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Se7en, Thorpe Park
There
has been talk for years about a new maze for Thorpe Park’s popular
Fright Nights, but sadly this has never seemed to move on from being a
pipedream into actuality.
But
for 2006, a dream has become a nightmare to many, as Se7en becomes the
third live-action maze, heading up Thorpe Parks’ line-up with such
sinister neighbours as The Asylum and Hellgate.
Unlike
the other two mazes, Se7en is built up especially for Fright Nights,
while the other two are mothballed in situ. The fact that the maze is
packed up and stored throughout the year is likely to bring expectations
down a peg or two, just as the messy entrance area could too.
Situated
in the Arena, the maze is geographically well positioned. With the exit
towards Asylum, and then only a short walk to Hellgate, the mazes are
close enough together without causing problems in terms of crowd
control.
Sadly,
the simplicity of the Se7en logo is lost in translation by the time it
is affixed to a black strip hastily stuck over the Arena entrance sign,
while the queueline is a zig-zag made up of temporary fencing,
sandwiched between the raked seating of the arena and the 25ft tall
fence around the back. With the queue tightly packed in, at times it can
feel quite claustrophobic.
Se7en
is inside a long marquee, the front of which is disappointingly
presented by having cargo netting unceremoniously chucked on top, while
abandoned cars litter the right hand side of the queueline.
A
pre-maze briefing is given as you enter the marquee, outside the inner
shell of the maze itself. The drill is familiar – friends and
strangers alike are required to conga through the maze in groups of
eight with their hands on the shoulders of the person in front.
Running,
going backwards (and, indeed, running backwards) as well as photography
is prohibited, as are any forms of retaliation against any of the
actors, many of which will touch you throughout the maze.
Debriefed,
you head through the heavy rubber flaps into the rancid-smelling maze,
turning immediately to the right. The ceiling deliberately slopes
downwards forcing you to crouch down before turning around into the
first room.
Wrath
Bearing
in mind that the direction in which you walk has been dictated as being
forwards and in no other direction, you are forced into the corner of a
padded cell, with the subdued lighting showing only the urine and
blood-stained walls, a bed, and a person in a straight jacket cowering
in the corner.
With
no apparent way out, you have to rely on the good nature of someone who
is a clearly a crackpot of the highest order.
Your
newly acquired friend-cum-lunatic forces you into the corner, then
pushes open a concealed wall, but not after threatening the group before
they enter a dark corridor.
Sloth
You
edge into a dimly lit living room with mouldy walls, piles of empty beer
cans and pizza boxes and a television flickering away. Slumped on the
sofa is Couch Potato personified, festering in his own filth, stirring
only when the group enters his home sweet home.
Despite
not looking like the most motivated of gentlemen, he finds enough energy
to cast aside the remote control for a moment to lurch towards you and
your group as you squeeze your way between the sofa and the television.
Another
dark corridor follows, before you enter...
Pride
In
an otherwise pitch-black room, your eyes are cast towards the mirrors on
the left, right and behind, with visions of grotesque characters
reflected into them. As you try and explore how to escape, suddenly, the
lights go off, before out of the darkness a monstrous girl with a faced
botched almost beyond recognition wheels a trolley of surgery equipment
across into the path of your only escape. Snarling, she finally lets you
go sans facelift into yet another corridor.
Lust
You
enter what can best be described as a seedy set for a porn flick. With a
cage in the corner, the group shuffles around a double bed, behind which
a white-faced wench appears from behind, running towards the group as
they make the final lurch for the door, brandishing a whip screaming for
the group to come closer. Needless to say, you don’t, and exit into
another inky-black corridor.
Envy
A
simple, but often effective room follows. Facing the group are four
doors, with every available inch of wall festooned with magazine
cuttings of celebrities and their enviable lifestyles. The room is
subtly lit, with attention drawn only to this display of shallow
aspiration.
While
the finer details sink in, the group have to find their way out. Trying
each door one by one, escape passage after escape passage eludes the
group as each door remains tightly shut.
Those
towards the back of the group, ever mindful of actors lurking in the
dark corners, are often the first to notice that the escape is through
the ever-familiar plastic flaps towards the rear of the room which take
you through a darkened corridor into possibly the most graphic – and
indeed, obvious – sin:
Gluttony
Strapped
to a chair, an obese, but nevertheless lifeless character festers in his
own mess, a puree of mincemeat and vomit covering his rounded stomach.
The
group make their way around the kitchen, with lumbering racks of meat
hanging from the ceiling, diced meat littering every corner and a
dismembered bloodied body hanging from the wall next to a ransacked
fridge.
Daubed
onto the wall in a display of desperation are messages penned with the
only thing to hand; vomit. Messages such as “Always Hungry” and
“Need More Food” hammer the point home that gluttony was indeed this
gentleman’s downfall.
In
terms of appearance, Gluttony is by far the most graphic scene, yet,
often this room is devoid of actors. While the group progress with an
increasingly confident stride, they soon dig their heels in as their
passage through the next corridor is blocked by a stony-faced security
guard.
Greed
Hitting
a metal bar on the wall, a stoney-faced guard pins the group against the
wall, threatening them before ushering them forwards and into the centre
of a cage. Despite being dark, you can make out a vault door, and as the
group of eight filters in, the cage door slams shut behind them.
Despite
the frosty invitation to enter, the guard is clearly not comfortable
with the prospect that the group could get their hands on the neatly
stacked bullions of gold on the floor, and pushes them back as he
brandishes the iron bar.
From
the opposite side of the room, another guard, seemingly a chip off the
same block as the original guard, introduces himself by hitting a metal
bar against the cage before running the entire length, making a
deafening clatter as he does.
As
the group instinctively move back to the other side of the cage, the
other guard does the same, and as the group wonder whether there’s any
escape, one guard opens the cage door at the opposite end and the other
charges towards the back of the group forcing them to run out into the
open.
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