Unfairgrounds Trivia Quiz

Answer: Final Destination 3

After the events of the first two "Final Destination" films resulted in a plane crash and a highway pile-up sparking a catastrophic series of bizarre deaths, the third "Final Destination" movie had its 'survivors' avoid near-certain death on a shoddy fairground roller coaster as Mary Elizabeth Winstead's Wendy had a premonition and stopped most of her friends from getting killed. What she didn't realize was that by saving them, she put them on death's list, only delaying the inevitable and putting them into situations where they faced even more gruesome fates.

"Final Destination 3" was ultimately quite the popular sequel; the series continued to release new iterations based on the same premise albeit with different inciting incidents (like a NASCAR disaster, a bridge collapse, and a tower structural failure).

Answer: FantasticLand

In "FantasticLand: A Novel", the debut published work by Mike Bockoven, the employees of a Florida theme park are beset upon by severe weather and forced to hunker down on the premises, but none of them are prepared for their unexpected inability to escape the grounds, a consequence of the surrounding floodlands being impassible. What results is the swift dissolution of the group's social normalcy; the employees quickly split into factions, and those factions quickly descend into anarchy, all against the backdrop of a theme park.

Interestingly, "FantasticLand" is written as though it were an oral retelling in a documentary format, chronicling what those involved encountered and recounted in those moments across five weeks of disaster and breakdown.

Answer: Itchy & Scratchy

In season 6, episode 4 of "The Simpsons", the titular family decided to drive off on vacation to Itchy & Scratchy Land, a Disney-like theme park based on the kids' favourite cartoon, and while it seemed like a wacky, albeit concerning destination, it wasn't without its faults.

By the end of the episode, the family was all that was left in the park, all the guests and employees having escaped when the animatronics inside went haywire and started killing people. Fortunately, they were able to keep the robots at bay with camera flashes.

Answer: Wheel of Fortune

One of Stephen King's earlier novels, "The Dead Zone" starts innocuously enough with an injury sustained in Johnny Smith's youth. Nearly twenty years later, after succeeding multiple times on a Wheel of Fortune game at a Maine fairground, uncannily knowing where he was going to win big, Smith's luck runs out; he ends up in a car accident that leaves him in a coma for half-a-decade, awakening with an enhanced clairvoyant ability that changes his life. All of this leads to a premonition in which he sees a future political candidate succeed only to become a tyrant and a key to a potential apocalypse, and he's the only one who might be able to stop it.

"The Dead Zone" released as a novel in 1979 and became a film, directed by David Cronenberg, in 1983. Cronenberg's adaptation omitted the fairground scenes.

Answer: Yes

The 1983 Chevy Chase-led film, "National Lampoon's Vacation", might be a comedy classic. Following the Griswolds in their first hare-brained adventure, the movie involves a road trip with Clark, Ellen, and their two kids, Audrey and Rusty, as they head from their midwestern home all the way out to the coast to visit Walley World, stopping at several locations along the way to varying degrees of success. They eventually do make it to Walley World, but not before a complete psychological breakdown that has them breaking in, holding a guard hostage, and riding the rides with a fake gun.

The Griswolds would have their "European Vacation" in 1985, "Christmas Vacation" in 1989, and "Vegas Vacation" in 1997.

Answer: RollerCoaster Tycoon

Perhaps one of the earliest major simulation games to take root besides "SimCity", "RollerCoaster Tycoon" was originally released on PC in 1999 and became a sleeper hit, allowing players to manage their own parks, build the rides, and complete quests in a sandbox environment. In addition to trying to keep things profitable and well-managed, you could also dabble, at least a little bit, in the lives of your guests, going so far as to name them, pick them up, plunk them down, and do what you will to a degree (short of removing their free will).

There were a few instances in which bad things could happen. Intentional or not, some visitors could die on unmaintained or dangerous coaster rides. Similarly, picking up and putting down your guests into inescapable bodies of water would drown them and immediately drop your park rating because, naturally, people aren't interested in parks with fatal accidents (or murders, you know?).

Answer: A spaceship

A camp classic late-1980s horror movie, "Killer Klowns From Outer Space" was created by the Chiodo Brothers, who wrote, directed, and did all the effects for the sci-fi horror. In it, a sleepy town was beset upon by hungry aliens who, shaped to look like clowns, descended to Earth in their mother ship, shaped like a big top circus tent, to hunt down locals, wrap them up in a cotton candy-like cocoon, and bring them into outer space to eat.

Historically, the film has always been quite well-regarded as a schlock horror classic.

Answer: Goosebumps

The "Goosebump" series, written by R. L. Stine for young readers, started up in 1992, but "One Day At Horrorland" showed up on shelves as the sixteenth title in the set in early 1994. In it, a family headed to the zoo ended up at a mysterious and dangerous alternative theme park only to discover it was run by monsters.

"One Day At Horrorland" was a popular installment in the series (though maybe not as popular as "Night of the Living Dummy" or "The Haunted Mask"). Nonetheless, it resulted in a number of sequels, a handful of TV show episodes (as "Goosebumps" was a well-received horror TV show as well), video games, and even a spin-off novel series, by Stine, releasing from 2008 to 2012.

Answer: The Great Depression

Although well-regarded for its aesthetic and layered, slow-burn storytelling, "Carnivāle" never managed to last as a hit on HBO, getting cancelled only two years into its initially-planned three seasons (though another set of three seasons was drafted up). Showing up on cable from 2003 through 2005, it ultimately fell to low ratings, only receiving its cult following from strong DVD set sales in later years.

The show ended with two dozen episodes chronicling a travelling circus in the 1930s as one of its newer members starts to develop unexpected powers. In a concurrent storyline, another man, deeply invested in the Methodist church, started developing his own powers on the opposite end of the spectrum.

Answer: Left 4 Dead 2

Created by Valve, the "Left 4 Dead" games were cooperative zombie shooter games consisting of a handful of campaign scenarios (all of a handful of acts) of increasing difficulty. Players would take on certain character roles (which were somewhat interchangeable) and push through to, ideally, fulfill a crazy objective and escape their predicament to move on. Both games were very well-received upon their releases in 2008 and 2009 respectively.

"Left 4 Dead 2" featured six campaign segments with 'Dark Carnival' being the third, sending the players through a linear maze of fairground rides, sideshows, and attractions filled with zombie foes.