We were invited to Screams at Thornton Hall last night to check out their brand-new scare maze event and we were very impressed by the set-up and execution of this lovely little Halloween experience located on the Lancashire and Yorkshire border.
So this year consisted of three scare mazes which included Jinxed (a clown-themed maze), Malkin Manor (an old manor house maze) and their extreme maze named Blackmarket.
As you enter the event you are greeted with some of the best character-roaming actors I’ve experienced outside of a giant Halloween-style scare park. Their improv and delivery were on point and they perfectly welcomed us into the experience with good witty conversation and a twisted introduction to what was about to unfold.
Stitches the clown and his ringmaster were certainly the two character highlights of the evening as their rapport with the crowd was superb and despite me asking questions of my own their improvisation under pressure was second to none, hats off to them both, they were wonderful.
With this being my first visit to Screams at Thornton Hall I thought the layout of the event was done wonderfully, the farm is smart and the champagne bar next door to the event was calling me inside at every opportunity, it looked beautiful in there. Walking to the toilets is however a bit of a mission, reminiscent of a Weatherspoon adventure to the lavatory but on this occasion, you walk through a barn full of animals to observe as you pass.
The mazes are a small walk away from the hub too so having some toilets up at the top there would be helpful for some I imagine.
Inside the main hub area, there was a lovely bar, seating area and a stage with live entertainment throughout the evening. Surrounded by firepits and some lovely lighting the mood was perfectly set for an exciting evening ahead. I certainly wasn’t expecting anything quite like this, I was expecting more of a muddy field with a few mazes so I was pleasantly surprised to find well-presented outhouse buildings, a great indoor hub area and stone gravel everywhere with no mud in sight.
There’s a lovely little Pumpkin Patch to explore if you want a softer introduction to the night’s festivities but we left that one till last, it’s a well-lit and ambient space but we just wanted to dive straight into the mazes!
After a complimentary drink (thanks Screams!) it was time for the evening’s festivities to begin.
Malkin Manor
Step into Malkin Manor with world-famous vloggers of the unknown “The Haunt Hackers”.
This isn’t just a visit; it’s your ticket to witness history in the making! For one night only, The Haunt Hackers will be proving definitely that there is life after death..
Be there as their cameras, armed with the latest in spirit detection, seek to uncover the truth behind the Manor’s cursed legacy.
Will the shadows reveal themselves or will the Manor’s twisted tales come to light?
Dare to explore Malkin Manor.
There are many haunted house mazes similar to Malkin Manor out there and they usually do the bare minimum for it to resemble a house and expect us to just accept the low-budget maze laid before us.
Not in Malkin Manor.
From the intricately themed rooms to even theming the spaces between the walls where they used to hide bodies in the story told to us before we entered you are completely inside the story of Malkin Manor and being introduced to the maze in a vlogging-style format by ‘The Haunt Hackers’ was a nice touch.
So convincing was the acting in that opening sequence that I was talking to a camera that wasn’t even turned on as though I was vlogging alongside them!
I was invested and walking through the manor was an onslaught of actors coming from every corner of the maze but what I will say is that the lighting would have been awful if it wasn’t for my friend Chris filming the maze with a small light omitting from his camera.
The second that light went out you couldn’t see a damn thing, it would be very easy to get lost and end up in the actor ‘boo holes’ (scare industry term for the hiding spaces that actors jump out from).
Without that light, we would have gone wrong on multiple occasions so I think a more advanced lighting package needs to be implemented into that maze in the future but I’m glad Chris had his light as I could take in the exquisite theming of the maze that deserves to be shown off instead of plunged into darkness.
There are many scare mazes out there that feel like pop-up mazes that can be taken down at any point in time but Malkin Manor has been lovingly created and feels more permanent. It feels like a manor house despite being located in a purpose-built outhouse you wouldn’t know you were in one for a second, I was fully immersed and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
Jinxed
Dare to step behind the curtains and venture into the grotesque backstage of Carnival Jinx?
Crafted by the deranged mind of Jinx, New Orleans’ most-terrifying jester, these previously unseen corridors of terror are home to the most disturbing band of misfit carnies and clowns that ever walked the earth.
Each step through this backstage maze unearths chilling oddities and monstrous outcasts. Do you have the courage to explore what lies beyond the joy and jubilation?
Welcome to Jinxed, where bad luck is the least of your problems…
Jinxed was the most fun clown maze we’ve done this scare season, it was a relentless onslaught of actors and misdirection as you’re forever hitting dead ends and working around the maze in a weaving path of madness as you desperately try to escape all of the circus antics you’re surrounded with.
I feel as though many clown mazes rely on drapes and pretty colours to convey that circus atmosphere but Jinxed mixed up the stereotypical clown maze and threw a few curveballs in here and there which introduced a more retro carnival vibe at times before throwing you straight back into the clown madness.
This maze was great fun and between this and Malkin Manor they have two very strong foundations to build upon and improve in the future.
Blackmarket
Enter the shadowy underbelly of BLACKMARKET.
A rave shrouded in secrets, where euphoria meets its end.
The derelict Harris & Sons Meat Processors isn’t just the hottest new rave venue – it’s a maze of terror, pulsing with the unseen horrors of human trade.
Joy turns to fear, dancers to victims, caught in a sinister cycle of capture and despair.
Will you dance through the danger, or is this your rave to the grave?
Recommended age: 16+
Please be aware, within BLACKMARKET guests may be separated, restrained, and forcibly moved.
Adult themes feature in our attractions/scare mazes. Parental discretion is advised.
With Blackmarket being labelled as the ‘extreme’ maze I was expecting a certain kind of tolerance needed to survive the ordeal but the second I saw the 16+ age rating for the maze I knew this was going to be a tame one and a tame one it was indeed.
Sadly, we had a poor run-through of Blackmarket as whilst you do get restrained, tied up and even hooded we were just left to our own devices for the majority of it and what resulted was over-batching of guests into the maze and many of us inside stood standing up against a wall or standing around doing nothing for quite a considerable amount of time.
Yes, Blackmarket has potential and on the rare occasion that you did get one-on-one time with an actor the scenes certainly hit to the right degree of intimidation as a 16+ maze warrants, but this was rare.
With there being multiple paths to navigate within the maze we started to run into others in the maze as a group of now 20 of us outnumbered the actors within the maze and multiple rooms we had already visited were being circled over and over.
Sadly how people are ‘removed’ from the main part of the maze takes far too long and results in confused and sometimes even annoyed guests (we encountered a couple) who just wanted to leave and go to the next bit.
Blackmarket just didn’t hit for me, it didn’t flow well whatsoever and felt very disjointed on our particular run-through. It was more frustrating than frightening and whilst the idea is there the execution sadly on this occasion for us, was not.
Mazes like this are hit-and-miss depending on if you’re picked, how many actors are in there and how your run-through is. Three factors that cannot be consistent during every run-through and sadly we hit a bad run with Hanley market in Stoke being more terrifying than this ‘extreme’ maze.
Nevertheless Screams! has a solid foundation with a very exciting future. We look forward to what Screams at Thornton Hall has in store for us in the seasons to come!
Make sure to check out the VLOG above of our experiences on the evening and thanks again to the guys at Screams at Thornton Hall for inviting us down to deliver our honest thoughts.
Book your tickets to Screams at Thornton Hall today HERE
