PrimEVIL 2023
One of the things that we have always enjoyed about PrimEVIl, is that the event is never static. Granted some of the main sets and attractions remain the same (such as the stunningly beautiful facade of The Crypt) but the event is never afraid to mix things around.
Take, for example, the silent discos headphones which we have experienced in stand alone attractions such as Arachnophobia, and have also been used in existing mazes such as The Crypt. Therefore it was no surprise to us this year that the headphones have moved into the clown maze, Circus of Terrors. The simple addition of having the attraction's theme blasting through headsets is that it makes it nigh on impossible to hear the actors creeping up around you. As such the lively actors took full advantage of this and had us jumping constantly. One of the other things we love about this maze is some of the unique elements with the rotating room being a standout, alongside the foam pit that had us laughing as we tried to climb through.
Another example of changes year on year, is Mayhem Manor which in the past has utilised Haunted Lantern technology but has now gone for a new zombie theme. The hotel has been barricaded up and taken over as a safe zone from the zombie outbreak, and along the way we met a lot of soldiers, and of course a number of infected people. We had some great scares in this maze and we loved seeing a completely different story being told in such a familiar environment.
Joining these two attractions at the front of the park was a brand new experience - Werehouse 51: Toxic mutation, where we were due to take our staff induction training on our first day as a warehouse operative. With the specific spelling of the name - we were kind of expecting a room full of werewolves, by the creatures inside were a mix of infected mutations who stalked the aisles of the warehouse . And we need to talk about that warehouse - whether this was built in an old storage area, or has been custom built for this attraction, we were amazed at the towering shelves of "crap" around us. Clearly there was some old equipment from the theme park (such as old ice cream fridges etc) but every shelf was packed floor to ceiling. Towards the end of the maze the shelving gave way to a traditional chain link fencing and strobe light finale where the actors were relentless. We were taunted all through this section, as we stumbled to find our way around and locate the exit. As the new attraction for this year, we really enjoyed Werehouse 51 - we're just still a little confused as to the choice of spelling!
The final "indoor" attraction was The Crypt - which we have already mentioned as having a stunning entry facade, and this level of detail and theming is carried on into the maze itself. As well as the lively actors and scares in the darkened corridors of the church, this maze has a number of large and impressive animatronic effects and everything worked together to give us some great scares
The final experience of the night was the long outdoor walk - Route 666. As before - the pathway was littered with some lively actors who kept telling us to head to the party at the top of the hill. Of course the party was just an excuse for the hillbillies to try and eat us and chase us with chainsaws! Because of the length of the path, there are some quite long areas where not a lot seemed to be happening, but after all they would need a cast of about 50 actors to fully populate this experience. Fortunately the park make up for this in the chaotic finale, as multiple actors attacked us from all sides and we tried to escape back to the main concourse area.
Between attractions we stopped to take advantage of the Bitter and Twisted food court area which had a great selection of street food, a live band and an undercover bar (useful as it started to downpour on the night we visited!)
We have been visiting PrimEVIl since it first opened over ten years ago, and the place just keeps going from strength to strength. It is clear that the team are passionate about creating incredible scare attractions and aren't prepared to rest on their laurels by just presenting the same old mazes each year. If you haven't been to Primevil then you really are missing out on a very exciting event.
Take, for example, the silent discos headphones which we have experienced in stand alone attractions such as Arachnophobia, and have also been used in existing mazes such as The Crypt. Therefore it was no surprise to us this year that the headphones have moved into the clown maze, Circus of Terrors. The simple addition of having the attraction's theme blasting through headsets is that it makes it nigh on impossible to hear the actors creeping up around you. As such the lively actors took full advantage of this and had us jumping constantly. One of the other things we love about this maze is some of the unique elements with the rotating room being a standout, alongside the foam pit that had us laughing as we tried to climb through.
Another example of changes year on year, is Mayhem Manor which in the past has utilised Haunted Lantern technology but has now gone for a new zombie theme. The hotel has been barricaded up and taken over as a safe zone from the zombie outbreak, and along the way we met a lot of soldiers, and of course a number of infected people. We had some great scares in this maze and we loved seeing a completely different story being told in such a familiar environment.
Joining these two attractions at the front of the park was a brand new experience - Werehouse 51: Toxic mutation, where we were due to take our staff induction training on our first day as a warehouse operative. With the specific spelling of the name - we were kind of expecting a room full of werewolves, by the creatures inside were a mix of infected mutations who stalked the aisles of the warehouse . And we need to talk about that warehouse - whether this was built in an old storage area, or has been custom built for this attraction, we were amazed at the towering shelves of "crap" around us. Clearly there was some old equipment from the theme park (such as old ice cream fridges etc) but every shelf was packed floor to ceiling. Towards the end of the maze the shelving gave way to a traditional chain link fencing and strobe light finale where the actors were relentless. We were taunted all through this section, as we stumbled to find our way around and locate the exit. As the new attraction for this year, we really enjoyed Werehouse 51 - we're just still a little confused as to the choice of spelling!
The final "indoor" attraction was The Crypt - which we have already mentioned as having a stunning entry facade, and this level of detail and theming is carried on into the maze itself. As well as the lively actors and scares in the darkened corridors of the church, this maze has a number of large and impressive animatronic effects and everything worked together to give us some great scares
The final experience of the night was the long outdoor walk - Route 666. As before - the pathway was littered with some lively actors who kept telling us to head to the party at the top of the hill. Of course the party was just an excuse for the hillbillies to try and eat us and chase us with chainsaws! Because of the length of the path, there are some quite long areas where not a lot seemed to be happening, but after all they would need a cast of about 50 actors to fully populate this experience. Fortunately the park make up for this in the chaotic finale, as multiple actors attacked us from all sides and we tried to escape back to the main concourse area.
