Scream Aloud 2023

Nestled between Brockenhurst and Boldre in the scenic South of England, not far from Lymington, Scream Aloud has evolved into a fun annual event. The dedicated team’s vision becomes more evident with each passing year.

The site is spacious, with a central circus tent. On one side, you’ll find food and drink options, while the other hosts a stage where, on our visit, we witnessed an engaging fire show. The roaming actors did an outstanding job, consistently interacting with guests who were clearly enjoying themselves. Beyond the tent, you can explore various fairground rides and sideshows.

Despite booking a time slot, you’re free to arrive at your convenience, allowing you to soak in the atmosphere and savor the pre-event entertainment. It’s an ideal spot to unwind and build anticipation.

Rotten Rickies Repulsive Roundhouse

The experience kicks off with a visit to Rotten Rickie, delivering strong jump scares, entertaining theming, and intense actors. As you progress through room to room, the actors maintain an unsettling atmosphere. In the final section, though it fell short on scares during our visit, there’s clear potential for improvement. Additional actors hiding around corners, especially in the sections where the space seems to tighten, could enhance the suspense.

Nocturnal: The Witches Curse

This part of the event leans into an eerie ambiance rather than relying on intense jump scares. The dark, wooded setting keeps you on your toes, with uncertainty about what might lurk around the next bend. Although interactions were limited, they were engaging and appropriate for the setting. The clever use of the wooded terrain adds an element of surprise, keeping anticipation levels high

Boot Camp: Danger in the Safe Zone

This section provides an abundance of jump scares. The actors excel at hiding and startling visitors. While it’s regrettable that the standout section from the previous year where you were instructed to line up and follow orders while standing in an atmospheric clearing was removed, the actors in this section worked tirelessly to deliver scares throughout.

Dolls House: The West Wing Discovered

The expanded Dolls House allows you to explore the West Wing, offering more length. However, this length occasionally results in missed scare opportunities, a feeling accentuated by the extended stretches of darkness. Nevertheless, the scares encountered, particularly one involving a false wall, were exceptional and caught us by surprise.

Ward 13: The Doctors Revenge

Ward 13 returns, commencing with a disorienting section that sets the tone as nurses playfully taunt and mislead you while you await the doctor. Subsequent interactions maintain a fun and intense atmosphere, though it felt slightly toned down compared to the previous year. Nonetheless, it remains an enjoyable maze.

Fannies Cavern of Chaos

A standout of the evening, Fannies Cavern of Chaos, is an exhilarating and unique attraction, seamlessly blending humor, chaos, and excitement. This high-impact adrenaline-pumping maze presents a refreshing twist on the hunt concept.

Oh and one more thing. See Fannie after the main run as there may be an optional extra experience available for you. Let’s just say this reviewer did it and it really has to be experienced. 

In summary, Scream Aloud offered an enjoyable evening, albeit with room for improvement. While certain slower sections could benefit from additional actors (we later discovered were missing due to illness), it undeniably provides good value for money. With its generous length, diverse experiences, and a thrilling finale, Scream Aloud is an event worth experiencing.

Scream Aloud runs until the 29th of October, so if you’re in the area, it’s definitely worth checking out!

Scream Aloud 2022

We returned to Scream Aloud in the south of England to see if it really lived up to being bigger, longer and harder. Well let’s just say, what a step up from last year in terms of sets, actor quality and overall entertainment value. 

Firstly the site feels a lot more organised. There is a choice of a few fairground rides, food stands and a large big top. This space with music pumping, filled with smoke, roaming characters and fire performers was a great space to wait for entry to the mazes.

Burial Ground

A simple concept that made last years walk through a field far more immersive. This hooded section enabled the actors to torment you as you walked to the main maze area. On hood removal you enter a graveyard complete with hearse a pleasant surprise to the start of the experience.

Nocturnal

Onwards to Nocturnal which traverses a wooded area with themed huts and surprisingly, a few mirrors that got us good. Actors were able to hide in the darkness and our group got a number of scares throughout. The team have clearly spent the last year adding to and tweaking this section creating an eerie walk in the darkness.

