Returning to review annual scare attractions – even ones as reputable and renowned as Burton-Upon-Trent’s Screamfest – always runs the risk of coming up against that true Halloween horror; the law of diminishing returns. It isn’t the first time (and likely shan’t be the last), that we’ve posited this at the outset of one of our Halloween Horror Visit ‘regulars’, but that’s often because it bears repeating.

It’s a fair assumption that we aren’t alone in returning to the thrills and chills of yesteryear, and events such as Screamfest have to routinely innovate and expand, to ensure they aren’t catering their scares to newcomers alone.

“Screamfest feels bigger and more expansive than ever.”

It’s a particular curio for Burton’s 2023 offering, because on the one hand, they have done exactly that – introducing two fun and very welcome new side offerings, whilst continuing their excellent work in essentially stretching out the floorpan of their event into multiple, complementary hub areas. Screamfest feels bigger and more expansive than ever.

On the other hand, not only does this year’s offering present no new mazes, the team at the National Forest Adventure Farm have actually undone some finality and marketing of last year’s event, where one of the attraction’s most tightly-themed and reliable mazes, Love Hurts, was pitched as having its final year. Curiously, and with little by way of fanfare or explanation, Hurts returns for 2023 with nary a scratch, and no mention or acknowledgement that it was supposed to have called its ‘last orders’ some twelve months ago.

Which leaves the question – do the two new flourishes, and the overall quality of Screamfest’s five returning mazes, warrant a return visit? And, for newcomers, where does the overall experience fall within the ever-growing scare maze industry here in the UK (and indeed, beyond)?

Having reviewed Screamfest annually since 2015 (bar that one year where a certain pandemic had the unmitigated gall to infringe on the spooky season…), it’s a genuine delight to say that 2023 offers up probably its strongest year to date. Although much of this praise comes with the caveat that we attended on its opening/preview/media night, so energies were high and could potentially wane further into the month, we review as we experience, and this year’s Screamfest offers up five strong mazes that were densely populated with spirited, game scare performers giving it their all across-the-board. Plenty of ‘street’ performers and a variety of entertainment and side attractions (including some returning fairground rides and even a ‘Death Slide’) along with the aforementioned sideshow ventures make for the fullest, funnest ‘fest to date.

It’s a trifle old hat going into detail on some of Burton’s mazes for what will now be the sixth or seventh time, but as a general recap for those unacquainted with either Screamfest or our takes on it, Hillbilly Joe’s Zombee Zoo and the award-winning Insomnia remain the best of the bunch, though in truth, all five mazes are solid. Zoo guides visitors around a hillbilly shanty town that seems to be perpetually stuck somewhere between Christmas and purgatory, as deranged locals (see: yokels) hurl insult and abuse aplenty. It’s a well-themed adventure into tubthumpin’, rootin’ tootin’ chaos, bursting with character and some great environmental storytelling. The same is true of Insomnia, perhaps Burton’s most outwardly and explicitly horror-laden offering; a venture into one child’s terror – haunted by the demonic ‘Crackerjack’ figure who regularly pops up amidst a twisting, time-travelling (and in some cases, literally back-bending) nightmare.

The death-defying Love Hurts presents a singles night gone horribly wrong, descending as it does into a suitably grotesque trip into the sewers and waterworks belonging to a deranged, chainsaw-wielding professor. Hurts is another maze that is fairly immaculately themed and plenty immersive, even if, like the circus-themed Freakout, parts of it are beginning to feel a little long in the tooth. Lots of praise again to the maze actors who, on the night reviewed, were giving it their all and really injected a lot of energy and fun into these two older attractions.

“Lots of praise again to the maze actors who, on the night reviewed, were giving it their all and really injected a lot of energy and fun into these two older attractions.”

Elsewhere, Creed Farm quite literally takes you out into the corn fields of the site, with some welcome new inclusions to the maze puncturing its walkways and outdoor corridors with unsettling moments of genuine paranoia and uncertainty. Are those scarecrows blocking your path real? At one stage, Burton’s ‘outdoor maze’ was in many ways its USP, as there was a time when you would board a tractor-pulled livestock carrier and be driven out into the dark beyonds of the farm in order to reach Creed’s predecessors, which always leant an incredible atmospheric, remote and foreboding air to proceedings. The only ongoing (and admittedly minor) critique of Burton is that they have still not reinstated this excellent, absorbing prelude.