Between attractions we stopped to take advantage of the Bitter and Twisted food court area which had a great selection of street food, a live band and an undercover bar (useful as it started to downpour on the night we visited!)
We have been visiting PrimEVIl since it first opened over ten years ago, and the place just keeps going from strength to strength. It is clear that the team are passionate about creating incredible scare attractions and aren't prepared to rest on their laurels by just presenting the same old mazes each year. If you haven't been to Primevil then you really are missing out on a very exciting event.
PrimEVIL 2022
On our visit to PrimEvil last year, we were impressed with the diverse lineup of unique scares, unusual effects and expansive use of technologies that give each of the attractions at the scream park their own individual character. With this in mind, you would be forgiven for thinking the event could start to rest on it’s laurels a little -but we’re pleased to say this has not been the case!
Our evening at PrimEvil started before we even made it to the admissions kiosk. The event has always been one of better events for roaming actors and we were accosted by several creepy characters as we were trying to collect our tickets and even more as we ventured into the park. The scream park has kept the Junkyard food and beverage area for a second year which makes a great central hub area, which also contains a stage and now a new photo op area.
We started our night with a trip to Route 666, an outdoor maze which has evolved over the years to its current American hillbilly theme. The attraction is a long winding path through the trees, lit beautifully in eerie reds and blues. The lighting was the clever improvement for this year with new low-light red lamps lining the route - angled just perfectly to hide the actors behind. This led to us genuinely not realising there were actors often inches from us and gave us some great scares. Gone are the hoods of the previous two years and although this has led to some arguably sparse sections, this possibly improved the scare when it happened, lulling us into a false sense of security as we explored. The maze finished as with previous years with a crazy hillbilly-filled village finale with a great set and a dash through powerful strobes and smoke.
Our next maze was The Crypt which is housed inside one of the most spectacular facades in the UK (now with added Dinosaurs on the roof!) In the past, The Crypt has always been a maze through tight and very dark corridors and at times complete darkness, but that was all about to change. Using the silent-disco headphones which have previously featured in Insanitorium at the event, The Crypt has evolved into a disorientating strobe labyrinth. This if anything made it even harder and more confusing to navigate and were not afraid to say that despite doing this route many times, we got lost this year! The headphones, with their pumping creepy music, are great at helping hide the actors and create an almost out of body experience when combined with the intense strobes. The Crypt has improved year-on-year and his latest evolution has helped elevate it even further.
Next up was the parks new maze - Hell’s Hollow. which takes place outside and is a mostly hooded experience. We were a little confused when initially putting the hood on as to how much we could see through it. But as the maze went on we discovered this is quite deliberate as there are scenes for you to see - just a little obscured - which again helps to hide elements you’re not meant to see. The maze has the story of a murderer in Whitehall who is after your eyes (hence the hoods). The actors moved around you well in the hooded section, but the scares were perhaps a little lacking, so we were pleased that the finale saw us lose the hoods and meet our villain face-to-face, a definite highlight.
Clown mazes have been in the park for many years in various guises, with the recent Circus of Terror being a great example of the genre. This year, things have changed. Malvodo the Jester has moved in and ‘disposed’ of the previous inhabitants. This led to a very different clown maze experience, with low red lighting, eerie music and blood splattered all over the previously vibrant circus theming. It actually put us quite on edge in a maze we have previously known well. There were some great unique scares here including a clown on massive stilts and one hiding inside a squeeze bag which certainly caught us by surprise.
The final maze of the night was Mayhem Manor Hotel - a staple of PrimEvil - enhanced last year by the haunted lantern technology. This continues to be a beautifully detailed maze as you travel through the different rooms of the hotel, with the lantern you carry changing colour and activity depending on where you are (our favourite being the heart-beat style effect which was very atmospheric). The hotel has some great hiding places for its ‘staff’ again making us laugh and scream in equal measure as they were revealed.
We have been visiting PrimEvil for a number of years now, so it’s great to see that it can still surprise and scare us. The event feels very established now and it is good to see it gaining a lot more attention from around the country. With an immersive new maze and big changes and improvements to the others, this really is the year to visit PrimEvil.
Our evening at PrimEvil started before we even made it to the admissions kiosk. The event has always been one of better events for roaming actors and we were accosted by several creepy characters as we were trying to collect our tickets and even more as we ventured into the park. The scream park has kept the Junkyard food and beverage area for a second year which makes a great central hub area, which also contains a stage and now a new photo op area.
We started our night with a trip to Route 666, an outdoor maze which has evolved over the years to its current American hillbilly theme. The attraction is a long winding path through the trees, lit beautifully in eerie reds and blues. The lighting was the clever improvement for this year with new low-light red lamps lining the route - angled just perfectly to hide the actors behind. This led to us genuinely not realising there were actors often inches from us and gave us some great scares. Gone are the hoods of the previous two years and although this has led to some arguably sparse sections, this possibly improved the scare when it happened, lulling us into a false sense of security as we explored. The maze finished as with previous years with a crazy hillbilly-filled village finale with a great set and a dash through powerful strobes and smoke.
Our next maze was The Crypt which is housed inside one of the most spectacular facades in the UK (now with added Dinosaurs on the roof!) In the past, The Crypt has always been a maze through tight and very dark corridors and at times complete darkness, but that was all about to change. Using the silent-disco headphones which have previously featured in Insanitorium at the event, The Crypt has evolved into a disorientating strobe labyrinth. This if anything made it even harder and more confusing to navigate and were not afraid to say that despite doing this route many times, we got lost this year! The headphones, with their pumping creepy music, are great at helping hide the actors and create an almost out of body experience when combined with the intense strobes. The Crypt has improved year-on-year and his latest evolution has helped elevate it even further.
Next up was the parks new maze - Hell’s Hollow. which takes place outside and is a mostly hooded experience. We were a little confused when initially putting the hood on as to how much we could see through it. But as the maze went on we discovered this is quite deliberate as there are scenes for you to see - just a little obscured - which again helps to hide elements you’re not meant to see. The maze has the story of a murderer in Whitehall who is after your eyes (hence the hoods). The actors moved around you well in the hooded section, but the scares were perhaps a little lacking, so we were pleased that the finale saw us lose the hoods and meet our villain face-to-face, a definite highlight.
Clown mazes have been in the park for many years in various guises, with the recent Circus of Terror being a great example of the genre. This year, things have changed. Malvodo the Jester has moved in and ‘disposed’ of the previous inhabitants. This led to a very different clown maze experience, with low red lighting, eerie music and blood splattered all over the previously vibrant circus theming. It actually put us quite on edge in a maze we have previously known well. There were some great unique scares here including a clown on massive stilts and one hiding inside a squeeze bag which certainly caught us by surprise.
The final maze of the night was Mayhem Manor Hotel - a staple of PrimEvil - enhanced last year by the haunted lantern technology. This continues to be a beautifully detailed maze as you travel through the different rooms of the hotel, with the lantern you carry changing colour and activity depending on where you are (our favourite being the heart-beat style effect which was very atmospheric). The hotel has some great hiding places for its ‘staff’ again making us laugh and scream in equal measure as they were revealed.
We have been visiting PrimEvil for a number of years now, so it’s great to see that it can still surprise and scare us. The event feels very established now and it is good to see it gaining a lot more attention from around the country. With an immersive new maze and big changes and improvements to the others, this really is the year to visit PrimEvil.
PrimEVIL 2021
We have been visiting PrimEVIL in Norfolk since it first opened over 10 years ago. In that time – the attraction has grown and developed into a unique experience that provides some unusual effects and scares. This year is no different, with the use of two different technologies across the mazes and some contrastingly different experiences. Each show at the event has its own character, and feels different to the other experiences, creating a diverse night out.
First up we must mention the incredible new Junkyard area. The management at the park have brought in a local pop up company, and this new area provided a fantastic central hub to the whole event. The general layout at PrimEVIL is very large and spread out so it was nice to have a centralised area to return to between mazes.
Our first maze of the night was The Crypt. Hidden behind a beautifully themed façade, this maze is a mix of dark tunnels, fast animatronics and multiple scares from actors throughout. Everything in this maze combined to create a chaotic experience which had us jumping throughout.
We then headed down to the bottom of the site to experience the return of Insanitorium. This was one of the original mazes at the event, and it was great to see it return in a new format. Using “silent disco" technology, we were all equipped with headphones pumping out a high energy soundtrack as we worked our way through the facility. The headphones work so well as they effectively block out any sound at all (you can't even hear people in your group) and the actors just used this to their advantage. We were surprised at how big some of the rooms were which made it a bit harder for the actors to scare as we could see them coming, but this was a minor quibble and we still had fun.
Once at the bottom of the site – its necessary to head back up the hill and Route 666 gave us a mix of hillbilly rednecks and cannibals. The first half of the attraction was quite slow with only a couple of scares – but after the cleverly used hooded section (following the rope) – we were led into the village where all hell broke loose. We have realised in the past that whatever attraction sits on this long hill side climb, has a lot of logistical issues to overcome, so we were impressed at this year’s version.
Finally, set at the top of the site are the final two mazes – Mayhem Manor: Blackout and Circus of Terror. The clown maze was as unique and fun as previous years. Sadly, the surprise of some elements (the carousel room for example) were negated by a return visit, but we still had great fun throughout this maze with some unique rooms and experiences throughout.
Our final experience – Mayhem Manor utilised the Haunted Lantern technology we have seen at several parks before, but we must say this was the most effective use we have ever seen. The lanterns changed colour with different rooms, strobed during moments of “danger” and completely added to the whole experience. Clearly some effort was out into the utilisation of this technology and it was nice to see the it used so imaginatively throughout the show.
Outside of the mazes there were a number of roaming characters (especially in the Junkyard area) and all were engaging and entertaining. Just don't try and take a picture of the baby in the pram!
All in – PrimEVIL is an event that is often overlooked because it seems to be so far away from a lot of the country. But we definitely recommend the event if you want to experience something that does things a bit differently and has a unique identity of its own.
First up we must mention the incredible new Junkyard area. The management at the park have brought in a local pop up company, and this new area provided a fantastic central hub to the whole event. The general layout at PrimEVIL is very large and spread out so it was nice to have a centralised area to return to between mazes.
Our first maze of the night was The Crypt. Hidden behind a beautifully themed façade, this maze is a mix of dark tunnels, fast animatronics and multiple scares from actors throughout. Everything in this maze combined to create a chaotic experience which had us jumping throughout.
We then headed down to the bottom of the site to experience the return of Insanitorium. This was one of the original mazes at the event, and it was great to see it return in a new format. Using “silent disco" technology, we were all equipped with headphones pumping out a high energy soundtrack as we worked our way through the facility. The headphones work so well as they effectively block out any sound at all (you can't even hear people in your group) and the actors just used this to their advantage. We were surprised at how big some of the rooms were which made it a bit harder for the actors to scare as we could see them coming, but this was a minor quibble and we still had fun.
Once at the bottom of the site – its necessary to head back up the hill and Route 666 gave us a mix of hillbilly rednecks and cannibals. The first half of the attraction was quite slow with only a couple of scares – but after the cleverly used hooded section (following the rope) – we were led into the village where all hell broke loose. We have realised in the past that whatever attraction sits on this long hill side climb, has a lot of logistical issues to overcome, so we were impressed at this year’s version.
Finally, set at the top of the site are the final two mazes – Mayhem Manor: Blackout and Circus of Terror. The clown maze was as unique and fun as previous years. Sadly, the surprise of some elements (the carousel room for example) were negated by a return visit, but we still had great fun throughout this maze with some unique rooms and experiences throughout.
Our final experience – Mayhem Manor utilised the Haunted Lantern technology we have seen at several parks before, but we must say this was the most effective use we have ever seen. The lanterns changed colour with different rooms, strobed during moments of “danger” and completely added to the whole experience. Clearly some effort was out into the utilisation of this technology and it was nice to see the it used so imaginatively throughout the show.
Outside of the mazes there were a number of roaming characters (especially in the Junkyard area) and all were engaging and entertaining. Just don't try and take a picture of the baby in the pram!
All in – PrimEVIL is an event that is often overlooked because it seems to be so far away from a lot of the country. But we definitely recommend the event if you want to experience something that does things a bit differently and has a unique identity of its own.
PrimEVIL 2019
PrimEVIL is often overlooked when people talk about large scream park events, but the park have been steadily been building their reputation with new ideas every year, including last tear's first "Extreme" night. This year has seen a big change around in layout, but sadly still can't ignore the fact that the event is set across two different levels and areas - joined by a long steep hill between them . Fortunately one side of this route is used as the Forest of Fear, and as this now starts at the bottom of the site, it seems logical to go down to the lowest point first with a visit to Arachnophobia, and then use Forest of Fear as the walk back up.
Arachnophobia has been built on the old site of the clown maze, and we were excited to find out what the undisclosed "effect" or concept was that the park owners warned us about. What surprised us was the issuing of every body with a quality set of headphones, that soon turned out to be part of a silent disco set up. Once on, a thumping techno soundtrack accompanied us on our journey into the dark strobe lit maze, and left us completely vulnerable to stealth attacks from all sides. Of course we couldn't hear anything and were enjoying the music but this also meant we couldn't hear the actors until they were literally on top of us. This meant that our whole experience was a maze of dancing our way round, punctuated with the terrified screams as we got scared. For such a simple idea - we are amazed we have never seen this use of technology before, and we are sure it would be a godsend for actors who have to work in a loud maze for so long, or for anyone who has noise issues with neighbours etc. We thought this was going to a highlight of the night - turns out that there was more innovation to come!
As stated in the intro, we used Forest of Fear as the pathway back up to the main site. Of course being such a long walk, it really would be difficult to sustain the same level and quantity of scares as the indoor attractions, but we had several good jumps along the 15 minute plus walk. The actors throughout were all lively and stayed in character as they engaged with our group, and the chainsaw finale had a lot of people running toward the exit. It's probably the weakest of the 5 attractions, just due to the logistics of the pathway, but at least it provides some interesting relief on the walk back up the hill!
Back up in the main event area, we ventured into the The Crypt which easily has one of the most impressive facades we have seen in any UK scream park. This looks like a genuine church building and is a stunning entry point for a great fun maze. This year, there seemed to be a lot of new animatronics throughout, and although impressive, we had a few timing issues with things triggering later than they should. Saying that - the actors did a very lively job or providing real scares as well, and we left the attraction wondering how they could have got so much maze into what looked like such a small church.
The final two mazes have been moved to a new location at the front of the park and this makes a perfect place to either do them last as you leave, or upon first arrival. We had heard some exciting things about the clown maze so decided to check into Mayhem Manor Hotel first. Behind another impressive facade, this attraction is probably the closest to a "standard" haunted house maze, even if nothing about it is particularly standard. The rooms and corridors of this hotel hod a myriad of evil characters, and in each room we had multiple attacks (often from unexpected places). We also liked that the use of standard scare techniques (such as drop panels) were all in play, but nothing was over used or repetitive. Each room was nicely decorated with enough props and furniture to convey the theme and story required without the rooms being overcrowded. Also - it was quite unusual to actually have doors to open between rooms, instead of just pushing through flaps or material. It was a nice touch that made the house feel real, but also created more tension each time we came to a closed door!
Our final maze was Circus of Terror and we have to say we loved every part of this attraction. From the over sized clown head on an overhead rail that charged us, through to the ball pit and crazy bungee rope maze, this maze threw so many fun and original ideas into the mix, as well as the craziest bunch of clowns we have seen for a long time. Our highlight will be enigmatically known as the "round room". We are not sure where the idea for this room came from ,but it was so much fun as we tried to find our way out while staying upright on our feet. We wouldn't be surprised to see others copy this ingenious effect - but we saw it here first, and for that PrimEvil we always be the originator!
