Schaefer Farms in Flemington NJ

Schaefer Farms’ Fright Fest in Flemingon, NJ offers four nightly Halloween attractions for the price of one throughout the whole month of October.

Schaefer Farms, a family-run farm located in Hunterdon County that offers local milk, butter, honey, cheese, flowers and homemade candles, welcomes October every year with daily hayrides that trail the farm’s forty acres of pumpkin patches. The hayride is free for individuals who purchase a pumpkin. On Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights throughout all of October starting at 7 p.m., Schaefer Farms opens its Fright Fest, which includes a 45-minute hayride through 200 acres of land.

The hayride, which the Schaefer staff does not recommend for children under eight years old, sits over 20 people plus two staff guides dressed in Halloween apparel. Before the ride begins, the guides lay out the standard set of rules.

The hayride includes brief, 3-minute stops at numerous attractions, where costumers stay onboard the ride as employed-actors perform scary, Halloween scenes. In the middle of the ride, the tractor stops and allows riders to get off at the Trail of Terror, a graveyard scene where actors who play the “living dead” chase unsuspected individuals back to the already positioned hayride a half-mile away. Upon arriving back at the hayride, riders are then dropped off at the Schaefer’s Mass-Acre Maze.

The one-way maze, which covers an entire corn field, finds five Schaefer Farms workers dressed as Jason Voorhees – from the American horror film franchise Friday the 13th – hiding among the corn stalks, waiting with prop chainsaws to chase unsuspected individuals. If people “survive” this chase, they exit the maze and come to the last segment of Fright Fest, a haunted house called the Carnival of Chaos located in the main barn of the farm. In groups of no more than ten, individuals enter the dark barn and are immediately enveloped in a layer of fog, procured through the special effects of dry ice. Employees dressed as clowns and demons hide behind corners and jump out at individuals until the very end, where costumers exit and find themselves back at the main entrance to Schaefer Farms.

Before or after visiting the Fright Fest attractions, individuals may enjoy apple cider, hot chocolate, hotdogs, and other concession food items located at five separate vendors near the entrance to the Schaefer property. Other snacks and Halloween decorations are on sale in the main garage, where people can also buy their Fright Fest tickets for $22 per head.

The last night of Fright Fest is on Halloween, Sunday, October 31. Tickets for Fright Fest stop selling at 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and 9 p m. on Sundays.

Jackass 3D breaks Fall Box Office Record

Camouflaged bullfighting, blue-paint splattering Porter Johns, and flying feces. There’s no such thing as taking it “too far” when it comes to the Jackass crew, who gained notoriety for making fools of themselves on MTV’s hit reality prank show that first aired in 2000. Now bringing their wild antics to the big screen for the third time, Johnny Knoxville and crew continue to keep the laughs coming with even more cringe-worthy stunts and escapades, this time with the help of 3D effects (at least for those individuals who enjoy naked man parts and Steve-O’s constant vomiting flying at them from all directions).

In its opening weekend, Jackass 3D brought in a record-breaking estimated $50 million in over 3000 theaters, making it the most successful Fall opening film ever. Its success even surpasses the gross incomes of the first two movies, which brought in $22 million and $29 million on their opening weekends.

It seems that a movie does not need to have a solid plot as long as it includes immature, dude-like humor and ridiculous, dangerous stunts and pranks. Jackass 3D follows the same premises as its past movies and TV series – the more pain, torture, and grossness the more likely laughs and entertainment are to ensue. Although the Jackass boys appear to be running out of unique ideas when it comes to their stunts (there’s just so much stupidity in hitting each other in the groin and consuming a variety of disgusting bodily fluids before it all starts to blur together) fans are still pleased with the overall mood and success of the Jackass saga.

It’s not common when someone goes to a movie that they will laugh nonstop among fellow audience members throughout the entire film, but that’s exactly what it’s like at a Jackass screening, which makes it all the more fun.

This film’s closing stunt definitely out-grosses all prior movies, with Steve-O launched by a bungee-like contraption into the air while inside a port-a-potty filled to the brim with various human and animal excrements. Picture that in 3D affects, and one will realize that event after 10 years, the Jackass crew still does not fail to shock and disgust – but in the most entertaining, hilarious way possible.

The West Portal Pumpkin Patch in Hunterdon County

The West Portal Pumpkin Patch in Asbury, NJ offers a family-friendly atmosphere this October, with pumpkin picking and apple cider drinking for all to enjoy.