House of Dolls

It was after this section where things felt completely new. House of Dolls was exactly what it says on the tin. Dolls, dolls and more dolls.  Everywhere you turned there were dolls of different shapes and sizes. This acted as the perfect distraction enabling the actors to create impactful and seemingly out of nowhere scares. Our group exclaimed wow as we entered the area as it was far more themed than we had anticipated. 

Boot Camp

Now a complete change of environment as we enter Boot Camp set in the grounds of a county jail where we are on the hunt for escapees but don’t let them get too close. Initially we felt that the actors setting the scene needed to be a little more authoritarian to fit the role better. We had our initial briefing and we were let loose amongst the escapees. The actors were relentless as we made our way to a break in the trees where we faced a solitary fire (a simple yet effective setting) and an intimidating Sargent. This level of intimidation is what was needed earlier. An absolutely superb job. Really getting into character and making us feel unease throughout. A fantastic moment that I’d love to see expanded further. 

Ward 13

Ward 13 took a different turn. You may not see your friends again after you enter this confusing and chaotic (in the best way) maze. The actors while few really played the role well leaving people feeling disorientated and scared. A really great concept and a fun way to introduce non linear moments to a fairly linear event. 

Fannies Yard

Essentially a strobe maze but with a massive twist. The mix of smoke, disorientating pathways and fun interactions made this an exciting end to the night. We just wanted to dance throughout this maze while being accosted by the actors. What was great to see was a novel twist on the rather passé chainsaw that features in so many attractions. A really fun and novel way to end the event. 

Well that’s where we would generally end our review but we had a little extra treatment from Fannie herself. We were hooded and told to face the wall, then to hug each other where at this point we were wrapped in cling film over and over again, then marched to Fannies bedroom where we were left on her bed needing to find our own way out. What a great little surprise. Thanks Fannie. 

Wow I really can’t explain how this event lived up to being bigger, longer and harder it is not a lie. The event has grown into its own thing. Clearly listening to feedback and improving on the event as a whole. I’d really recommend visiting if you want a night of laughs, frights and most importantly fun. It runs on select nights through to Halloween but I believe tickets are selling fast so you might need to be quick. We look forward to what Scream Aloud are able to create next year. 

Scream Aloud 2021

Another event in the South of England that we hadn’t been able to attend previously was Scream Aloud situated between Brockenhurst and Lymington in the New Forest.

Upon entry to the car park it was great to see a massive circus style big top tent and a few fairground rides, midway games and a food truck. Inside the main tent there is also a bar with some seating, the main queue line for the attraction, and a wonderfully themed bedroom, belonging to the hostess with the mostest, Miss Fannie Burns.

Fannie and another chainsaw wielding roaming actor entertained the group in the main area and the queue line. The queue line inside the big top also had an entertaining fire act and DJ. As we waited we even got invited to hammer a nail in to the roaming actors nose, a fun touch and something a bit different.

After a 20 minute wait, we were invited to start the mazes, ending up in a group of five. We slowly made our way through the approximately 20 minute walk through the woods, guided by roped off areas, fencing and black sheeting. There were a few small wooden buildings that we went through as well with a little bit of set design. Given the great set of Fannie’s bedroom, the sparseness during the walk felt slightly disappointing.

That said, a lack of themeing isn’t the end of the day and thankfully the actors that we encountered did a game job as we went through, as with many events this year it felt like a few more actors were needed to ramp things up. Early on they used the natural environment well and landed some decent scares, a few ad libbed really well as they exchanged a bit of in character banter on our run. We felt that they did a good job with what they had. Sadly it just felt a bit short and the three sections didn’t feel separate and distinct to us as it wasn’t immediately obvious when we were transitioning between sections or just going through a dead spot.

We’d love to see what the team could put on with a bit more budget for the mazes and maybe if they were a bit clearer between sections. Even if done as a couple of distinct mazes with queues in between may add a bit more cohesion to the scare part of the event rather than it being one long walk in the woods.

Scream Aloud has potential, the central area, small but very fun street team, and game troupe of actors were great, but felt slightly lacking in others. We’d be keen to return if changes were made in this regard. Scream Aloud runs through to 31st October.

Scare Directory
Author: Scare Directory