PrimEVIL 2014
PrimEVIL is now in it's 5th year of terrifying the guests of Norfolk Dinosaur Park and just seems to get more and more popular each year. We visited on a Tuesday and the queues towards the middle of the night were some of the busiest we have seen outside of the major theme parks. Fortunately, the park batches guests quite quickly as well as promising to stay open as long it takes for everyone to complete all the mazes.
As we have said before - the mazes at PrimEVIL are a varied selection ranging from crazy strobes through to pitch darkness and a few outdoor attractions in between. Each one has it's own feel and creates a variety of different experiences across the park.
As we have said before - the mazes at PrimEVIL are a varied selection ranging from crazy strobes through to pitch darkness and a few outdoor attractions in between. Each one has it's own feel and creates a variety of different experiences across the park.
Nightmare Clinic replaces the Insanitorium, which had run at the event for four years before complaints in 2013 from mental health charities. Apart from the name - the maze remains the same and is once again a classic loud and chaotic strobe maze full of lively actors/patients. The driving bass of the soundtrack really complements this maze and the actors get the chance to be as lively and as noisy as possible . With a twisting route, some detailed set design and an abundance of smoke, the attraction is still the wildest maze at whole event.
Norfolk Dinosaur Park is huge and the Circus of Terrors has moved from its original home to populate one of the long walkways between the two main show areas. This attraction is effectively one very long scare zone populated by some very evil clowns. Now bearing in mind this walk is through pitch black woodland, there are loads of places to hide, and the clowns were some of the liveliest we have seen in years, with the whole walk peppered with fun jump scares. A grown man dressed as a clown with a small horn shouldn't be scary, but when it suddenly appears in front of you out of the darkness and fog it would take a strong man not to jump!
Toxic is based around failed medical experimentation and promises a mix of medical horror and military involvement. Built outside in a maze like structure, the attraction suffered from being open to the elements and not particularly claustrophobic. The walls and pathways just felt like some old fencing that had been lying around and there wasn't much in the way of theming throughout. The actors in the attraction were quite active but we felt were hampered by too many large areas with no real place to hide. Finally - the exit through a VERY soggy polytunnel was just too messy underfoot. We left this attraction feeling quite underwhlmed.
The mutants are an inbred American family who live in the darkness of the park's woodland. Unlike the Circus walk - these pathways are much narrower and the characters interact with people in a more theatrical style. The tone is different to the other mazes and makes for a more unsettling experience as we are urged deeper into the darkness. Of course - this being inbred hill-billies, you just know that a chainsaw is on its way and by the time we are through to the end we can hear the unmistakable sound of an idling petrol motor! Unfortunately the maze seemed slightly underpopulated on our visit, as there were quite a few places with out anything happening.
The Dark lives up to its name by being dark, VERY dark. Once inside - it is impossible to see the path ahead and the person leading the group literally has to feel their way through the attraction with everyone else blindly following them. The path wraps around on itself and seems to go on forever, creating a sense of fear and panic that isn't helped by the actors interacting and scaring us along the way along with the random noises and voices in the darkness. This was the last maze we experienced on our visit and it genuinely had us screaming and laughing throughout.
What we have always liked about PrimEVIL is that all the mazes are very different in style. Insanitorium is high energy and intense, whereas the Circus Unleashed was more like a scare zone, all joined by the theatrics of the Maze of Mutants and the darkness of The Dark. It's good that all the attractions have different characteristics and will appeal and scare in different measures. Interestingly when you look at the line up - the park only actually has two indoor attractions. Circus, Mutants and Toxic are all outdoors which is a shame as the detailed theming and technical effects are reserved quite rightly for the indoor shows. It will be interesting to see how this mix plays out in years to come.
PrimEVIL is an event that so often gets overlooked by UK thrill seekers due to its location. This is a shame as the park has a great line up and some really cool fun ideas that would put other parks to shame. Hopefully with the opening of the new dual carriageway into Norwich, the infrastructure will encourage people to visit from further afield.
PrimEVIL is an event that so often gets overlooked by UK thrill seekers due to its location. This is a shame as the park has a great line up and some really cool fun ideas that would put other parks to shame. Hopefully with the opening of the new dual carriageway into Norwich, the infrastructure will encourage people to visit from further afield.
Links
For dates and prices check the PrimEVIL website
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