With this being said, 2023 does offer visitors a chance to head out into the recesses of the farm’s boundaries, with the (unsurprisingly) Alien-themed Area 52. With a decided emphasis on campy fun over horror, 52 sees those willing to pay an extra £10 for admission driven out into the fields to open fire with paintball guns on what is pitched as an alien invasion. It’s good, hokey fun shooting at the actors padded up to the nines and sporting suitably B-movie worthy alien masks, even if the understandably restricted number of paintballs meant that pretty much the entirety of our troupe had run out of ammunition before the final set piece. It’s completely understandable why 52 is not included in entry, given its requirement of paintball ammunition (and indeed, additional paintballs beyond the 60 you start off with require additional purchasing, too), and it does prove a lot of fun. If you go in prioritising goofy, schlocky silliness over anything resembling scares, it’ll likely be worth your time and extra investment, but it’s by no means an absolute must-do.

What is definitely worth a visit is the free, short but enjoyable slice of macabre-lite variety that the new Psycho Circus offers. Featuring a handful of horror-themed performers serving acrobatics and other freewheeling hijinks, it’s a relatively short but entertaining wrinkle of spectacle. Themed around the concept of a globe-trotting (and seemingly centuries-spanning) collector whose steampunk gubbins trap all manner of beasties, there’s a neat storytelling bent to the show, even if some of the spoken delivery is gloriously hammy. It ratchets up nicely, too – with some genuinely wince-inducing moments later on that received palpable, audible reactions from the audience.

It rounds out what is a full, hearty offering for Burton this year. As mentioned, the conscientious planning of the event’s site map and layout has continued and is greatly appreciated (long gone are the years when everything sprung off from one, over-congested central hub). Psycho Circus complements a strong, existing lineup of mazes, and whilst Area 52 is a quirky but fairly inconsequential side distraction, it is entirely optional.

There was a modicum of grumbling on social media when Burton’s prices seemed to have hit a bit of a noticeable hike this year… but, quite frankly, welcome to 2023. Your need and mileage for other costs, including the extra ‘Fast Track’ passes, continues to vary considerably from maze-to-maze. As advised in previous years, this will likely only be amplified by what day and date you decide to visit on. For some, entry was immediate, fast track or no, whereas others (most notably, Love Hurts) they will likely save you up upwards of half an hour (or more) in queuing time. When trying to fit five mazes plus the extra side distractions in within a single evening’s visit, there’s certainly a case to be made that they’re worthy ‘peace of mind’ purchases.

“It’s an admirable move, and one which we’d love to see all large-scale scare attractions adopt.”

One very welcome change to proceedings is that, irrespective of whether you go for fast tracks or not, Burton have made entry to all five of its mazes – and Psycho Circus – unlimited, whereas previous years saw you capped at five tracked entries. For 2023, you can essentially go in as many of the mazes as often as time allows. It’s an admirable move, and one which we’d love to see all large-scale scare attractions adopt (provided that they logistically can).

Though it may not summon up a new maze for 2023, and one previously destined for the chop makes a slightly unexpected (and relatively unexplained) resurrection of its own, Screamfest reminds us, with an energised, well-populated ensemble of performers, some fun and diverting new side adventures, and an admirable decision to take the shackles off of its entry limitations, why it remains one of the UK’s go-to scare attractions this – and indeed, every – Halloween.

Halloween 2022 is proving to be something of a year of comebacks and callbacks for the spooky season. For starters, for many in the scare park/maze industry, it is the first full year back without any shadowy spectres of pandemics, or their associated restrictions. Elsewhere, branching out a little further afield into the world of Halloween entertainment, and we see sequels, returns and revivals for major tentpoles of the season, including long-awaited, eagerly-anticipated resurrections of Hocus Pocus and Hellraiser, to name but two.

The National Forest Adventure Farm’s ‘Screamfest’, already an established player in the world of spooky Autumnal visits, has decided to follow suit. Whilst it already made a comeback of its own last year, with 2021’s ‘Screamfest: Resurrected’ following on from a COVID-induced no-show in 2020, this year sees Burton bring back one of its best ever scare mazes, whilst simultaneously preparing to bid a fond, freaky farewell to one of its staple offerings.

Starting with the latter, 2022 is the last chance to experience the sewage-styled spookiness of ‘Love Hurts’ (given a fitting ‘Last Orders’ affix for this final outing), a dark, dank visit into the seedy underbelly of a nightclub offering love, but serving up so very much more. ‘Hurts’ has been a tentpole of Burton’s offerings for several years now, and remains one of their most consistently impressively themed mazes. Even in this final year, the team have seen fit to introduce a few wrinkles and surprises (prepare to get wet – if not soaked, thankfully), and whilst it will be sad to see it go, it is at least bidding adieu in impressive style.

The circus-themed ‘Freak Out on Tour’ is back, too, including the very welcome return of some pre-maze scene-setting that adds a little more narrative and world-building to what was previously a more straightforward and perfunctory affair. Your mileage – and fright – will likely vary based on your tolerance of clowns, but the twisty-turny nature of the maze, coupled with its various splits and junctures, (do you pick the ‘Good Clown’, ‘Bad Clown’ or ‘Evil Clown’ door?) where you and your fellow maze-goers will be forced to choose your path, keeps it an engaging and regularly disconcerting visit.

