Alton Towers Scarefest 2015 Review

Sub-Species: The End Games

A newbie in the Scarefest mix, and one which will most likely go down in history; I’d heard nothing but great things about this one. The maze kicked off with a few revelations about what was going to happen. No hands on shoulders. Prepare to be touched. Prepare to be split up. For someone who has only ever experienced Scarefest at its basic level (i.e. I haven’t tried the extreme or solo experiences), it was a breath of fresh air just to hear these.

The maze got off to an intense start, as we were randomly picked off and bundled into rooms. Doors slammed and screams echoed. What happened from that point on? Honestly I couldn’t say. It was frenzied, chaotic, disorienting and unpredictable. I was alone for the vast majority of the experience, swearing and shrieking, with actors mauling me at every opportunity.

I was treated to the tunnel finale, which was really scary and recalled many great sci-fi horror scenes. I wish I could have gone back and done it again; I know it would have been totally different a second time. The whole thing was absolutely mad, free-flowing, interactive joy. It was great to see the actors enjoying their freedom with so few choreographed scares. The only downside was the actor at the end must have registered my lack in interest in his chainsaw, and dangled it listlessly as I wandered towards the exit.

Terror of the Towers

A Scarefest staple (and firm favourite of mine), this maze is classic Halloween haunted house fare. Very little has changed with this one, but it remains as effective as ever. The dank and musty stench hit me as soon as we entered; I don’t know if this is a smell pod, or just the natural odour of the building, but it instils a deep sense of dread in me.

I’m not sure how it compares with last year (as I didn’t go!) but I loved the multi-level layout and occasional instances of actors intending to be seen waiting for us. Target scares towards the front of the group were slick and unwavering, however I’m not sure this kind of treatment was consistent towards the back.

The strobe finale, which I’ve always adored, took things up a notch this year. The vampire creatures felt closer somehow. I’m not sure if this was some visual trickery in the midst of the strobe, or a fear induced hallucination, but I could have sworn one of them pushed through the fence to get us. As always, the strobe timing was horrific perfection, making the final moments as intense as ever.

The Haunting of Molly Crowe

Molly Crowe was a hooded maze, which was a nice change of pace. I have nothing against this format, but the instructions were to have one hand on the rope, and the other on the shoulder of the person in front. This created a problem in that there were 2 external elements to concentrate on: keeping hold of the rope, and the speed at which the person in front was travelling. This combination was too distracting for me.

The lack of visuals in a hooded maze creates a gap which must be filled with additional sensory elements. Molly Crowe certainly had plenty of touching, but that didn’t have much impact beyond the first few grabs. In terms of sounds, we could hear actors interacting and telling a story along the way, but the script could have taken things a lot further. I would have loved to hear some more disturbing/distressing content, such as more of Molly's cries and screams, etc. It could have made guests far more uncomfortable.

The final act was thrilling, if a little anti-climactic. We removed our hoods to discover that we were stood in a bedroom, and Molly made quite an entrance! However, I would have preferred to remove the hood in a pitch dark room and have the bedroom revealed gradually, or in flashes of light. That would have been a lot more disorienting.

Scare zones

The scare zones this year were existing areas of the theme park with actors added in, as opposed to special designated walk-through zones. I found this a bit disappointing, but they were still enjoyable for the brief moments we were in them. I’m not going to rate the scare zones this year because they didn’t feel like attractions; we were walking through those areas anyway and there’s not a lot to comment on. That being said, the make-up in Dark Apocalypse was fantastic, and the scareactors in Nox Infernus worked brilliantly with the smoke effects.