It is the beautiful month of Halloween once again and I find myself returning once again to Dr. Fright's Halloween Nights, this time under the Horrorfest banner. I first went two years ago for Route 666 and loved it, but heading back last year for Route 666 Vol. 2 I felt a little disappointed as it really was quite similar. As in previous years, for 2025 it is split into seven different horror mazes, the only difference being the seven mazes were split between four differently named tents. Was this third time the charm, and was there any innovation in the format?
With a 19:00 slot on Saturday 25th October we seem to have picked a great time. There was the shortest queue yet to getting into the maze, and throughout the queues were minimal. By the time we were leaving, the entry line had really gotten quite deep, so lucky us! The flipside if you can call it that is that this was the quickest we have gotten through the mazes yet, my friend estimated it was roughly half an hour from starting to coming out the end into the glorious food area. Ticket prices had definitely gone up, under £20 on our first visit, this time I believe tickets were around £30 each, similar to last year.
I was prepared for a lot of ideas to be re-used, and so I wasn't disappointed to see returning ideas from previous years. Even with the general themes being used the mazes are completely different to traverse each time. For a change things didn't begin with a forest setting, instead the first two mazes take place in 'Demonic Tent', opening with 'Death Metal Manor'. This was very dark and full of the lighting flashing on and off in a way that hurt my eyes (not in a bad way), I appreciated the cultist décor, such as a table with a goat's skull on it, and there was once neat part where you have to walk down a corridor past robed demonic cultist figures. Next was 'Rave From the Grave' which had some great music to it. It promised UV lighting and it had it in droves, messages flashing up on the walls. The route took you through an old graveyard, and there was one corridor where zombie hands were sticking through the walls.
After a brief journey into the outside world, we came back in to continue our journey in 'Gore Tent'. The third maze was the ambitious 'El Sangriento'. It took the form of heading through a Mayan jungle to arrive at a mythic hidden dive bar. The first part of this used a hedge type display, with reptile people popping out of doors and walls to try and scare you. It culminated in the bar area itself that was full of dead bodies slumped over the various tables. I made a joke at one point of trying to order a drink from the bar, only for one of the reptile people to pop out from behind it. Fourth maze was once more a return to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre inspired 'Grindhouse', this year under the title 'The Grindhouse - Blood Country'. The actors appeared to have a lot of time on their hands to mess with me and my friend, a couple of them following us around parts of the maze, talking about how their family would be pleased to see us. For me it culminated around halfway through where a large man wearing a mask made out of human flesh pulled me aside and made me go and stand in a walk-in cooker. He then said I had to count to thirty out loud, that being the time it would take to cook me. Eventually, after an extra ten seconds he said I was crispy enough and let me out, with the promise he would be eating me later! Certainly a memorable part of the night, one that my friend found hilarious.
Another year and another intermission area, though The Evil Dead cardboard cut-out was not there this year, instead, I had a very bad photo taken of me next to a zombie. I of course had my eyes shut as I seem to do in the majority of photos taken of me, I also noticed how much of a 'big boi' I am turning into. I really need to make more effort to eat healthier and exercise more for darn sure. We zoomed through the intermission, not even stopping for a drink or a breather this year, maybe adding to our shorter runtime.
Yet again the second half begins with a maze themed around horror movie maniacs, in a tent area named 'Slasher Tent'. 'Summer Camp Massacre' had surprisingly a summer camp aesthetic. There were a few great parts of this one. In one room there was an old horror film playing on a large screen, as we walked past, a very cool looking Jason Vorhees leant out through a hole in the screen, swinging his machete at us. Later, the legendary Michael Myers appeared at several points, and I just about glimpsed Freddy Kruger attacking my friend. My favourite part had a room set up to seem as if we were wading through green water (due to smoke machines), looked so cool.
Penultimate maze was 'Play Me and Die!' which had a somewhat ambitious idea, even if it was pretty much another The Purge type experience of maniacs walking around with lit-up masks and armed with metal baseball bats. This had a lot of empty areas, but it was varied, with the route taking us through a classroom of madly grinning children, and a barbershop with madly grinning customers. The whole idea was that a radio station had played a record that had caused insanity, so of course there was a decent radio station area as well. My one real complaint with this one was the lack of many actors, though I did like that one of the mirrors in the barbershop wasn't actually a mirror and instead had an actor standing behind where the mirror would have been instead.
Yet again the second half begins with a maze themed around horror movie maniacs, in a tent area named 'Slasher Tent'. 'Summer Camp Massacre' had surprisingly a summer camp aesthetic. There were a few great parts of this one. In one room there was an old horror film playing on a large screen, as we walked past, a very cool looking Jason Vorhees leant out through a hole in the screen, swinging his machete at us. Later, the legendary Michael Myers appeared at several points, and I just about glimpsed Freddy Kruger attacking my friend. My favourite part had a room set up to seem as if we were wading through green water (due to smoke machines), looked so cool.
Penultimate maze was 'Play Me and Die!' which had a somewhat ambitious idea, even if it was pretty much another The Purge type experience of maniacs walking around with lit-up masks and armed with metal baseball bats. This had a lot of empty areas, but it was varied, with the route taking us through a classroom of madly grinning children, and a barbershop with madly grinning customers. The whole idea was that a radio station had played a record that had caused insanity, so of course there was a decent radio station area as well. My one real complaint with this one was the lack of many actors, though I did like that one of the mirrors in the barbershop wasn't actually a mirror and instead had an actor standing behind where the mirror would have been instead.
Final area as always featured killer clowns, taking place in the 'Clown Tent' and titled 'Killer Clowns - Greatest Hits'. As always some great music going on here, plenty of chain-link fences (at one point I got lost enough that I walked into one thinking it was the route), and plenty of crazed clowns taunting us. One, seeing Homer Simpson on my shirt commented that he looked just like me. This great hits was neat, taking us through a sci-fi spaceship area, a supermarket, and a dance area, with lovely music playing throughout and lasers spinning everywhere. Leaving this, we had our annual burger and doughnuts as we discussed the evening.
It was more of the same, but I enjoyed it a lot more this year. Some of the mazes were a little too dark at times, but I liked the heavy use of lights that were constantly going on and off as it created a dizzying feel. I also liked that the actors kept bursting out of the ceilings this year as well as walls, made for some unexpected moments. I don't know what was up with me, but I jumped out my skin on a few occasions with the jump scares, losing some of my 'cool' points, but it was funny. I know what to expect with these mazes now, so found Dr. Fright's Halloween Nights Presents Horrorfest to be a real fun time, the highlight of my weekend.
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