Greece’s First Scare Attraction
Rat’s Alley Home Haunt Scarefest Scare Rooms Le Manoir De Paris Port Aventura Halloween The Science of Scare Part 3 And more...
Fifth fear filled issue
CarnEVIL of Horrors
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February 2012- May 2012
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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
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Scare NEWS
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Attraction REVIEWs
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Split Personality
CarnEVIL of Horrors, Scare Kingdom Scream Park,Alton Towers Scarerooms, Chessington World of Adventures Halloween Giuseppe Savage
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The Fear Inside and Hallway to Hell
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The House of Fear
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Home is where the haunt is
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Scary FX
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Stingy Jack
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Le Manoir de PARIS
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The Science of scare
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Scary World
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Attraction Reviews
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scare attractions
Greece’s First Scare Attraction Rat’s Alley GutRot FX
Halloween, dungeons Style Parisian Terror
Part Three
Port Aventura Halloween scareattractions.co.uk cast their critical eye current listings
February 2011 - May 2012 This Issues Cover Image: Brother Samoul from The House of Fear, Greece’s First Scare Attraction
February 2011- May 2012
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From the Editor Fellow Haunters, Welcome to the fifth issue of Scareworld - Europe’s only dedicated scare entertainment magazine. Since our launch in October 2010 we have undergone several changes in content and style and we have some further exciting changes planned for this year. You can now obtain Scareworld as a full size hard copy publication delivered straight to your door by ordering a copy via our website at www.scareworld.co.uk, or you can read the digital issue free of charge online. The European scare season in 2011 was the biggest yet, with more and more attractions opening all over Europe. In England new scream parks and standalone attractions sprung up from nowhere, joining the raft of classics like Shocktoberfest, Scare Kingdom Scream Park and Farmageddon. Elsewhere, Greece commissioned its first scare attraction, based permanently at Allou! Theme Park in Athens and in Paris a brand new museum based attraction called Le Manoir de Paris drew the French crowds. This year is already beginning to take shape, Scarytales Live opens this March in Yorkshire and CarnEVIL of Horrors opened, and closed, to rave reviews at The Winter Gardens Blackpool in mid February. Scream at Steam in Wiltshire is offering a spring scare experience, while Horror Camp Live opens over the summer - a UK first camping based 13 hour scare experience not for the faint hearted, plus The Dungeons are already announcing new additions to their existing line ups for this year. 2012 is certainly going to be another big year on Europe for scare entertainment! In this issue of Scareworld we continue our intriguing series of psychological essays from Madelon Hoedt, meet Giuseppe Savage from Farmageddon, get an exclusive peak inside Greece’s House of Fear and look at Alton Towers 2011 Scare Rooms, plus horror attraction artist Mariano Villalba takes us into his dark world of art. With news of new scare attraction products including Scare Factories Hallway to Hell and Haunted House Records’ Dark Places plus all the latest scare news, reviews and listings, no serious scare attraction enthusiast or producer can afford to be without Scareworld Magazine. Remember Scareworld is your magazine, tell your colleagues and friends, its free to subscribe to the digital issue online - and don’t forget to catch all the latest scare attraction news as it happens on our website at www.scareworld.co.uk Stay scary! Jason Karl Editor Editor: Jason Karl jason@scareworld.co.uk Creative Director: Paul Howse paul@scareworld.co.uk Deputy Editor: Jane Willis jane@scareworld.co.uk
Contributors in this issue: Luci Teal Mark Edwards Steve Siegelbaum Go Merlin Oliver Cook Madelon Hoedt Jane Willis Kevin Sudds & Wayne Davis.
Published 3 times a year by AtmosFEAR! Entertainment Group © Copyright Scareworld 2012. All material in this publication remains the copyright of Scareworld and no part of it may be re-produced without the written permission of the publishers. Materials not copyright to Scareworld are re-produced with permission and all rights are acknowledged. To get in touch or to advertise in Scareworld please email: info@scareworld.co.uk
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February 2012 February20122012 May - April 2012
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February 2011- May 2012
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Scare News With Halloween 2011 firmly dead and buried, the European scare entertainment landscape for 2012 is beginning to take shape. GNG Entertainment will open Scarytales Live for a 3 night run between March 16th and 18th based at The Dearne Playhouse Theatre in Yorkshire. Once upon a time, in a place far beyond the reaches of normality, a land existed. A land gone mad with the evil within, a land where nothing you have ever heard or learned actually was true and where everything you thought you knew was flipped into chaos, rage and fear. This land was called Orenda, home of Scarytales! Accessed through a secret wardrobe and down the yellow brick road, turning left at the rabbits hole and through the dark forest, Orenda will be waiting for you. In this world everything you enjoyed and loved as children has literally been turned on its head leaving no happy ever after, no happy endings and no sweetness and light. Instead you will find a place filled with the most tormented and twisted characters all waiting for you to take a bite of the poisoned apple and enter the gingerbread house where you will stay forever! Look into the magic mirror, get ready for the tea party and make sure you are home by midnight. Get ready for your adventure in the land of fear! Scarytales Live runs from Friday the 16th to Sunday the 18th of March at The Dearne Playhouse Theatre and tickets are priced at ÂŁ5 per person. Proceeds from the show will be donated to the Yorkshire Air Ambulance charity so come along, get scared and help raise some much needed funds for this great, underfunded service. For details visit www.scarytales-live.co.uk and see our next issue for a full review.
