Thorpe Park Fright Nights – Review
By Dominic Picksley, October 2025
Thorpe Park’s Fright Nights was voted the ‘best theme park event’ at the Scare Awards in 2024, so expectation was high when we visited the Chertsey-based attraction a few days before Halloween.
With four main mazes – DeadBeat, Stitches, Survival Games and Trailers – plus a walk-through scare zone The Crows of Mawkin Meadow, as well as live entertainment and a new dance show, Creature Campus – Shock to the System – they had brought back a strong line-up and we got to experience these scares and the thrills of an excellent line-up of roller coasters, flat and water rides, which kept us royally entertained until gone 9pm.
“A sinister turn”
We had to mainly wait until it was getting dark to sample the mazes, though, and we saved the best for last, with Stitches easily the strongest of the four.
Combining toy town with horror, you head into Howell’s Toy Emporium, which looks innocent enough and there you are greeted by the ‘friendly’ shop keeper. But things soon take a sinister turn when his mood darkens, along with the shop when all the lights go out, and there he appears behind us wielding a rather large pair of cutters, before sending us on our way.
And there we headed into a child-like dystopian labyrinth of terror and chaos, where we were accosted by all manner of strangelings, some human and some of a cuddly toy persuasion, but which were about as cuddly as strychnine. It was like burrowing through the mind of a psychotic toymaker, the sort who wanted to terrorise rather than bring joy to children… and it was great fun, although you had to have your wits about you as you never knew what could be lurking around the next corner.
We even inadvertently headed through a fire exit at one point, such was our disorientation at times, where the creepy, cymbal-banging teddy – while remaining in character – desperately ushered us back into the main maze.
“Chainsaw-wielding freak”
Among the chaos were dead body parts, a room of sewing machines, with crazed machinist, and some horrific looking dolls, some of which came to life and others that didn’t… who you expected to. Theming in here was great and the actors all obviously relished their roles.
Trailers was based on a cinema, with a reception area – with some very old popcorn – and some genuine cinema seating set up so you could watch the pre-show for a few seconds before being plunged into a world of horror classics and spine-chilling scares.
We joined a group of people for Survival Games – and this one we were able to do before the sun set – and this was more of a maze where you had to work out what path you took in order to find a way through, while being targeted by various demented characters whose intent was to make your journey all the more difficult.
I went in with my son Ben, followed the crowd down a dark corridor, only to realise it was a dead end and upon spinning round, he was nowhere to be seen and I never did see him again before he emerged into the brightness where I was waiting for him after finding a shortcut to break free… and escape the attentions of the mad chainsaw-wielding freak, who managed to chase off a number of screaming women.
And then there was DeadBeat, an apocalyptic nightclub where the music ‘devours the soul’ and where you had to look up as well as around you as you ventured through the various rooms, all with thumping music blaring out.
“One of the smoothest rides around”
As always seems to be the case, one of the best attractions was the free one, The Crows of Mawkin Meadow, where you walk through ‘darkened fields of corn’ hoping not to bump into one of the ‘Crows’… but these are not the black, shiny birds that squawk in the trees, these are deranged scarecrows ready to pounce when you are not paying attention and they seem to watch your every move, but from the shadows. Excellently themed and a great stroll at night time.
Along with the Halloween-themed entertainment, including the excellently choreographed Creature Campus – Shock to the System, one can’t go to Thorpe Park and not be enchanted by some of the best roller coasters in the UK, especially at night where they look fabulous, especially Hyperia and Stealth, all lit up in different colours.
Hyperia is the tallest coaster in the UK at 236ft and is a beast, while Stealth may be a tad smaller at 200ft, but its 0 to 80mph launch in a heartbeat takes your breath away as it sends you hurtling up and back down the top hat.
Wing coaster Swarm is one of the smoothest rides around, while Nemesis Inferno is the sister coaster to Nemesis Reborn at Alton Towers, and while the layout is a little different, it still possesses that classic ‘roar’ of its sibling.
“So much to do”
Colossus sends you dizzy through all its barrel rolls, and gives you plenty of air time, Walking Dead: The Ride is a fun indoor coaster, while head-banging Saw is a three-inversion coaster that was the steepest freefall coaster in the world when opened 15 years ago.
And with flat rides like Vortex, Samurai, Rush, Quantum and Vortex, along with drop tower Detonator, and water rides Rumba Rapids, Depth Charges, Tidal Wave and Storm Surge, there’s so much to do in such a small area.
You must, though, be prepared to queue for the most popular, especially Hyperia – and to highlight its popularity, at just before 9pm (when the queue lines closed) on the day we were there, it had a 180-minute wait! Patience is the key.
To book visit thorpepark.com
Dom has worked in journalism for 25 years, specialising in sport, but with a penchant for penning travel features, at home and abroad, and also has a vast knowledge of 60s music, from the popular hitmakers to those bands long since forgotten.
He’s become something of a theme park reviewer now, sparked by his children’s interest, and if there’s an interesting book that appeals, then he’ll review that as well.
