The Field of Screams is back for a ninth year of scaring people silly at Spallumcheen鈥檚 Historic O鈥橩eefe Ranch.
This year鈥檚 theme, theatre of terror, is a throwback to 2016鈥檚 theme of cinema horror.
鈥淥ne of my favourite parts of the job is every year I get to come up with a theme, and so we try and change it every year,鈥� said Matt Brown, creative director and co-owner of Field of Screams.
Back in 2016, there were two mazes; this year there are four.
Maze 1 features classics including Frankenstein鈥檚 laboratory and Dracula鈥檚 castle. Maze 2 is all about slasher classics like The Purge, Nightmare and Elm Street, and also features a haunted grocery store. Maze 3 is for fans of extraterrestrials with a science fiction theme.
鈥淢aze 4 is completely new this year. (There are) no actors, no lights, but you can download a thriller podcast and walk through and listen to it,鈥� Brown said.
Having four mazes helps alleviate some of the long lineups that Field of Screams has been seeing, said Glen Taylor, operations manager and co-owner.
鈥淭here鈥檚 so much interest in it in the community and we get people up and down the valley all over the Okanagan that are coming to this,鈥� Taylor said.
In terms of how scary the mazes are, Brown says they try to out-do themselves every year.
鈥淚 went through last night for the first time and somebody got me well enough that I aged five years,鈥� Brown laughed. 鈥淚 would say hopefully this time we鈥檙e just a little bit scarier than we鈥檝e ever been.鈥�
This year, Field of Screams installed a movie screen at the head of the maze, so folks can watch locally made horror flicks while waiting in line. One of the movies was written and directed by Brown.
A lot of work goes into turning the corn field at the ranch into nightmare fuel. Brown said they cut the corn in the last week of May and have been working on construction since the first week of July.
Field of Screams is open Wednesdays to Saturdays for the next two weeks, and on the final week, it is open Sunday, Oct. 30, for the final day of the season. Gates open at 7 p.m.
For tickets, visit .
READ MORE:
READ MORE:
