Normally I have to travel hundreds of miles to get to scare events, so imagine my joy when I discovered Avon Valley Country Park had built one 5 miles away from my house! I used to pet sheep there when I was 6 years old! But would their Scare Park game be strong enough to tarnish those fuzzy memories with fake blood...? I hoped so.
Fear is a fledgling Scare Park, only in its second year of operation now. It has 3 attractions and charges £12.50 in advance, which is relatively cheap in comparison to other Halloween events. I went with 4 friends, 3 of whom had never experienced a scare attraction before. I really wanted the attractions to be amazing for their sake; so they would come away with a good impression of horror mazes.
Whoever designed the entrance sign was on fire that day!
Seriously though, what a flaming great entrance.
As we queued to enter, 3 roaming actors emerged. 2 girls dressed in the most basic Asda witch costumes, and a clown. They were AWFUL. I don't think I've ever cringed so hard. They kept breaking character, and didn't seem to know whether to attempt to scare or to just make general chit-chat.
I think my friend Rich's face sums it up here...
There was some cool spooky circus music playing as we walked in. Not particularly fitting, seen as none of the attractions are circus themed.
I felt a wave of disappointment when I saw how small the place is; and how they had barely managed to fill it with things. There was lots of dead space in the middle, with the 3 mazes, 2 fun fair rides and a disco tent lining the parametres. There was no real focal point to the area, and not enough to distract from the 'standing a boggy field' vibe.
I did like this tree with hanging signs though
What a treemendous effort.
We opted for Anarchy first.
It has some snazzy searchlights.
It has fire by the entrance
We joked that it was simply going to be a Punk Rock tuition where they spray your hair green and pierce your nose. If only! That may have been slightly entertaining at least.
Inside the labyrinth, you walk between walls that are just wooden pallets stacked on their sides. It's dark. There's some lovely strobe lighting. It beautifully illuminates the wooden pallets stacked on their sides. Young actors in crap make up go 'grrraaargh' at you from really, really obvious spots. You can see them a mile off. There are no jump scares. It's admittedly very dark, there were points where I couldn't see where I was going at all.
Then you go outside, everyone thinks the labyrinth has finished, but it hasn't. A small puff of fire goes up nearby. Man Avec Chainsaw is failing to lurk discreetly ahead. His chainsaw doesn't work. So he ATTTEMPTS TO MAKE THE CHAINSAW SOUND WITH HIS VOICE. Yes, that actually happened. Hilarious. Hilariously BAD.
And that was my friends first introduction to scare attractions.
Where there was very little information or acting of a story line, I filled in the gaps in my head. I assumed that Anarchy was meant to be a kind of Hunger Games / Purge style attraction. Where everyone is against each other in a mad, lawless battle for survival. The fire representing primal urges. The actors in bad make up being desperate, disheveled survivors. The wooden pallets stacked on their sides representing some kind of wooden pallet... distopia?
I looked it up online when I got home. This maze was supposed to be about cannibals. Err...what?! There was no allusion to cannibalism at any point in the entire attraction! They could have:
- Hung fake bones from the walls / ceiling to walk through
- Created a dining table scene with a fake corpse being tucked into by actors
- Actors could have worn blood stained napkins and wielded knifes and forks
But instead they just created one of the crappest horror attractions ever. 1/10
We larked around doing silly poses by the fire
Then made our way to Phobia, via the disco tent. The disco tent really kills the Halloween atmosphere. It's a wedding marque blaring out all your fave pop tunes. It's so tacky. If I were them I would have chosen the music more carefully: The Monster Mash, What's That Coming Over The Hill, Thriller and other more spooky-based classics would have gone down a treat. Or they could have used famous horror film sound tracks, like the score from Halloween.
So, Phobia.
This one ripped off The Sanctuary at Alton Towers. A lot. You were entering a medical testing facility where the doctor did tests and experiments on people. The first scene is a hypnotic screen that is like a very poor version of the Marmalisation chamber in The Sanctuary. Lack of originality side, Phobia was a much better attraction.
The nurses did this excellent 'powering up' and 'powering down' robotic schtick that worked well. I think, after leaving the Marmalisation Chamber, you were experiencing all of your phobias? There was a clown room, a forest room, a really creepy Ring-esque corridor, and a Morgue scene literally EXACTLY the same as the one in The Sanctuary.
Although the differences between each room (the brightness of the clown one, the darkness of the forest) made Phobia feel disjointed, it actually had some very well executed jump scares.