Due to travel and the timing of our arrival, we didn't have that much time to spend around enjoying the atmosphere in the park, but we saw some fun roaming characters, there was a live band providing music, and the catering facilities all seemed to be buzzing with activity.
Having done just the normal PrimEVIL show, we were really tempted to go back and do the extreme version that was running for a few extra days over Halloween. It's not often that we immediately want to go straight back to a park after visiting it once in the season, but PrimEVIL really blew us away this year with its ingenuity and scares. We cant wait to see what next year brings!
Arachnophobia has been built on the old site of the clown maze, and we were excited to find out what the undisclosed "effect" or concept was that the park owners warned us about. What surprised us was the issuing of every body with a quality set of headphones, that soon turned out to be part of a silent disco set up. Once on, a thumping techno soundtrack accompanied us on our journey into the dark strobe lit maze, and left us completely vulnerable to stealth attacks from all sides. Of course we couldn't hear anything and were enjoying the music but this also meant we couldn't hear the actors until they were literally on top of us. This meant that our whole experience was a maze of dancing our way round, punctuated with the terrified screams as we got scared. For such a simple idea - we are amazed we have never seen this use of technology before, and we are sure it would be a godsend for actors who have to work in a loud maze for so long, or for anyone who has noise issues with neighbours etc. We thought this was going to a highlight of the night - turns out that there was more innovation to come!
As stated in the intro, we used Forest of Fear as the pathway back up to the main site. Of course being such a long walk, it really would be difficult to sustain the same level and quantity of scares as the indoor attractions, but we had several good jumps along the 15 minute plus walk. The actors throughout were all lively and stayed in character as they engaged with our group, and the chainsaw finale had a lot of people running toward the exit. It's probably the weakest of the 5 attractions, just due to the logistics of the pathway, but at least it provides some interesting relief on the walk back up the hill!
Back up in the main event area, we ventured into the The Crypt which easily has one of the most impressive facades we have seen in any UK scream park. This looks like a genuine church building and is a stunning entry point for a great fun maze. This year, there seemed to be a lot of new animatronics throughout, and although impressive, we had a few timing issues with things triggering later than they should. Saying that - the actors did a very lively job or providing real scares as well, and we left the attraction wondering how they could have got so much maze into what looked like such a small church.
The final two mazes have been moved to a new location at the front of the park and this makes a perfect place to either do them last as you leave, or upon first arrival. We had heard some exciting things about the clown maze so decided to check into Mayhem Manor Hotel first. Behind another impressive facade, this attraction is probably the closest to a "standard" haunted house maze, even if nothing about it is particularly standard. The rooms and corridors of this hotel hod a myriad of evil characters, and in each room we had multiple attacks (often from unexpected places). We also liked that the use of standard scare techniques (such as drop panels) were all in play, but nothing was over used or repetitive. Each room was nicely decorated with enough props and furniture to convey the theme and story required without the rooms being overcrowded. Also - it was quite unusual to actually have doors to open between rooms, instead of just pushing through flaps or material. It was a nice touch that made the house feel real, but also created more tension each time we came to a closed door!
Our final maze was Circus of Terror and we have to say we loved every part of this attraction. From the over sized clown head on an overhead rail that charged us, through to the ball pit and crazy bungee rope maze, this maze threw so many fun and original ideas into the mix, as well as the craziest bunch of clowns we have seen for a long time. Our highlight will be enigmatically known as the "round room". We are not sure where the idea for this room came from ,but it was so much fun as we tried to find our way out while staying upright on our feet. We wouldn't be surprised to see others copy this ingenious effect - but we saw it here first, and for that PrimEvil we always be the originator!
Due to travel and the timing of our arrival, we didn't have that much time to spend around enjoying the atmosphere in the park, but we saw some fun roaming characters, there was a live band providing music, and the catering facilities all seemed to be buzzing with activity.
Having done just the normal PrimEVIL show, we were really tempted to go back and do the extreme version that was running for a few extra days over Halloween. It's not often that we immediately want to go straight back to a park after visiting it once in the season, but PrimEVIL really blew us away this year with its ingenuity and scares. We cant wait to see what next year brings!
PrimEVIL 2018
PrimEvil has grown over the last eight years from a small offering at Norwich’s local dinosaur park to become one of the biggest scream parks in the East. This year’s event featured five scare mazes – one of them new, roaming actors and live music. We went along on Halloween night itself to see what all the fuss was about.
The fun started for us before we even got out of the car park as two clowns terrorised guests as they got out of their vehicles. The park has a big focus on roaming actors and certainly has a great variety of them, some of our favourites being a deformed waiter, a puppeteer and a little old lady with a lot of attitude. As well as scaring, the roaming actors were very funny and spent a lot of time stalking the queuelines, keeping us entertained as we waited.
We chose to start our evening at Carnevil of Terror, a clown themed maze at the back of the park. After making our way through an air bag we were in a nicely themed series of corridors with a number of surprises and a few quirky characters. You’ve got your standard ball pool, spinning tunnel and chequered walls as you make your way through the circus. We did think the maze lacked actors in places, often walking for some time without seeing anyone. However the second part of the maze improved on this. After passing through last year’s finale, we were surprised the maze continued as we found ourselves in a brand new second finale featuring, three actors, several doors and a spinning floor. It was a nice and creative ending and great to see the maze evolve year-on-year.
