25 October 2023
Are you ready to scream once more at HallowScream?
HallowScream at York Maze has returned from its ever popular sold out 2022 season to scare the locals & rest of the UK. For 2023, you have 5 terrifying scare houses, live stage shows and a large team of roaming actors to experience and that’s outside the food, drink and funfair rides. If the above does not already give you everything you want and need, they have a brand new scare house called Necropolis, which sees the ancient curse be awakened as you explore the hidden tomb.
For those who haven’t been lucky enough to experience HallowScream before, the event runs at York Maze and is separate to the summer corn maze offering. This event runs on selected nights from the 13th October – 4th November, usually during the hours of 6:30pm to 11pm.
During the half term week, they even run a kids event called HallowTween, which is perfect for children to experience these mazes but as a much more toned down experience which is less scary and gory.
For the many who will be returning to HallowScream, you’ll be glad to know that for this year, you now have unlimited maze entry all night instead of one go per attraction. This is all included in the basic ticket entry however, you can buy a 5 Fastrack bundle to get 5 skips on any of the attractions, or unlimited Fastrack for a night of no queues. For extreme fans or guests wanting the ultimate night, you may want to look into the mega bundle!
Our thoughts for 2023…
This is our second year of attending HallowScream at York Maze and we were very excited to hear about the new scare house and other new additions across the event. This year we see the stage show have a glow up, with it having some new features and it being even bigger than before. They now have a show every 10 minutes, which is mainly dance shows but with a few special ones thrown in for good measure. These were great to quickly watch when passing by or having some food or drink. At 8:40, we watched a special halfway show which includes one of the main characters, Lil Dribble, having a singalong to their very own made special song. Well worth watching as it’s extremely funny and entertaining!
The whole inside section felt more spacious due to them making room compared to last year and they have added platforms across the whole area, so that if you can’t catch the entertainment on the main stage, you may get to see the roaming team instead dance along. The lights within have a nightclub vibe and it was all synced to the entertainment and shows to give some very atmospheric and impressive sequences!
We loved meeting with all the roaming characters, as they do cause absolute chaos here. Whilst one moment they may be calm and be happy to stop for a selfie, the next they are running at full pace at you with a chainsaw without a second to look back. We saw many guests fall victim to this. The whole atmosphere was buzzing and without the mazes, it was a great evening out.
With this said, let’s look into the attractions and see what we thought of our 2023 run throughs.
To find out more about our scare ratings, click here!
2073
Theming 80% | Storyline 60% | Screams 60% | Laughs 45% | Actors 65%
One of the longest attractions you’ll experience this year, 2073 takes you to a post-apocalyptic world where society has broken down and the army is your best chance of survival. With elements of time travel in the story and zombies, this hybrid themed maze provides a great crossover of the future & past in certain sections. Due to the sheer size of the attraction and how groups are batched, you can become merged with other groups in this experience which does impact on the scares and atmosphere. However, where it does make this back up is with its length and different desolate areas you enter. The intro and ending scenes add to the immersion which very much help blend this non fictional world to life.
Corny’s Cornevil
Theming 70% | Storyline 65% | Screams 70% | Laughs 90% | Actors 85%
This is York HallowScream’s clown maze however, they don’t disappoint with the theme. With it having all of the colorful, quirky & mind bending elements, it keeps a dark & twisted story in mind which does transpire deeper within the attraction. As the maze uses a fun house with additional elements, the illusion rooms such as the mirror maze or the shrinking room really worked as a strength for this clown maze. This meant the clowns could be scarier but also funnier & more creative. The gravity defying room was certainly a highlight & lots of fun.
The Singularity
Theming 75% | Storyline 80% | Screams 95% | Laughs 55% | Actors 85%
One of the scariest mazes we’ve done this Halloween season and for sure at the event, The Singularity takes you into the future as you enter the lab to see first hand the chaos being constructed. These robot/human hybrids are still very much in the testing stages and with new participants needed, the story adds a huge immersive layer to this attraction. As you walk through a series of rooms to be tested and scanned before seeing some of these futuristic monsters. One of the standouts is the prison scene, with its large ceiling and scares coming from all angles. It is always incredible to see such a unique feature that we won’t spoil. The hybrids inside managed to get us running, ducking and weaving through the tight corridors and smoke filled traps.
The Flesh pot
Theming 70% | Storyline 70% | Screams 55% | Laughs 55% | Actors 65%
The Flesh Pot is your typical SlaughterHouse with creepy family members, dark corridors, a twisted story and other horrifying body & animal parts. It has hints of laughter at the start with you meeting a character before they send you in to meet the inhabitants. These creatures roamed and provided havoc all around and with so many dark scenes, it was difficult to keep track of where they were. Whilst not the strongest maze in the lineup, we can imagine most guests will be screaming & squealing around this maze from start to finish. As part of the varied lineup, it provides everything you would want and need from a scare maze and is highly recommended you experience it.
Necropolis – New for 2023
Theming 100% | Storyline 70% | Screams 85% | Laughs 60% | Actors 90%
New for 2023, Necropolis joins the lineup and replaces the old 3D UV attraction that was previously at the event. With an Egyptian theme and an ancient curse reawakening once more, the adventure into the tomb is not for the faint hearted. Starting off in an adventure style by entering into the unknown, you quickly come face to face with all sorts of mummified creatures and cursed protectors. With some of the best theming and a rather unique style which we haven’t seen in the UK before, Necropolis captures you right into its immersive world and quickly wants to make you escape its evil curse. A huge asset to the event and to the UK Halloween scene for 2023.
This means our night at York Maze for HallowScream was one hell of an experience. As always, they provided 5 brilliant scare attractions, all with different themes and stories, plus with frequent mini shows throughout which was a great idea to not leave you spending all night waiting around for or watching just one or two longer shows. Necropolis was a highlight itself with a unique theme and the execution of it being an outstanding attraction, especially in its opening year.
A huge thank you to the team at Hallowscream at York Maze for inviting us to come & experience this event for another year. They provided our entry and exclusive filming access to get the content you can see in this review. Make sure you check out our TikTok to see a little more from inside the event itself and grab tickets for the event before they sell out, if they haven’t already!
Attractions 85%
Entertainment 80%
Atmosphere 85%
value for money 65%
uniqueness 80%
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