A Norfolk dinosaur park turns into a scream park every October, and its bosses have a code for what happens when guests are frightened badly enough to need a change of clothes.
PrimEvil runs at ROARR! in Lenwade, near Norwich. The Guardian reported that park director Ben Francis estimates there are about two “code browns” a year, plus more “code yellows”. He thinks both are underreported.
“Sometimes we’ll lend them trousers from our wardrobe, if they come and tell us,” Francis said.
Reading the crowd
Each year new performers get a briefing on who they will meet at the door. Francis told the Guardian that teenage boys “scream like banshees” and move in packs. Teenage girls are often unimpressed, so actors should do the scare and move on.
Mixed groups usually have an alpha, he said, and the alpha will not react. The advice is to aim for the weaker member at the back.
Performances are short. Each scare typically lasts under 30 seconds, then repeats for hours. Francis tells the cast they cannot all be jump scares. Some should stalk, creep or simply stand and stare.
The rules are strict. There is no touching, and actors are told to avoid anything “rude, lewd or crude”. They also learn to tell a panicked reflex from real aggression, and to watch visitors’ hands. Francis said older women on a girls’ night out can struggle most with the no-touching rule. Contracted security patrols the site for disruptive or drunk guests.
The business of fear
Tickets cost about £40. The Guardian said the event employs more than 100 actors and dozens of crew across six themed attractions. They include a clown circus, a cannibal trailer park called Route 666, a satanic cult and a haunted hospital.
Local paper the Watton and Swaffham Times reported a 200-strong team, including 132 scare actors, with up to 2,000 visitors a night. This year more than 230 people applied to act. The Guardian said Francis put the figure at 230 for about 132 paid spots.
Auditions start with a dance-off, then move on to improvisation. “The more of a prat you feel, the better you will be coming across,” Francis said. The Watton Times said auditions ran over three nights, with groups scored by a panel of judges.
This year Francis let his six team leaders, one per attraction, pick performers. One man in his 70s was wanted by all six, and Francis settled it with a dice roll. The man ended up in Mayhem Manor, the haunted hospital.
The costs are real. ROARR! founder Martin Goymour told the Guardian he spent about £10,000 on gory bodies last year. He plays the park’s ringmaster, “Skullmore”, and rides a Segway. In the US, the Guardian said, a single scare attraction can gross nearly $1m a season.
PrimEvil started in 2009 as one maze inside the steel frame of an office building. Construction had been paused by the recession. The Guardian said it took about five years to break even.
Now it draws about 20,000 visitors a year, according to the Guardian. The Watton Times gave a figure of 25,000. PrimEvil won the top prize at the industry’s SCAR awards in 2024, and the industry also has its own trade show, ScareCON.
Francis first went as a guest in 2009 and signed up as an actor the next year, usually playing a clown. He later joined the staff, after Goymour offered him a job when both were in costume.
On the Saturday the Guardian visited, Francis said the previous night had brought four panic attacks, which he called about average, and two fainters. About 1,400 people had come despite steady drizzle, and the same number were expected that night.
PrimEvil’s final nights run until Saturday 31 October, with gates opening at 6pm.
Sources: The Guardian, Watton and Swaffham Times, PrimEvil
This story was compiled by the MDW Newsdesk with AI-assisted tools, using the reporting credited above.