Our second maze of the evening was Forest of Fear, an outdoor walkthrough along one of the dinosaur parks many dino-pathways. This maze has also been revamped with the route having reversed compared to the previous year. After a brief actor-led intro, we were into the maze and ended up walking through many different scenes and getting several good jump scares. There were some great effects in this maze including some fantastic lighting (we never knew outdoor strobes could be so disorientating), some pyrotechnics and a very impressive animatronic which gave us possibly the best scare of the night! The maze did feel a little sparse in places, but this can be forgiven when walking through the forest which is always eerie. As with Carnevil, Forest had a great finale which was well timed and petrified half our group as they nearly bowled us over running for the exit.
Our next stop was the park's new maze – Arachnophobia. This is housed in a new building just outside the main park. We must admit we were a little disappointed by the announcement of Arachnophobia originally as it replaced our favourite maze of last year – Infected. However, as we got close we heard a familiar drum and bass track blasting out of the building – this was more of a retheme than a new maze and that’s no bad thing! After a brief explanation of the story (big spiders are running riot and biting people turning them to zombies!) we were straight into what was a very intense strobe maze with multiple routes, energetic actors and lots of scares. New for this year were the massive spider models – initially just static models but as we went through - some impressive animatronics too. There was also a fun use of a bungee wire as we delved further into the maze. The strobes were very powerful and the actors knew exactly how to utilise them. We had a great laugh here and would say the new iteration was once again our favourite maze.
Next up was the Crypt which has had an impressive facelift with a new façade and fire effects out the front. It’s fantastic to see how seriously the venue now takes this event that they’ll go to this level to theme the building. Inside is perhaps slightly less impressive. The Crypt focuses itself around darkness and tight confined spaces – which will be enough to scare some people – but it does have a distinct lack of actors due to its nature of being so small. To try and counter this, some new animatronics have been added to try and give a few jump scares, but unfortunately on our run thought these were not timed very well, meaning were actually waiting for the animatronic to move so we could get the effect. That said, The Crypt does yet again have a fun and theatrical finale which did work and even though we knew what to expect from last year, stull gave us a good fright.
Our final maze was Mayhem Manor Hotel which has also been given a new home in the same building as Arachnophobia. The anticipation for this maze was built brilliantly in the queue, firstly by a very creepy butler welcoming us all and secondly by the actor from the final scene frequently chasing guests several meters out of the maze with a howl of ‘where are you going!’. Mayhem Manor is a standard haunted hotel set up, but it’s done very well indeed. This year has seen the maze scenes given a bit more room to breathe as the new venue means the maze is much bigger. This made the experience feel much more like a real hotel as opposed to just several corridors of previous years. The acting was superb and the actors really did like to mix up the style of scares throughout which was much more fun than the standard jump scares. When we finally made it to the finale actor, it was worth the wait – the intent in his eyes as he swiped with a massive baseball bat was terrifying!
2018’s PrimEvil offered another great lineup – our only gripe would be that it felt as if there were a few less actors than in previous years. But as we sat in the bar, enjoying the live music of Thy Last Drop and watching the cranky old lady we mentioned earlier boogieing the night away, we couldn’t deny we’d had a fantastic Halloween night!
The fun started for us before we even got out of the car park as two clowns terrorised guests as they got out of their vehicles. The park has a big focus on roaming actors and certainly has a great variety of them, some of our favourites being a deformed waiter, a puppeteer and a little old lady with a lot of attitude. As well as scaring, the roaming actors were very funny and spent a lot of time stalking the queuelines, keeping us entertained as we waited.
We chose to start our evening at Carnevil of Terror, a clown themed maze at the back of the park. After making our way through an air bag we were in a nicely themed series of corridors with a number of surprises and a few quirky characters. You’ve got your standard ball pool, spinning tunnel and chequered walls as you make your way through the circus. We did think the maze lacked actors in places, often walking for some time without seeing anyone. However the second part of the maze improved on this. After passing through last year’s finale, we were surprised the maze continued as we found ourselves in a brand new second finale featuring, three actors, several doors and a spinning floor. It was a nice and creative ending and great to see the maze evolve year-on-year.
Our second maze of the evening was Forest of Fear, an outdoor walkthrough along one of the dinosaur parks many dino-pathways. This maze has also been revamped with the route having reversed compared to the previous year. After a brief actor-led intro, we were into the maze and ended up walking through many different scenes and getting several good jump scares. There were some great effects in this maze including some fantastic lighting (we never knew outdoor strobes could be so disorientating), some pyrotechnics and a very impressive animatronic which gave us possibly the best scare of the night! The maze did feel a little sparse in places, but this can be forgiven when walking through the forest which is always eerie. As with Carnevil, Forest had a great finale which was well timed and petrified half our group as they nearly bowled us over running for the exit.
Our next stop was the park's new maze – Arachnophobia. This is housed in a new building just outside the main park. We must admit we were a little disappointed by the announcement of Arachnophobia originally as it replaced our favourite maze of last year – Infected. However, as we got close we heard a familiar drum and bass track blasting out of the building – this was more of a retheme than a new maze and that’s no bad thing! After a brief explanation of the story (big spiders are running riot and biting people turning them to zombies!) we were straight into what was a very intense strobe maze with multiple routes, energetic actors and lots of scares. New for this year were the massive spider models – initially just static models but as we went through - some impressive animatronics too. There was also a fun use of a bungee wire as we delved further into the maze. The strobes were very powerful and the actors knew exactly how to utilise them. We had a great laugh here and would say the new iteration was once again our favourite maze.
