The maze itself…

WOO – lighting & SFX | WOO – enjoyment | BOO –  Storytelling

After a detailed safety briefing, we started our journey into the Scaresville trail. Obviously over the hour, there was so much to cover. Starting with a claustrophobic walkway, meeting some of the slaughterhouse style crew, it built the tension showing how tight, dark and eerie this was going to be. As the trail went further on, we found ourselves in a forest, woodland huts, tents and everything in between. It was surprising how much indoor and enclosed sets they had, as we expected it to be fully outdoors.

One of our favourite features about Scaresville has to be the use of special effects across the hour. They had air blast guns, chainsaws, smoke, strobe lighting, air cushions, everything you’d expect to see in scare mazes but just scattered about. At the same time, they had some very unique effects, such as the moving container we got locked in at the very start. That was honestly so terrifying as it moved back and forth, as a simple effect, it genuinely created pure terror for the whole group. They also had scenes where you felt trapped and had to find your way out, but it wasn’t as easy as you first thought to escape. Ultimately, some great effects for a woodland trail.

Where Scaresville could see some improvement is with the storytelling. It just had no story set out. With how long the walk was, with plenty of stop scenes and possible character interactions, they had the chance to tell a longer story across all the different zones. It seems we just met characters who for the most part were very quiet and silent. We think with some improvement here, it could bring the attraction to the next level.

We really enjoyed our time through this trail. For it being a woodland walk with lots of different themes, which is just different to all the scream parks and other events we’ve done this season, it’s nice to see the difference of a much longer experience.