Whatton House of Horror - Witchfinder Review
After a crazily hectic run through Satan’s Slammer, we headed just 40 minutes up North to Area 51’s sister attraction – Whatton House of Horror.
Now, although we say this is a sister attraction, the two events couldn’t be any more different. In fact, the only real DNA that either event share is the sheer level of imagination and design in both. To start with, Whatton House of Horror is a 45-minute outdoor walk through the gardens and woodlands, also, this event is definitely more theatrical based with an engaging storyline from the beginning.
The story for this year was like something out a classic Horror movie, with us entering a 17th century village during the English Civil War. Stories of Witches and Demons were rife and along the way we were interrogated multiple times as the soldiers and The Witchfinders themselves searched for any sign of witchcraft around.
The woodland itself was atmospherically lit with several great scenes along the way, as well as random character interactions through the trees. We never knew at any point what was coming next and the scares and set pieces came at us thick and fast.
Talking of the set pieces, these included an impressive witch hanging scene, a truly terrifying tavern scene during an exorcism of a possessed girl, and an effects heavy finale that left us gasping as the witch rose several feet in the air to escape the flames below!
We have to call out the sheer number of actors in this attraction and more importantly – the sheer quality of most of them. The cast were definitely an older and more confident set of actors and, as such really seemed to inhabit each character they were playing. Yes, there were a number of quick jump scares along the way, but the whole experience was made more believable due to the brevity and depth of the cast’s performances. It also helped that the costumes and sets were easily of stage/film quality, which just helped to add to the realism throughout.
Alongside the main Witchfinder trail was The Torturer’s Apprentice, which was a shorter ten-minute experience more akin to a classic scare attraction. These tight and narrow indoor pathways mixed a number of great scares with the same level of theatricality as the main tour and packed in some great scares in the darkness. It was a great add on addition on the night.
All in – Witchfinder was probably one of the most immersive events that we experienced this Halloween. Although it wasn’t a fast-paced scare maze with scare after scare throughout, it really was a uniquely unsettling experience which played on our minds long after leaving. We can’t wait to see what story they come up with for 2023.
Now, although we say this is a sister attraction, the two events couldn’t be any more different. In fact, the only real DNA that either event share is the sheer level of imagination and design in both. To start with, Whatton House of Horror is a 45-minute outdoor walk through the gardens and woodlands, also, this event is definitely more theatrical based with an engaging storyline from the beginning.
The story for this year was like something out a classic Horror movie, with us entering a 17th century village during the English Civil War. Stories of Witches and Demons were rife and along the way we were interrogated multiple times as the soldiers and The Witchfinders themselves searched for any sign of witchcraft around.
The woodland itself was atmospherically lit with several great scenes along the way, as well as random character interactions through the trees. We never knew at any point what was coming next and the scares and set pieces came at us thick and fast.
Talking of the set pieces, these included an impressive witch hanging scene, a truly terrifying tavern scene during an exorcism of a possessed girl, and an effects heavy finale that left us gasping as the witch rose several feet in the air to escape the flames below!
We have to call out the sheer number of actors in this attraction and more importantly – the sheer quality of most of them. The cast were definitely an older and more confident set of actors and, as such really seemed to inhabit each character they were playing. Yes, there were a number of quick jump scares along the way, but the whole experience was made more believable due to the brevity and depth of the cast’s performances. It also helped that the costumes and sets were easily of stage/film quality, which just helped to add to the realism throughout.
Alongside the main Witchfinder trail was The Torturer’s Apprentice, which was a shorter ten-minute experience more akin to a classic scare attraction. These tight and narrow indoor pathways mixed a number of great scares with the same level of theatricality as the main tour and packed in some great scares in the darkness. It was a great add on addition on the night.
All in – Witchfinder was probably one of the most immersive events that we experienced this Halloween. Although it wasn’t a fast-paced scare maze with scare after scare throughout, it really was a uniquely unsettling experience which played on our minds long after leaving. We can’t wait to see what story they come up with for 2023.
Very scary
Visited here last year , and found it amazing revisited this year and the talent is amazing , we got some good scares in both trails , both trail 1 and trail 2 were equally as scary, however the second trail was slightly more intense! All actors were on point and it looked like they were having a brilliant time scaring us
Visited here last year , and found it amazing revisited this year and the talent is amazing , we got some good scares in both trails , both trail 1 and trail 2 were equally as scary, however the second trail was slightly more intense! All actors were on point and it looked like they were having a brilliant time scaring us
Scary- Amazing value for money ! Brilliant immersive theatrical experience through the grounds and woods of whatton house set design and actors were brilliant throughout.
