For some last minute Halloween fun, Baton Rouge offers several attractions that have become almost tradition in the community.
The Maize and the 13th Gate offer spooky once – a – year entertainment for a little more than the price of a ticket to see “Scary Movie 3.”
Everyone knows cornfields are notoriously scary. For some reason, people fear what lurks among the tall stalked vegetables. Recent movies have augmented this fear in films such as “Signs” and “Jeepers Creepers 2.”
With that in mind, wandering around a cornfield maze in the dark can be quite eerie.
The Maize, located on Nicholson Drive about six miles south of campus, offers an intricately designed cornfield maze with two miles of walking pathways in an eight-acre area.
The Maize is family entertainment, so scariness is minimal and confined to a certain area. There is a “haunted” area in the maze that is optional. For the faint of heart, having costumed people jumping out of cornstalks (especially with chainsaws) is scream-worthy, though not terrifying.
The design this year is a scarecrow with the words, “If I Only Had A Brain” written in the corn. It takes about 30 minutes to navigate the maze, unless you get completely lost.
If the weather cooperates, this is a moderately scary activity that is fun for almost all ages.
The Maize is open from 5 to 10 p.m. Admission for the Maize is $9 for those age 12 and over, $7 for age 6 to 11 and free for age 5 and under.
For brave souls, the haunted house, The 13th Gate is a better attraction. The scenes are predictable and resemble horror movies, but Midnight Productions deserves an A for effort with the scenery.
Their actors are much better than those of the Maize, although they do the predictable jumping out and chasing the crowd (with chainsaws of course).
Easily scared patrons will scream and clutch their neighbors.
Although some fearless patrons laughed during the tour, The 13th Gate is a well produced and designed haunted house that will scare most people at some point. Sure, it is predictable, but that is the lure of haunted houses – people are fascinated with the horrific and the evil.
The tour lasts about 30 minutes, which seems rather steep for the $10 admission, but it is scary fun nonetheless.
The 13th Gate is located on St. Phillip St. next to Argosy Casino. It is open from 7 to 11 p.m. through Nov.1.