“More than perhaps any of its counterparts, ‘Zoo’ affords its actors time to interact with visitors…”

‘Hillbilly Joe’s Zombee Zoo’ remains the most bonkers and anarchic of the five mazes Burton offers, and there’s a darkly comedic bent to it, once again peppered with some fun interactive set pieces and characters. More than perhaps any of its counterparts, ‘Zoo’ affords its actors time to interact with visitors, including the personal highlight of ‘Granma’ and her beloved ‘Fluffy’. As per ‘Love Hurts’, the theming is excellent, as you pass through a ramshackle shanty town, seemingly in the throngs of festive celebrations, and its madness includes deranged zombie chickens, rifle-wielding hillbillies and a real colourful cast of characters. It isn’t the most outright terrifying of mazes, but it is, crucially, a lot of fun.

Far darker and more chilling, then, is ‘Creed Farm’, which has not only been given some extra sinister decor and theming on top of what was already an excellent, spooky trip out into Burton’s corn field of horrors (something of the park’s signature offering), but it has also been injected with some excellent and inspired surprises. To go into detail would likely spoil the spook and ruin the impact, but let’s just say a scare maze set piece that has become a little rote (and rope) here catches off guard with a genuinely frightening extra ingredient, turning it from one of the most formulaic sections of a maze into possibly the creepiest part of the entire park. 

“…a wonderful example of instilling character, narrative and a palpable, gnawing sense of dread into a scare maze, this latest incarnation of ‘Insomnia’ is its best yet.”

Finally, returning triumphantly for 2022 is the fantastic ‘Insomnia’, Burton’s award-winning maze that visitors have sadly gone had to go without the past couple of years, including last year when the event re-opened after its COVID hiatus. Already a wonderful example of instilling character, narrative and a palpable, gnawing sense of dread into a scare maze, this latest incarnation of ‘Insomnia’ is its best yet. As per ‘Creed’, to go into specifics of the new wrinkles and sections added to the maze would likely incur the wrath of its sinister ‘Crackerjack’ character, but everything that worked in the original – including some terrific environmental design and even a spot of period-infused time travel – are back and more impactful than ever. As you navigate the nightmares of a young girl tormented by a demonic entity, the creators have here pushed the demented, twisted nature of ‘Insomnia’ ever further, incorporating some neat visual trickery that plays around with forced perspective, and even have included… deep breath… a visit to a sadistic dentist, for added trauma.

Outside of its enviable roster of mazes, Screamfest once again offers up a side showing of fairground rides and attractions, a host of scare actors wandering around to catch unwary wanderers off guard, a number of food and drinks vendors, and a smattering of live musical entertainment. For the latter, the organisers have shrewdly repositioned the main stage to be further out into the park itself, being now located near the entrances to ‘Love Hurts’ and ‘Zombee Zoo’. Not only does this help to avoid some of the bottlenecking that could occur around the main entrance area, but it also gives the whole event an extra sense of size and dimension, with several hub areas now stretching out across the park, as opposed to everything being so centralised, as before.

For opening night, queues moved swiftly, and everything was easily navigable and doable in a single visit (pit stop for food included). Burton are this year offering a ‘FastTrack’ pass, which comes in at an extra £12 on top of standard ticket prices, but that is for all five mazes. Whilst there were only two mazes where our group queued for any real length of time, the park will likely get a lot busier at weekends and the closer we get to Halloween, making the FastTrack passes a very reasonably priced option. Doubly so, given that the event is limiting how many FastTrack passes are available per evening, meaning their ability to bypass much of the queuing and down time should be a serious consideration, particularly for those going later into the event’s run.

In all, if 2021’s ‘Screamfest: Resurrected’ was a very welcome return for Burton, 2022’s roster of screams, spooks and scares feels like a full-throated, wailing renaissance. With one of their very best mazes back and on top, terrifying form, some ergonomic changes that only improve the park layout and experience as a whole, and the useful option to FastTrack your way through some of the queues, Burton once again proves itself a Halloween favourite well worth a return visit to. In a year of comebacks, revivals and haunting throwbacks, the malevolent Crackerjack is back, and invites you, too, to return to one of the UK’s best Halloween scare attractions, if you dare…

One of the true terrors of Halloween 2020 was the conspicuous absence of the National Forest Adventure Farm’s annual Screamfest celebrations; another live entertainment bottle unceremoniously knocked off the wall by the obnoxious persistency of that pesky pandemic.

Where other scare maze attractions eked out a truncated or restricted presence (“I don’t care if they normally do, the actors will not be touching you this year”), Screamfest understandably sat out the 2020 spooky season altogether.

