The day had finally arrived where we headed down to Bowlers Exhibition Centre in Manchester to check out the For the Love of Horror Into the Dark scare maze walkthrough.
Back to the Movies was given a sneak preview of the Manchester based attraction ahead of its weekend show and we were allowed to come back to try every single thing this brand new 2020 event had to offer over the weekend.
Struck in the midst of the pandemic Monopoly Events had to cancel their For the Love of Horror annual Halloween event.
One of the UK’s biggest horror conventions was no more and 2020 was looking to be an events disaster across the board come Halloween.
Weeks went by until an announcement was made in September that a Halloween event would be taking place at the usual Bowlers Exhibition Centre location but not the one that fans would be used to.
A live scare maze walkthrough experience was announced with not just one but four (originally 5) mazes to participate in.
On the photo-call before the event we were shown a little glimpse of what lay in store for guests with some well lit set backdrops that were used at last year’s star studded event.
The infamous Museum of Monsters and Madmen set from House of a 1000 Corpses replicated but this time lit up properly and my god what a difference lighting makes!
Last year the set was lit up with the harshest convention lighting imaginable and it just didn’t look right.
A few bulb changes later and it looked truly stunning!
We were given the opportunity to experience just one of the four mazes on offer so we went through one at a time through the Icons maze.
A maze featuring some famous killers from the silver screen and after that little taster I eagerly awaiting coming back and taking in the full experience as this was a trial run before the main event.
The Venue
The entire main floor of Bowlers Exhibition Centre had been transformed into a metal fence lined black curtain wonderland with lights providing a wonderfully forboding mood to this otherworldly experience.
Various set props decorated various points of any given maze and a Hellraiser set was situated in the queue line should people want to jump in and get a quick photo-op.
Speaking of queue lines, the social distancing was done perfectly as groups had to stand firmly in their square away from other groups and adequate signage and hand sanitiser was readily available.
Security were on hand to keep people in line but when we arrived we were the only ones there so I can’t possibly comment on how larger groups were handled throughout the day.
The Mazes
Now on the website the mazes are advertised and split up into four zones.
Each zone tailored to a different theme and without hesitation we ventured into the first zone.
Funhouse Massacre
We began in the Funhouse Massacre which involved black curtain lined fences and being chased by a handful of clowns.
Keep in mind we were the first people inside the venue just a little while before it officially opened, actors were still getting ready when we arrived and as we had free tickets we just headed straight on in to the experience.
It was almost like a trial run so that the guys could iron out any mishaps and improve things as the day went on.
What got me somewhat confused was the fact that each individual zone wasn’t labeled so we had no idea just what zone we were walking into until we spotted certain characters or events.
A simple sign posted system with a security guard on each zone to aid with social distancing would have worked a treat but without labelling each zone it was hard to know which black curtain was which and we got a little lost on more than one occasion.
Arrows, directions, a character pointing in a direction to go in.
Anything like that would have been nice but this could have all been improved later in the day.
Just little niggles that could easily be rectified that we quickly picked up on.
The Funhouse Massacre set had a great IT set piece and a great little crawl through section resembling the water drain that Georgie gets his arm bitten off in the first movie.
A very simplistic maze in its design right up until the finale where the detailed set pieces were a more welcomed sight than the curtain layered fences and lit up chair maze that we had just been through.
End of Days
Up next was a Purge styled maze as we watched the Government announcement of the annual purge on a monitor.
After the announcement we headed into the maze and were greeted by some chainsaw happy lunatics.
Here is where the metal fence made more sense, it felt very industrial and unusual and then before we know it we’re in an open space with two parked cars in them that would have felt very apocalyptic if it weren’t for the fact that the cars looked shiny and brand new!
Definitely another simplistic maze in its design but I must stress, this event was put together in around 3 weeks.
You can certainly tell with the first two mazes as both felt very rushed but things stepped up considerably for the last two experiences.
Icons
Easily the strongest maze in the normal line-up (minus the extreme option) as various set piece builds were combined for great effect.
I absolutely loved the scents, fog effects and set dressing for Freddy’s boiler room, it was easily the most detailed set and it was confined too so you really felt immersed into this particular scene.
Crawling through a hole to escape that particular room I wish I could have stayed in there longer, it was well done.
It certainly made me wonder why the previous 2 mazes were so bland and yet this one was a joy to walk around.
I was also impressed with the Michael Myers graveyard, it didn’t feel cobbled together. There was genuine thought and effort put into making this scene feel like you were right there in the heart of the action.
The Icons maze felt like more effort had been put into it and was a considerable improvement in both acting quality, preparation and set design.
Walking through leaves and grass on the floor as tents were erected around you beside a Camp Crystal Lake sign, it was great to see and it was immersive.
The Icons maze also featured a certain piece of lighting tech that we saw put to use at Scare Kingdom only a few weeks ago.
Whilst our first run-through of this lighting effect was poor during the press day, the second day the actor made me jump a mile!
Hats off to the staff to making instant changes when they were needed and instantly improving the experience tenfold.
