Fear Island at Fantasy Island – Review

By Dominic Picksley, November 2024

In his tatty old stetson hat and ragged clothes, the wild-eyed and bearded Cletus is the ‘frontman’ for the creepy cannibal family that reside in The Ravenous, voted Europe’s ‘best scare experience 2024, located in a dingy ‘dwelling’ at Fantasy Island.

As we waited in the queue line to enter this incredible attraction, he ‘entertained’ some waiting guests by getting up close and personal, while also shouting at the odd child who was brave enough to stand in his vicinity.

It had a ‘Deliverance-meets-Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ vibe to it, which was further emphasised when Cletus picked up a nearby banjo and started strumming the first few bars of Duelling Banjos.

He then pointed to a YouTuber in our group and with a sinister look told him, “You can go last”, to which no argument was forthcoming. He wouldn’t have dared.

“Dimly-lit”

Then, with a nervous energy enveloping our group, we were bundled in through the rickety front door, with Cletus shouting after us, “Now, you’re bolted in and there’s no way out.” My heart almost sank at this point.

We had to push our way through a darkened narrow corridor, which had like an inflated curtain either side before stumbling out into a dimly-lit room. Here, more of the dysfunctional family appeared.

We were then told in no uncertain terms to ‘behave ourselves or else’ just prior to Cletus appearing to urinate in a bucket, the contents of which naturally came our way.

More rooms of the ‘cabin’ were navigated, including the kitchen, where the ‘lovely’ daughter showed us how to perform a certain procedure on a ‘dead’ body until we entered the dining room where the table was laid with a variety of gruesome ‘food’.

We were all made to hold hands, close our eyes and repeat some sort of grace before the less-than-appetising meal. But, my son Ben obviously felt the urge to open his peepers, as I heard the ‘dad’ tell him to “grow some balls” and keep them shut.

Mayhem then ensued as were told we had “15 seconds to get out” as the sound of a chainsaw emerged. And, as we entered the final room, scattered with glass cases of body parts, our old friend Cletus showed up again, blocking the exit.

Something caught his eye, and he moved past us. Those at the front of the group, including myself, couldn’t get out quick enough, and back into the safe surroundings of Fear Island.

“So real”

I’ve done a few scaremazes this Halloween. And that was definitely the best, thanks in no small part to Cletus and his family for making the whole experience feel so real. You never know quite what to expect and you can feel your heart racing at times.

This maze, one of four that make up Fear Island, was the highlight of our VIP night invite at Fantasy Island. A group of YouTubers, journalists and theme park enthusiasts were given pre-season access to all four mazes, while being fed at Captain Jack’s, where we also got the chance to ask creative duo Gary Starr and Dave Bateman about how they devised and created the mazes.

As the sun started to set on Fear Island, we had begun the evening with The Outpost, a ‘post-apocalyptic world overrun by hordes of the undead’.

“Impressive attraction”

Here, we were ushered into a ‘lift’ by a soldier. Then, after detailing what was what, basically said “you’re on your own now” before we shuffled through several rooms. There were all kinds of zombies appearing from the gloom and the shadows, all trying to scare us off, before we finally made it though to the end.

It was something of a tame start, compared to The Ravenous. But it set the evening up nicely for what was to come – and next was Phantom Mansion.

This impressive attraction, which resembled a spooky stately home, had come all the way from a park in the Middle East, and had eerily looking eyes and mouth attached, while in front stood a leaf-less talking tree, which reminded me of the Ents from Lord Of The Rings.

The four of us – myself, Ben and his mates Charley and Reece – had to follow a route through the various floors of the house, winding up and down, meeting a variety of nightmarish, psychopathic characters. (I was nearly offered a marriage proposal by a jilted bride who had stabbed her would-be husband to death in revenge for leaving her high and dry at the altar). You had to keep your wits about you! You never knew who was lurking behind curtains or in doorways.//

The ‘seance’ at the end surprised us all as the room started rocking as we summed up the spirits, before we told to get out quick.

“Opening horror”

Then after a Q&A session with Starr (a heavy-metal clad, giant of a man, and just the sort of chap you’d expect to be producing scare mazes) and Bateman, where they explained how The Ravenous had beaten entries from all across Europe – including Thorpe Park – to win the coveted ‘best scare experience’ trophy, we then headed to the brand new 9 Circles, where you had to ‘descend into damnation’.

People with heart conditions and those ‘easily terrified’ were advised to give this one a miss by Fear Island. While I was also having second thoughts after being told you had to start the maze by being locked in a box!

I managed to circumvent this opening horror, although Ben opted to go in all guns blazing… and for nearly three blood-curdling minutes, he was locked in this solitary confinement hell. You then had to follow the darkened path around various shock elements, like women locked in cages, a knife-wielding psycho and more, before entering a room where a terrifying entity with a plague doctor mask (the ones that look like a crow’s beak) was waiting.

“Spooky place”

A scared-looking lad had appeared as I met up with Reece – with Ben nowhere to be seen – and I pondered for a few moments whether he was one of us or an actual actor, but when the doc chose him to step forward, laying him on a slab and turning his back on us, my inquisitive thoughts were hastily replaced with the act of ‘making a dash’ for the exit and getting the hell of out of there (to be later told, you missed him cutting his head off, or words to that effect).

A creepy lass then tried to usher us back into the maze, annoyed at how we had scarpered past her, but the cool air of the dark night was a lot more welcome than the prospect of heading back into that spooky place.

This concluded a terrific night at the Ingoldmells venue, where we wondered around the park between the mazes under the imposing tracks of rollercoasters Odyssey and Millennium, which looked eerily enchanting when lit up in the night sky.

There are bigger and arguably more popular UK parks that are running scare attractions this year, but you won’t find a much better collection than at Fear Island.