Winter Gardens venue and attracted a huge crowd of guests, reviewers and theatre specialists, closing to rave reviews and a promise to return once again in 2013. Lead by the diabolic showman Valentino Diablo, his sinister sideshow of freaks and oddities included an impressive cornucopia of live scareactors, illusions, magic and a 10 foot animatronic clown. See the next issue of Scareworld for a full feature. Steam, the museum dedicated to the Great Western Railway in Swindon, Wiltshire, has announced a scare entertainment experience this Spring called SCREAM at Steam. A mysterious railway themed storyline will lead guests of a frightful journey of the museum bought scarily to life. For information visit www.steam-museum.org.uk The London Tombs have had a busy Christmas period with their seasonal Christmas Nightmare attraction. Over Halloween 2011 they pushed the boundaries of fear and fun with a temporary overlay themed around The Human Centipede film, and they promise a heart-stopping new feature for 2012. For information on the current attraction visit www.thelondonbridgeexperience.com
AtmosFEAR! Entertainment Group produced an indoor family scare attraction as part of Showzam - a huge festival of circus and variety held in Blackpool annually. The attraction opened between 14th and 15th February at the prestigious
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February 2012- May 2012
www.scareworld.co.uk In Glasgow a brand new permanent attraction has been announced themed around a mental asylum. Developers are currently seeking a site for this big budget attraction, and have announced AtmosFEAR! Entertainment Group as the attraction producers. 2.8 Hours later have also announced that their next scare attraction zombie chase game will take place in Glasgow. A seaside haunt is under planning for Brighton. The evocatively named House of the Lost will be hosted in an old nightclub and former school and offer a scare maze experience coupled with photography and retail outlets. Plans have been submitted to the local authority and a decision is expected soon. Sinister Symphonies have announced their second album to be called The Black Grimoire. Centred around the story of a cursed music book it will feature a variety of soundscapes for use in scare attraction and entertainment projects. Slated for a summer release you can find out the latest information at www.sinistersymphonies.co.uk Scarecon is back for another year, this time based in Blackpool. The event will take place at The Norbreck Hotel on May 10th 2012. For details visit www.scarecon.com
The Dungeons have big plans for new features in each of their venues for 2012. Terrible Torture took place over the half term holiday at The Edinburgh Dungeon, and they have announced a new attraction named Allegiance for opening in March. In other Dungeon news a band of real human skeletons were unearthed at The London Dungeon. Originally thought to be replicas the bones have now been identified as human! For details on the Dungeons visit www.the-dungeons. com
Scream School, the UK’s only professional scareactor training programme, has announced the first date for 2012. Taking place at Mains Hall in Lancashire, the date is Friday March 16th. Courses can be attended by anyone looking to get into the scareacting business. For details visit www.screamschool.co.uk Allou! Theme Park in Greece opened the countries first permanent scare attraction over the Christmas period. The House of Fear was created and produced by UK based AtmosFEAR! Entertainment Group. Themed around generic nightmares the attraction features animatronic costumes, theatrical scent and claustrophobic effects and has proved to be a huge hit in Greece, appearing on numerous national TV shows and consistently achieving waiting lines of several hours. For full details visit www.allou.gr
February 2011- May 2012
In a UK first, AtmosFEAR! Entertainment Group announced Horror Camp Live - a theatrical 13 hours scare experience set on a farm. Dates have yet to be announced but are likely to be during July and August this year. A brand new website will go live at the end of March at www.horrorcamplive. co.uk
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Guest Review CarnEVIL of Horrors By Luci Teal
Taking a look around the hall I couldn’t help but be drawn to the severed heads that were hanging from a nearby stair case. As I approached, eerie music became more apparent. It was twisted circus music with creepy undertones that tweaked your curiosity. I followed the music up the desolate staircase, quite cautious of what I may find around the next corner. I was right to be cautious as waiting in the room at the top of the stairs was a clown who was definitely not a ‘ha ha’ type. But the clown represented a window of what was to come. He looked like a lost soul and was there to herd the willing visitors, or should I say ’victims‘, through what used to be a Circus of Dreams. I lined up with five other people, all of us arguing over who would go first. I love how chivalry or order of age rank is thrown out the window at the point you line up to enter a horror maze. It’s every man for himself and no one wants to lead. The group that had gone in before us burst out the exit door adjacent to where we queued and their terrifying mixture of laughter and screams really set the adrenalin pumping. If I wasn’t a wee bit spooked with anticipation of what was to come, I sure was now after seeing them emerge unharmed but obviously shaken and amused.