Located at the West Portal farm, the pumpkin patch is open on Thursday and Friday 2-5 p.m. and 12-5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday throughout October. For $1 per person, individuals can enjoy a 15-minute hayride around the West Portal property, which includes numerous separate corn and pumpkin fields. The crops are rotated every year to keep the land irrigated, and this year the commercial pumpkin patch – where hayriders are allowed to dismount and pick their own pumpkins– is located in field farthest from the main property. Ongoing hayrides throughout the afternoon also provide pumpkin-pickers with a ride back to the main entrance.

Pumpkins are sold at 50 cents a pound, and if people do not wish to take the hayride, pre-picked pumpkins are set aside in a barn located next to the entrance and parking lot. The barn, which typically holds barrels of hay throughout the year, morphs into a Halloween exhibit for the month of October. Candy and apply cider are sold, along with many festive knickknacks, including Frankenstein stuffed-animals and candy corn dish plates.

Parents can tire out their kids by letting them tumble through the playground of haystacks located behind the barn. A small, fenced-off petting area – where kids come face-to-face with goats, chickens and cows – sits across the dirt path where the hayrides load and unload passengers. For 25 cents, individuals can get a handful of corn to feed to the animals.

People can test their memory skills by daring to partake in the two corn mazes, webbed in the two fields closest to the farm’s entrance. The first, moderate maze costs $5 and takes approximately 40 minutes to get through. The second maze, bigger and with more twists and turns, should take closer to an hour to decipher. Each person is given a map as a guide before entering the maze. From an aerial view, each maze depicts a different spooky, Halloween-themed design.

For those who want to save money but still enjoy a day out in the autumn weather, decorated picnic tables and other Halloween attractions are located throughout the farm to provide a festive mood. The hilly landscapes around the farm offer a view of the fall foliage, a popular attraction of the season.

The West Portal Farm is located in the city of Asbury in Hunterdon County on 274 Asbury West Portal Rd. For party reservations and more information, call 908-479-1487.

A number of Horror Films set for an October release, just in time for Halloween

It's that time of year for big-time movie labels to get their fair share in of October horror movie releases. Already out this month include the hugely advertised films Let Me In, Case 39 and My Soul to Take and the widely anticipated upcoming releases Saw 3D and Paranormal Activity 2 are already stirring up commotion on the web. Here’s a take on which movies horror enthusiasts should consider spending the time and money to see, and which ones are better left to the imagination.

Case 39, directed by Christian Alvart and starring Renee Zellweger, follows social worker Emily Jenkins (Zellweger) as she struggles to save and then kill 10-year-old demon child Lilith Sullivan. The film’s opening weekend brought in an estimated $5,350,000 nationwide, but has received mostly negative reviews. According to the popular online movie review site Rotten Tomatoes, “Director Christian Alvart has a certain stylish flair, but it's wasted on Case 39's fright-less, unoriginal plot.”

My Soul to Take, also out in 3D, gained a lot of hype because of its infamous horror movie director Wes Craven. The film, similar in plot to Craven’s A Nightmare on Elms Street, just opened this past weekend and thus far has received very negative reviews. Many critics consider it Craven’s worst film yet, and movie-goers say that the plot has no sense of the teen-slasher/horror vibe that the renowned director is chiefly known for.

Let Me In, directed by Matt Reeves and based on the original 2008 Swedish film Let the Right One In, is about a young boy who forms a friendship with a mysterious vampire girl who strives off of human blood. Released the first weekend in October, it is so far the only horror movie to gain positive reviews this month. Many consider it an eerie film which successfully captures the heart of the original with enough uniqueness that allows it to stand on its own as a horror film.

Paranormal Activity frightened viewers last year with its campy feel reminiscent of 1999’s The Blair Witch Project. Trailers for the sequel look very similar to the original film, but this version involves a baby, which typically adds an extra dose of spooky. Saw 3D is set to be the final chapter of the seven series saga. Writers Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan have kept audiences screaming and cringing with their morbid scenarios and plotlines involved in the Saw films, and the 3D effects featured in the upcoming release have fans talking. The film was original rated NC-17,but was resubmitted six times in order to secure an “R” rating, so should please horror fans interested in the macabre and gruesome.

Paranormal Activity 2 is set to open nationwide October 22, and Saw 3D opens Friday, October 29.