There's a moment where you go through an air cushion and a lady shines a torch in your eyes as soon as you burst out. Just like torch-shiny guy in Nemesis Sub Terra at Alton Towers!
The finale is brilliant. Pitch black, you absolutely cannot see where you are going. Patients suddenly light up there own screaming faces in yours with torches. Simple, but very effective. Despite most of the premise of Phobia feeling familiar, I enjoyed it and I got a few decent jump scares. It was a way more substantial attraction than the other two on offer. 7/10
Lastly, Purgatory.
"So like the idea, like, with this one, is, that you're like, in a prison, but the prisoners have gone mad, so now it's actually, umm, like, a mental asylum? And the prisoners are like mental patients. Umm, remember they are actors, and that it's not real, so don't touch them or nothing. Oh you will have to crawl, can you all crawl, are you all like, ok with that?"
That was the introduction to Purgatory. The dispatching lady had manage to:
A. Shatter the illusion we had just queued 30 minutes for in the first 30 seconds
B. Spoil the crawling surprise
C. Wind me up with her complete lack of professionalism
The prison sets were quite cool. You had to get separated to go though a metal detector. Some people got "searched." This was fun. It was interactive! You kind of got a tour of the cells. The actors who were being the Prison Wardens were much better than the "metal asylum prisoners or whatever" who just did the typical make a funny noise then sulk off charade.
We got separated into cages. Hmm I wonder what's going to happen. Oh wait, I know already because Dispatch Lady completely gave it away. We had to crawl through these things to get out. Some had dead ends. Actors grab your legs which is quite cool. Stuff started falling out of my tote bag and I got annoyed.
Another outdoor finale. Cool music, cages, intermittent smoke effect. Then that's it. Purgatory felt like it was building up to something, and it ended before it got there. There were some good ideas, but they didn't flow together, so the tension didn't get a chance to build. 4/10
Highlight of the evening came about in the arcades doing Dance Dance Revolution on the Difficult setting, then admiring the amazingly tatty Tat Shop.
If they put some proper thought into their story lines and execution, Fear could grow into a cool little event. But it's not quite there yet. Maybe give it a few more years and it will be worth visiting. But for now, it doesn't compete with the likes of Tulley's. If Tulley's is the bona fide Scream Park, Fear is like the crappy local fun fair of scares.
Here have another photo of it's best feature. The fire sign!
Fear is a fledgling Scare Park, only in its second year of operation now. It has 3 attractions and charges £12.50 in advance, which is relatively cheap in comparison to other Halloween events. I went with 4 friends, 3 of whom had never experienced a scare attraction before. I really wanted the attractions to be amazing for their sake; so they would come away with a good impression of horror mazes.
Whoever designed the entrance sign was on fire that day!
Seriously though, what a flaming great entrance.
As we queued to enter, 3 roaming actors emerged. 2 girls dressed in the most basic Asda witch costumes, and a clown. They were AWFUL. I don't think I've ever cringed so hard. They kept breaking character, and didn't seem to know whether to attempt to scare or to just make general chit-chat.
I think my friend Rich's face sums it up here...
There was some cool spooky circus music playing as we walked in. Not particularly fitting, seen as none of the attractions are circus themed.
I felt a wave of disappointment when I saw how small the place is; and how they had barely managed to fill it with things. There was lots of dead space in the middle, with the 3 mazes, 2 fun fair rides and a disco tent lining the parametres. There was no real focal point to the area, and not enough to distract from the 'standing a boggy field' vibe.
I did like this tree with hanging signs though
What a treemendous effort.
We opted for Anarchy first.
It has some snazzy searchlights.
It has fire by the entrance
We joked that it was simply going to be a Punk Rock tuition where they spray your hair green and pierce your nose. If only! That may have been slightly entertaining at least.
Inside the labyrinth, you walk between walls that are just wooden pallets stacked on their sides. It's dark. There's some lovely strobe lighting. It beautifully illuminates the wooden pallets stacked on their sides. Young actors in crap make up go 'grrraaargh' at you from really, really obvious spots. You can see them a mile off. There are no jump scares. It's admittedly very dark, there were points where I couldn't see where I was going at all.
Then you go outside, everyone thinks the labyrinth has finished, but it hasn't. A small puff of fire goes up nearby. Man Avec Chainsaw is failing to lurk discreetly ahead. His chainsaw doesn't work. So he ATTTEMPTS TO MAKE THE CHAINSAW SOUND WITH HIS VOICE. Yes, that actually happened. Hilarious. Hilariously BAD.
