Cursed 2024
Sadly we couldn’t make it ourselves to Cursed so we must say a huge thanks to our guest reviewer for their thoughts on this year’s event.
CURSED has become and eagerly awaited yearly outing for myself and my brother, having continued to follow the scare event since moving from its original location in Watt Tyler Park, Basildon, to the Crouch Valley Showground, in Rayliegh.
Upon arrival there is plenty of parking and marshals to direct you to a space. I was a little disappointed there was no giant CURSED sign this year as this is always a great photo opportunity. The initial entrance is designed as a railway station and you enter to get your tickets if you dare…
Whilst we have attended many scare events over the years, CURSED is a firm favourite, with jump scares that rival events that have clearly a much bigger budget than that of CURSED. CURSED has regularly reached our top 3 scare events over the Halloween season and this year did not disappoint.
There was a total of five mazes, an axe throwing area, BBQ food stall and bar area with stage. We always like to get to the event as it opens, so the queues are small, the actors are fresh and the screams loud.
1st Maze – THE SEWARS
Being early has its benefits! We were able to go straight into the maze in our group of two and what an early surprise it was. This maze had lots of actors in small spaces and the area was filled with added distractions making the scares all that much more effective (I screamed). The actors were superb and didn’t rely on shouting for the scare but used their whole body to build an atmosphere and create a mood that was absolutely thrilling.
There were big scares very early on and the momentum was kept up all the way through the maze. What was unexpected was, this year the actors were more inclusive, and some were in wheelchairs which was great to see and gave a couple of the best jump scares of the evening, bravo. The batching of actors together was just right, the scenery and maze was well thought out and cleverly executed. All the actors were fully committed to their role, and this started the event with a bang, a scream and a jump.
2nd Maze – The Haunting
This was a blindfolded experience, where you are given a black face mask to cover your eyes once you have entered the maze. Upon entry you are given a back story to the maze and the initial actor introduces and directs you as to what you need to do. Again, the actor gave an amazing performance and committed to his character and interacted well with us and engaged with banter.
You are told to take hold of a large rope and then apply your blindfold. Once everyone in the group is holding rope and blindfolded, you are directed to move forwards and follow the rope and what ever you do…don’t let go!
I was a little disappointed with this one. Lots of shouting and not any scares for me. I found I was so busy concentrating on where the rope was and trying not to fall over that the attempted scares were lost. This was disappointing but it probably didn’t help that it followed the SEWARS. This maze should be one you do first, to ease you into the mazes especially if you are new to scare mazes.
3rd Maze – The Harvest
This maze consisted of both an indoor and outdoor maze where we went as part of a larger group. Unless you were at the front of the group, unfortunately, what would have been brilliant, scares were lost to those of us at the back and you knew what was coming. By the time you came around the corner, the actor hadn’t had a chance to reset. For the best scares either hang back from the people in front or ask to go into the maze in groups of twos or fours. This is more likely to be facilitated the earlier in the night you go, before the queues get too big.
Even though this maze was quite short, there is a long inflatable corridor which is really tight. Some may struggle with his section as it is a workout to squeeze through it even if it is extremely comical. Banter with others in the maze is crucial at this point for the best laughs.
The make-up and the masks in this maze were excellent, the actors in great spirits and their performance made this maze.
4th Maze – The Clinic
Another brilliant maze! This had exceptional theming and a well-crafted back story, which is delivered upon entry to maze. This maze provides the chase from actors on multiple occasions on the way round the maze. The commitment to the scare what brilliant and thoroughly enjoyable, culminating in a great jump scare towards the end.
This was again enhanced by only going around the maze in a group of two. I even pushed my brother to the side at one point in a crazy ‘Save yourself moment!’ which I will probably never live down. The Clinic is not one for those who don’t like their personal space being invaded.
This maze, like SEWARS, is one of the best so newbies might want to work their way up to it. Excellent maze that left you wanting to do it again.
5th Maze – Bloodthirst
This maze was vampire themed, the actors again, fully committed to the scare and their make-up was on point. Unfortunately, for us, we were put into another large group, which lessened the scare. However, we could appreciate the scare of those in front of us.
The actors really engaged and picked people out of the group to focus in on and gave that extra scare attention to certain individuals. Again, not a maze for people who want to keep their personal space. We had great banter with the actors and yet again they were always completely in character, committed to their role and enjoyment of those within the maze.
The set was well thought out and had varying tunnel like entrances to climb through, which gave great diversity to the maze and provided a distraction for the next scare.
The exit –
This was a maze in itself. And a great idea to finish on and find your way back to the car park.
Summary
This is an amazing budget scare event. The scares are better than a lot of the more expensive and elaborate events. Be bold and if you want to go in smaller groups ask the marshal at the entrance to the maze, this will enhance your experience. My only real criticism is that it was over quickly (for us) and that there was no opportunity to buy another ticket to go round again. If there was an opportunity to go around again, we definitely would have. Personally, I would save SEWARS and THE CLINIC till last as these were, by far, the best. CRUSED is an amazing example of how quality actors, theming, timing and the imaginative use of space can overshadow big scare events.