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Gingerly we entered the wooden door to enter the CarnEVIL of Horrors and I jumped as the door was slammed behind us. The master of the show, the circus ring leader, set the attraction off with a tale about Valentino Diablo’s Victorian circus of oddities which had rolled into Blackpool as part of the seaside resort’s 2012 Showzam Festival. Suited in a devilishly black, ring master’s coat and top hat, I became transfixed on his horrific make-up which resembled something out of a car crash and was very disturbing. His tale of woe described how within the gothic splendour of the Baronial Hall in Blackpool’s famous Winter Gardens the failed showman had lodged his sinister sideshow. We were to encounter a twisted maze of disorientating passageways and rooms where all was not what it seemed and inside the eerie maze lurked a hoard of hungry horrors, each with a dark tale to tell. So my journey through the CarnEVIL of Horrors continued and yes, I did meet many a strange and curious character as our group made its way through the smoke filled, dimly lit winding corridors where themed music made the heart pump faster. I always love the scripts when I take a trip through an AtmosFEAR! Entertainment Group (AEG) maze and the effects never cease to amaze me. They pay the tiniest attention to detail and it really does make a difference to the observant visitor and chill those that don’t see it coming. Inside the maze there was a brilliant use of space
February 2012- May 2012
www.scareworld.co.uk and they did a fantastic job of putting so many encounters in such small spaces. The ratio of actors to dummies was perfect, although difficult to tell which was which at times. I found myself tip-toeing past every character just in case I was fooled. A snake lady, Alura, provided a creepy illusion to set us on our way. We are offered advice and some of our fortunes are told by a tarot reader, Madame Phanstasma, her costume told a tale of a once bright future that was taken away but I have a sneaky suspicion that on further inspection she would have offered us a bit more of a surprise. Clowns helped to lead us further to our fate and we met another faded member of the carnival whose reputation may have been lost but power has not.
illusion. Even though I knew it was just an illusion I have to say it didn’t stop me being apprehensive to take my place or stop me letting out a little whimper at the pinnacle moment. The last scene made me want to scarper, as our group came face-to-face with Svenghastli, the 9ft killer clown. I have seen this character before although not in full form and although I was careful to creep by it still caught me by surprise. It was hideous and the fact that it now moved did not make matters any better! Sights, sounds and story was enough to entertain, amuse and of course scare. A great trip to the CarnEVIL of Horrors which I have to say I was happy to escape from.
We are introduced to her ‘son’ Dandini and invited to join in their act, a very creepy concept. We swiftly made a run for it. I loved the colourful, dotted room where a clown’s matching dotted costume and make-up proved to be perfect camouflage as he emerged from the wall, it seemed, to the gasps and jumps of many in our group. Using the unsuspecting guests to interact with the characters is a trademark of any AEG scare performance and something I enjoy. It is so easy to make a script and get actors to talk at people but AEG always breaks down that fourth wall which I think places an extra discomfort to the mix. Nearing the end of the journey I was the ‘lucky’ one selected to participate in the Amazing Mystero’s
February 2011- May 2012
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Split Personality In this occasional Scareworld feature we talk to some of the greatest and scariest scare attraction icon characters, and the performers who portray them. In this issue we meet Giuseppe Savage, a.k.a Mark Edwards.
Mark Edwards, Owner of Farmaggedon SW: Firstly please introduce yourself to our readers and tell us a little about what you do. Mark Edwards: I run and own a family farm based attraction called Farmer Ted’s Farm Park, I’m also the creator and owner of Farmaggedon. SW: How did you get into the scare business? Mark Edwards: I was looking at ways to prolong our season prior to our Christmas period and realised Halloween may be the way forward.
