Fright Nights 2013

[swooddow]

the bags may have also to distract the people going threw it the lack of themeing ect as all I can remeber was it being black walls with neon words painted on the wall in UV paint , words like 'Sin' 'Help Us' ect. and that was the extent of the themeing , I suppose the did not want to spend to much money as they new that the event was going to be OFF THE CHAIN THIS YEAR !!! HAHA CAN NOT WAIT !!

[pluk]

...seeing as they have confirmed they are ALL accessible by under 18s, although raised from 12 to 13+

As I said, all confirmed for 13+ so no horror bites as that's 18

Where has that been confirmed please?

ScareTour have just said; 'confirmation that You're Next will be like a scare zone with roaming charaters and NOT a maze' on their FB page! A scare zone, awesome! I was happy with the roaming actors part thinking about it, but this is even better!

ScareTour are generally reliable, but remember it is not up to them to confirm what is and is not happening. That is THORPE PARKS job! Until they announce or confirm something I'd take it with a pinch of salt.

When it comes to 'scare zones' I've not been much of a fan of how they have done it in the past. For me a zone should be just that, a general area you would pass through naturally. The way it has been set up before is like a really loose maze with an entrance and exit and a pathway and often a queue. 'Scare zone' at the moment means 'not very good maze', I'd like it to be something you stumble across and completely free flowing.

[swooddow]

I agree pluk , similour to how they do it as HHN's , hows it just a area of the park filled with different lights, music, smoke, effects ect. and with lots of actors around the place. Last year at HHN's they projected onto a huge building, a projection of that building falling down , in the dark it looked really effective !

[TPJames]

Where has that been confirmed please?

ScareTour are generally reliable, but remember it is not up to them to confirm what is and is not happening. That is THORPE PARKS job! Until they announce or confirm something I'd take it with a pinch of salt.

When it comes to 'scare zones' I've not been much of a fan of how they have done it in the past. For me a zone should be just that, a general area you would pass through naturally. The way it has been set up before is like a really loose maze with an entrance and exit and a pathway and often a queue. 'Scare zone' at the moment means 'not very good maze', I'd like it to be something you stumble across and completely free flowing.

A 13+ rule hasn't been declared anywhere!? But I can't see the mazes being 18+ as that would completely stop teenagers and families attending the event. Also the age limits are just guidelines not actual limits like I did saw-the ride + alive when I was 10\11

[THORPE PARK]

Our Fright Nights attractions this year will all be advisory 13+

[TPBrandon]

Where has that been confirmed please?

ScareTour are generally reliable, but remember it is not up to them to confirm what is and is not happening. That is THORPE PARKS job! Until they announce or confirm something I'd take it with a pinch of salt.

When it comes to 'scare zones' I've not been much of a fan of how they have done it in the past. For me a zone should be just that, a general area you would pass through naturally. The way it has been set up before is like a really loose maze with an entrance and exit and a pathway and often a queue. 'Scare zone' at the moment means 'not very good maze', I'd like it to be something you stumble across and completely free flowing.

^Thorpe park have just confirmed it, and TP told me in inbox when I asked And yeah, scarezones aren't my thing but are always welcome rather than just the actors roaming:) Hopefully its scary, but the 'you're next' actors should still roam too. Yeah, I won't get my hopes up of this being 100% true

It has been changed now! 10-10, awesome!

[swooddow]

if any one is going to be at the park over the next week or so , could u guys take some photos of the possible maze areas, as might be some developments and work being done , to give us some more hints ! , I would go but I'm away for a week come sunday.

[FrightNights04]

if any one is going to be at the park over the next week or so , could u guys take some photos of the possible maze areas, as might be some developments and work being done , to give us some more hints ! , I would go but I'm away for a week come sunday.

I will as I'm going tomorrow

[swooddow]

that would be amazing FN's 04 , cheers fella !

[TPBrandon]

that would be amazing FN's 04 , cheers fella !

I'm going 29th, slightly further into possible development, ill take pics then

[JoshC.]

Well well well, this is all mighty interesting, isn't it?

Couple of extra things which I don't think have been mentioned yet which I found from the Press Release:

-Mazes open at 3pm. This effectively gives an hour longer maze-time than there's ever been at the park; good stuff.

-They make a comparison to Florida, setting the bar really high for themselves.

The added information ScareTOUR mention as well is interesting too. However, assuming that the info they've provided is accurate (which I believe it will be), I have a few more things to add...

