Piney Acres Scream Farm (Fortville, IN)
“Fear on the Farm”
By Noah Wullkotte: jollypumpkin@aol.com
Piney Acres Scream Farm is 70 acres of scares. You’ll purchase your tickets in their main building that’s full of concessions. They sell jigsaw puzzles, jam, jelly, salsa, Halloween decorations, Christmas ornaments and more. After you purchased your ticket for Piney Acres Scream Farm, you’ll get in line for The Haunted Loft.
The Haunted Loft is the highlight of Piney Acres Scream Farm. Walk up some steps after waiting in line and it’s your turn to enter. This haunt reminded me of an old school Jaycees Haunted House which is a good thing. It was frightfully fun exploring the loft. This is a rather short haunt lasting around 3 minutes, but we had a great time. You’ll explore areas like a living room with a zombie Nannie and her baby. Other areas include the slaughter house, hospital, kitchen and more. It would be easy to give away all the surprises since this is a very short haunt, but I won’t do that. I’ll just say that you’ll walk away with a smile on your face after you survived Piney Acres Haunted Loft.
You’ll be off to Cornstalkers Haunted Trail after you survived The Haunted Loft. We waited in line a few minutes before it was our turn to enter. It had been years since we lasted toured this haunt and we were looking forward to seeing the changes. There’s a lot of dead space where there are no actors. This is unfortunate because this haunted trail has a lot of potential. There were many times where we were waiting for something to happen, but left wanting more.
Walk through the deep dark woods and cornfields to view eerie scenes and sights. Experience bleeding mannequins who want to reach out to touch you. A coffin salesman has the perfect fit for you. Get in and get ready for the afterlife. This actor was one of the better characters we encountered and left a great impression on us.
A zombie construction site is full of the undead that want to eat your brain. If you have a fear of chainsaws then get prepared for the chainsaw manic at Cornstalkers Haunted Trail. His gas powered murder weapon will get you. The school bus was a good addition, but there were no actors inside. There were a few scarecrows we encountered, but once again there were no actors. Having an actor dressed as a scarecrow jump out would have definitely caught us off guard. The disgusting bathroom was realistic, but nothing happened inside. It was uneventful.
Cornstalkers Haunted Trail does a good job with their audio, but there is an issue. Every time there’s music playing, you can see the glow from a speaker which can be distracting. Putting black cloth over the speaker would fix this issue and help create a convincing experience. You want to suspend disbelief when touring a haunt and this would help big time. Total tour time was 19 minutes, but a lot of the haunt lacked scenes or actors of any kind. Next up is Labyrinth Corn Maze.
Labyrinth Corn Maze is your typical corn maze. There are twists, turns and dead ends as you try to navigate through the corn stalks. We are notoriously bad at mazes, but we were in and out in around 10 minutes or so. It’s fun while it lasts. It’s the least scary attraction at Piney Acres Scream Farm, but it’s one of the better corn mazes we’ve been to this year. There’s a handful of actors along the way, but acting isn’t the main focus of Labyrinth Corn Maze. It’s to confuse the hell out of you as you try to escape.
General admission is $30, Fast Pass is $45 and VIP – Front of the Line is $60. Groups of 15 or more get in for $25. Piney Acres is a beautiful farm and their haunts have a lot of potential. The biggest area that needs work is the acting especially in Cornstalkers Haunted Trail. We had fun, but we hope they tap into their potential. It will be the haunt to look out for when they do.
Please Note: Labyrinth Corn Maze isn’t factored into the score.
Length-9 Design-6 Props-6 Acting-5 Scare Effect-6
Final Stab: 6.4
www.pineyscreamfarm.com