Near the small farming village of Thorpe Arnold in Leicestershire, you’ll find the happily (yet deceptively) named Twinlakes Park. Come the changing leaves of autumn, however, the park undergoes an unholy rebaptism as Xtreme Scream Park. An entirely new experience for us, the scream park is spread over 7 haunts and includes plenty of live big top entertainment, food, drink, and a host of roaming actors delivering scares and laughs for all.
The seven attractions are each unique in their theming, and include “Spores”, “The Witches of Hard Luck Wood”, “The Pie Factory”, “Ash Hell Penitentiary”, “The Village”, “Blutlust”, and “Circus vs. Circused”. This is an entire evening of screams, set alongside beautifully horrific twinkling ambiance of shining lights, marshmallow roasting pits, and a one pimped-out hearse!
We found that the residents of Xtreme Scream Park had a great deal of variability in their performances. Some excellent acting was on display with the roaming actors, including a creepy duo of masked monochrome girls on a bicycle, and a giant stilt pumpkin man puppeteering another actor into action, spooking the walkways between haunts.
Within the haunts themselves, some more physical than verbal interactions. This was the case for “Spores”, where characters did interact with us, but more to force us in certain directions. Several times in this maze, there were points where we became lost in the labyrinth of tunnels occupied by the spore-possessed creatures. Using their size and formidability, the actors subtly indicated which way we should progress, which was really helpful.
Sometimes, actors embodied famous characters. Hannibal, being imprisoned in “Ash Hell Penitentiary”, was very keen to smell one of our reviewers and perhaps collect a body part to add to his collection, which already displayed his past “conquests”. At other moments, actors did a terrific job of remaining entirely still, only to spring into horrific motion on us passing. The scarecrows looking to harvest us in “The Village” were particularly effective in this regard.
One of our favourite cast interactions was in “Blutlust”. Starting in a rather unhappy Berlin kebab shop, the shop owner added more than just relish to our meal, smashing up a disgusting number of ingredients on the counter, clearly enjoying every moment of our horror. Meanwhile, the vampires deeper within drew us apart, made us dance to their blood-soaked beats, and grabbed our feet. Every one of the actors here loved their roles, and made us believe we were going to be their next heady drink! Interactions such as this continued in “Circus vs. Circused”. One of us was asked to start a car by pulling a starter rope, coaxing the beast into action. Others asked questions of us, like whether we would like to play with their rubber chicken, only to foghorn us instead!
Some of the acting was slightly weaker in “The Witches of Hard Luck Wood”, but we wonder whether this might be because many of the cast were not particularly visible in the gloom. Their storytelling was clear, but delivery felt a little forced.
Costume and makeup was extensive at Xtreme Scream Park, yet we felt some of the mazes were more fully established in its use than others. “Spores” presented grotesque infected beings in masks and costumes that were convincingly put together. You didn’t want to touch them, lest you be infected too. “The Pie Factory” also did an excellent job of masking. Those in pig attire weren’t just wearing face masks, but masks that completely covered the actor’s heads and blended with their necks, making but a glance at them take you aback.
This same technique was on display at “The Village”, where baghead scarecrows bristled with hay that trailed from them like hair. “Blutlust” upped the game more, combining elegance with horror, and transformative masks that exposed the true nature of the vampires beneath. These were beings dressed in black to kill!
This wasn’t the case across all the mazes; “Ash Hell Penitentiary”, whilst providing convincing prisoner costumes, didn’t go above and beyond as the other mazes did. Yet, this was the setting, and therefore made sense for the story unfolding.
Due to being based at Twinlakes Theme Park, Xtreme Scream Park has a remarkable infrastructure, with clear signage marking the entrance to the park, attendants showing you where to park, and immersive and effective queueing systems throughout. There is a lot of directional signage pointing you to different mazes in the park, not to mention several staff members spotted throughout the park directing audiences and offering to help with any questions you may have.
The professionalism is outstanding, with information clear and prevalent both online and physically onsite, with staff happy to help at every step of the way. Safety was also clearly important at this park, with all mazes easy to access and roam around, despite their immersive nature. Overall, we were really impressed with the layout of the park and the staff available to help guide you.
We were thoroughly impressed with the pre-haunt atmosphere of most of the haunts, with large props outside the mazes from giant clowns to eerie wicker men. Even the queues were themed, with lights along the way and thematic music keeping audiences entertained as they waited.
It was obvious that an incredible amount of time and work went into the creation of each of these haunts, with each a completely cohesive and complex world we were dropped into.
“Ash Hell Penitentiary” was a fully realised prison, taking us from cell to cell, a prison kitchen and even a prison laundry room, each completely decked out with wall-to-wall props and animatronics. However, the immersiveness of this maze was really let down with a poor batching system, which was an unfortunate situation at many of the haunts we attended on the evening of our visit. With sometimes over a dozen or seemingly more people admitted at once, we often ended up stuck in some of the rooms as we queued to get through them, often standing for minutes at a time in the same place. The worst of this was in one of the Hannibal Lecter themed rooms at “Ash Hell”, where audiences queued for minutes on the outside of a cell with nowhere to go. This queue in this attraction, which was the worst of the night but also seen in a few of the mazes, really brought down the immersive element.
