Presented with four doors to enter a cabin in the woods, you may think you have free will. But each door has its own horror lurking behind it, and they all eventually lead to the same place…a facility where the monsters have broken free.

Opening in 2013 as part of the Lionsgate takeover of Fright Nights, Cabin in the Woods was a huge hit at Fright Nights. Part of this was down to its unique and memorable first-half, where guests could choose their own way.

In 2013, the concept of the maze was unlike anything else done at Fright Nights. Guests would find several doors throughout the route (including four at the start!). You could choose what door to enter, and indeed this meant you could choose to split up and go in smaller groups. Already this is a far cry from most Fright Nights mazes previously, which were mostly conga line, hands-on-shoulder mazes.

Instructions given in the safety speech said that after you entered a door, you were to close it, and…something would happen. In most cases, this would involve an actor, but some rooms simply had effects triggered. This meant you spent this part of the maze on edge, never quite sure what would happen. And thanks to the film featuring a variety of monsters, it meant there was a lot of potential variety too.

Also hidden within the maze was the control room, where you could hide from the monsters and see other parts of the maze, and also activate certain effects to scare others!

The second half of the maze became linear, as guests made their way to the facility where the monsters are stored. But, much like with the film, the facility is rife with monsters and in general was filled with chaos!

In 2014, the operations of the maze were tweaked slightly. Guests were not told to close doors and wait, but instead to carry on as normal. This meant that more guests could get through the maze. However, as the doors were weighted to close, and the rooms were never that big, this did not impact the scares that were present. The hidden control room was also moved and scaled back.

Cabin in the Woods didn’t rely on you having seen the film, as the maze was always presented as a chaotic “find your own way around various monsters” style of attraction, but there were some nods to the film for those who have seen it. Regardless, the maze was a much-loved attraction and viewed as one of the strongest to have happened at a Fright Nights.

By the end of its stay, though, it is fair to say it had become a bit tired, and regular visitors had become accustomed to the layout. The maze certainly could have benefitted from a refresh, though still had its impact for first-time visitors. The park retired the maze and replaced it with The Walking Dead: Living Nightmare, with the entire attraction being completely gutted.