I visited Fright Nights yesterday, if you're interested, you can either view my spoiler-filled review on my blog:
http://www.cheekysheepski.wordpress.com , or read the text from it in the spoiler tags below!
Some would say that Fright Nights, like many other aspects to our UK entertainment industry, has become merely a brand of which is very much more about style rather than having much substance. Whilst I agree somewhat with that, I thoroughly enjoyed Fright Nights this year.
So what is Fright Nights? Essentially, it’s all about the mazes across park- and it has 5 of them now, not a bad offering of additional experiences along with a full attraction listing. So let’s get right down to it:
Experiment 10. [spoiler:1j5khkwu]Well, I’d read some of the reviews before and I’m glad I did. What none of the reviews I’ve read have conveyed, however, is just how much you’re manhandled in that maze. More on that as I go. Queuing in the arena, pre-recorded announcements and roaming actors give the illusion that this is a secret government facility, in which we are subjects who are volunteering to be used as part of an experiment. The roaming actors were fantastic, asking random people faux questions about their medical history and really taking themselves so seriously, which is all the more chilling.
After roughly an hour of queuing, we were into the pre-show room for the attraction which outlines the story for the rest of the attraction. We find out that we’re volunteering for an experiment where scientists are trying to eradicate fear from the human brain. This attraction is full of dark humour, walking in to this pre-show room, a series of CCTV monitors show various states of carnage, before quickly the character switches them off in a panic, “nothing to see here, everything is running as planned”. I really cannot commend this actor in this room enough, I found his speech funny, unnerving and yet totally had me invested in this story. They’ve got me.
You then proceed; Scientists in gas masks and lab suits literally shout at you, push you to where they want you. Your group is split up onto two sides of this chamber. You’re told to await instructions and to breathe deeply. The conviction in which this was said sent shivers down my spine as smoke filled the room, acting as a gas chamber before being plunged into darkness. Definitely some echoes of the Holocaust here, at least for me, whether intentional or not… and if you have ever done any research on it or have seen Schindler’s list, I think this alone is quite a hard hitting emotional impact.
And then, oh yes, then there are the chambers. Scientists direct you into one of the many chambers. They want you to go one at a time. “One at a time, one at a time”, they insist with such sinister conviction, whilst trying to tear my boyfriend and I apart. In other mazes you know there is safety in numbers. Not so with Experiment 10 as many of the unsuspecting victims soon discover. Say goodbye to your usual Thorpe Park conga line. Fortunately for us, they did not manage to separate us, yet this was not without them trying their hardest to do so. Almost knocking me over with the force of which they pushed me about. We’re shoved into the chamber on the far right hand side…
So we’re stood here for a few moments, in darkness, screaming and banging echoing all around, until, the silence. We suddenly discover that all of the other chambers have been emptied. It is this that is the most unnerving aspect of the attraction, the unknown, the total chaos that you know was your choice to participate in, yet you can’t help but be totally invested in this story. Just as we notice a small glow of a white light in front of us, an actor plunges their face into the side of the chamber, to what can only be described as a flexible, perhaps latex sheeting. Pretty disturbing.
The door opens, and we’re lead through the thick smoke by more scientists, again, literally pushing us to where they need us to go. It’s all very violent and gives a great impact. Sadly, I cannot comment fairly on the level of scenic design in this maze. It was so densely filled with haze and smoke that I could barely make out any of the scenes I was travelling through. What I did know though, we were alone. Well, alone in the fact that it was us two, and then screams coming from all around us.
When we were told crouch down and traverse through a tunnel, a chuckle of disbelief just breezed over my face, though this was wiped clear when a scientist from behind shoved me downwards, forcing me to continue on this twisted route. The tunnel carries on for what feels like an eternity, it actually changes in gradient as well, sloping downwards for a fair amount of the way. A cool effect is that it slowly gets steeper, so you actually start to panic if this is going to turn into some kind of slide.
At the end of the tunnel, you are treated by an actor for this predictable, yet totally effective startle scare. Sadly though, I was not able to make out their character as they had disappeared into the bellowing smoke. If I had one criticism of Experiment 10, on our personal route through the attraction, we did not encounter many actors who were physically trying to scare us, yet hearing shrieks of terror from behind, I can’t help but feel as though we missed out on some of the best scares in the attraction.
Through the smoke, I could scarcely make out glows from lit signage, a lab and bed but just could not comment on where I was throughout the attraction apart from telling you that we were in a room with lots of strobes. Not seeing where you could go did add to the general panic of the attraction, yet sadly seemed to have no pay off, at least for us, as we did not encounter any actors right until the end of the maze. It is clear however, that we were in the minority, clearly, judging the amount of chilling shrieks of pure terror that would be enough to send shivers down your spine.
Variety in haunted attractions, especially if an event has a number of them, if an essential part of a guest experience…. I can say that Experiment 10 is unlike any other maze at Thorpe, but also unlike any other Scare Attraction I have done. There have been hints that something was changing for this year’s Fright Nights for a couple of months now- including job adverts for a new events manager and entertainments vacancies being available on Merlin’s career page, yet it was only when Scare Tour posted their review and stated that there was a new creative team behind the event, that this was confirmed to me. It is very clear that this attraction has come with fresh ideas, daring and controversial in places. They have really pushed the boundaries of what can be done and what an audience can expect from these types of attractions.
We exited the attraction to find that everyone in our group were already waiting for us. They went a different route and said that it was populated by many actors, it seems as though the two routes differ slightly in types of scare. This is also evident from reviews of both the media launch and staff preview events, who all say that is a very interactive in that it can be done various times and you’ll experience different things.
Whilst for us, Experiment 10 did not have that big finale scare, what was so evident that the intensity, the chaos and pure panic built to such a climax, which was enough of a finale for us. I do feel, again, that we were in the minority with this experience, and I think our experience would be very different if we were to do the attraction again. Over the coming nights, this attraction will just continue to be improved and tweaked, until, and I do not say this lightly, Thorpe have one of the most intensely scary and violent Scare Attractions in the country.[/spoiler:1j5khkwu]
Don't blink; not even for a second, blink and you're dead.
