All hallow's eve thrills at Thorpe Park

Oct 29 2008 Surrey Herald

All the thrills and spills of Fright Night has returned to Thorpe Park. RUPERT BASHAM went along for the ride

I'M staggering down a hallway that has blood splattered on the left and has decaying arms on the right.

There's some sort of odd looking woman standing about two metres in front of me, giving a menacing look and shaking.

With the flash of a strobe light, she's gone. No, wait she's back and trying to scare the bejezus out of me. I take it like a man, which means I scream loudly out of genuine terror, and for some reason lift my right leg, as some sort of defensive recoil.

This isn't your average visit to a theme park, but then again, when is, when it covers the Hallowe'en period.

Thorpe Park Fright Nights are the spooky themed nights that run until Sunday and feature a few select rides, and four truly terrifying mazes.

Opening the park at night, only adds to the creepy ghoulish vibe that they are trying to set. As you enter, the bridge takes you over the lake and into the main hub of the park.

This isn't scary, but when you add in the dark, the smoke and the horrific noises, it does feel a little bit like you are walking to your doom.

Inside the park, madmen, literally, are on the loose, ranging from a very dead Lord, a chainsaw wielding maniac and an asylum patient who drops to the floor at random. They're being held in the mazes, but as madmen do, they have a tendancy to escape.

The four mazes, which are put on especially for the Fright Nights, are all well for want of a better word - frightening.

There's Seven, which takes you through a room for each of the sins, Hellgate, which showcases a collection of the dead and The Asylum, which as mentioned above, scared the bejezus out of me.

The newest maze, which is brought in for this year is The Curse, which plays out like an episode of C.S.I that went incredibly wrong.

The mazes are incredibly well put together and offer a genuine shock, which hopefully have no long lasting effects. Although, night terrors come and go.

The three rollercoasters - Colossus, Nemesis Inferno and Stealth - benefit because of the lack of daylight, because simply put, you can't see how high you actually are.

For more information and ticket prices visit www.thorpepark.com.