Curse of the Spider has one of the most unique Halloween Haunt maze evolutions of them all.  What started out as a "quick scare" idea spawned by head honcho Jack Falfas several years ago, has become a large-scale maze that certainly has its own devout group of fans.

It's also a maze that has had more homes than most mazes during their run at the Scary Farm.  Carnival of Carnivorous Clowns has moved a total of two times; Spider is at location three these days.  In its first season, it was located roughly where Xcelerator now stands.  It was then moved to Calico Square, where the Haunted Shack used to be.  In 2004, Curse of the Spider moved into Fiesta Village - to replace the long-running Underground maze.

In its original format - one that did not go over so well with Haunt guests and fans - Spider was basically a show, where everyone gathered in a large chamber to listen to a spooky story.  The lights went out, strings were pulled across the crowd from an overhead track and folks dressed in spider costumes roamed in and out of everyone, causing a little bit of panic throughout the room.

The pay-off was a massive spider lowering from the darkness just above the crowd and the floor - a giant platform - suddenly dropping an inch or so at the climax; a great effect that made everyone scream and then laugh with approval of the large-scale scare.  When combined with a full-blown walk-through maze, this "pre-show" was very well received.

For whatever reason, when the Curse of the Spider made its new home in Fiesta Village, the designers decided for whatever reason, to swap the massive spider out for a smaller version and to get rid of the dropping floor all together.  Folks who had become familiar with Spider were quite surprised and disappointed by these changes.

Theme Park Adventure was vastly disappointed in the pre-show changes, too.  In our opinion, Curse of the Spider was hitting it just right and for us, changing the pre-show and minimizing the scare factor really ruined the show aspect of this maze for us.

We, like many others, were very excited and very curious as to what changes Spider's new home would bring.  A bigger layout?  New thrills?  The possibilities were endless and we expected great things as we made our way on opening night through The Gauntlet, toward Fiesta Village and Curse of the Spider.

The pre-show started and we quickly realized that it was a big let-down from previous years.  At the climax, as the lights went out and the smaller spider was illuminated, no one screamed.  The floor didn't drop.  No one reacted to the spider monsters running through the crowd.  Instead, someone just said loudly, "Dude, that's gay."  Everyone laughed in agreement.  And... that's all we have to say about the lackluster pre-show.

So, with disappointment still hanging heavy in the air, we made our way into the rest of the maze.

The layout was different because of the new location - but there were no new changes this season that really wowed us.  Instead, we felt that the maze itself was fairly stale, which isn't good, considering that a maze in a new location should breathe life into it and give it new energy and excitement.  Sadly, this was not the case with Curse of the Spider 2004.

This isn't to say that the talent was bad.  On the contrary - the maze seemed sufficiently staffed and the enthusiasm level of the monsters was just fine, in our opinion.  Unfortunately, the maze has just become... well... boring to us.

With all of the nasty, skin-crawling possibilities that the theme of spiders brings, it's a shame that the scope of this maze never changes.  It's creepy enough - but once you've been through it, you don't need to go back again and again.  It's just not interesting, it has no outstanding scenes or props and it's really, not scary.

This comes from a group of fans who aren't too hot on spiders in general - especially our own Rick West, who is personally terrified of the little critters.

What would we do, if we were given creative control over this maze?  How about use the old Blood Bayou "house" interiors to have an over-run, infested home in the middle of the woods?  We like the idea of bringing back the original "woods" theme - maybe have web-covered bodies hanging upside down in the trees as you make your way through the dark forest.

Perhaps the maze would then take guests into a damp cavern - the perfect place for spiders to dwell.  And just maybe, we could find old Toxico or Toxichem barrels deep inside this hidden cave; that would certainly explain the arachnids the size of cars found deeper in the maze!  That would be fairly coherent - and would be a nice tie for fans to older Haunt mazes and attractions; we like that silly kind of nostalgia around here!

One thing we do think is very good about Curse of the Spider is its soundtrack - from the pre-show audio of the little girl reciting "Little Miss Muffet" to the dripping in the cavern to the unnerving whirring noise of the spider's white lair and even the muffled heartbeat deep within the spider itself.  Our hats are off to the folks responsible for the audio in Spider; that is one aspect we feel is very strong.  Now, if the intensity of the maze could be brought up a few notches, we'd feel a hell of a lot better knowing that Curse of the Spider is going to call Fiesta Village home for several more years.

All in all, Curse of the Spider continues to evolve.  This season, the maze didn't move forward as nicely as we'd expected, but it certainly was not a total disappointment.

Add some new twists and a new look in 2005 and Spider will return to the top of the must-see list.  As it stands now, it's one you can either take or leave.

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