One of the new mazes for the 2005 Halloween Haunt season was Feary Tales.  When Theme Park Adventure first learned of this new maze, we were only slightly enthusiastic.  Mother Noose's Scary Tales came to mind - a maze from back in the day; we felt that an old theme had been dug up from the past, and that it wouldn't really bring anything new to the Scary Farm that we hadn't already seen before.

The minute that we walked through the story book entrance into Feary Tales, we were instantly blown away by the visual feast set before us.  We were utterly blown away by the art direction and design as we ventured further and further into this maze.  The thing that immediately sent our heads spinning was the attention to detail; instantly, Feary Tales ranks with Malice in Wunderland and Dominon of the Dead in the art direction realm.  This is one of the most gorgeous mazes we have ever seen at Knott's or anywhere.

As we'll discuss in detail, the stunning beauty of Feary Tales is its strength as well as its downfall...

In a nutshell, Feary Tales is so friggin' stunning to look at (this is a 3-D maze, but it doesn't matter whether you wear the glasses or not to appreciate the art direction), it makes it not scary - at least, not in our book.  Obviously, being a Haunt maze, the whole object of the thing is to create a frightening environment for the visitors of the Scary Farm.  Never once were we scared or slightly spooked; we were too busy being dazzled by the maze's look!  What a strange situation - in all honesty, none of us have ever encountered anything like this before.  So do we pan the maze for not being scary, or do we bow down and worship the design team and everyone involved with the creation of Feary Tales?

We bow down and are humbled by how much this maze surprised us.  To Hell with the scares, never mind any monsters and actually, you can toss the 3-D glasses in the trash.  This maze is meant to be savored in all its splendor.  We took a lot of pictures and a lot of video inside Feary Tales.  There is no way that the images will convey the complexity and intricate design elements of this maze; there's no way to appreciate it fully unless you get to Knott's Scary Farm and see this thing with your own eyeballs.

Okay, so if you haven't already guessed it, the theme of Feary Tales are jacked-up fairy tale stories, twisted and wicked just like they should be at Halloween Haunt.  From tale to tale, this maze flows effortlessly and the transitions are smooth - with lots of monsters and an amazing soundtrack to help sweep guests along, Feary Tales is a triumph.

The talent in Feary Tales was not anything special, nor was the talent terrible.  The monsters were there, jumping, sliding, talking and teasing - they just weren't over-the-top.  In this maze, the design and the soundtrack blew the talent away.

Except...

Except for an unreal group of ladies that have lovingly become known - and already-famous in the Haunt world - as the Fearies.  These magical, crazed winged creatures tormented, terrified and delighted both guests and monsters alike during the 2005 run.  In fact, Theme Park Adventure heard about the Fearies from other Haunt monsters.  Within days, word had spread throughout the Farm that these ladies were the hottest things at Haunt '05.  In no uncertain terms, TPA was told that we had to spend time watching these women work it and that they deserved total recognition.

And they were all right.  We watched the Fearies in awe; the energy, the madness and the mayhem they all caused was fantastic.  It was like having four (although the group consisted mainly of three in the end) street monsters trapped in a maze.  They were loud, sassy and funny.  The Fearies also scared the crapola out of people, too.  They were the highlight of Feary Tales; instant legends.

And that, kids, is a very rare kind of kudos that we give out.  And it wasn't just us - everyone at the freakin' Scary Farm is in love with these girls!  From management (we know, because we talked on and on and on about the Fearies with the Knott's execs) to street monsters, maze talent and guests alike.  This is a phenomenon unlike we've ever come across since we started covering Halloween Haunt in 1994.

Now there have been legends throughout the history of Knott's Scary Farm.  We're talking monsters on a level that most never will reach - the Bride, Green Witch, Pig Twins... serious Haunt icons.  Without a doubt, the Fearies are already on the fast track to becoming members of this elite group, in our opinion.  If they remain part of Feary Tales and continue to work it like they did in 2005, there is no doubt that they will be major Haunt icons in the coming years; we already cannot wait to see them this coming season.

The interesting thing is that most mazes do not produce these types of monsters.  Very few maze monsters have made such an impression that the entire Haunt family is aware of them and so quickly thinks so highly of them.  It just doesn't happen.  The last maze monster that we can think of that conjures this type of popularity would be Skittles, from Carnival of Carnivorous Clowns.  Another maze monster legend would be the Vampire Queen - everyone knows her name is Sandy - she always will be the most famous maze monster at Halloween Haunt.

The Fearies are on their way, however.  They are the ones to watch this year, for sure.  We're all fortunate enough to be witnessing Scary Farm history in the making, kids.  It's a rare and beautiful treat for everyone!

The rest of the Feary Tales talent team was good - but nothing exceptional.  Perhaps they are over-shadowed by the energy of the Fearies; we don't think that is the case, however.  We do have all the confidence in the world however, that the team will kick it up a few notches this coming season and will really fire it up so that the intensity level of the entire maze is over-the-top.  We know they can do it!

The costumes in Feary Tales are very, very cool - just more eye candy for those who loved the look of this maze like we did.  Feary Tales was definitely not just thrown together at the last minute; it is a living work of art that blows our minds and leaves us screaming for more; if this review seems to be one big love fest for the art direction of this maze, so be it! 

Feary Tales also kicked major ass in the soundtrack department.  There were so many different tracks going on that it was almost too much for us when we were trying to listen in.  The sound mixing is brilliant, the music perfect and the voice sampling is right-on.  Great, great tracks!  If you happened to miss listening the first year, be sure to pay extra attention to the soundtrack this season - it's simply awesome.  BIG props going out to the sound folks on this one!

So Feary Tales is quite the oddity.  It's not a scary maze and it's talent doesn't rank terribly high as far as being exceptional goes.  However, with the combination of art design, sound mixing and the stunning inclusion of the Fearies - Feary Tales rockets toward the top of our "must see" list when it comes to Knott's Halloween Haunt.  Theme Park Adventure cannot wait for the second year of Feary Tales at the Scary Farm - there is no reason it cannot become the maze to beat in 2006!

All images on this page are the copyrighted material of Theme Park Adventure and may not be reproduced or duplicated elsewhere online or for any type of public display without the written expressed consent of TPA.

Editor's Note:

At the time of this review's debut, we are currently experiencing technical difficulties with the video downloads on Theme Park Adventure.  As soon as the problem is resolved on this end, the flow-through video portion of Feary Tales will be made available.

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