Screamfest Burton is a Halloween event based in the Staffordshire area. Opening for 15 nights, the lineup consists of 5 scare attractions plus live entertainment throughout your evening. For 2018, we lost last year's strong attraction Soul Seekers for a brand new experience created by Andy Porter, known as Insomnia.
The event opened with a great atmosphere with a handful of roaming actors placed around the park, causing chaos in every area they walked past. Nowhere was safe. A nice selection of food and drink was available along with live entertainment and as always, a live DJ playing some party bangers throughout the night. Below you can find our opinions on the attractions of each of the mazes along with our ratings.
Freakout
Roll up! Roll up! The clowns are back in town for yet another year. The resident clowns of Screamfest return with Freakout.
A fun and freaky maze with the return of a few options and possibilities of different routes, which we don't see too much of in mazes nowadays. The actors and scares were pretty intense at points however, the fun was still there in multiple rooms and scenes inside. With all that said, not much has changed and remains pretty much on the same level as last year for us!
Scare: 6/10 - Themeing & Storyline: 5/10 - Actors: 8/10 - Overall: 19/30
Demonica
Give your soul to Demonica as you enter through hell's door and into the darkness...
As this was new for 2017, we hoped to see improvements moving forward into 2018. However the attraction lacked even more effects than it did in its debut year. The attraction entrance didn't seem as impressive as it did in 2017 and neither did the effects such as the fire entrance or fog lake. The opening room seemed to lack effects and just felt broken. Inside it got slightly better with what it seemed to be more actors and few good scares from some of the actors. Overall, disappointing however, we can always hope for 2019!
Scare: 5/10 - Themeing & Storyline: 4/10 - Actors: 6/10 - Overall: 15/30
Love Hurts
Just pray your not one of the rejected inside Love Hurts. As you venture into the sewers of a bar, all is not what it seems.
A returning attraction for 2017 and one that is loved by many. A unique concept with a high level of themeing throughout. The actors were stronger than before with plenty of creatures being found around every corner! Overall, the ending of the maze is one of our favourites that doesn't ever need to be changed. Even though the maze hasn't changed, the attraction is still as strong as ever...
Scare: 7/10 - Themeing & Storyline: 9/10 - Actors: 8/10 - Overall: 24/30
Dia De Los Muertos
Join the festival of the dead for its 2nd year at Screamfest Burton. Our favourite attraction of 2017 returns and wow... Another year and it didn't disappoint!
From start to end is a complete attraction from hilarious laughs to intense scares. We just absolutely love this attraction as it borders the right amount of humour and fun at the start before they turn up the fear and frights the deeper you enter the corn maze. Don't think we've ever sprinted in any other maze before, there are moments of sheer terror which is brilliant. Not much has changed except the ending for 2018 however, it still works and think it'll be very hard to beat for another year running for us!
Scare: 10/10 - Themeing & Storyline: 10/10 - Actors: 10/10 - Overall: 30/30
Insomnia
Enter a child's nightmare... Brand new for 2018, Screamfest Burton present Insomnia. What if her nightmare is real? What if she could drag you into her nightmare? What if you could not wake up?
The attraction starts right from the moment you get inside of the building. Previously the indoor queue line for Soul Seekers, now turned into a pre show queue line. Before you enter the actual attraction, you see 2 mini shows as you move through the queue to understand the story.
The first scene being the little girl having a nightmare and getting her ready to sleep whilst the next scene gets a little more... Sinister.
Based on the nightmare of the Cracker Jack, you enter a child's mind and story of her nightmares and join her through the haunting experience. A cleverly built attraction with some of the best themeing we've seen Screamfest produce. The story works and progresses as you continue through with a brilliant introduction and ending scene. The scares weren't as jumpy as other attractions and some spaces did feel a little empty, it definitely was creepy and did have more meaningful scares (especially for parents). Overall, a brilliant addition to the park which will hopefully be received well this Halloween...
Scare: 6/10 - Themeing & Storyline: 10/10 - Actors: 9/10 - Overall: 25/30
Overall, Screamfest Burton was a stunning event which did not disappoint. It was great to see three super strong attractions with one of them being brand new too! With a handful of dates left, we recommend you grab your tickets now over on the Screamfest website and let us know over on our social media how you found it!