Which only sweetens its return this Autumn, triumphantly reborn with a fitting ‘Resurrected’ moniker, and bringing with it a handful of equally welcome surprises and new additions, not least of all a completely new sit-down experience unlike anything Burton has offered before.

For those amongst the many already familiar with Screamfest, the usual concourse has returned (with a slight layout tweak), offering merchandise stands, food vendors and, of course, that trademark psychedelic DJ booth blasting out tunes and lasers from the middle of, well, a duck pond. Burton, more than many of its peers, feels like a celebration – and this is only amplified this time round by an expansion of its funfair area. Throw in the likes of fire-throwers, comedians and musical performances on the open stage, and the overall blast of light, colour and sound, and Screamfest once again does a deft job of balancing being both scary and fun in equal measure.

The mazes are where the real meat on Screamfest’s bones lie, though, and at first though it may be disappointing to see the excellent Insomnia of yesteryear no longer intact, its presence still manages to creep quite literally into the layout and structure of other mazes.

Perhaps the best mission statement for Screamfest 2021 lies in the reworked Freakout On Tour, a circus-themed nightmare that does a terrific job of revitalising one of the site’s oldest mazes. From welcome cosmetic touches such as it now being set further back in the park with a suitably foreboding lead-up path, to more significant changes to the experience such as no longer entering from the front but instead quite literally now through the back door (with some neat storytelling and scene-setting to accompany it), and the incorporation of disorientating set pieces and areas from the aforementioned Insomnia, it’s a fun, frightening celebration of both old and new alike.

Elsewhere, Love Hurts brings fewer surprises (being another maze with a few rings in its trunk by now), but even for those familiar, it remains a stellar example of production design, lighting and concept, as you enter the world of a grimy dating club that soon descends, quite literally, into the gutter.

Hillbilly Joe’s Zombee Zoo treads a smartly-crafted balance between being laugh-out-loud funny (keep an eye out for firm favourite mee-maw) and downright disturbing; bandying between the two with startling confidence and regularity. Like Hurts, the design work and execution here is notably high and consistent, too; the world of a hillbilly dystopia having some morbid yet marvellous attention to detail. Given the quality of their surroundings, there were one or two ‘zombies’ whose makeup was disappointingly slight, but its a very minor blemish on what is overall a fantastic maze.

One of Burton’s real coups remains its expansive cornfield – a foreboding and deeply atmospheric environ to be cautiously navigated or outright chased around within. In the past, this MVP locale has housed a variety of excellent mazes, from the Victorian stylings of Children of the Corn through to the Luchador-by-way-of-Stephen King hijinks of Dia De Los Muertos, it has always proven a real highlight of any visit.

As such, it is sad to see the usual method of entry to the ‘corn’ maze – getting onto the back of an enormous tractor and getting driven out into the black bleakness of the fields – has not yet returned. Burton gets a pass on this, though, partly owing to it likely being a COVID-related precaution, but namely because the maze that replaces Muertos – the new-for-2021 Creed Farm – is excellent.

Its theming and styling on paper may not be a million miles away from Zombee Zoo – set as it is at a nightmarish meat farm where scarecrows and other horrors have run amuck, but where Zoo injects plenty of laughs and levity, Creed Farm is relentlessly horrible (in the best way possible) from the offset and rarely lets up. As well as boasting the innate creepiness of being out amidst the corn, some of the costume design and scare performances especially are at a particularly high standard here – you will not be forgetting some of the creeps and creatures that follow (or even block) your path, in a hurry.

Marginally less successful, but a neat and creepy change of pace nonetheless, is 2021’s other new arrival, the sit-down, interactive experience of Le Theatre Noire. It’s unlike anything Screamfest has offered before, as you are invited to sit down and watch an unhinged showman attempt to summon forth the embittered spirits of a coven of murdered nuns.

Whom he is inviting to kill him, no less.

Noir’s strengths lie in its storytelling and occasional inferences of world building. The premise and backstory are neat, and the sinister coven are eerily realised. To say too much would be to spoil things, but although it is a little too brief, and not terribly far in execution away from some of the ‘4D’ theatres of yesteryear, it is still a suitably creepy and unsettling foray that offers something different from the conventional maze experience.

Returning to Screamfest feels much akin to carving out a pumpkin; a staple marking an ‘official’ return to the Halloween season. With excellent mazes and a regular willingness to mix things up, experiment and bring new scares to the table, Burton has rightly become an essential visit for scare enthusiasts. It was sorely missed last year, and in 2021 offers up one of its strongest and most diverse years to date. There’s very little to critique, and a whole lot to enjoy, laugh at, and, of course, run from in blind terror and panic.

…just could we please have the tractor back next year?