Top tips:
Get there early for when the actors are fresh
Ask so go in small groups
Let yourself engage with the actors and be immersed in the narrative
Scream loud and proud
And if chased…save yourself!
Cursed 2021
As we were down in Essex, next up on our list was Cursed, at Wat Tyler Country Park, in Basildon. We arrived early and were well marshalled into our car parking spot. Something that has mostly been terrible this year, so already made a nice change.
Despite being early we weren’t first in line and by the time gates opened on time we went through to the first two mini-mazes before getting to the central hub. First up was the fun ‘meat and greet’ with the festevil freaks. This was followed by ‘Safe Zone’ a mostly outdoor zombie based maze. Sadly, we didn’t get many scares here and were soon in the central hub area for the 4 other mazes. There was also music and food on offer. During our time sadly we didn’t get to see any of the excellent roaming actors that usually inhabit this space.
Mazes
The Haunting
Of the more traditional mazes first up was The Haunting, Cursed’s take on a hooded maze, and to be fair is about as good a hooded maze as you are likely to get. Actors were great in here ensuring a good start for us.
The Institute
Next up was The Institute, a prison themed maze, which had undergone a few changes for this year, and again thanks to the good number of energetic actors provided another enjoyable maze.
The Sewers
Our third choice was the impressively smelly The Sewers, which as well as the appropriately used smell pods also had some really good themeing for what is essentially a maze inside a marquee. Another fun, short maze.
Alf’s Emporium
Last up was Alf’s Emporium, another big change up for 2021 with a great theatrical start and as with all the other mazes a good bunch of actors providing some fun and varied scares.
Summary
All the mazes have some impressive bits of design for the relatively basic nature of the event, they use smell really well and had a decent number of actors. As we were there early, we didn’t have any issue with batching or queues. Whilst we didn’t spend ages at Cursed we had a fun time, and will happily see what’s in store for 2022
Cursed 2019
One of the nearest events to me is Cursed based at Wat Tyler Country Park near ‘Bas Vegas’ in Essex. We went along on opening night of their 2019 Halloween season. Cursed is a compact event offering 5 mazes, a few entertaining roaming actors, a food truck and some live entertainment. We saw a bit of a juggling act in our time at Cursed. The roaming actors we encountered were on top form from the creepy clowns to the deranged grannie in her mobility scooter. I should have taken her up on the offer of a Tena Man.
On arrival you enter a nice circus tent style doorway before sorting your tickets out and it’s then on to a bit of pre-theatre firstly involving a brilliant funny judge handing out sentences on us criminals, Dungeons style. After that you’re introduced to a couple of creepy clowns, Jingles and Rosie who did a great job entertaining us before we were batched in to the first maze, Safe Zone.
The Mazes
Safe Zone
From the entrance and pre-show, you’re led directly to the first zombie themed maze, Safe Zone. This opens up with a nice theatrical scene before you end up outside in a semi-free roaming haystack maze. The layout is used to good effect by the very energetic actors in this zone. Once you’ve escaped you end up walking through a path populated by a variety of creepy and scary zombies before entering the main hub of the event.
Abduction
Next up for us was a trip to Alf’s Tavern where some mysterious abductions have been occurring. The Tavern was a nice touch where Alf told us of the recent incidents which led to a nice impact scare before we were abducted. Abduction had some nice scares and some of the best theming of the night in my opinion. It also felt like the longest maze at Cursed, but not as long as you may find at other events
The Institute
Working in a clockwise fashion we went in to The Institute next. This is a prison themed maze and like all the others starts with a nice theatrical set piece as the stern prison warden instructs us about our witnessing of the execution of a notorious serial killer. Fun scene and generated some good scares for our group. This is also a photo op scene if you want a souvenir. The rest of the maze was solid with again great energetic actors.
The Sewers
The Sewers stank, but they’re sewers right so that is pretty much what you’d expect them to do. After another entertaining but brief theatrical scene from the Mrs. Lovett-esque character our arrival is announced to the rest of the subterranean cannibal family. This one was creepier rather than scary, but had a couple of strong impact scares. Smell pods were used extensively to suitably nasty effect.
The Haunting
Last up was The Haunting which is Cursed’s version of a hooded maze, but it uses blackout goggles instead of a fabric hood. I’m not a massive fan of hooded mazes, but I quite enjoyed this one. I was touched by moist hands, had something sprayed in my face and was subject to a variety of close up creepy scares and a couple of good impact ones.
Final Thoughts
Hats off to the actors at this event. They were full of energy, clearly passionate about what they did and really made the whole evening fun for us. I’m coming off the back of Alton Towers Scarefest and clearly the Cursed team don’t have anywhere near the budget of Merlin or the other larger Halloween scare events. As such the theming, set design and layout may understandably seem a bit more basic than other bigger budget attractions as they are fundamentally a bunch of mazes set in tents in a field.
Opening night felt like quite a quiet one and as such the queues for the mazes were no more than 5 – 10 minutes. Because of this the batchers did a great job and allowed smaller groups through whilst maintaining decent throughput and at no point did we bump in to the group in front or behind. Overall I felt that Cursed, whilst not the most polished or innovative, had a lot of charm and once again the staff and actors made for a really fun evening.
Cursed runs on select evenings through to 2ndNovember