And that was my friends first introduction to scare attractions.
Where there was very little information or acting of a story line, I filled in the gaps in my head. I assumed that Anarchy was meant to be a kind of Hunger Games / Purge style attraction. Where everyone is against each other in a mad, lawless battle for survival. The fire representing primal urges. The actors in bad make up being desperate, disheveled survivors. The wooden pallets stacked on their sides representing some kind of wooden pallet... distopia?
I looked it up online when I got home. This maze was supposed to be about cannibals. Err...what?! There was no allusion to cannibalism at any point in the entire attraction! They could have:
- Hung fake bones from the walls / ceiling to walk through
- Created a dining table scene with a fake corpse being tucked into by actors
- Actors could have worn blood stained napkins and wielded knifes and forks
But instead they just created one of the crappest horror attractions ever. 1/10
We larked around doing silly poses by the fire
Then made our way to Phobia, via the disco tent. The disco tent really kills the Halloween atmosphere. It's a wedding marque blaring out all your fave pop tunes. It's so tacky. If I were them I would have chosen the music more carefully: The Monster Mash, What's That Coming Over The Hill, Thriller and other more spooky-based classics would have gone down a treat. Or they could have used famous horror film sound tracks, like the score from Halloween.
So, Phobia.
This one ripped off The Sanctuary at Alton Towers. A lot. You were entering a medical testing facility where the doctor did tests and experiments on people. The first scene is a hypnotic screen that is like a very poor version of the Marmalisation chamber in The Sanctuary. Lack of originality side, Phobia was a much better attraction.
The nurses did this excellent 'powering up' and 'powering down' robotic schtick that worked well. I think, after leaving the Marmalisation Chamber, you were experiencing all of your phobias? There was a clown room, a forest room, a really creepy Ring-esque corridor, and a Morgue scene literally EXACTLY the same as the one in The Sanctuary.
Although the differences between each room (the brightness of the clown one, the darkness of the forest) made Phobia feel disjointed, it actually had some very well executed jump scares.
There's a moment where you go through an air cushion and a lady shines a torch in your eyes as soon as you burst out. Just like torch-shiny guy in Nemesis Sub Terra at Alton Towers!
The finale is brilliant. Pitch black, you absolutely cannot see where you are going. Patients suddenly light up there own screaming faces in yours with torches. Simple, but very effective. Despite most of the premise of Phobia feeling familiar, I enjoyed it and I got a few decent jump scares. It was a way more substantial attraction than the other two on offer. 7/10
Lastly, Purgatory.
"So like the idea, like, with this one, is, that you're like, in a prison, but the prisoners have gone mad, so now it's actually, umm, like, a mental asylum? And the prisoners are like mental patients. Umm, remember they are actors, and that it's not real, so don't touch them or nothing. Oh you will have to crawl, can you all crawl, are you all like, ok with that?"
That was the introduction to Purgatory. The dispatching lady had manage to:
A. Shatter the illusion we had just queued 30 minutes for in the first 30 seconds
B. Spoil the crawling surprise
C. Wind me up with her complete lack of professionalism
The prison sets were quite cool. You had to get separated to go though a metal detector. Some people got "searched." This was fun. It was interactive! You kind of got a tour of the cells. The actors who were being the Prison Wardens were much better than the "metal asylum prisoners or whatever" who just did the typical make a funny noise then sulk off charade.
We got separated into cages. Hmm I wonder what's going to happen. Oh wait, I know already because Dispatch Lady completely gave it away. We had to crawl through these things to get out. Some had dead ends. Actors grab your legs which is quite cool. Stuff started falling out of my tote bag and I got annoyed.
Another outdoor finale. Cool music, cages, intermittent smoke effect. Then that's it. Purgatory felt like it was building up to something, and it ended before it got there. There were some good ideas, but they didn't flow together, so the tension didn't get a chance to build. 4/10
Highlight of the evening came about in the arcades doing Dance Dance Revolution on the Difficult setting, then admiring the amazingly tatty Tat Shop.
If they put some proper thought into their story lines and execution, Fear could grow into a cool little event. But it's not quite there yet. Maybe give it a few more years and it will be worth visiting. But for now, it doesn't compete with the likes of Tulley's. If Tulley's is the bona fide Scream Park, Fear is like the crappy local fun fair of scares.
Here have another photo of it's best feature. The fire sign!
