Having recently been rebranded from Cursed to The Village of the Cursed, this attraction in Essex brings six chilling mazes, games, food and entertainment, and two extra scare experiences which top and tail the event with terrifying success. Having attended Cursed for a few years before we joined The Scare Factor, we were excited to return for the revamp, and boy were we in for a treat! Village of the Cursed has completely morphed into a horrifying delicatessen of frights, with a passionate cast laser-focused on bringing some of the most petrifying and gruesome characters to life.
We were absolutely impressed with the cast at Village of the Cursed – it’s obvious that the scare captains for each of the mazes really know what they are doing and that teams behind them are extremely passionate. The interactivity and improvisation are high in each of the mazes, often with personalised interactions and comments for each audience member that goes through the mazes. In “Convent” we were stopped by a nun for minutes, interrogated for our sins and made to repent – they wouldn’t let us leave without saying repenting for something they believed we were actually guilty for – it was quite an intense conversation! The toymaker in “Toys R Undead” was great too, as he made comments on our individual hair colours and heights, perfect for making us into dolls.
Actors in all the mazes are really physical, with standouts being the cast of “Death Row” and “The Clinic”. In Death Row the actors literally threw themselves from wall to wall and through bars, energising the environment around them and making you feel like an actual prison riot and break was going on. The actors in “The Clinic” will forever cement themselves in our minds as incredible for their physicality and absolutely terrifying actions. The cast here were incredibly enthusiastic, getting up into our faces and cornering us with syringes, threatening to inject us. We felt attacked at all times in this maze, barely being allowed to leave and always feeling just on the cusp of asking, “Am I actually safe here?”
We also have to mention the cast of the entry and exit mazes into the park, with some really animated and dynamic, not to mention slightly unhinged, clowns. The clowns in the entry maze were terrifying, throwing themselves at us from behind bars and cornering us after only just escaping a difficult birth canal: finally a maze with a terrifying actor at the end of one of these effects, as so many haunts this year have failed to have any cast attack us after getting through these dark birth canals. The clowns at the exit maze were intensely interactive too, shocking us by coming out of nowhere while then offering hilarious witticisms and constantly stalking us the entire way out!
Costuming, hair and makeup were well utilised throughout the park. The clown actors in the queue and the entry and exit mazes were fully realised characters with detailed makeup and suitable costumes. Each of the mazes had completely different theming, with actors within being dressed suitably in their roles, from prisoners and wardens in “Death Row” to zombie nurses and doctors in “The Clinic”.
Standout characters of the night included a bearlike creature in “Toys R Undead”, the warden at the beginning of “Death Row” who had an entire monologue before turning to us to show his disgustingly bloody and oozing face, and a demonlike nun sitting on a bed in the “Convent”, her eerie eyes and long fingernails shining through the fog and lights.
Staff at Village of the Cursed were really lovely, particularly the staff at the entrance and the clowns manning the queues and entry and exit mazes. We were also impressed by the website and information provided prior to our visit. All of our online interactions were equally lovely. Signage was pretty good, as it was obvious to spot the entrance to the entire site and parking attendants were there to guide you the entire way into and out of the park (although one of the attendants must have gone missing for our initial arrival and we did end up going the wrong way to begin with, which was rectified upon the attendant’s return).
The only other note we have is that the attraction might want to take another quick look at some of their mazes in terms of areas that could cause trip hazards. There were some uneven spaces when queuing, we did trip a bit in a maze or two, and the dark maze needs particular attention, as taller audiences actually slightly hit their heads on some of the metal scaffolding. These are minor adjustments – overall it was a really well laid out and easy to navigate park.
The fact that Village of the Cursed has a maze just to enter the park, let alone yet another to exit it, really brings their whole world of scare mazes together, immersing you in a bubble of frights from the moment you enter till the moment you leave. This park has come such a long way in their immersiveness since we attended a few years ago, when the mazes were merely marquees with signs. This year every single maze had a building facade and themed signage, from the facade of a church for “The Convent” to fun font work on the sign for “Toys R Undead”. Each of the maze entrances are different, so you feel like they each belong to their own little world, and yet when you exit the mazes you are spit back right into the centre of the park, allowing you to automatically venture into the next terrifying attraction.
Batching was great at this park, with a good amount of time in between groups, and these groups were rather small and intimate, meaning we never encountered a queue in any of the mazes, and the actors had the time and space to interact with everyone in the group. Everything felt personal, and we appreciated the time and effort the park took to make this happen. Each of the mazes flowed well, and there was never really a time we didn’t feel immersed in our surroundings. Sure, the sets could have maybe been a bit more intricate, but in reality they were just right, as all the surroundings put their actors in the spotlight, and they all excelled in making these mazes frightening and memorable!
