Attraction Review: Walsall Scare Maze

We've had to rechedule and shift some bits around this spooky season and as such I didn't think we'd get a chance to visit, but after some (minimal) coaxing from some fellow scare enthusiasts last Friday we found ourselves on the soggy streets of Walsall making our way towards Walsall Scare Maze!

I've done this attraction once before for their ChristMassacre event and loved every minute. Literally set in the back garden of a pub/nightclub, Walsall Scare Maze is one long scare experience compromising of several scenes that wind their way through the depths of the building out back and god knows where else. It's incredibly impressive how much they manage to squeeze in, like a literal Tardis of a maze that feels like you're constantly delving deeper and deeper under the streets of the town. 

The queue for the maze is wild - you're literally in a pub garden with PopWorld style music blasting whilst you wait. You can grab a pint and have a boogie and try to ignore the ever-looming reality that it'll be your turn next. The atmosphere is fantastic, just all round good times with everybody equally as nervous as the other anticipating what awaits. 

The maze is batched phenomenally well. Something these longer attractions can suffer from is stacking, and bumping into the group before you, therefore not giving the actors a chane to reset and scare you properly. Never an issue here at Walsall - it flows like a well-oiled machine and the experience is amplified because of it. It truly does feel like you're the only group lost in the labyrinth and that sense of isolation is palpable.

The set design in this maze is fantastic - I wouldn't say there's anything really unique or different here, it's more of a Halloween greatest hits flavour that Walsall provide. Creepy clowns? Check. Haunted house? Check. Possessed nuns? Check! It's all the characters we know and love but Walsall do it all with an extra finesse that means their maze better put together than others. 

The attention to detail is there in every single room, and you can tell that this maze is created by enthusiasts who have seen what others have done, taken inspiration and gone away and done it better themselves. It's a beautiful attraction to be terrified in and each scene is oozing with details from every angle such that the immersion is top notch. Never once do you feel think about the outside world which is horrendously claustrophic at times. The attraction don't have a ton of space to work with and they absolutely use this to their advantage - I adored wandering through the corridors of the haunted house, whose glowing oil lamps give the impression that the walls themselves are breathing. Also shout out to the incredible...I guess it's a boiler room/toxic waste warehouse or something? Their use of texture and grids and water to give each room some kinetic energy just sets it levels apart from other attractions. Beautiful. 

Each character we meet along the way feels like a quest. We stop, a scene plays out, we're terried, we continue on our journey. It doesn't feel like your typical 'walk along and somebody goes boo' type of attraction - Walsall Scare Maze want to immerse you in the story and their actors give you their undivided attention. It's a true testament to their skill as actors - it's hard to make people jump and deliver a script/narrative at the same time but these guys nail it whilst serving up scares aplenty throughout. 

Of course, I can't talk about Walsall Scare Maze 2022 without talking about *that* ending. Spoiler alter and skip ahead now if you don't want to know any details, but this finale was next level. We enter a two story high chapel (where once again the set design and details is incredible) and wander around, confused as an increasing sense of foreboding builds. Cue lights out, lights come on and all of a sudden we are swarmed by a gang of possessed nuns tormenting us in the strobe lighting. It's high octance, spooky insanity and one of the most intense endings to a maze I've experienced this season. Incredible stuff and hats off to the Walsall Scare Maze team for pulling that one off, it was awesome. 

Overall Rating:

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If you haven't been to this attraction, I implore you to visit. Not only is it a fantastic night out with the oub/club atmosphere, it's also an incredible detailed, terrifying and high quality attraction that has no business chilling unassumingly on the cosy streets of Walsall as it does. Also their merch is incredible. 

Have you visited this attraction before? What did you think of their 2022 iteration? Let me know in the comments, I'd love to have a chat!

Talk later xoxo,