SW: Which scare attractions have you visizted, either in the UK or further afield? Which are your favourites and why? Mark Edwards: The only one I’ve visited in the UK is Stuart Beare’s event held at Tulley’s. This comprises of a really cool hay ride, corn maze and a Creepy Cottage. His event inspired me to fly to the USA where the Farmaggedon concept came together. They are the leaders in the haunt industry and have some 18,000 registered scare attractions. My favourites to date are The 13th Gate, House of Shock, Wisconsin Feargrounds, Erebus and Shoctoberfest to name but a few. Patrick Konopelski founder of Shoctoberfest and President of the Haunted Attraction Association has worked with colleagues tirelessly to make the industry safer and this can only have knock on benefits worldwide. Having been lucky enough to sit on the board for the International Haunted Attractions Association prior to it swallowing up the Haunted House Association and thus becoming Haunted Attraction Association (HAA) I envy their ethos to creating a safer and transparent industry. We can surely learn from these people. SW: Which two people, from fact or fiction, living or dead, would you invite to dinner, and why? Mark Edwards: Daley Thompson, 1980’s Olympic Decathlete. He had the edge without the modern day advances; he was a Gladiator and had character too. It’s a cliché but Jack Nicolson; he’s a modern day legend from horror to comedy. He’s a must. SW: What is your most annoying habit? Mark Edwards: Annoying my wife! She’s great and puts up with a lot as do my children. SW: What do you do in your spare time? Mark Edwards: Ride bikes and build cars.
SW: What do you enjoy most about your job?o Mark Edwards: I have a creative mind and being able to take an idea and make it work gives me a great sense of achievement. I also get to travel with my work and see some amazing places and meet great people.
SW: How do you celebrate Halloween? Mark Edwards: Since Farmaggedon started Halloween is all work, work, work!
SW: What other jobs have you had? Mark Edwards: I’ve been involved in agriculture all my life; this has given me a whole lot of skills to tap into for my creative side. I spent 12 months in Australia which taught me independence and gave me the motivation to keep looking outside the box.
SW: What is coming up next for you? Mark Edwards: I’m currently planning for 2013, the project is large and needs planning to the ends of the world……”watch this space” is all I can say.
SW: Tell us a deep dark secret about yourself! Mark Edwards: I can’t watch horror movies in company or alone. Yep it’s true!
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SW: What has been your most memorable scare? Mark Edwards: When we first built our “Hellivator” lift, I came in early one morning to check it out, unbeknown to me the electrician had beaten me to it and as the doors slid open out he came….needless to say I disappeared to change my pants! SW: What scares you? Mark Edwards: The moment the Liverpool Echo Arena contacts me to discuss when our tickets are going on sale.
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www.scareworld.co.uk SW: Which scare attractions have you visited, either in the UK or further afield? Which are your favourites and why? Giuseppe Savage: I have some inbred cousins from the deep south of America who invited me over there in 2009, they have some strange things going on but I still had a great time. I guess my favourite haunts are Terror on the Fox and The 13th Gate. The detailing is awesome, I thought I’d died and gone to Hell!
Giuseppe Savage, Keeper of Evil at Farmaggedon SW: Firstly please introduce yourself to our readers and tell us a little about what you do. Giuseppe Savage: My name is Giuseppe Savage the keeper of all things evil, the sorcerer of torment at the home of evil - Farmaggedon SW: How did you get into the scare business? Giuseppe Savage: As a child we lived next to an old Undertakers with a small crematorium, my sisters and eldest brother and I used to sneak through some old railings to get into the garage with the hearses in. On one visit we ventured further towards the furnace, my sisters screamed at what they saw and as I ran fell onto a hot surface unwittingly branding myself with what can only be described as deformed skull. Since then nothing has been normal…
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SW: What do you enjoy most about your job? Giuseppe Savage: Fear can be used in many ways, I’ve only scratched the surface so far and it gives me a feeling of great displeasure knowing I’ve so much more to give. SW: What other jobs have you had? Giuseppe Savage: I served my time as an embalmer, this has to be the coolest job going. Draining the “life- blood” out of the deceased and replacing it with formaldehyde was the means to an end but in reality I was preserving the dead for their apocalyptic reincarnation.
