The entrance to Saw Alive

Thorpe Park, an amusement park in Chertsey, boasts two separate Saw themed attractions: Saw the Ride, which opened in March 2009, & Saw Alive, a horror maze, which opened in March 2010. Both are fantastically scary in their own separate ways, & the staging of both is pitch perfect.

The attractions are situated next to one another on one edge of the park, with plenty of set dressing scattered around the queuing areas. There’s a Californian police car smeared with blood outside Saw the Ride, while the queue for Saw Alive requires participants to make their way around a chain fence enclosure, with mutilated dummies & rusting instruments of torture all around them & coils of barbed wire above head height. Both attractions start off with an elaborately decorated indoor area, but that’s about where the similarities end.

Saw the Ride is a steel rollercoaster with a “beyond vertical” drop as its USP: the ride car scales a 100ft vertical hill & drops abruptly down the other side at a 100° angle. I’m something of a rollercoaster junkie, & Oblivion at Alton Towers, with its 90° drop, is one of my favourites, so I wasn’t initially impressed by this boast, but having experienced it? That 10° makes all the difference. It’s a genuinely scary drop, made much scarier by the long vertical ascent that feels like it lasts forever. The ride doesn’t give riders much chance to recover from that drop, though, as it quickly follows it up with more twists, turns, drops, loops & banks before depositing them, slightly the worse for wear, back at the start again.

… & as if that weren’t horrifying enough, as well as being able to buy the standard ride photographs, Saw the Ride also offers DVDs, so riders can watch themselves screaming, grimacing & being thrown about in their seats at their leisure once they get home. I … really can’t imagine why anyone would want to do that, but it’s nice to be given the option.

The actual Saw-related elements of the ride are mostly confined to the queue & the first few seconds of the ride, while the ride car is still in the dark indoor segment of the ride. There are swinging blades, unexpected gusts of air, & other props from the movie; it’s all really well done, but if you’re not a fan of the Saw movies, you won’t miss out on much of significance. It’s still an intense & terrifying experience.

I’m not sure that holds true for Saw Alive, though. Saw Alive is a self-guided maze filled with live actors determined to make you scream – it’s very similar to the Pasaje del Terror, in fact, except while that attraction pulled in scenes from a wide variety of horror movies, Saw Alive is focused on the Saw series. Holding onto one another’s shoulders, & necessarily slowed down by the lack of light & need to keep together, tour groups move through dark room after dark room filled with props & setups from the Saw movies (several of which were rather wasted on me, since I’m only familiar with Saws 1 through 3). Live actors lurk in the shadows in every room, & seem to thoroughly enjoy their roles, screeching & lurching & rattling their chains with relish. Hearing the screams from the tour group in front only adds to the atmosphere.

Interestingly, the actors in Saw Alive sometimes touch you, unlike those in the Pasaje del Terror. There’s a warning at the maze’s entrance explaining that the actors may touch guests, though guests absolutely may not touch actors, & being suddenly grabbed out of the dark by an unseen hand is certainly a nerve-wracking experience.

I think my own lack of interest in the Saw movies spoiled this experience for me somewhat; I didn’t recognise several of the scenarios included (though they were, of course, still quite frightening) & I don’t particularly enjoy the aesthetic of the series. Saw Alive faithfully & effectively recreates that aesthetic & atmosphere, which is probably more enjoyable to Saw fans. It’s still worth a go for non-Saw fans, but personally, I think I preferred the Pasaje del Terror’s selection box approach.

Last visited 24th March 2010

Opening times: vary by season, check website for further details
Adults: £37; Children: £24; Seniors: £25; group discounts available
Tel: 0871 663 1673
Website; Google Maps ref

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