-Keeping Asylum pretty much the same? Yawn. I appreciate that not everyone goes year-on-year, and that it's been a headline attraction pretty much most of FN, but come on. Give it a refresh, take a risk on it, be bold. The maze has remained pretty much the same for 8 years as it is and I think it's time for change. I know some may use the old 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it' motto, but as I've said before, I think it is 'broke', and the time has come to fix it. Then again, maybe they want to keep one attraction very similar as a back up?

-If the Blair Witch Project, or any attraction, uses CCR or the CCR route in any way, I wonder if Loggers will remain open when the mazes open? Noise could be an issue, if not from the ride, then guests riding the ride. Will be an interesting thing to see either way.

-Seems like no tents this year? YAY!

-My biggest concern with this, though, is just because you stick an IP and have backing from Lionsgate into a maze, it doesn't necessarily make it good. For example, I don't think Experiment 10 would have been much better if they had an IP stuck on it and more money put in on the scenery. I hope the park don't just decide to keep the same attractions, but just retheme them and keep them the same. This is a chance to be creative with the mazes themselves, to inject a ton of actors who don't just scream 'BOO' at you, but who work on scaring you. There's stories to work with, to develop. There's huge opportunities to make the mazes something special and extraordinary - fingers crossed they are taking them.

-I highly doubt we know everything yet - I get a feeling there's more announcements of other things to come that have yet to be revealed yet.

-The park said earlier that they're introducing 'scare ratings' to their attractions. Looking at all the IPs they have, if they were to use a 1-5 system (5 being scariest), I'd be expecting all of them to be 4 or 5. I wonder what exactly they have up their sleeves.

-Like pluk mentioned, I hope if we have a scare zone coming our way, I hope it's an actual 'zone', as opposed to a walkthrough a la Dead End and Zombies at AT.

-I wonder if this is a one off thing, or whether this will be a continual year-on-year thing, which sees new IPs introduced each year? Maybe we could see this develop into the UK's - or even Europe's?! - own HHN...

-I think Ryan suggested in the Chat Room a couple of nights ago about showing horror films in the Dome for Crash Pad guests, late into the night. I think that would be great, and maybe they could add their own 'scare room' twist to it and have actors watching the films too, and scaring guests concurrently with the film? Would be an amazing experience, and certainly attract more people to the Crash Pad (though I doubt it will need it!)

So, all in all, I'm really excited for this. I still have a couple of concerns, but I do hope my fears become unfounded. Roll on October!

Edited August 23, 2013 by JoshC.

[EC!]

This very much excites me I very much look forward to the blair witch project maze/walkthrough maze! its going to be hard to pull of tbh though.

[FrightNights04]

This very much excites me I very much look forward to the blair witch project maze/walkthrough maze! its going to be hard to pull of tbh though.

I hope they do pull of it off as this could be so amazing if its well done

[Coaster]

Hold on, we have no reason to believe that they are keeping Asylum the same until Thorpe Park reveal it themselves!

(Although personally I hope they do)

Think it's worth mentioning that there is now a (sort of) Fright Nights page in the event section on the website, although it doesn't give away too much ATM.

[JackR]

I could just imagine the MBV maze. I reckon it'll be in the old X queue and there'll be a load of rocks in the first corridor. You'll be told about some psycho murderer at the start and then crawl though a 'confined mineshaft' which is really the tunnel from The Passing last year. Then you will venture 'deeper into the caves' as you walk down the ramps in the X queue. Lots of rock work and a few screaming people before you're chased by a pick axe wielding lunatic for the finale. Thats my bet.

[Dodge2002]

As for the possibility of a CCR maze and Loggers leap, I think it'd be perfectly viable and acceptable for the whole are to be closed off for the maze at 3pm. If people are really interested in giving themselves hypothermia in the sub zero October evening temperatures, then they still have tidal wave.

Also, is there a side exit from The Asylum building that leads out to the old Fungle Safari track? If so that would be the perfect set for Cabin in the Woods. I bet that area has grown right over since that fence got put up.

[Emma1980]

I just wanna secure my place at the preview night hahahahaha

[RubyRed95]

I could just imagine the MBV maze. I reckon it'll be in the old X queue and there'll be a load of rocks in the first corridor. You'll be told about some psycho murderer at the start and then crawl though a 'confined mineshaft' which is really the tunnel from The Passing last year. Then you will venture 'deeper into the caves' as you walk down the ramps in the X queue. Lots of rock work and a few screaming people before you're chased by a pick axe wielding lunatic for the finale. Thats my bet.

