LA Haunted Hayride’s Midnight Falls may be my new favorite of what we call the large-scale haunts. This category usually includes such behemoths as Universal Halloween Horror Nights, Knott’s Scary Farm, Six Flag’s Fright Fest, and the now dark Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor. While LA Haunted Hayride has always been well-known, it hasn’t always had the same notoriety as the large theme park attractions had. But that all changed with the transition from Ten Thirty One Productions to Thirteenth Floor Entertainment Group, and especially the involvement of Jon Cooke and his company, Plague Productions. In 2019, Cooke did what he did for Dark Harbor in 2018 and transformed LA Haunted Hayride into a novel and innovative experience with Midnight Falls. Seated as Creative Director of Thirteenth Floor, Cooke and his team has truly created something special, something charming, and something spooky for Los Angeles to enjoy this Halloween season.

Now in its 13^th year, LA Haunted Hayride welcomes guests to Midnight Falls, a humble town perpetually stuck in the celebration of Halloween during the year 1985. This year, Midnight Falls offers three separate mazes—or haunted houses—for you to explore, as well as the titular Haunted Hayride, in which twenty or so guests step into an open-air trailer pulled by a tractor, experiencing all the frights that happen around them. There are food options, ranging from creepy crepes to pumpkin soup and grilled cheese, a Midnight Falls General Store with plenty of merchandise to purchase, and sweet treat vendors scattered about. Beyond the mazes and hayride, the mayor of Midnight Falls, the undead lounge singer Monte Revolta and his band of the living dead, takes to the stage at multiple times throughout the night for a full concert. Expect to spend an entire evening here—and potentially come back for seconds.

Welcome to Midnight Falls

While not a maze, Midnight Falls deserves its own section. LA Haunted Hayride has moved Midnight Falls to the Crystal Springs picnic area, offering it far more space than ever before. This not only sets up LA Haunted Hayride and Midnight Falls for future expansions, but it also allows for more people and more room for its mazes. There’s an entire area devoted to food with plenty of room to sit (at benches) and eat, an area containing all three mazes, and the main area devoted to the Hayride and Monte Revolta’s stage.

Yet, Midnight Falls isn’t just a space to move you from maze to maze. It’s a full living and breathing town. There’s plenty of photo-ops as well as Drive-in style movie screen showing some horror vignettes, ads, and horror trivia—straight out of the 2020 Drive-in Hayride. The Scary-Go-Round sits in a field, with no actors near it, but offers a beautiful picture on the way to the mazes. But most notably, there are numerous characters wandering the space, ready to engage with audiences, tell them stories, and dance to Monte’s latest hits.

What I love about this is that it’s truly different from the scare-zones of the other theme park attractions. These actors aren’t trying to scare you. Rather, they’re here to immerse you in the world of Midnight Falls. They are your town’s folk, your new neighbors, your community. They each have larger-than-life personalities and I urge you to talk to them and hear their stories. And when Monte Revolta takes the stage, they come to life, dancing in the audience, commenting on the songs, and singing along. They set the tone for the evening and I’d come back just for these interactions.

Expect to interact with the jock, who is more than happy to pose with his adoring fans and playfully suggests you “worship the ground he walks in.” There’s Miss Midnight Falls who in her effervescent beauty, comments on how the jock fumbled the ball last time—and she’s better at pictures anyways. There’s a clown—and his glowing ice cream truck—who will crab walk at alarming speeds towards guests, offering one of the few frights outside of the mazes (but when Monte comes on, you can find him in the front row). And an exterminator who’s looking for ghosts who’ve escaped from the town cemetery. Can you help him find any?

Ultimately, Midnight Falls feels charming. It has an aesthetic that screams vintage Halloween, recalling the nostalgia of our youth. The characters are fun, interactive, and life-like. This feels like a town—and I’m excited to see how this continues to grow over time. I’d love to see future years fill out the town and give it more depth, more lore, and perhaps, a way to break the cycle resulting in a Halloween in 1986.

Monte Revolta

Monte Revolta is no stranger to the Southern California horror scene. He’s had residencies at Sinister Pointe’s Scary Place and headlined numerous After Parties from conventions such as Midsummer Scream, Spookshow, and Monsterpalooza. Yet, his stay at Haunted Hayride is by far my favorite—not just because of recency bias—but because he is given a character (mayor of Midnight Falls), and the towns folk are more than excited to attend each of his performances. This allows for some wonderful interactivity.

