With the last scare event all coming to an end, we've all been winding down for the end of the season and the content grind. I know a lot of people haven't really known what to do with themselves and for me I've found myself planning my 2022 trips, including a last minute, mini Europe trip for my Birthday. Anyway, that's off topic. My last scare event of the year was Kent Scareground on the 30th October.
Before I get into it, there's quite a few things in general to say about the 3 mazes. First, they're all much more like a theatrical walkthrough than a scare maze. The storyline development through the mazes are great, they just don't scare in the same way a maze at Tulley's would. They're also partly outside and VERY muddy, so don't go in nice shoes😭
Camp Slaughter:
Our first maze of the night was Camp Slaughter, my favourite in terms of scares. It's a hillbilly maze, but with a human flesh twist, kinda like Creek Freak, except outside, and not really scary. It featured the same chainsaw runout, same scary social media campaign, same vibe of costume, just a better pre-show and worse maze.
The first scene/pre-show involves you being told the story of the Camp and how people have been going missing due to the family's... habits. This is all told to you in an old retro caravan and is suddenly interrupted by a distraught girl shouting at you all to escape while you still can. This startles the man explaining the story and he hurries you off the van into the maze.
The bulk of the maze was encounters with his family followed by a cubicled section + a chainsaw runout. I liked the layout of the maze and the makeup on the Pig-man near the end was great but it had a very basic maze theme compared to the following 2. I'd give it a 6.5/10 for the fact I got scared of a chainsaw.
Snyders
Just before I get into this maze I wanna give a quick pre-warning that this maze (and my review) does feature themes of weapons, dr*gs and gangs so if you don't really want to read that just skip to the next maze review :)
I won't spoil the whole storyline of this maze simply because it's actually quite interesting and orignal simply because they took it from a somewhat unused maze theme genre (american gangs). This maze theme isn't really up my street, but i appreciate the fact that a maze like this would need to be at a smaller, older aimed audience park like Kent Scareground as a maze themed to drugs isn't really going to be appropriate in a Merlin park which could be full of young children.
Snyders was home to some good, some bad acting but the characters were very well developed through the scene(s) they featured in. Once again, this maze didn't really have many intense scares and the few actor jump scares were always taken up by whoever was at the front of the group. In this maze, it was more the props that were intended to be scary, like the electric drill and gun (it was a kids water gun, you could see the peeling white paint). They were, to an extent, but I really think (the same with the other 2 mazes at this event) that they really built themselves up to be 'scary' scare mazes when they were much more theatrical. There was a good ending too, but i don't want to spoil it.
Some of the set design was good too, with some of the best decorated rooms being the bar and wife's dressing room, but the flow of these didn't make sense. It would go from storage cupboard, to dressing room, to game room, to road in a matter of minutes and you'd just be left slightly confused as to what happened. Other than that, There were some cool aspects to this maze and I appreciate the effort to create such a deep storyline. I'd give this maze a 6/10 but if I were more a fan of the story it'd be a 7/10.
Screamworld:
Screamworld was our final maze of the night and by far the least scary. I went in with James and Laurah from Theme Park Jam, so if you wanna check out their review I'll leave it at the end. Anyway, I think this maze had the most potential of the 3 as the storyline is so cool, but it just wasn't scary. The only point any of us got scared was when one member of our group was cornered for about 2 minutes and we didn't see him until a scene after.
I liked the way they tried to give this maze levels with low doorways, weird opening doors and a crawl tunnel, but it just left us covered in sand and a bit uncomfortable, but there was effort made. The acting in this maze was very good, I think i was just a little taken aback by the way they made a clown maze not scary.
For context, the storyline is you go to a therapy session and meet a girl named Lucy, who is having trouble with nightmares about a clown named Bubbles. While the session is in progress, you're suddenly interrupted by Bubbles inviting you into his Screamworld. The first and last scene which explained the story most were both great: great acting, good costumes and lots of set pieces, just some of the middle scenes didn't really make sense mixed in.
One more thing, the Health and Safety in this maze ins't the best as there's a few tripping hazards and one of the folding doors folds into the room you're standing in and can easily hit someone.
Otherwise, this maze had 2 great scenes I just wish the rest told the story as well too. I'd give this maze a 6.5/10.
I had a great night at Kent Scareground seeing some people for the last time this year. The event wasn't incredibly scary, but the atmosphere was great and the funfair rides added to the value. Have you been to any Scream Parks this year? Which was you favourite? Thank you so much for reading, I'll see you next time!
Cleo x
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