Our Slasher Review
On Friday night we headed to Nottingham to experience this years Nott's Maze event. This year they have two attractions on offer in Cornevil and The Village. Cornevil is set in a giant corn maze where you are terrorised by its clown and freak show inhabitants and The Village is a very creepy themed walk through a woodland area. The event will run on Friday - Sunday this year but we can't wait to see what they do next year.
Top tip for the event: Interact with the actors in Cornevil
Things that bite: Due to the size there is a lot of dead space without actors but it was expected
Value for money: Yes
Scare Rating: 2/5 Cornevil isn't too scary. The Village is slightly more scary.
Do we recommend: Yes
FOR A MORE IN DEPTH REVIEW PLEASE READ BELOW!
Our Stalker Review
On Friday night I popped along to Nott's Maze to experience their Halloween offering for this year. The Labyrinth and The Village are what is on offer and after hearing some quite good things about last years Labyrinth I was quite excited to visit. We arrived slightly early but were greet by some enthusiastic clowns who came around and terrorised, not just us, but many other people as they arrived. It was a great way to start the event. We checked in and were given a clipboard and told that we had to go around and find the runes hidden around The Labyrinth and The Village and we'd get a sweet. It may be something small but it made it fun and it kind of felt like it had turned into one humungous escape room. The whole event is outside, so make sure you remember the appropriate footwear as it can get muddy in some parts. The check in area also has a fire artist as well as a bar and some food. At the other end is the entrance to the maze.
Warning, spoilers may occur!
You are able to go around the Cornevil maze as your group which when you are a group of two is actually quite intimidating as the corn is quite high. We encountered our first character almost immediately. Colin the Jester! He was loud, flirty and mean. He sent us in the wrong directions multiple times and even cornered us at points. We then met the Ring Master who was intimidating as hell and quite strict and encouraged you to interact with all his friends. It was a great start and we hadn't found a single rune yet. We then arrive at what can only be described as one of two central points in the maze that has multiple routes leading off. We encountered a spider lady here who was a bit shy the first time we visited but on second visit she was horrible. She grabbed our clip board, took the paper off and smeared both in the mud. By this point we had already lost our pen but it was still mean. As we went around we encountered all kinds of characters associated with the Cornevil themed The Labyrinth has. We encountered a mime with a chainsaw who also stole our clip board, a werewolf, scarecrows and a variety of clowns, all of which hid in the corn and scared the crap our of unsuspecting guests wandering the maze. I wouldn't say Cornevil is too scary but the few scares we did get we were well timed but had more a comic factor than a sheer terror one which works well for the event. We eventually managed to find out way out of the maze with a little help from the actors who, if you get stuck, will help you out if you ask nicely and so we then headed up the torchlit pathway to The Village.
The Village is new for 2021 and what an addition it is. Its completely atmospheric and, in my opinion, this is where the main bulk of the scares happen at this event. I screamed a couple of times because some of the scares were just really surprising. Its a dark walk through the woods and has a Blair Witch vibe to it. its uneven and quite dense and the actors use the woodland to their advantage. Its sets are very simplistic but given its location and what its supposed to be it works very well. Its a great addition to the event and the team should be proud of what they have put in.
Nott's Maze has so much potential to become a really awesome event and there is so much they can do and its really great to see the event grow. It was such a great night and we thoroughly enjoyed it. It may not be the most terrifying attraction out there but its definitely one of the more unique ones given its setting in an actual corn maze.
Nott's Maze's The Labyrinth is open every Friday and Saturday in October including Halloween and tickets vary depending on when in the month you visit. For more information you can visit the Notts Maze Website.