Despite this, we really loved the immersive worlds created by Xtreme Scream Park, especially those of “The Pie Factory”, “The Witches of Hard Luck Wood”, “Circus vs. Circursed” and “Blutlust”. The attention to set design in “The Pie Factory” was incredible, and you really felt like you were in a working factory gone wrong. Similarly, “Circus vs. Circursed” was brimming with huge circus props from wall to wall, plunging you into the world of a carnival warehouse. “The Witches of Hard Luck Wood” was also incredible, creating a haunting woodland indoors, with ground beneath your feet, branches everywhere you looked, and even wooden bridges to get from point A to point B.
We found “Blutlust” the most unique and thorough haunts at the park, which turned a building into not only a kebab shop with a deranged cook, but then into Berlin’s nightclub district (a vampire-infested nightclub at that), and then the cavernous crypts below. It truly was an incredible world full of leather, bloodlust and hedonism. This maze was truly extraordinary, and we’d return again immediately if only to re-experience it!
We can’t applaud Xtreme Scream Park enough for their special FX – undoubtedly it’s the most impressive setup we’ve seen in the UK, with an incredible assortment of animatronics, vibrating and moving walkways, spinning tunnels, laser and fog fields, pyrotechnics, and other sensory effects. Each of their mazes has an immersive soundscape, with their latest maze, “Spores,” sporting an affective and varied soundscape from eerie music to sounds of infected creatures consuming and digesting.
Many of Xtreme Scream Park mazes incorporate well-timed strobes, blinking for a moment and then plunging in the dark for several seconds, giving cast enough time to position themselves in horrifying places. This use of strobes really created a sense of disorientation, claustrophobia and unease, constantly putting audiences at alert until it was too late and creatures would attack.
The park had some amazing water features, such as a self-filling bathtub, and pyrotechnic effects as well, with flames and sparking props in almost every maze, not to mention highly pressurised air cannons constantly attacking our ankles. Most memorable of all were certainly the mind-boggling amount of animatronics, from bodies gyrating from wall to ceiling, bodies moving down a clothing line in a laundry room, and a giant warthog bursting out of nowhere. All of these animatronics were motion censored, which meant the timing of scares was impeccable, and each animatronic was placed intelligently so that they could make the most of live actors elsewhere in the mazes.
The highlight of our night was certainly in “Circus vs Circursed”, where one of the party was asked to help start the engine of a clown car until it both lit up and then started smoking, and also where we smelled fresh popcorn when going through the attraction. Smell was utilised quite a lot at this park, but it was this prevailing smell of popcorn that really excited us and added to the immersiveness of the maze.
21. How scary was it? (35% of score): 6.86
22. How well did they provide scares to everyone in the group? (15% of score): 7.61
23. How predictable were the scares? (25% of score): 6.93
24. How well did they provide a wide variety (types) of scares? (10% of score): 7.36
25. How strong was the ending / finale? (15% of score): 6.75
Scares at Xtreme Scream Park range from your typical jump scares to an exceptional use of both disorientation and sensational frights, which were aided by the substantial amount of animatronics and other special effects at every twist and turn. There were lots of moving walkways and spinning tunnels, which shocked and disoriented us, and as previously mentioned, the effective use of strobe lighting also added to this confusion and discomfiture. These animatronics were also used as distraction and misdirection, often calling for our attention and leaving us vulnerable for a camouflaged actor to attack with a jump scare.
It is also worth noting that actors are allowed to touch you at this park, which was perhaps the most shocking source of terror at this event, with hands reaching out to touch our heads or even emerging to grab our ankles. While the physical nature of these scares isn’t as extreme as some parks, it certainly takes you out of your comfort zone, placing you in a constant state of alert not knowing when you might next be grabbed.
We were incredibly satisfied with the entertainment on offer at Xtreme Scream Park – we’ve heard so much about the park in the last few years and are excited and grateful to have finally had the chance to experience it. The atmosphere created in the main hub of the park was electric, with food and drink stalls surrounding a small performance stage with roaming actors throughout, not to mention additional games and entertainment stalls on the outside with a larger entertainment tent on the side. From photo opportunities to small laser shows, to fire and aerial performances on the main stage, there is always something to keep you entertained when not in the mazes.
Then there’s the mazes themselves – at tickets priced at about £31, the mazes took us approximately 78 minutes to go through, which offers an amazing minute-per-pound ratio without even taking into account the other entertainment available at the park. We spent hours at this park. It really does offer a full evening of fun and scares for individuals and groups alike, and even though we went there as a pair we ended up making a few friends along the way with people holding onto us for dear life through some of the mazes. Everyone at the event was clearly enjoying themselves, creating an exhilarating and welcoming atmosphere. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves at Xtreme Scream Park, and we can’t wait to see what their next iteration has in store.
Melton Spinney Road horpe Arnold , Melton Mowbray, United Kingdom LE14 4FF
