Thorpe park unveils new coaster
Thorpe Park near London has announced the name of its new EuroFighter coaster from Gerstlauer. Based on the most profitable horror franchise in movie history, the attraction will be called SAW – The Ride.
The latest instalment in the series, ‘SAW V,’ was due to premier on October 24, and Thorpe Park is now inviting visitors to ‘Face Your Fears’ with a promotional trailer for the ride on You Tube and a dedicated website.
SAW – The Ride will be characterised by a “beyond vertical” first drop of 100º from a height of 100ft. Riders will also endure three inversions during the ride. The attraction will be Thorpe’s Park’s fourth major rollercoaster, joining a portfolio that also of includes Stealth, an Intamin Accelerator launch coaster, Colossus, a 10-loop coaster from the same manufacturer, and Nemesis Inferno, a B&M inverted coaster.
Overseeing the new project at Thorpe is Candy Holland, creative director for Merlin Entertainments’ Resort Theme Parks division. “I’m a huge fan of horror films and am utterly relishing creating the scariest ride in the world,” she declares. Holland also worked on the creative development of Thorpe’s Stealth ride and Se7en maze, as well as Oblivion and Air at Alton Towers.
The SAW franchise comes courtesy of Lionsgate and Twisted Pictures and began in 2004 with the launch of the original SAW film, in which Jigsaw, a philosophically inclined psychopath, plays gruesome games of survival with those he believes have ceased to value and appreciate the gift of life. In the trailer for SAW – The Ride, a torture victim is invited to “Life you life on the edge or rot in the cell.”