Next up was the Crypt which has had an impressive facelift with a new façade and fire effects out the front. It’s fantastic to see how seriously the venue now takes this event that they’ll go to this level to theme the building. Inside is perhaps slightly less impressive. The Crypt focuses itself around darkness and tight confined spaces – which will be enough to scare some people – but it does have a distinct lack of actors due to its nature of being so small. To try and counter this, some new animatronics have been added to try and give a few jump scares, but unfortunately on our run thought these were not timed very well, meaning were actually waiting for the animatronic to move so we could get the effect. That said, The Crypt does yet again have a fun and theatrical finale which did work and even though we knew what to expect from last year, stull gave us a good fright.
Our final maze was Mayhem Manor Hotel which has also been given a new home in the same building as Arachnophobia. The anticipation for this maze was built brilliantly in the queue, firstly by a very creepy butler welcoming us all and secondly by the actor from the final scene frequently chasing guests several meters out of the maze with a howl of ‘where are you going!’. Mayhem Manor is a standard haunted hotel set up, but it’s done very well indeed. This year has seen the maze scenes given a bit more room to breathe as the new venue means the maze is much bigger. This made the experience feel much more like a real hotel as opposed to just several corridors of previous years. The acting was superb and the actors really did like to mix up the style of scares throughout which was much more fun than the standard jump scares. When we finally made it to the finale actor, it was worth the wait – the intent in his eyes as he swiped with a massive baseball bat was terrifying!
2018’s PrimEvil offered another great lineup – our only gripe would be that it felt as if there were a few less actors than in previous years. But as we sat in the bar, enjoying the live music of Thy Last Drop and watching the cranky old lady we mentioned earlier boogieing the night away, we couldn’t deny we’d had a fantastic Halloween night!
PrimEVIL 2017
PrimEVIL at Norfolk Dinosaur Park is back for 2017 and this year has seen many big changes across the whole event.
The Crypt was a brand-new scare experience that was housed in a purpose designed building.The maze was like a bigger brother to The Dark, with a confusing path way and some great scares coming at us from the throughout. At times this maze was genuinely terrifying as we had no idea where we were going, and the scares came thick and fast as we were trying to escape!
The Infected was also new with a storyline involving infected people (i.e. zombies). Generic theming aside, this maze had some crazy strobe effects which made it completely disorienting and confusing. As we tried to find our way out, the infected kept appearing out of nowhere. The actors were so lively in here and knew how to use the space to provide genuine frights to everyone in our group.
We loved the Carnival of Terrors last year and it was great to see the attraction make a return. By being a permanent installation, the attraction feels more detailed which helps create a professional experience. Once again, the maze really threw every clown/fun house trick at us including squeeze tunnels, rotating tunnels, uneven floors and of course lots and lots of evil clowns. All the fun effects are back, and we manged to get many fun scares throughout.
Mayhem Manor Hotel is a well themed trip through a haunted hotel full of ghosts. The whole attraction was once again one of the most impressive of the night with the ghosts tormenting us from beginning to end with multiple drop panels and places to attack. The maze has the most detailed theming of the attractions and provided some great scares from the lively actors.
Forest of Fear is the park’s signature attraction and is always very popular. The long walk through the woods generally throws all different types of scares at the visitors and as usual had our group laughing as well as screaming. Some of the set pieces on this pathway are really stunning and completely unexpected in the woodland setting.
As usual the event had many roaming characters that were scaring an entertaining guest throughout. We weren’t even safe in the new bar area as they followed us into the building that used to be home to the Dark attraction
We have been visiting PrimEvil since their first steps into becoming a scare event and each year we see them get bigger and more advanced in their execution. The move to hosting attractions in permanent structures is really given the event an even more polished feel and we can wait to head back in 2018.
The Crypt was a brand-new scare experience that was housed in a purpose designed building.The maze was like a bigger brother to The Dark, with a confusing path way and some great scares coming at us from the throughout. At times this maze was genuinely terrifying as we had no idea where we were going, and the scares came thick and fast as we were trying to escape!
The Infected was also new with a storyline involving infected people (i.e. zombies). Generic theming aside, this maze had some crazy strobe effects which made it completely disorienting and confusing. As we tried to find our way out, the infected kept appearing out of nowhere. The actors were so lively in here and knew how to use the space to provide genuine frights to everyone in our group.
We loved the Carnival of Terrors last year and it was great to see the attraction make a return. By being a permanent installation, the attraction feels more detailed which helps create a professional experience. Once again, the maze really threw every clown/fun house trick at us including squeeze tunnels, rotating tunnels, uneven floors and of course lots and lots of evil clowns. All the fun effects are back, and we manged to get many fun scares throughout.
Mayhem Manor Hotel is a well themed trip through a haunted hotel full of ghosts. The whole attraction was once again one of the most impressive of the night with the ghosts tormenting us from beginning to end with multiple drop panels and places to attack. The maze has the most detailed theming of the attractions and provided some great scares from the lively actors.
Forest of Fear is the park’s signature attraction and is always very popular. The long walk through the woods generally throws all different types of scares at the visitors and as usual had our group laughing as well as screaming. Some of the set pieces on this pathway are really stunning and completely unexpected in the woodland setting.
