Can someone hook this fella up with some 'Exposed'?
The Creepy interview with El Dia De Los Muertos Maze Creator, David Ortiz
A little over a week ago, CreepyLA brought you a sneak preview of the new maze at Knott’s Berry Farm based on the Central American holiday, El Dia De Los Muertos, or “Day of the Dead” to us gringos.
If you missed the preview, you can read it : Sneak Peek: Dia De Los Muertos Maze.
While taking the preliminary run through with the maze’s new scare tacticitans, CreepyLA was able to pull a few into the dark recesses of the maze for a quick Q&A:
CreepyLA: Can you tell me your name?
Matt: My name is Matt.
CreepyLA: Where are you from Matt?
Matt: I live in San Bernardino.
CreepyLA: What is your character here in the maze?
Matt: I’m actually a bandito, a Mexican freedom fighter.
CreepyLA: Ok, and how do you plan on going about scaring someone as they come through this part of
How about some limes with that skull?
the maze?
Matt: I plan on trying to just own it, like “this is my village” this part of the maze is mine.
CreepyLA: Ok. Now are they going to kinda zombiefi you out like you have been killed already and risen from the grave? Or do you know what your costume is going to look like?
Matt: I’m not sure yet, because I have makeup and I have not seen any of it yet, all I have seen is the costume. All I know is I’m… a lot of bones, haha.
CreepyLA: Alright, Thanks Matt
Next was an interview with one of the Cantina workers:
CreepyLA: Hey what’s your name?
Candice: Candice. I’m from Montabello.
The Cantina Band looks like they could use five...
CreepyLA: What is your character in this part of the maze?
Candice: I am a Saloon girl in the Cantina Room.
CreepyLA: Obviously a ‘dead’ Saloon girl.
Candice: Yeah, haha! Skeleton…
CreepyLA: What do you think you are going to do in order to get a scream out of somebody?
Candice: Maybe creep up on people, pop out of the bar, slam a couple of bottles…
CreepyLA: Nice. Do you have any idea what your costume is going to look like yet?
Candice: Ah, Yeah. It’s actually a skeleton costume, it’s like a black unitard with bones on it and then the dancing girls and I all have a white wrap to go with. And we all wear makeup, no mask.
Next was a talk in the graveyard:
CreepyLA: Hey, what’s your name?
The cemetery really has a glow about it, don't you think?
Eric: Eric, I’m from Whittier Ca., about 20 mins away.
CreepyLA: In this area, what character do you play?
Eric: I’m a zombie.
CreepyLA: How do you plan on getting a fright out of somebody?
Eric: Umm, the whole like thriller dance, you know, how they walk, I’ll do that. Play dead, come out from behind corners over in the front part of the room. Stuff like that.
Next was a dark passageway toward the end of the maze:
Greg: Greg, I’m from Adam Hills.
CreepyLA: So, you are going to be in this coffin here in the wall. It is dark in here, you are going to have a pretty easy time of scaring people, how are you gonna do it?
Greg: I’m gonna hide right in here, its build into the wall, pretty much when they come through, they are gonna think I’m dead, which they should. Then I’m going to explode out at them, hopefully I’ll be able to catch a few of them thinking “Oh, he’s dead, he won’t cause a problem.”
CreepyLA: And what is your costume gonna look like?
Greg: It is pretty much an all bones mummy, with some of my wrappings just hanging off.
CreepyLA: Alright, thanks man.
And lastly, in a portion of the maze set up to look like a lonely desert trail:
Gabriel: Gabriel, I’m from Torrance Ca.
CreepyLA: So there are three of you, what are you guys going to do in here?
The desert room. Go out there and tell that wolf to clam it!
Gabriel: Pretty much, our characters are wolves wearing monk robes, so we are kinda like werewolf style in here.
CreepyLA: So you know the costume then?
Gabriel: I do actually. I’ve seen both the costume and the mask, it looks like a typical jedi robe with a nice little American werewolf mask. It’ll get warm, but it’ll be good.
CreepyLA: Alright, well good luck.
And finally, Creepy caught up with the designer of this unique maze, Mr. David Ortiz:
Mr. David Ortiz, Maze Designer
CreepyLA: I heard it said that you have been involved in other mazes, but this is your first solo maze?
David: Yes, exactly.
CreepyLA: I can tell you have poured a lot of yourself into this maze.
David: Oh yes, well thank you for noticing. Yeah defiantly. This has been my dream, to make a maze, to create a maze, you know, design one, but to have it be this is even more special.
This just came to me a few years ago, and had gotten developed this last year, and I am very happy with it.
CreepyLA: Yeah, I’m very impressed with it too. I’ve always been interested in the Dia De Los Muertos…
David: And it has never been done before, but I never really thought about that until people started mentioning it.
CreepyLA: Did you participate in the holiday a lot as a child?
David: You know, not that much. I’m just very aware of it, and stuff like that, Halloween is my big holiday, and Dia De Los Muertos is similar to it, ah the focus is a little different, you know, Halloween is about ghosts, goblins and things going bump in the night, and Dia De Los Muertos is about remembering family and friends who have passed away.
In the way it’s presented though is kinda like Mardi Gras and Halloween combined. It has such a great look to it, and a big history too.
CreepyLA: I’ve seen a lot of Aztec iconography and such on the walls, did you do a lot of research in that area to kinda get things right?
David: Even though it’s a haunt maze I did research, but it’s a fiction so I really picked them because they
This maze has a blood thristy Aztec god as a perm resident
looked good, haha!
CreepyLA: Yeah, you gotta entertain!
David: Yeah, exactly!
CreepyLA: What is your favorite room in the maze? If you could pick one?
David: If I had to pick one, I would say the cemetery. We are doing some things there that we haven’t done before, like all the candles and that’s a real big icon of Dia De Los Muertos. It’s one thing I really hoped to pull off and I think it is working great.
CreepyLA: That’s the room I took the most pictures in, haha.
David: Even though it is my design, without all the people that we have and their dedication and support, we have really taken a liking to this maze and you can see it.
They care about it and it is because of them that it actually happens.
Don't worry, she is just taking a nap. Yeah, thats it.
We at CreepyLA really feel privileged to have been granted this sneak peek at such a unique creation from the people at Knott’s Berry Farm.
The Dia De Los Muertos maze truly will be a one of a kind experience for anyone brave enough to step inside its dark passages. Congratz to David and all those who worked on this maze, it really is a job well done and a credit to the holiday it represents.