For those of you unfamiliar, Monte Revolta is an undead lounge singer, who comes complete with funeral attire, a Living Dead band, and even some skits that are surprisingly clever and humorous. He thrives on audience interaction, allowing guests to choose the ending to Paul McCartney’s Live and Let Die or having his band dress in yellow raincoats and carry red balloons for Nena’s 99 Red Blood Balloons. He gives each of his songs his own personal brand of horror humor and hams up the stage for maximum camp. Bottom line, he’s amazing—make sure you catch a performance.

We were able to catch Monte Revolta and his band of Living Dead twice during our stay in Midnight Falls, and both sets were completely different. He plays different songs, he has different sets, and different skits. His sets are only twenty minutes, so when you hear Psycho Killer by Talking Heads waft over the cold October air, run—don’t walk—towards the stage; the mayor is performing.

Dead End Diner

The first maze we attended was Dead End Diner, a new maze for the 2021 year. Capturing a theme that is quite common in the haunt world (think Queen Mary’s Feast), it invites audiences to step into the diner and explore the cannibalistic kitchen, the maze-like farms, and ending at the source of your food (maybe do this maze after you ate at Hayride).

This maze feels like it was recapturing some of the magic from the long-running House of Shadows from Hayride’s past. A labyrinthine series of fences and planks offer guests a chance to go left or right, navigating large hay bales, and trying to find their way to safety. While there isn’t too much agency—all paths ultimately converge—the opportunity to get lost is nice in what is called a “maze”.

The scare actors do a fantastic job of hiding behind fences, popping out at the perfect time to elicit a scare. These monsters range from pigs with chainsaws, hillbillies with skin suits, werewolves, and some wonderfully enlarged farm animals (straight out of Sinister Pointe’s Scary Place).  They brought fantastic energy and the chainsaws are always a frightening touch.

While this was our least favorite of the three mazes, it was still a fantastic addition to the Midnight Falls line-up, offering a look into where their food source comes from. The diner was a highlight, but the maze-like section lacked some of the beautiful sets and aesthetic than the others maintained.

Trick or Treat

Trick or Treat has been a staple of the Haunted Hayride since 2014, and while it shouldn’t be confused with the Knott’s maze of the same name or the Halloween Horror Nights’ maze adaption of the film, Trick or Treat was one of the first to offer more interactivity and agency for the guests. Audiences walk through the town of Midnight Falls, ringing the doorbells of various homes and shouting “Trick or Treat”, as the denizens inside offer only tricks—and no treats.

This year, the maze allows audiences to step inside one of the homes, with further fills out the vintage Halloween aesthetic of the town. Black cats, vintage moons, and “Happy Halloween” banners fill the inside. Yet, the interior is filled with rotting pumpkins, and actors wearing pumpkins atop their head. Satanic symbols scrawled across a television—and scares send you back out into the night. This was a favorite scene of ours, and it was great to see this maze expanded.

The remainder of Trick or Treat feels like a mash up of movies. An Annabelle look alike waits patiently near a home for a visitor to ring a doorbell, only to come alive. A bus oozing with fog and lit by orange looks straight out of Trick or Treat. And the night ends with an invitation to a demonic Frat Party, where the demons have seemingly drunk too much. It’s campy, it’s fun, and it’s full of some good scares.

Our favorite was an older woman seated in front of a classic Psycho-inspired home. She was petting a fake cat that would attack you if you got to close. And she warned us not to ring the doorbell as Mother was napping. But we did anyways. And I won’t spoil the surprise waiting inside for you. You’ll have to see it yourself.

Midnight Mortuary

Back from 2019, Midnight Mortuary was my personal favorite maze of the night. It combines the aesthetic of a funeral parlor, a vampire-infested cemetery, and a morgue together in perfect harmony. It’s wonderfully gothic and just offers such a perfect aesthetic.

Upon entering the façade of a massive home, audiences come face to face with an undertaker, holding a massive axe. Yet, go further in, and the Midnight Mortuary is truly being run by a series of lamb-masked cultists. These masked-maniacs will contort their head, watching you eerily, or jump onto the pews to tower over you forbiddingly.

Yet, not all creatures in here are of the evil type. The cemetery is full of happily napping vampires, all hanging upside down from massive mausoleums and archways. In their place, 80’s rockers have come to party in the cemetery, ready to sing or throw devil horns at you. They match the aesthetic, and remind audiences that all of this in Midnight Falls. Also, pay attention to the tomb stones—there’s some fun Easter Eggs, including Jon Cooke’s name.

The beauty of this maze is how it captures such a perfect aesthetic that transitions seamlessly from an interior, to a cemetery, back inside to the morgue. Every little detail from the saturated hues outside to the dark and grimy interior of the parlor to the white sterility of the morgue. It just works and the set designers should be proud of this one. I would love to live here—as I’m sure Monte Revolta would too.

Haunted Hayride

Lastly, the titular Haunted Hayride asks that twenty or so guests pile into a straw-covered open-air trailer to be driven through the property. Numerous actors will attack the trailer as it moves, and the tractor will pause to watch various scenes unfold. Most scenes unfold on both sides, offering great viewing opportunities no matter where you are seated; but for every façade that is situated on the left, a corresponding one will be set up on the right.

The hayride takes you through various locales, all assumingly apart of Midnight Falls. This includes the fishing port complete with giant squid like appendages extending out of the water, an series of stilt-walking pumpkins come to life, an insane asylum full of wonderfully masked creatures, an alien façade, and of course, a circus full of clowns.

Our favorite was straight out of Five Night’s at Freddy’s (or Willy’s Wonderland) and featured The Crust Punx, animatronics playing a slowed-down and distorted version of happy birthday, only to malfunction and come alive. It was wonderfully corny and scary—and fit perfectly within the Midnight Falls lore.

And that was our main criticism with the Hayride. While the mazes and exteriors all fit perfectly within the wonderful and charming feel of Midnight Falls, the Hayride itself simply failed to provide the same level of cohesiveness. Don’t get me wrong, the scenes are fun, and some of them feel as if they do fit in the town, but there are those that don’t—or lack the vintage Halloween feel that the mazes do. I’d love to see the hayride get the same level of care with an update to further match it all. I’d love to drive through the high school that the Jock and Cheerleader come from, see maybe a Pageant for Miss Midnight Falls, and just explore the lore of the town more. Of course, this takes work and time—yet, it is an opportunity to only help propel LA Haunted Hayride’s Midnight Falls to be the best Socal has to offer.

Final Thoughts

I loved LA Haunted Hayride. Midnight Falls is such a fun concept, and the town feels alive, charming and eccentric. The characters and actors help bring it to life, and with gorgeous mazes and an attention to detail only rivaled by Halloween Horror Nights, LA Haunted Hayride’s Midnight Falls is rising quickly as a must-see attraction in California.

They have three very strong mazes that all feel distinct and different from each other—as well as a Hayride, which no one else can say they have. Yet, the draw, for me at least, is no longer the hayride, but rather it’s the world that Jon Cooke and Thirteenth Floor has created. Monte Revolta is a perfect fit in this world, and I’m excited to dive deeper, to explore even more, and see how Midnight Falls grows, expands, and celebrates Halloween each year of 1985.

For more information about LA Haunted Hayride, check out their website, Facebook, and Instagram. To find other events similar to this one, check out our Event Catalog.

Haunting is a resource for immersive theater and horror fans in Los Angeles and across the world, promoting art and community. Want to help us reach even more people, and get some cool perks and experiences? For as little as $1 a month, you can join our Patreon and help us keep bringing content to life.

LA Haunted Hayride is back with Midnight Falls. Midnight Falls has 3 walk-through mazes and the titular Hayride. Come play with the residents of Midnight Falls

If you like the above article and want to find more like it, make sure to join our community. If Facebook is your favorite, follow us there and become a part of our groups for Immersive Horror fans and/or Immersive creators. We’re active on Instagram, posting evocative imagery and informative stories to promote our reviews and recollections; follow us there. You can even find us on twitter; click here to follow. For those who want to explore deeper, we have a vibrant Slack community with new event alerts and immediate ticket sale announcements; click here to join. And subscribe to our event calendar to get emails for all or specific events (look for the link right under the calendar)! Finally, we have a newsletter that comes out once a week; click here to sign up.

LA Haunted Hayride is back with Midnight Falls. LA Haunted Hayride’s Midnight Falls has 3 walk-through mazes and the titular Hayride. Come play with the residents of LA Haunted Hayride’s Midnight Falls. Check out LA Haunted Hayride’s Midnight Falls this Halloween and October. We really loved LA Haunted Hayride’s Midnight Falls and the work Jon Cooke put in. 

LA Haunted Hayride’s Midnight Falls is a Must-See Halloween Attraction.