings; that would make the entire experience that much more terrifying, in our opinion.

Other than that - The Doll Factory is just about as impressive as a Haunt maze can get, kids!  It was amazing and we expect nothing but greatness from it when it returns in 2008.  Mucho props, mucho love and a huge round of applause to everyone involved with this maze.  It was an honor to witness its debut.  Here's to many more years for the Factory!

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