My review of Fright Nights from Saturday. Bare in mind there will be very few spoilers in this review so ill be based on my experience with no mention of story, maze format etc.
Fright Nights remains absolutely incredible and I think it is the best time at Thorpe Park, with allowed contact (unlike most other horror attractions) making the mazes a lot scarier and more interactive.
My Bloody Valentine- We started with MBV. Last year was decent, but needed more actors to be effective and a more significant use of Harry Warden. This year, despite no noticeable changes to the maze which is a real shame and will run very dry if nothing is done next year, Harry Warden was seen a lot more and I enjoyed the maze. It was scary, with very effective use of darkness along with the flickering on and off of helmet lights to create a lot of suspense, especially when leading (like me!). I enjoyed the format of the maze with the use of a crawling section and an 'emergency' tone to it, and the maze was overall very fun. However, needs to be replaced or changed next year before this rating goes down, as another year will begin to get boring and they REALLY need to use the isolation rooms again... REALLY. Needs a better ending, even something as simple as Harry Warden appearing and chasing you out, smashing his pickaxe against the wall or something. Overall, I thought the maze was very underrated and although not the best maze, it was great fun and used effective methods to create scares... but it is still not a worthy replacement for the best maze; Experiment 10 in 2011.
Cabin in the Woods- Better the first time than the second (due to the increased speed to get the next lot in on the second run through). Once again, I enjoyed the maze and the new crawling addition with some interesting sets and very lively actors on both runs. One of the stand out mazes again, a lot scarier this year with better actors and effective costumes, had great fun going in a pair and do not suggest bigger groups. Definitely better than Hellgate, but I did not like how the 'choose your route' idea ended up with an area where you all met anyway so it didn't matter where you went and they refused to let us go through one of the doors the second time again due to wanting to get the next group through. Also, the revolving tunnel wasn't working which is a shame and the maze again definitely needs to be changed next year as it just isn't the same a second time, but they did make some changes so I am happy for it to last a bit longer than the others. Needs a better ending, definitely, as the ending is just poor.
Studio 13- All I can say is, although not a bad maze, I am slightly disappointed with this one. When a maze goes from your favourite to being in the middle, that's when you're disappointed. I had been excited all day for this, had high hopes and all I can say is Asylum was better and it is not a worthy replacement. Yeah, it starts well, with great theming throughout and I like the first corridor with all previous mazes scattered on the walls and the reception area, but it just went downhill. I prefer strobes to the lighting used within, which just wasn't the same, and (although theming was good), I prefer the concept of the Asylum and find the hospital set and costumes much scarier with none of the actors being able to climb around or use their specific problem to their advantage. Nice try Thorpe, and it is a good maze, but I just can't stop feeling like it isn't good enough to replace one of Thorpe's best. Also, we went in a second time to give it another chance, and BOTH TIMES we did not encounter the chainsaw ending because of the the slow-moving nature of the maze, which was a key factor of the Asylum's success and walking out because of awful timings within the maze, hearing only the rev of the chainsaw, is a real let down. Sort out the timings Thorpe. The way in which we kept seeing other groups due to how you have a short break at the start of the maze for something (I will not spoil) ruined the maze and prevented the brilliant ending that the Asylum had. The Asylum is better, and I have to say I am not displeased that this is the only year for Studio 13; this year is the 'audition' phase to what is coming next year, according to what I overheard two employees talking about outside of the maze (as well as a poster saying THE MOTEL, coming Fall 2015). So again, the maze was good, but not Asylum good and the poor timings meant both times there was no chainsaw which just isn;t the same experience; the ending is a key aspect of the maze.
SAW Alive- Okay. Just okay. No different to last year, no promised 'new evil', it was just okay. Lack of actors, sets which are just too familiar and just one pig made it the most mediocre maze. IT isn't bad, but it is the worst out of what is available. IT's annoying that Thorpe will be adamant to keep it because of its permanent place on the park, because it is just not good enough any more and after 5 seasons, it has become very repetitive.
Blair Witch Project- This review is definitely based on my personal experienceThe maze stopped temporarily and we were asked to go back through the maze to the start and got a second go, which is a cool. This maze has been so vastly improved since last year, I loved it. As the group was asked to wait ad was left unattended for 10 minutes, I wanted to see what was going along so guess what?; I did the whole walkthrough on my own in the end. It was fantastic. The personal interation when going on your own is awesome, and I had every actors scaring me, touching me, crowding around me and hiding in very effective spots which just couldn't be seen at the time we did it (9pm). I cannot express how good the maze was for me, but I have to take into account that as a group it would be significantly different so I can't give it a 9/10. I had someone force me to give them my name, and then used that to their advantage as they held on to me, kept saying 'DON'T GO INTO THE SHED, SHE IS IN THERE, DON'T GO INTO THE SHED' for the majority of the maze and I also had many actors just staring at me, and then jumping up at the last second. Effective theming, great build up of suspense with the sounds, and it was so so good compared to last year (which I rated 3/10). If you went last year, don't be put off; DO THIS MAZE, but escape your group and do it on your own as a little Face It Alone teaser (the most I will get, I am under 18 :'( ).
Reserve and Ride- Fantastic for us as we were very quick in reserving the mazes, shambolic in general. Although, as I said, it was brilliant for us and we managed to do every maze twice, the idea will never, EVER work and I am mystified as to why they tried it on Fright Nights. Every single reservation was gone by 5, meaning to do a single maze others were forced to queue 3 hours, and they were trying to make it seem good by letting every single reservation in before the main queue. How unfair, and even being one who was greatly helped by the system, it is just unfair on others. No word of a lie, on our second run of My Bloody Valentine, I counted 44 fasttracks and reserve and rides being let in before a single main queuer- absolutely disgusting. This system still meant queueing and led to three queues, making the mazes just inaccessible past 7pm unless it was all you were willing to do (3 hours +). Reserve and Ride will never work on a mass scale, and Thorpe have to give up on it I am afraid to say.
One thing I will say is that next year, things need to be changed; new mazes based on new films, or completely new formats for the five current mazes (*ISOLATION ROOMS*) . Also, the actors this year were often caught off guard, chatting, not aware of the frequency of groups, and this really had an impact on how scared you could be. Often (around 4 times in just one night) we walked into two actors just chatting and it is just silly; do your job.
Overall, I think this year was better than last year with better actors and improved mazes (especially Blair Witch!) but 2011 was still the best Fright Nights to date. And what a disappointment Studio 13 was. I will be going again so will update for Studio 13 as well as the others to see whether they get better as the actors gain experience, but I had a fantastic day with the rides and the mazes and once again Thorpe have not let me down.. except with that awful system that they just have to give up on for the sake of the park's reputation. Experiment 10 remains the best.