Whatton House of Horror: Purgatory - Review
Whatton House of Horror is a new event created by Area 51 - one of the co-creators of last year's Road to Hell. It was originally planned to run alongside Road to Hell this Halloween, but sadly the drive thru had to be cancelled due to licensing issues.
The theme of this debut year's event is Purgatory, an area where guests are stuck in between Heaven and Hell. Based in the incredible gardens of Whatton House, the attraction is a one mile long 40 minute walk through experience, which we would say definitely leans more to the spooky rather than the very scary.
Our night started in a courtyard with catering facilities, and as our time to enter the attraction approached, we made our way to the main queue line. Sadly with large batches - this could mean a longish wait before entering the attraction itself, but we were fairly lucky and got through before the majority of people in our slot!
Along the trail itself, most of the scenes were elaborately lit and really made the most of the incredible location, including the house and grounds. We must shout out to the spooky looking smoky lake/pond, which was beautiful and really effective. Throughout, there also a lot of audio which helped to maintain the a spooky atmosphere. The makeup and costumes were also some of the best we saw all Halloween with the characters alternating between genuinely terrifying and spooky and funny. We loved the audience participation elements (e.g. having to think of and sing a song before we could be judged by Anubis) and the actors all gave strong and convincing character performances.
There definitely were a few good jump scares across our whole group - especially in the early scene with the statues that suddenly came to life and stalked us. A lot of the other scenes utilised quite detailed scripts which were all delivered passionately by the actors involved. Fortunately we had been given a lantern at the start of the walk, which not only was meant to keep groups apart along the trail but worked as a good signpost to the actors that we were coming!
We must just also say that would have liked the finale, as we entered heaven or hell, to have been a little more impactful as it sadly seemed to fizzle out towards the end. Its only a minor niggle, but we would have loved something more powerful to end on our experience on a high.
All in - the event reminded us a lot of the Garden of Ghouls event at Birmingham Botanical Gardens a few years back (which is no co-incidence as some of the same people have been involved.) Although not terrifyingly scary, it was a really immersive, atmospheric and theatrical experience that would be perfect for families, or people that are just too scared to do a full on scare attraction such as the production team's more intense event - Satan's Slammer.
The fact that this design team have been able to create such different experiences across all their sites, bodes really well for the future and we cant wait to see what they come up with for Halloween 2022!
The theme of this debut year's event is Purgatory, an area where guests are stuck in between Heaven and Hell. Based in the incredible gardens of Whatton House, the attraction is a one mile long 40 minute walk through experience, which we would say definitely leans more to the spooky rather than the very scary.
Our night started in a courtyard with catering facilities, and as our time to enter the attraction approached, we made our way to the main queue line. Sadly with large batches - this could mean a longish wait before entering the attraction itself, but we were fairly lucky and got through before the majority of people in our slot!
Along the trail itself, most of the scenes were elaborately lit and really made the most of the incredible location, including the house and grounds. We must shout out to the spooky looking smoky lake/pond, which was beautiful and really effective. Throughout, there also a lot of audio which helped to maintain the a spooky atmosphere. The makeup and costumes were also some of the best we saw all Halloween with the characters alternating between genuinely terrifying and spooky and funny. We loved the audience participation elements (e.g. having to think of and sing a song before we could be judged by Anubis) and the actors all gave strong and convincing character performances.
There definitely were a few good jump scares across our whole group - especially in the early scene with the statues that suddenly came to life and stalked us. A lot of the other scenes utilised quite detailed scripts which were all delivered passionately by the actors involved. Fortunately we had been given a lantern at the start of the walk, which not only was meant to keep groups apart along the trail but worked as a good signpost to the actors that we were coming!
We must just also say that would have liked the finale, as we entered heaven or hell, to have been a little more impactful as it sadly seemed to fizzle out towards the end. Its only a minor niggle, but we would have loved something more powerful to end on our experience on a high.
All in - the event reminded us a lot of the Garden of Ghouls event at Birmingham Botanical Gardens a few years back (which is no co-incidence as some of the same people have been involved.) Although not terrifyingly scary, it was a really immersive, atmospheric and theatrical experience that would be perfect for families, or people that are just too scared to do a full on scare attraction such as the production team's more intense event - Satan's Slammer.
The fact that this design team have been able to create such different experiences across all their sites, bodes really well for the future and we cant wait to see what they come up with for Halloween 2022!
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