Regarding this- I can totally see that happening. My bet was that they'd use the old E10 shipping containers due to the tunnel, I guess I sort of forgot about the one in the Passing haha xD While watching the film earlier today (gotta do my research haha), I discovered some great opportunities for scares:

*SPOILERS* (dunno how to hide them properly haha)

. Since during the film all of the victims seem to get split up (a lot! typical horror movie though haha) I can easily see there being a section where you are on your own or with one or two others, possibly constructed by sending people through the tunnels at different times.

. In the tunnels, a killer could either follow in behind you or at least there could be a recording of the creepy gas mask breathing played inside so guests feel that they are being chased.

. So many people die in the film that it gives room for victims being in the maze as well as killers, kinda similar to in SAW Alive but they could jump out of nowhere for a jump scare and be far more frantic, pushing you around a bit and yelling at you to escape or go a certain way.

. Multiple killers would be KEY since he appears out of nowhere and almost seems to be in two places at once (e.g where he's in the shop then suddenly outside). I feel like this would really catch people off guard as once they think he's gone, he'll be right behind them. This would be especially scary in small groups but less effective with conga lines as not everyone would realise whats going on.

. Just a short, random idea for theming, the scene where Sarah is alone in the mine and all the masks/ costumes are hanging from the ceiling and then the killer appears from behind them could be included. Guests could have to push their way through the clothes only to be confronted by an actor in a gas mask.

Anyway just some ideas of what might happen Sidenote- saw the film for the first time today and it was excellent =D

[Glitch]

As for the possibility of a CCR maze and Loggers leap, I think it'd be perfectly viable and acceptable for the whole are to be closed off for the maze at 3pm. If people are really interested in giving themselves hypothermia in the sub zero October evening temperatures, then they still have tidal wave.

Also, is there a side exit from The Asylum building that leads out to the old Fungle Safari track? If so that would be the perfect set for Cabin in the Woods. I bet that area has grown right over since that fence got put up.

I can't see that maze working at 3pm

[Sidders]

Okay so. Here's the... 'thing'... with this year's Fright Nights.

It's incredibly unimaginative. Not always a bad thing, no, and granted, FN 2013 will be a marketing goldmine. Very little will need to be spent on marketing and promotion as Lionsgate is a recognised and respected force whose presence in the UK is enviable amongst most other film companies. So well done to Thorpe for this. It's absolutely fantastic marketing know-how and will most certainly reap them a vast revenue. This is partially why I think Thorpe befell a decline in attendance in 2012, because no matter how they dressed up "The UK's First Winged Rollercoaster", the general public still have no idea what one of those is or how rare and technologically advanced they are/were, let alone what makes it different from all these other coasters Thorpe offered at the time. It's just not something that was very easy to explain in a passing moment, as most advertisement should be.

However, regardless of the applause I give for teaming up with Lionsgate, I would have liked to have seen a better range of horror sub-genres explored with these mazes. Effectively, we have four slashers with only one (maybe two) receiving any form of critical and commercial acclaim (Cabin in the Woods/You're Next), and one cult film that founded the "found-footage" sub-genre (The Blair Witch Project). As good as the individual films might be, you have to question Thorpe range of ideas here.

What they've done, with the exception of the one maze I'm looking forward to (TBWP, excellent choice), is take four films where blood is the main ingredient and transform them into mazes that simply can't replicate the awesomely optimistic spectacle of CITW or the full-frontal, frantic bloodshed of SAW, for example. All the other films run through similar veins, with only very subtle thematic differences telling them apart:

• SAW is about a man who kills people who don't value their lives with makeshift torture devices.
• My Bloody Valentine is about a man who kills people because he went insane underground a long time ago.
• You're Next is about men in masks killing people and one of the better plot twists isn't even relevant.
• CITW is about a corporation who ritualistically sacrifice peculiarly attractive teens.

But do you see the problem? SAW: Alive is all about torture and gore; MBV certainly won't be any different; You're Next will follow a similar vein, and I don't think I've seen so much blood as in the finale to Cabin in the Woods, so that'll feature in that maze for sure (could actually be quite a good final room if what I hope they do comes to fruition). On top of this, all of these films rely on flimsy context that won't easily be established to those who have not seen the films (I.e. the Valentine's Day dance in MBV, Erin's past in YN or "The Ancient Ones" in CITW); and all of them focus on a finale that throws at the audience everything imagination and CGI can possibly create, which will be very hard to recreate in these mazes, especially in the case of CITW (I'm thinking the facility lobby scene).