If any scare maze makes me jump after the number of mazes i’ve done then they’re doing something right and oh boy did I jump!
A great piece of tech combined with a genuinely impressive jump scare.
Icons was the strongest maze by a country mile!
It is worth noting that another maze was advertised named Last Soul On The Left but we weren’t sure if we walked through it or not.
None of the maze zones were signposted so I have no idea if we walked through it or not!
The artwork that has been created for the mazes are incredible. Simply printing the art onto a backing board and hanging it up by the entrance would have been a great help as many people i’ve spoken to over the weekend kept getting confused and lost.
The Sickening
After experiencing my first extreme maze ‘Psychomanteum’ at Scare Kingdom I had to see what was inside The Sickening.
Without spoiling it too much what I will say is after you sign your waiver it’s a bit of a bumpy ride.
Prepare yourself for nudity, foul language, aggression, confined spaces and don’t wear your most expensive coat like I did!
Big mistake…
Whilst Psychomanteum subjected you to watching events unfold in front of your eyes The Sickening was certainly more hands on but it was all done smartly and in a socially distant manner.
Certain ways of us being navigated through the experience were really clever.
With social distancing in place extreme mazes just can’t embrace the limits of their usual full contact insanity but I will say it was a bit dark and depraved but at the same time, very bloody immersive!
I was in the maze for a good five minutes.
Now whilst I had the tickets for free I was naturally judging it by my own experience of not paying for it and as a result I’m somewhat being generous with particular aspects of the production as a whole.
It’s certainly a maze where you can come out and say you’ve done it.
If that’s worth a mere £10 to you then jump on in but other extreme mazes usually charge less and provide longer experiences so the decision is yours.
With that said let me answer this straightforward question.
Is For the Love of Horror Into The Dark worth the money?
For £20 you get three mazes (or four if I missed one / walked through it without realizing).
You get to see a few actors going a little crazy and enjoying themselves trying to scare you.
If you jump even once like I did naturally that £20 feels like more of a bargain with every ‘scary’ moment you encounter but when it comes to paying another £10 for the extreme 18+ maze this is where it got me thinking.
Now £10 is nothing but did I get my money’s worth in The Sickening?
Well, that i’m not too sure of…
Psychomanteum charged £6 and I certainly got a longer and more detailed experience but The Sickening maze would have cost me £10 if I was a paying customer and it wasn’t themed but it certainly felt more immersive because I felt a part of their sick little story.
The Sickening experience is very similar to reviews i’ve received of Psychomanteum from last year’s event when contact was allowed.
But The Sickening embraced the contact in a very socially distant way that still felt anxiety inducing.
I wasn’t an onlooker watching on like I was in Psychomanteum this year, I was a victim in the story for a brief 5 minutes and I loved that.
I’m also a bit sick (I must be) as I was laughing and enjoying myself at some stages where no one should really be laughing!
Would I pay £10 of my own money to do it again?
Probably not.
I think it’s a little steep whereas a good £6 would have been a more comfortable price-point but if it was my first time in an extreme maze and you wanted to walk out there and say you did it then go for it, £10 is £10.
It certainly depends on what kind of person you are and with me being a thrill seeker i’d happily pay £10 for a ‘what if’.
What if this happens?
What if that happens?
What if they do this to me?
Take my £10 and let’s see what crazy sh*t goes down shall we?
But others may come out and feel it wasn’t worth their money.
It certainly depends on how many extreme mazes you’ve done and how high you’ve set your standards of what you’ll experience inside.
Overall
With us being there early this event certainly had its teething problems.
Funhouse Massacre (bar the ending) and End of Days (bar the more intense acting) were quite poor in terms of overall theming and immersion.
The script flips entirely for the Icons maze and The Sickening as you can completely forget you’re in a warehouse for a second and can enjoy the experience for what it is.
Whilst the entry cost for the product you get is a little steep, it’s a company who have put their money, time and effort into getting an experience out to the fans in time for Halloween.
That deserves credit, recognition and your support alone.
Whilst in parts it feels rushed it’s something that can be overlooked and thankfully Icons and The Sickening do considerably help to improve the overall product.
It would be nice to see a company completely transform the arena with detailed sets, a company like Atmosfear I could see absolutely smashing that venue out of the park and making something truly extraordinary that would justify you paying DOUBLE the amount of this weekend’s event.
But for a pop-up scare attraction to not only be able to open safely during these crazy times but to provide that little bit of escapism we all need right now it just has to be commended.
It’s far from perfect but you can certainly appreciate the effort.
Thank you Monopoly Events / For the Love of Horror for inviting me down!
Summary
With the addition of the ICONS maze and The Sickening the event is worth going to experience those two alone.
Whilst the overall event was a bit pricey for what it was it’s still commendable that an event like this was put together in 3 weeks and ready to open.
Teething problems aplenty on the first day but with it being a weekend event you’d naturally expect the first day of any show to have its niggles.
Thankfully they were on the ball and rectified every issue encounter rather swiftly and put on a commendable show.
Certainly worth the visit and I really appreciated the invite to come and check it out!
