This year's horror Maize Maze at Studholme promises to be the "closest thing you're going to ever get to being in a horror movie'', its creator says.
In three years, Rory Foley has raised more than $30,000 for the South Canterbury Cancer Society as people from around the South Island have travelled to the maze on the Studholme farm for the opportunity to experience fear at his fear-inducing Maize Maze.
Mr Foley is giving little away about what to expect from his fourth Maize Maze, which will open in mid-February, other than suggesting its latest incarnation is bigger, better and has benefited from getting a "total redesign''.
This year, it is theme-driven and a story to set the scene will be projected for those waiting to enter the maize.
When they do, fear will "build and build''.
Last year, more than 1500 people looked fear in the face at the Studholme horror maze, split up into pairs, armed with only one torch between them, and made their way around 2ha of baffling twists and turns in darkness.
The screams coming from inside only added to the intrigue as the next victims waited to head in.
"[Last year] we had 12 wettings, 39 purples [safe word] and two code browns - and God they stink,'' he said.
"We have a lot of people go in and when they come out they're exhausted.''
The attraction of the maze, Mr Foley thinks, is the opportunity to be immersed in a real-life horror movie.
He hopes to have more than 2000 people go through the maze this year.
"For me, I see more and more people spending most of their time looking at screens,'' he said.
"[The Maize Maze] is not the same as going to a horror movie. It's about being able to first-hand experience that, it's really interactive. It's a night out and it's that adrenaline.''
As well as growing the maize, managing it as a horror attraction, and acting in it, Mr Foley is a fourth-generation farmer in Studholme and runs his own events company, Impressive Events.
He has become well known for his horror-themed charitable work for various groups and individuals, also organising the Shadow Exhibition, the Waimate Hospital Horror Asylum, the Waimate Zombie Run and Disturbia, a fundraising event for St John Clutha.
His motivation to keep holding the Maize Maze each year was knowing how the money raised was helping people in South Canterbury.
"Last year, the Cancer Society sat me down and actually told me exactly where the money goes,'' he said.
He heard how $100 had gone to a woman as she started her first round of chemotherapy in Christchurch, while $1200 had gone towards making headscarves for women.
"It's not just going in to a big, general pool,'' he said.
He also has a "great team'' of volunteers to help him.
Preparation begins each year on November 1, with drilling of the maize.
"Then we wait for it to get to ‘Red Band' height and it gets its first course of nitrogen,'' he said.
"From there we wait for it to get to full gumboot height and it gets its second course [of nitrogen].''
It is irrigated as much as possible and at the end of January, when the maize is about 2.4m tall, the corn is snapped off and Mr Foley takes to it with a scrubcutter to cut out the maze formation.
It requires a lot of work, but he loves forming the maze.
"If I didn't [love it], I wouldn't do it - I'm either 150-crazy-percent into something, or zero, there's no middle ground for me, unfortunately,'' he said.
An opening date for the 2016 Maize Maze has not yet been confirmed, but it should be mid-February.
On some nights this year, horror movies will also be projected on to big screens - setting the mood for those waiting to enter the maize, or as more entertainment for those who have finished.
For those not game enough to enter at night, there will also be a day maze option.