As usual the event had many roaming characters that were scaring an entertaining guest throughout. We weren’t even safe in the new bar area as they followed us into the building that used to be home to the Dark attraction
We have been visiting PrimEvil since their first steps into becoming a scare event and each year we see them get bigger and more advanced in their execution. The move to hosting attractions in permanent structures is really given the event an even more polished feel and we can wait to head back in 2018.
Pictures provided by and used with permission of PrimEVIL
PrimEVIL 2016
PrimEVIL at Norfolk Dinosaur Park is back for another year and has seen some changes for 2016, with new attractions and some location changes within the venue. The change to more permanent locations for attractions and the addition of enhanced infrastructure such as the central bar area, make the event feel more polished, especially as the roaming characters can have fun with the guests gathered in the bar or waiting in the queuelines
CarnEVIL of Terrors has taken residence in a new permanent location in the valley section of the park, which has given the team the chance to really go to town on design and theming. Following an hilarious greeter, who had us in hysterics as we prepared to enter, the attraction really threw every clown/fun house trick at us including squeeze tunnels, rotating tunnels, uneven floors and of course lots and lots of evil clowns. There were a number of clever and quite different scares along the way, including a very effective massive suspended clown face that was the perfect distraction for the actor creeping up behind us!
Mayhem Manor Hotel is a well themed trip through a haunted hotel full of ghosts. The whole attraction was one of the liveliest mazes of the night with the ghosts tormenting us from beginning to end with multiple drop panels and places to attack. The maze also included some interesting character acting as we dove deeper into the darkness of the hotel.
Zone 64 East: Deadwood has a new home in the outdoor maze section of woodland, which works perfectly as the story tells of a zombie style outbreak and our quest is to make it to the safe zone. Of course the wood is populated by undead creatures, and the actors used the darkness of the woods to get a number of great scares as we stumbled through. The lighting throughout the zone is subtly effective, giving off enough light to create an atmosphere but not enough to reveal the hidden zombies.
Forest of Fear is a long walk through the woodland down to the lowest part of the park and has a mixture of effects and live actors to scare and startle along the way. It IS a very long path and so does suffer at times from feeling a little bit underpopulated, but when the scares come they are fast and effective. We should also mention the incredible puppet style effects hidden in two of the structures along the route. Both of these were totally unexpected and gave the whole group a great fright.
The Dark has been scaring guests for a number of years and remains as dark and effective as before. Without the gimmick of hoods or having to follow a rope, The Dark does exactly what it says on the tin. It is dark. Very dark. Along the dark route, there are a number of elevation changes and different startle effects, culminating in a confusing finale as we were confronted with multiple doors to try and get out. It really is a great scary maze and the darkness works perfectly every time. By the way - did we say it was dark in there?
The Hangman's Revenge is a small up charge price to experience the park's zip wire in the dark. The loading station has been decorated accordingly and the operator was dressed as a medieval hangman. There was one MASSIVE surprise that we don't want to ruin, but we genuinely let out a scream of terror as part of our experience as we raced down the hillside! Definitely worth the extra £3.50.
CarnEVIL of Terrors has taken residence in a new permanent location in the valley section of the park, which has given the team the chance to really go to town on design and theming. Following an hilarious greeter, who had us in hysterics as we prepared to enter, the attraction really threw every clown/fun house trick at us including squeeze tunnels, rotating tunnels, uneven floors and of course lots and lots of evil clowns. There were a number of clever and quite different scares along the way, including a very effective massive suspended clown face that was the perfect distraction for the actor creeping up behind us!
Mayhem Manor Hotel is a well themed trip through a haunted hotel full of ghosts. The whole attraction was one of the liveliest mazes of the night with the ghosts tormenting us from beginning to end with multiple drop panels and places to attack. The maze also included some interesting character acting as we dove deeper into the darkness of the hotel.
Zone 64 East: Deadwood has a new home in the outdoor maze section of woodland, which works perfectly as the story tells of a zombie style outbreak and our quest is to make it to the safe zone. Of course the wood is populated by undead creatures, and the actors used the darkness of the woods to get a number of great scares as we stumbled through. The lighting throughout the zone is subtly effective, giving off enough light to create an atmosphere but not enough to reveal the hidden zombies.
Forest of Fear is a long walk through the woodland down to the lowest part of the park and has a mixture of effects and live actors to scare and startle along the way. It IS a very long path and so does suffer at times from feeling a little bit underpopulated, but when the scares come they are fast and effective. We should also mention the incredible puppet style effects hidden in two of the structures along the route. Both of these were totally unexpected and gave the whole group a great fright.
The Dark has been scaring guests for a number of years and remains as dark and effective as before. Without the gimmick of hoods or having to follow a rope, The Dark does exactly what it says on the tin. It is dark. Very dark. Along the dark route, there are a number of elevation changes and different startle effects, culminating in a confusing finale as we were confronted with multiple doors to try and get out. It really is a great scary maze and the darkness works perfectly every time. By the way - did we say it was dark in there?
The Hangman's Revenge is a small up charge price to experience the park's zip wire in the dark. The loading station has been decorated accordingly and the operator was dressed as a medieval hangman. There was one MASSIVE surprise that we don't want to ruin, but we genuinely let out a scream of terror as part of our experience as we raced down the hillside! Definitely worth the extra £3.50.
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