In 2004, two new mazes made their debut at Halloween Haunt - Red Beard's Revenge and TerrorVision.  The first was picked by most to be the hot new item of the year, leaving the second maze, TerrorVision, in the dust without much hype.

It seemed that from the very beginning, the cards were stacked against TerrorVision's success at the Scary Farm.  The maze was placed in the middle of the drained lake, where Silver Bullet now stands.  It was not previewed to most Haunt employees and in short, was pretty much pushed out of the way and into the corner in most regards.

And the theme seemed like it was a bust - dark humor and Haunt monsters mixed in with popular television shows.  To us, it sounded like a re-hash of Toon Terrortory, which resided in Ghost Town for several years in the 1990s.  That said, Theme Park Adventure was not ever impressed with Terrortory - so our expectations of TerrorVision were low.  Like everyone else, we were thinking that this new maze would be DOA as soon as the gates to the Scary Farm swung open that first night last September.

We hit a few of the other mazes, including Red Beard's, and finally made our way to TV.  There was no line at all and the line control folks seemed to be begging people to visit the new maze.  It wasn't looking good for TerrorVision.

Once we walked through the empty queue and into TerrorVision, all of our concerns were shattered and we found ourselves grinning from ear to ear.  Hands-down, we were instant TerrorVision fans; the further we went through the maze, the more we liked what we saw - and heard.

The soundtrack used in TerrorVision was absolutely fantastic on all levels - especially the host of original in-house mixes done by the audio gods at Knott's Berry Farm.  One of the highlights of the maze's soundtrack was a twisted rendition of "Elmo's Song," featured in the gruesome Sesameat Street section of TerrorVision - a great little number done by the wife of a Knott's employee who is very involved with the Haunt.

Fans recognized other great tunes, from The Twilight Zone to M*A*S*H* - all underscored by a heavy metal loop that created the perfect flow.  It was nothing short of soundtrack brilliance - and our props go out in full to those talented few who breathed musical life into TV.  Y'all kicked some ass.

TerrorVision is a 3-D maze, so we popped on our glasses and experienced it that way the first time we went though.  Subsequent trips were glasses-free, as we are not huge fans of 3-D mazes.

While TerrorVision doesn't rely heavily on props or scenery, the props that were used were clever - from the gory '50s feeling of the Happy Days spoof to the very simple, but very cool Brady Bunch representation.  The use of 3-D paint effects worked well, so everyone was a winner - with or without the optional glasses.

The talent found throughout TerrorVision was great - not stunning - but the group was definitely together, well-rehearsed and everyone seemed very proud of their maze.  That kind of thing certainly creates a vibe that both fans and "regular" guests alike can pick up on and appreciate.  You can have the greatest maze in the world aesthetically, and have a team that is mediocre - the end result will be a lackluster end product.  That was the case this past Haunt with Red Beard's Revenge.  Thankfully, that was not the case with TerrorVision.

The maze was strong and the talent was strong.  The soundtrack was fantastic and honestly, there wasn't anything about TV that we had a problem with.  The length of TerrorVision was perfect for a Haunt maze and the flow was perfectly-paced.

Our hats are off to the creative team behind TerrorVision.  While it certainly isn't a theme that we'd go with for a Haunt maze, we can honestly say that TV came from behind as the underdog and absolutely kicked ass this past season.  We look forward to the reruns in 2005!

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