WHAT: Dr. Fright’s Halloween Nights: World Tour
WHEN: 15 October — 31 October, 2021
WHERE: Whites Nurseries Limited (Clay Lane, Northampton UK, NN6 0EP)
PRICE: £17.95 — £34.95
OUTDOORS: Partly (Marquees)
OUR RATING: Do It!
One of our highlights of the year is visiting Dr. Fright’s Halloween Nights, and this year was no different. Insane, fun, and chilling, Dr. Fright’s knows how to blend horror, immersive environments, and downright crazy genre combos that will leave you wishing you could go around a second time.
Entering the covered marquee area, you are greeted with the semblance of a small town, complete with themed zones, each appropriate to the attractions around them. Food and drink are available, including the renowned Horror Bar.
Time to grab our tickets and head to the jet, because this year Dr. Fright’s was going on a world tour!
The Grindhouse: Down in Mexico
Our Scare Factor: 3/10
Atmosphere Rating: 6/10
Storyline: Viva la Mexico! Our infamous family of cannibal hillbillies have escaped south of the border, but have no intention of stopping their murderous rampage! Can you escape Cousin Cletus’s chainsaw? Or will you become the meat in Mumma’s beef tacos?
The ridiculousness begins! By now our readers know we aren’t the biggest fans of the cannibal hillbilly mazes — it’s not a theme we find inspired or that much fun to play along to. But merge hillbillies with tacos and lucha libre as the 1950s rock song ‘Tequila’ by The Champs plays on loudspeaker and you’ve got yourself a riot of a time. Politically correct? No, but the theming was fun and the lucha libre section hilarious and disorienting to boot. There was huge enthusiasm from all the actors involved. While far from terrifying, this one definitely reminded us why we enjoy Dr. Fright’s themes so much — completely unique and super entertaining.
Yokai Temple
Our Scare Factor: 8/10
Atmosphere Rating: 9/10
Storyline: Yokai Temple has been rigged up with motion sensors, night vision cameras and EMF readers. They are all set and ready in the hopes of finally capturing evidence of the temple’s demonic residents…And it’s your job to draw them out!
We might have been a little bit biased going into this haunt, as we are huge fans of Asian horror movies, so obviously we were very excited for this one. And boy did this meet our expectations! One thing Dr. Fright’s does so well in many of their mazes is use tons of inanimate objects that look the same in one small room — this way you don’t know what is real and what isn’t, and sometimes none of it is and the actors jump out of somewhere completely different!
The theming for this maze was so specific and every actor was completely in character and matching the different colour schemes and demonic creatures within each room. Many of the rooms were extremely disorientating (in a good, terrifying way), and there were concealed creatures in every nook and cranny, some in the most unique camouflage (we won’t ruin the surprises!), and some coming from directions you’d never expect. There were also terrifying and amazing uses of light, shadow, and projection. We exited the maze wanting to go back in right away!
Hollywood Horror: The Final Chapter
Our Scare Factor: 5/10
Atmosphere Rating: 6/10
Storyline: Our fan favourite maze is back, with all new terrifying scenes! Take a tour of Devilsgate Studios and experience a bone chilling trip through some of Hollywood’s most feared blockbusters!
Hollywood Horror: The Final Chapter has definitely had a serious revamp since 2019 — which is fantastic! Outside of the maze, a Shining-like hotel facade stares back at you, with flickering projections that make you jump if you’re not ready for it.
Whilst the main theme is related to The Shining we also spotted a host of other movie mayhem monsters and moments, including Ghostface from Scream, Jason from Friday the 13th, and even one scene when we were plunged into the middle of The Purge. We felt there were a few less scares than we expected, but honestly we still jumped out of our skins at some points. And watch out for the chilling and ominous Michael Myers…he will find you!
Killer Clowns in Ibiza!
Our Scare Factor: 3/10
Atmosphere Rating: 7/10
Storyline: Grab your passports because we’re going to Ibiza! Of course, not all is as it seems…As you become prey in the latest killing competition amongst our resident Killer Clowns!
We saved this maze until last because its predecessor was so pumping last time! As you line up (and believe us, the line for this one will take you a good 40 minutes) you’re in a terminal waiting to board your flight, along with pounding hits including (of course!) “We’re Going to Ibiza” (what’s not to love!). We won’t spoil it for you, but each zone within the maze is highly themed and absolutely mad.
We could have done with a tad notch up on the scare factor, and a few more actors in full clown costume rather than just a bit of makeup. Batching throughout the night had been stellar (we were completely isolated from other groups, which is good for safety and good for scares!), but somehow we got caught between two groups at the end of the maze and missed out on some scares. One of the most interesting scenes included swimming through a pool, but the light effects weren’t quite pulled off so you missed out on a lot of details above the waterline.
But what an ending to the evening! Terrifyingly good execution, dreadfully dastardly effects, and techno beats (wonder if clown house should be a new genre?)!
Final Thoughts: Both times we’ve gone to Dr. Fright’s we have gone away in awe of the mazes and laughing hysterically, and honestly both years it has provided some of our fondest memories. Last year it was the cinema room full of Scream serial killers and clowns clubbing with us to the tunes of Benny Benassi’s ‘Satisfaction’. This year the full mazes themselves are bound to stay with us for awhile, particularly the terrifying and beautiful Yokai Temple and the ridiculousness of clowns in Ibiza. Will we ever get ‘We’re Going to Ibiza’ by Vengaboys out of our heads? Probably not, but it was worth it.
Go go go — go to Dr. Frights! You might wait longer in the queues later in the evening but you’ll be able to enjoy the high-quality and highly-themed attractions with the group you came with and you won’t know whether to laugh or scream. We can’t wait to go back next year!
P.S.: Love the immersion of Dr. Fright’s, but fancy an outdoor experience. Whatton House of Horror has got you covered!
