An all-outside Haunted area (obviously not a house) which is apparently run by the same people as run the Haunted Hollow (see the review), the Haunted Forest uses a lot of the same motifs and areas as the Haunted Hollow, but does a generally better job of it, even without the pond. The gnarled trees along the way make the place wonderfully spooky in that Western Woods kind of way! Perhaps I liked the Haunted Forest better just because I went to it first, but it seemed better in nearly every way.

The place begins with a hay-maze that was surprisingly tricky, but then, I've never been good with mazes and we were having way too much fun scaring the normals who clearly thought we were cast members. We finally stumbled upon the way out, and wandered through a spate of fairly typical but well-done sets, including a mine area populated with devils (one of whom asked me what I was doing down there... uh, I smoked and drank? What?), a junkyard with a spewing outhouse (see Haunted Hollow for my opinion on that gag), and a graveyard populated by the "Amazing 2-foot Tall Man," who really is about 2 feet tall and moves very fast, which is sort of creepy but mostly just worrying because I fear I'm going to step on him. I'm pretty sure the same guy used to come to Area 51, where he wowed me (and many others) with his ability to zip around the bar and dancefloor, yet never get stepped on, and I have to give him mad, mad props for using his talent in such a good way: rising out of a grave and zooming around my feet like a caffienated toddler! Wheeee! Muhahahaha!

There seemed to be only one chainsaw guy, which is nice. Why not a good electric drill or something? What is it with chainsaws? I only think chainsaws are cool when they are being used with metal pipes by percussion-heavy industrial bands.

Lots of long, empty paths marked by jack o'lanterns added tension and creepiness, and made my visit generally enjoyable.