While some of the mazes seemed to lack a soundscape, others did have auditory elements, with alarms going off in “Death Row” and an eerie chanting soundtrack in “Convent”. Sets are slightly stripped back in all mazes, but you never feel the loss of an intricate design as it’s all put together really intelligently and well laid out, with lighting, props and set pieces specifically set up and timed to make best use of the space at hand.
“The Clinic” began with a zombie held behind a laser light wall, whereas “Death Row” had effects to mimic a fully working furnace as well as an intense corridor of prison blocks. What’s really impressive about a lot of these mazes is that they’re clearly temporary structures and yet they feel like they have some permanence, from dolls and bears and hanging bodies in a fluorescent room, not to mention an actual toy making shop in “Toys R Undead”, to numerous different hotel rooms and a bar in “The Silence Hotel”.
What was perhaps even more impressive at Village of the Cursed were the smell pods! There was an antiseptic smell in “The Clinic”, the smell of cleaning supplies in the toilet area in “Death Row”, and hands down the most disgusting and potent smell of vomit in “Toys R Undead”. This vomit smell stuck with us almost the entire night and had us gagging on the drive home – it was absolutely revolting! Nowhere else would we be excited and delighted at a smell like this, but it really heightened our senses in the maze and immersed us in the stomach-churning vignettes at play.
21. How scary was it? (35% of score): 6.71
22. How well did they provide scares to everyone in the group? (15% of score): 10
23. How predictable were the scares? (25% of score): 7.71
24. How well did they provide a wide variety (types) of scares? (10% of score): 7.13
25. How strong was the ending / finale? (15% of score): 7.83
There were an incredible array of scare tactics at Village of the Cursed. Yes, jump scares were used, but they were often only the very start of the experience, actors very quickly escalating the scare with intimidation or distraction. There was one room in “The Clinic” that was a real highlight for us, with two different actors cornering us and pinning us to the wall. We weren’t sure where to look and who to run away from first! As soon as we would give one our attention and try to walk away, the other would be on our other side, equally physical and menacing. These two took turns getting attention away from the other, who would then return again. This duo was hard to shake, and absolutely petrifying. The clown duo from the exit maze used a similar strategy, with one actor taunting and stalking us, giving the other actor time to come attack us from another direction. These two kept on taking turns during our entire exit from the park – it was relentless and hilarious!
There were a lot of psychological and sensational scare tactics used too. As previously mentioned, the vomit smell in “Toys R Undead” was really sickening, grossing us out and distracting us as a scare actor pounced at us from within a coffee shop. And we also mentioned our lengthy detainment by a nun in “The Convent” who wouldn’t let us leave. This was quite uncomfortable, especially as we felt there was no way to escape without airing out our dirty laundry!
Village of the Cursed had really intensely physical and menacing actors, with intimidation, stalking and discomforting conversations being a real strength used by many of the cast. These weren’t just actors jumping out at us for a moment and then leaving, these were lengthy interactions that were often disturbing and threatening, not to mention disgusting!
Calculating at just over £1 per minute of scares, this attraction offers about what you’d ask for in terms of walkthrough value. There’s a bit of additional entertainment on offer, with an archery zone and an indoor DJ next to the food stalls, perfect for a cozy and fun dance. But what the park lacks in stage entertainment they make up for in other scares on-site, particularly with the two mazes one has to survive to both enter and exit the park itself. These two mini-mazes offer some of the most scares as well as a whole lot of laughs, with the cast in the exit maze particularly witty and hilarious. And the birth canal in the entry maze? You’ll want to hold tight to all your valuables and garner all of your strength – this is a birth canal not to be messed with, being hands down the most claustrophobic and difficult canal effect we’ve ever experienced (with Spooky World’s this season being a close second). It was also impressive the lengths some of the maze actors themselves went to stay in character as they entered and exited their own mazes throughout the night. Again the cast of “The Clinic” were best-in-show, often causing complete chaos as they came in and out of their zones, to the complete delight and entertainment of everyone queuing for the nearby attractions.
We absolutely recommend a visit. Village of the Cursed has clearly gone to extraordinary lengths to update their park and have really done their homework, and we can’t wait to see how the company continues to grow in future seasons.
A1245 Rayleigh, Essex, United Kingdom SS6 7FQ
