Terror of the Towers

Alton Towers Scarefest, Alton Towers, Staffordshire.

CONTAINS SPOILERS

          On Saturday 17^th October, me and 8 other Scare-E TV members joined force to venture to Alton Towers, to see what this years Scarefest event held in-store for us!

          At around 1pm we ventured to Terror of the Towers to join the queue. The queue was not too bad, around 1 hour or so. With a very eerie soundtrack and the glimpse of an actor making cut-throat actions to the crowd, our anticipation began to grow. We was ushered in around the fountain and given our Do’s and Don’ts before a very loud screeching noise and we were allowed in.

          The first scene you are hit with is a large video feed from the roof and a scruffy looking actor beside you. They really set the story up about how you’re not meant to be in the building and ‘why did we have to rob this place anyway’. She/he then says their boss wants to talk to us and a video is played. The video shows two actors, one with a camera, the other stood behind him. They say about work just stopping and the place being abandoned, and stories of ‘weird goings on happening’. Just on queue a strange noise is heard and the actor spins his camera to the noise but nothing is seen before he drops it to the floor. He picks it up again and says ‘Now, you must come and find us, something’s happening in here’, and the ‘live feed’ cuts off. You are then ushered down a little hole and into the Towers.

          You head forward past a few props covered in dust and the first thing that hits you is the smell, it’s a very old smell, the same found in Duel, but this seems so much stronger, it really sets the scene. You have to duck down under a net and crouch for around 3 metres, the clever bit is, whilst you are ducking there is an air cannon placed above you, as a member of your group walks on a pressure pad, it blasts all the way down your neck and back while giving you a startle of a huge bang. Very clever placing, I have to say so! The next scene we hit was a chair with a walkie talkie with some actors talking and then it cut out, this leads you onto the next dark scene.

          The next LARGE open space is full of crates, pictures, busts and statues, all covered over by dirty sheets and in thick dust. There is so many space for actors to jump through and lunge at you. Due to the fact this space is only lit by flicker candles, it is extremely dark. The two actors that occupied this section were wearing monk like black robes. This was an excellent effect as they started to own the shadows and it felt like there was a whole lot more around you. A large animatronic crate fell on a rope beside the group, this provided for a split second jump before an actor on the other side could also give us a fright. At the end of this very large corridor a single bust was illuminated in a light blue colour, it looked fantastic, but as the crate, it was a diversion as the actor lunged again from the opposite side. At this point we had to turn around two corners and head forward, we could see light from the next scene, so that was great news. As we walked towards the light an animatronic of a hanging man fell from above us with a loud scream, this animatronic was dressed like one of the men from the videos, it gave a great startle scare and a pretty horrific sight too. This lead to the next section of the walkthrough.

          The next section was an old rotting house by the look of it. It had pealing wallpaper, statues of armour, pictures etc. it was such a great scene, but, there was little to no actors inside the large area. The winding corridors took you past a lot of armoury, one of them was an animatronic that pulsed as you walked past. As we turned the corner we could see a set of windows open with the curtains blowing into the room. As we drew closer, an actor lunged through as if he would drag us with him. It was a great scare. A few more twists and turns led us past three more of these windows where the same actor jumped through attacking different parts of the group. Some more corridors later and we hit the next scene.

          The first thing we noticed was the soundtrack was completely different, it was of monks chanting and humming. It was unbelievably eerie. There was a long corridor with statues of monks each side. A light at the end illuminated them all in a dark shadow. This scene was amazingly executed, as even I was scared quite a lot in here. I don’t know if it was the fact that you did not know if any of them was real or the fact they all had their heads hanging, but I really did not like walking past them one little bit. After passing a corner, it was clear we was in some kind of church chamber/monastery. There was a whole lot more bunch of the monks in here. The only difference was that two of them was real. One of them was hiding under a light so you could not see him, as he jumped out snarling he gave the whole group a great scare. The other was bowed down as though praying, as we passed she threw herself up and jumped onto a nearby bench. We all loved this scene as it was probably one of the most eeriest scenes we have ever seen. A blue-lit staircase was in front so we all dashed to try and get out. I thought this could have been the ending, how wrong I was, it was only half way!!

          After the staircase we had to ascend three stairs into a metal tunnel with a space below. An actor below us smashed a metal bar against our floor making us all scream in fright and joy. We turned right and into the cage that has been used at the towers before, thankfully they wasn’t locking anyone in it this time. You passed as two actors each side threw themselves at the cage swinging their arms at you. A large air-pressured machine thrust metal against the cage from above, this noise was extremely loud and certainly got the group going! You pass another hanging body, this time it’s swinging in quite a comedic fashion though, it looked very effective. Another downward staircase brought us to our final terrifying scene.

          As we descended the first major thing was again the music took a fiercer, lively, fast paced turn. At the sight of an erratic strobe light, my heart started to pound. We entered the strobe lit chain mesh maze section. This was extremely intense and the actors really knew how to get up-close and personal. Although this section was a set-path, it really did feel as though we were getting lost, it wasn’t a huge space but, the actual layout they chose was fantastic. It doubled back on itself quite a lot and therefore you met the same actors about three times, this is not a bad thing, no, this was amazing, it felt like there were around eight actors in this section. The noises the actors were making was commented on A LOT, not just from our group but from everyone exiting, it was kind of the grudge meets the exorcist, very unique and crazy! The last corridor had several rack either side and a few air cannons dotted about them, with the sight of the exit we were all eager to escape!

          This was probably one of the best Scare Attractions of its kind. It is the best continuous walkthrough attraction I have ever witnessed. The special effects inside were fantastic. The theming was impeccable, I have never saw theming on that scale in the UK, it reminded me very much of the pictures I have seen from the Halloween Horror Nights mazes in Universal Studios in the  US. Hats off to the Actors, they really knew how to use their areas to effect and how to get in close proximity without touching.

          We at Scare-E TV wish that Alton Towers have a very similar thought process with next year’s Scarefest, in that they really focus on Storyline, theming, scares and intensity.

I give this Scare Attraction – 10/10

This review was written by Mark Lofthouse.