I've said time and again - in fact it was the main point of my Slender-based maze - that Thorpe don't offer enough range at FN. They've only got one maze that looks like it will deviate from the same, stale framework as the horror film genre's less-inspired approaches. If Thorpe don't focus on establishing the difference between the mazes and their context behind them, they will just bleed into one another and be continuations of each other, with the names of some popular films attached, in different areas of the park.

However, the source material for The Blair Witch Project is very different, and shares more similarities with my idea for a Slender-based maze in that it focuses on the unknown and slow, subtle plot devices. In some parts, nothing happens for ages and when something does happen it doesn't make sense (e.g. - the appearance of the three cairns around the tent). No-one sees the Blair Witch. No-one really sees the main antagonist of the film - but they do hear about it, which gives the killer instant gravitas before we've even started. No-one knows the modus operandi; the killer is untraceable. Anyone who disappears is never seen again. You never find out how or even why they die. It's cleverer. There's fear readily manifesting in parts of the film where there is nothing happening. It's got more suspense than the typical five seconds of silence before someone dies. Contrastingly, the only slightly quiet moments in the other four are devoted to offensively stupid, badly-timed sex.

So, because the reputation of The Blair Witch Project rides almost wholly on legend alone, I would place money on it being the cheapest, simplest and most effective of the scare mazes this year. And because it's the oldest film, I'd also place money on it being the one most of Thorpe's clientèle have heard about but not seen, making it all the more mysterious too. All that would need to be done is to erect a few small camp-sites, an overgrown graveyard, and some cairns. Less is definitely more. Less means people will question themselves; wonder if they're going the right way. No obvious staff presence mean the guests can fully immerse themselves in the maze. Fewer "jump scares" from actors makes them think they're alone, re-evaluating the possibility that there might be something out there in the dark.

As you can tell, I'm all for The Blair Witch Project, will probably give Cabin in the Woods a go, and completely miss the rest. I'd like to see more psychology in the mazes next year though. Something smarter than a film that just kills people on the spot in the most gory way imaginable.

[Coaster]

I will be going in all the mazes with an open mind. I hope they are good quality - they could just be cheap revamps of the mazes.

[EC!]

I will be going in all the mazes with an open mind. I hope they are good quality - they could just be cheap revamps of the mazes.

Same here! I never been to a fright nights shock horror, I wish I could of done the pre 2013 non IP mazes but every cloud and that. I really want to do Saw: Alive seeming that will be the oldest maze and the one you guys have all been in but I most look forward to Blair Witch, the film scared the hell out of me and if pulled off perfectly it could be fantastic, the other ones I'm excited and I'm keeping an open mind because they might be terrible or it might work well. Who knows

[SYNAW]

I think people need to wait and see what thorpe park have up their sleeves before writing off the mazes, Personally I think they will be going all out and that these mazes will be a lot better than those previously, people have mentioned that they feel it is unimaginative, but come on... asylum is about a mental hospital riot, passing was about dying, curse was about a haunted ship. Hopefully lions gate will have injected cash to improve park wide appearance, and if we take Thorpe's previous two mazes we can see that they will be utilizing different and interesting takes on the old conga line. Now just to wait for the results of my actor audition.

[Marc]

Okay so. Here's the... 'thing'... with this year's Fright Nights.

It's incredibly unimaginative.

See the thing I have with this is it seems very based on Halloween Horror Nights which are widely regarded the best of the best when it comes to horror events so it seems like Thorpe have taken that model and making it into their own. If it works for them I can see it working very well here also and I strongly believe this will be the best / biggest Halloween event we see this side of the pond.

[Cornflakes]

See the thing I have with this is it seems very based on Halloween Horror Nights which are widely regarded the best of the best when it comes to horror events so it seems like Thorpe have taken that model and making it into their own. If it works for them I can see it working very well here also and I strongly believe this will be the best / biggest Halloween event we see this side of the pond.

Universal are a film company, although they are not directly involved with the films they base their mazes on, they most likely have a far better understanding of the source material, which allows them to create better IP based mazes. Thorpe has tried created an IP maze before, and due to some of the actors misunderstanding of the source material, it just wasn't good. Of course I will have an open mind for FN, but I fail to see how they can come close to HHN.

Totally agree with Sidders point about the shear amount of slasher based mazes. Its boring, its been done before, no matter how much budget is thrown at them, they will still be generic mazes about blood and guts. More mazes that use psychology in the scares would be a welcome addition.