We were very kindly invited to this year's Fear at Avon Valley. Whilst we were given free entry to the event, we have full editorial control of what our review of the event says.
Our Slasher Review
We were invited to Fear at Avon Valley and its always one of our favourite events. There are 5 scare mazes and 1 scare experience plus numerous other things to see. The mazes unfortunately seemed to not have the same spark as they have had previously. This could be because we barely saw many actors, with a lot of the mazes having a few areas that were a bit lacking in actors. The intensity that we have come to know and love about Fear seemed to have diminished a little bit. This could be because we have experienced the mazes a number of times and have become used to the event. We always have fun at Fear and it was fun, it was just felt like it was lacking its usual atmosphere, vibe and scares.
Top Tips - Arrive early and start at the back and work forward
Things that bite - The food offering is slim and very busy and it can get very busy.
Value for Money - Yes, I'd say so
Scare Rating - 3/5
Do we recommend - Yes. It may not feel like its usual self this year but its still a great night out
Our Stalker Review
We were once again invited along to Fear at Avon Valley in Bristol and I must admit I was pretty excited. Having been visiting for many years, I know that Fear is always, to use their words, a bloody good night, but what would 2024 have in store for us. Their line-up of attractions remains unchanged from last year with Vita Nova, House of Clowns, Malefica and The Core all returning fairly unchanged. X4 returned but with the version they ran during the summer, Blackout, and The Exorcism returned for its final year. Stidham Village received a few changes with the old VIP bar area being removed and a new bar area being added to The Exorcism. Elsewhere around the village we saw a new walkthrough area with closed shop facades. The entrance to Malefica has also received new boarding. The usual cacophony of delightfully playful and cheeky street performers was out in both Stidham Village and the Republic of England area and are without doubt one of the best street teams in the country. They really know what they are doing. There are rides, a bar, side stalls and the food trucks but I think Fear need to invest in more catering outlets for next year to help with the massive queues for food that there was this year as this seemed to be an issue.
The mazes themselves, we have reviewed a number of times previously, so I won’t go into a deep dive of detail about what happens throughout and instead focus on our experiences of them on the night. We started the night with House of Clowns. This maze has a banging soundtrack and some really great scenes but our runs (we did two) felt lacking in the usual fun and cheekiness there has been before. Even having a solo run on our second time didn’t help to bring the spark that this maze has had previously. The scares just weren’t there on our runs. I thought I had been unlucky in our first run but even going in solo, it just wasn’t there. There felt like there was less actors than previously in there and the finale just didn’t hit with the chaos it previously had.
Next up was Malefica and I adore this attraction. I have had many great runs through this and I was so excited to enter. Again, we did this twice throughout the night and unfortunately both runs just fell flat. We met very few actors which meant the usual intensity this maze had had vanished. The actors seemed to take a more distanced approach as opposed to the aggressive in your face manner which they have had previously. It also didn’t help we met the group in front on both runs despite trying hard to walk at a snail's pace.
At this point I was a bit disheartened so our group headed to the Republic of England area and went into X4: Blackout. This maze was terrifying in the summer when they first introduced it and I must admit I went in with low expectations as pitch black attractions and normal members of the public don’t tend to go well, but the batching times were great. We didn’t meet any other people on our two runs. That being said, it didn’t deliver for me on scares. Again, we met very few actors and the ones that we did meet felt very lacklustre to previous years. This maze can rely on the fear of the unknown and the fear of the darkness but I just wish it delivered on scares.
The Core was next and that meant waders. It wasn’t as faffy as previous to collect them or put them on, maybe I’m getting better at doing the latter. We only did this once and I think for me it might have been the weakest of the night as it was essentially a walk through some water for me. No scares at all throughout. They were aimed solely at the front which meant our group of 12, about 10 of us got nothing. I was in the middle of the group. We hardly saw any actors and when we did, they were in the process of moving on from the scare they had just delivered.
Our last maze was Vita Nova and I was ready to finally have a good run through an attraction as Vita Nova is always a good attraction. It started off well with being separated. It had its usual uneasiness and I was cautiously excited. Unfortunately, again it just ended up like the rest of the maze, falling flat. Gone was its intensity, gone were the actors, gone were the frights. After the initial separation and being told to go through I think I ran into 4 actors all of which basically went “this way please”. We did this twice and both times were like it.
The Exorcism has received probably the biggest change and we weren’t able to experience it. The experience remains unchanged but as you exit you could end up in a bar area. This bar area serves drinks and sometimes the actors would come in in character. We only found out about this because of a very special behind the scenes tour we were given of the attraction (It was fascinating and I am so grateful to the team for offering us this opportunity).
It was a sold-out night and it felt extremely busy but this should have helped the overall vibe and atmosphere of the event and I feel really horrible saying this but it just didn’t feel like the same Fear I've been visiting the past few years. I feel Fear may have lost touch with its spark this year. Is it a bad night out, certainly not, but was it on its best, I’d say no but It is still an event I would strongly recommend to people to visit.
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