Saturday, October 7th
I can’t get too into detail with these mazes, because like my reviews before on this event, all the mazes start to gel together. Just the nature of the beast here, they are oddly not distinguishable at some point.
ARRIVAL
Got there around 4:20pm and parking was super confusing. Went through the usual entrance way on Grand, the tunnel was blocked off, then got stuck in the preferred parking lane. Had to turn left at the light on Crescent, and make another left at another light back on to Beach, then find the lane that’s sneakily off to the right to get into the parking lot that had NO SIGNAGE whatsoever. Anyway…went over to TGI Fridays for some drinks and apps beforehand, got out of there at 6:30pm. Went to line up, got in super fast, and huddled together. Aside, do you HAVE to go through Ghost Town or can you go up the middle through Silver Bullet? Will definitely want to do something else next time, because Ghost Town entrance takes a minute and you definitely cannot hear or see whatever show is going on (I was directly under the Ghost Town sign at 7pm, so pretty far back).
ROOM 13
Advertised Wait was 15 minutes at 7:12pm, but actual wait was 12 minutes — pretty accurate enough.
While no real facade to speak of, I was still impressed the moment I walked in. Something I did notice about almost all the new mazes this year…a bar or counter top scene…kinda weird, but oh well lol. The sets in here were very well put together, it didn’t have the usual funk that KSF is known for and they tried to replicate reality for the most part. While it does remind me of Universal Horror Hotel, I thought this one was distinguishable enough. And what did I find when walking in here? TRIGGER SCARES! I was elated. Some of the effects were pretty cool and I thought the monsters were all on their game. I was pretty blown away by the set design, immersion, and scares. It actually looked thought out for once as for what the scare in the room is supposed to be, while giving some monsters the freedom to roam. I always said when Knotts utilized trigger scares and ROAMING monsters, they will be KING once again. And true to my word, this is the first time in a LONG time that they did equal to or better than a HHN maze. And I was very shocked to find that won’t be the only time I feel that way tonight…more on that later. Honestly, this was one of the best KSF mazes they’ve ever done. Bravo!!!
A+
GRIMOIRE
Advertised Wait was 15 minutes at 7:32pm, and actual wait was 14 minutes.
NEW TO ME as I didn’t come last year. They were stopping people for the pre-show but made no effort to really keep people back to watch the pre-show, so…we just kept walking. Love the trench scene, that was freakin’ awesome. Watching back some videos of this maze though, there’s a lot of stuff I did NOT see, like the soldier reading the book, and the next black and white sequence was completely empty when I went through. I think everyone else through the rest was in there spots, but I don’t remember too much about the rest of it in particular. I remember digging what I saw and got some good scares in here.
B-
Was going to hit Origins but at this point, I was feeling ancy, so kept moving to…
CINEMA SLASHER
Advertised wait was 30 minutes with that queue out front full at 8:03pm, but it was only 12 minutes. This line at this venue always goes fast, love it.
The moment I stepped in, I already was in love. Hey, another counter scene. SO MANY details to KSF past that I absolutely adored, while also paying tribute to slasher films. The idea of giving past KSF mazes essentially a sequel, but in slasher form within an anthology, was a genius touch. While the scares weren’t super heavy when I went through, the overall experience is what really sparked joy for me. Trick or Treat segment was freakin’ awesome in the sorority house. Not what I’d expect from a Trick or Treat sequel, but hey it worked lol loved the Psycho homage. The scene of the girl being gutted over the bed was insane. Camp Gonnagetcha is a maze I never got to go through back in the day, so I was pretty happy to be able see this version. Also want to note that I love the films being projected. Also in this segment is a Dead Man’s Wharf section — another maze I never got to go through — so was very excited to get that here. If we ever wanted to know what KSF would do with a Friday the 13th maze, now we know — it was gory as all hell. Special shout out to the projector creatures with their weird movements. Another neat touch that I loved, every time you went into a theater auditorium, it was becoming more and more insane. Man, I love what they were able to pull off in here with the idea of progression. Slaughterhouse was a great one for me back in the day that overstayed its welcome, but I am glad they found a way to update it here to make it interesting. Loved the people in the tanks drowning. And the GIANT CHAINSAW — WTF?!?!?! Then the final auditorium scene, just absolute chaos, and the giant projector monster...man, super cool. Again, while I didn’t go all the scares in this one, the amount of fun I had made this my favorite maze of the night, and it may be a contender for top 3 mazes of all time here. This one cannot be missed.
A+
MESMER
Advertised wait was 15 minutes at 8:29pm and after walking through the Xcelerator queue for no reason, it was about 17 minutes.
Something that annoyed me, even though it shouldn’t, was the spiel from the guy letting us in about not touching the monsters and that there’s special effects…I don’t know man, seems like a pretty standard KSF maze to me. I thought we were about to get an actual magic show or something with the way he was talking (something I wished they utilized on year one — actual magic, that is). I didn’t love this maze too much the first time I went through (I gave it an A- on what was a VERY lackluster night and event in 2021) and this time, they didn’t do anything special to keep it going. The narration I thought was cool on year one, but now I just find it annoying and hard to track. Things like the tightrope stuff just looks like a regular floor with how little upkeep they’ve given it. For the most part, the maze was empty of monsters. I was having a great time tonight until now and remembered exactly where I was lol almost tricked me into thinking KSF was doing better, but alas, exited the maze and saw what seemed to be ALL the monsters on break. Is there no way to fix this and have rotations? It’s ridiculous. I think we saw maybe 3 monsters the entire maze.
F
CHILLING CHAMBERS
Advertised wait was 45 minutes at 8:59pm and was actually 21 minutes.
So many details in here, I don’t even know where to begin. Just an absolute love letter to the past and I loved every second of it. Not super scary though, so that’s the only downside. The maze doesn’t really find its momentum between segments the way Cinema Slasher does. Something I noticed about this maze was the lighting was exceptional… it just looked…different? Not sure how to explain it, more bright and vivid, even in the dark rooms, there seemed to be an intention. Whatever they did, I think this is what they should do for mazes moving forward. Maybe all the new mazes are lit this way and I didn’t notice, but this one definitely stood out. Usually the mazes here are just dark and brooding, but I appreciated the craft here! The Asylum scene could’ve been more chaotic, I remember that maze being an absolute beast back in the day. The Underground sequence was pretty nuts, definitely gave this maze a lot of life and Club Chupacabra was fun — hey, another counter/bar scene! Loved the coffins to the mazes of the past, great touch. Carnival of Carnivorous Clowns was a classic back in my day, so this was a huge treat hearing that IIII’M SOOOO HAPPYYYY song. And the poop room, hated it back then, still hate it now, but at least this time it was tied to nostalgia haha. Dominion of the Dead segment was too quick. Doll Factory was oddly a maze I never got tired of, so it was nice seeing that again. There was one girl that looked exactly like a doll, she scared me pretty good when she started moving outside of the house haha. The little tombs area, a monster got me pretty good and the final graveyard was lovely. All in all, another maze I LOVE — I just wish it was scarier.
A-