Slasher Review(Our Short Review)
On the 2nd of October we visited Thorpe Park in Surrey for their annual Fright Nights event. We will say now that we were a little pushed for time so we didn't get a chance to see Deaths Doors, Graduation Sucks! including the flash mob, Legacy Fire and Light show, or The Crows of Mawkin Meadow but we will be back again so will add to the review when we do. Fright Nights features three mazes and one scare experience. Alongside the roaming actors that bring the whole event together into one powerhouse of an event. All the mazes were strong this year but the one that pushed its way to the top was the new Survival Games,with the weakest being the returning Trailers, however this does not mean that Trailers was bad ,it was just outshone by the intensity of Survival Games. The batching on the evening was perfect and we never ran into another group except for Survival Games but being multi-route it was bound to happen.
Top Tips-All the mazes are indoors so do them as soon as they open to give you more time for the scare zones later in the dark.
Things That Bite-We are honestly not sure what to put here, there was very little that caused issues on our trip. Maybe if anything, we just wish The Terminal seemed a little more finished.
Value for Money - 100%
Scare Rating - 4/5 Creek Freak Massacre & Survival Games 3/5 for Trailers
Do We Recommend - In a heartbeat.
Stalker Review(Our Long Review)
It is fair to say that Thorpe Park Fright Nights over the years has been hit and miss but this year it has surpassed expectations and become one of the premier events in the UK scare lineup with a great selection on offer for maze lovers and haters alike. Fright Nights hosts three scare mazes and 1 audio scare experience by Darkfield, The creators of experiences such as Seance and Coma. We arrived early to get the rides in before the mazes but due to a situation out of our control we had to leave early thus not getting to experience The Crows of Mawkin Meadow, Graduation Sucks and the new for 2022 Deaths Doors. We will be returning at the end of the year to do a revised review featuring those which we had missed out on this time round.
We started off with the family show Birthday Bash. Which has to be one of the strangest shows we have ever seen. A story of a spoilt pair of brattish kids who want the perfect birthday party which has a selection of characters from the dirty granny to the totally inebriated and not-so-innocent princess and even a pinata. It is a great start to the Fright Nights experience and succeeded in getting us ready for the mazes ahead.
Once Birthday Bash was finished, it was time to head to our first maze of the evening (and my first time experiencing) the award-winning Trailers. After a short wait, our group entered the Superspark Cinema to be sent through the screen and into the trailers of past scare mazes gone by. Featuring such classics as The Asylum, Big Top, The Curse and even with a sense of humour, the infamous Vulcan Peak. The acting might not have been the most intense but then again neither did it have to be, The actors we saw put on a great show delivering some fun jumps here and there before heading out the screen again and into daylight ready for our next adventure.
Next up again with absolute minimal wait was Creek Freak Massacre. We entered the maze attraction in a group of five, three were sent down the "Rotten wood" chute and the other two of us headed through the door into the Buckwheats bloodsoaked timber mill. It has to be said there was not one weak actor in CFM, each taunting and jibing at us as we made our way through their lair. The attraction is so beautifully themed and had the perfect build-up to the finale where we saw the group split up in the cage maze, one final push and it was the chainsaw chase back out into the light and into the proverbial arms of the Buckwheats of Creek Freaks Unchained. This is the chance to get to know the Buckwheats a little better and god forbid should they ask you if you support "Examabus". We said we did which lead to a tirade of being worse than rotten wood and turning the whole family on us with malicious glee. The father of the Buckwheats was especially entertaining and didn't take well to the other Dan and Dane at all, especially when they tried to explain the pros of Project Exodus.
Escaping the Buckwheats it was time for our final maze of the trip, The NEW for 2022 Survival Games. Now, where do we start with this absolute titan of an attraction? Survival Games theme is a very distinct one, it's like a mashup of Big Brother meets Black Mirror with a hint of Sub Species for good measure. This televised death race is run by a dystopian broadcaster YVEL. Again after a very short wait our group was sent in, placed in cages and told to watch the screens whilst a countdown signalled our impending fate. And with that, the doors behind opened and one by one we were taken into the game. Complete with level stages and the killers within all baying for fresh competitors to try and take down. This maze was beautifully intense and we can imagine to some to be really quite terrifying. Survival Games really is a perfect game of cat and mouse and once you get towards the end, pray you don't get caught, or you might find yourself in a dangerous situation. Survival Games really has to be experienced first-hand to see the pure chaos that can ensue within, If you're worried about it don't hesitate, just give yourself over to the game.
Finally, as our time of leaving was drawing near it was time to head over and take on Darkfield's combined effort with Thorpe Park, The Terminal.
Now with all Darkfield experiences it really is best to go in as blind as possible to get the best possible show. So all we shall really say is The Terminal isn't so much scary but it can be unsettling and disturbing at times. The only downside we found, especially if you have experienced the likes of Flight, Seance, Coma and Eulogy are that the "Ship" is quite bland and devoid of theming, other than that just sit back, go to sleep and pray you wake up on the other side.
And with that it was time for us to sadly leave, but what a trip it has been. Every actor we came across was seriously on point and it's fair to say that when it comes to scare events this year, Thorpe Park is not playing any games. We do wish that The Terminal would have had a few more frights into the mix or a little more theming to immerse you into the sci-fi world it speaks of, but other than that it has been a very very strong year for Thorpe Park Fright Nights and we thank and congratulate all who have helped bring this huge attraction together.
Thorpe Park Fright Nights runs from 7th-9th,14th-31st
Tickets can be bought from the following link below.
Review written by Dan and Dane