Review by Rick West

An "oldie" but goodie at Knott's Halloween Haunt has been The Slaughterhouse. Located at the entrance to Necropolis (Camp Snoopy) near the front of the Farm, this Daniel Miller maze is the Haunt's signature gore fest. If any maze takes it up and over the "gross out" line, it's this one!

For the past four years, The Slaughterhouse has taken Haunt guests into the dark backwoods and into a nightmare of gore galore, where young women are fattened up, auctioned off and barbecued by inbreds for your dining pleasure! It's been a wonderful hot mess of screaming, pleading and a whole lot of "purdy mouth" lookin'.

Knott's has taken a universally simple and used theme and has carried it on for years now as one of Halloween Haunt's attractions. And, I think it has held up very nicely over time, regardless of bigger, more elaborate mazes springing up around it such as Endgames and Fallout Shelter. Slaughterhouse is gritty, raunchy fun that appeals to many guests because it's simply a nasty, crude maze that pulls no punches. It's violent, hostile and in-your-face from start to finish, and that's just what Scary Farm fans tend to like in their attractions.

Over the years, the layout of Slaughterhouse has been altered, and the 2011 season was no exception. I personally like the maze flow being changed up routinely, since that keeps it a bit more "fresh", if you will pardon the awful pun. Whether intentional or not (some flat-out tell us that the layout changes because ground plans are lost, flat walls are used elsewhere, or the build crew simply wants to redo things a bit), Slaughterhouse has been infused from year to year with new energy while keeping true to its story of cannibalism and abuse.

This is one maze that Miller should be very proud of, because it's withstood the test of time and remains high on fans' lists of must-see mazes each year at Halloween Haunt. Its general theme and straight-forward look give The Slaughterhouse big legs - fans don't and won't bore of this experience any time soon. It's generic enough so that it can be enjoyed year after year without the novelty wearing off, which is something other mazes such as The Doll Factory have struggled with; yet, it's unique enough to continuously feel like a Haunt maze that's given some real love - not just dialed in each year and given a new coat of blood.

The talent in Slaughterhouse varies wildly, which is unfortunate because that can make or break this experience for guests. The beginning of the maze showcases woman who have been caught and held prisoner, to be auctioned off and then eaten. If the ladies are screaming and pleading like crazy, then it really works well, and makes for a very tense, believable Haunt experience. However, if the women have downtime or a bad night (as in the case of this year's flow-through video), it rapidly becomes awkward, and hard to buy off on as a guest.

That said, we have always found there to be an abundance of really good talent as well within The Slaughterhouse, whether it be the monsters who roam the queue outside the maze, or various nasties within; Theme Park Adventure has always noted the high energy and creativity that some of these folks present night after night, year after year - and we totally love that about this maze! TPA's always been very fond of The Slaughterhouse and its crew - so it pains us whenever we do come across talent in the maze that is less than enthusiastic.

And while I am on the subject of talent, let it be said that this is one of those mazes where Knott's relies way too much on masks. Everywhere you look, masks, masks, masks - and in a maze like this that begs for dialogue from its monsters, masks are not the direction Knott's should be going. Besides the fact that the same masks are used over and over in The Slaughterhouse, the ultimate buzz kill is when some poor bastard is trying his very best to interact with people, only to be lost in a mumble of latex; that really sucks, and Knott's needs to understand this and truly get out of the mask game and embrace make-up characters more and more in its attractions so that talent like this isn't wasted behind a stupid mask from Party City. SET YOUR TALENT FREE, KNOTT'S!

But anyway - kudos to the men and women who really do their best despite masks in The Slaughterhouse. We love the enthusiasm and spirit. If this maze does return again in 2012, we highly doubt anything will change mask-wise for the talent, so we simply encourage you not to become discouraged - keep going off and the fans will recognize and appreciate your efforts, guys and gals.

The music in The Slaughterhouse is heavy, driving and oppressive; in other words, it's perfect! Specifically, it's Charlie Clouser's work from Saw. The Slaughterhouse soundtrack is actually just a loop of one song - so god bless the talent and blackouts in the maze that have to hear that non-stop every night!

We commend everyone involved with The Slaughterhouse, as it is nearly as strong today as it was in 2008 when it debuted on the Scary Farm. It is starting to show its age a bit, so we're thinking if it returns yet again in 2012, that should be it for the maze. However, its popularity remains very high with fans, the talent in the maze has always been strong since Day One, and the theme of Slaughterhouse is definitely simple enough to age very, very gracefully.

Y'all come back again, y' hear?

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