SW: What has been your most memorable scare? Giuseppe Savage: We have a car crash simulation scene, on the night in question the would be actors arrived late. I get so incensed with poor time keeping. I cut the brake lines on their own car. That evening we lost three of our best actors to an R.T.A They won’t be late again and now time keeping has never been more accurate. SW: What scares you? Giuseppe Savage: The Easter Bunny…..it’s so weird
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SW: Which two people, from fact or fiction, living or dead, would you invite to dinner, and why? Giuseppe Savage: Milla Jovovich from Resident Evil, she’s cute but dusted too many of my kin. If she’s at my dinner party she’s toast! Hugh Jackman from Van Helsing; I need to know who made his crossbow, that thing is cool but more importantly he turned down the three “Vampireresque“ sisters. Those ladies were hot as hell and I’d sure like to meet them. SW: What is your most annoying habit? Giuseppe Savage: My alter ego! SW: What do you do in your spare time? Giuseppe Savage: I have an unhealthy affliction towards disgusting odours, my favourite to date is the smell of fear. SW: How do you celebrate Halloween? Giuseppe Savage: The night is of biblical proportions and without going into too much detail usually ends with the sacrifice of a young kid (goat). SW: Tell us a deep dark secret about yourself! Giuseppe Savage: I don’t have secrets, they’re all dead….. SW: What is coming up next for you? Giuseppe Savage: I’m planning on getting married and breeding some evil replacements to carry on in my evil footsteps…..any takers? www.farmaggedon.co.uk
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Want to be a Scareactor?
Scream School is an independent scareactor talent development and training programme. Our intensive one day course offers scare students the opportunity to learn the fundamental skills required to begin a career as a successful and effective scareactor.
Scream School courses run throughout the year and dates, times and locations of forthcoming courses can be found on the website. Our Mentors can also bring the course to your attraction or project, contact us for further details of how to hire Scream School.
The course also includes an introduction to the scare entertainment industry, the principles of the psychology of fear, basic makeup techniques and advice on which companies and attractions regularly seek to book scareactors for paid work.
Part of
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enrol today at
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or call 0845
519 4271
February 2012- May 2012
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Scare Kingdom Scream Park 2011
by Luci Teal
Guest Review
Far away from civilisation with nowhere to mazes, a power tool attack and a huge scale run and nowhere to hide you stumble upon the illusion which was an impressive to look at as it was scary. horror that is Scare Kingdom Scream Park... By day it plays host to Street Theatre and the fantastic Hocus Pocus show featuring the good Witch Pink Hazel, but as night falls it is every Halloween enthusiasts dream...and worst nightmare! Bloody Mary and LuciFEAR invite you into the Kingdom and really set the scene for the journey ahead. There’s a great use of technology at play here utilising live performance and video screen, and I particularly liked the silhouettes of the ghastly scenes occurring in the background. Bloody Marys voice is a real mood setter was a great starter to the whole experience. The first part of Scare Kingdom presented a new type of story to follow, one I have not personally seen in a scare attraction before, no man-made zombies here - only creatures of Voodoo origin.
I would have liked to have seen perhaps a little more mischief at play in the last scene of Day of the Dead though, but I cannot fault the character and situation. It really showed how much work and study must go in to creating these scenes and it was enough to make even the strongest stomach think twice about their next meal! Next we headed into HMS hell (this and blood bath II are both marked as 3 pumpkins and did live up to the grading). The music did a brilliant job of building the mood as we waited outside to be called forward. We were greeted with a tale of a ship full of lost souls that the mad Captain Maldermer had driven into the Bermuda Triangle.
The route we were guided through warmed us up slowly for the horror that was to come. Voodoo Bayou and Day of the Dead are marked as 2 pumpkins (out of 3) so were a little tamer than I’m used to, but with the darkness and wind rustling through the corn it was worth taking a friendly face with me as it did provide a few things that caught me by surprise. The first part being outside it did leave us open to the elements and I’m glad I checked the website and followed the guidelines on foot wear and general attire before arriving! The props, costumes and scenes in the corn mazes were well thought out and provided something for everyone as the story progressed. There was a great end scene in both of the corn
February 2011- May 2012
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The scenes in this one were fast moving with something to make you jump round every turn. The use of space was brilliant, leading the group in to preset traps and into the path of awaiting scareactors. I really liked the living wall in HMS Hell, really unexpected and a great effect which I have not seen before. After a chase off the ship we are landed in the awaiting arms of Blood Bath II. We had been warned that all bets are off in this place, the scareactors may (and do) touch you. The story itself is quite disturbing, defused slightly by the presence of the authority figure we first met. Constable Jake Byling is the officer on the case and he drafted us into helping him in explore the rooms that have been uncovered...
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February 2012- May 2012
www.scareworld.co.uk The whole place was littered with unpleasant effects and gory ‘SAW’ type entrails from start to finish that all add to the horror you’re being subjected to. Some fantastic imagination was used in creating this attraction (at least I hope it was imagination...) The scenes and characters become more intense as we ventured further through the story and attraction, which is huge and set in a permanent structure. The make-up and costumes are brilliant, coupled with the characters it made for a pretty convincing experience. Blood Bath II doesn’t disappoint, the final scene really breaks down the barriers put in place by most scare attractions, it puts you through an experience that is not recommended for the faint hearted!
February 2011- May 2012
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After being scared witless the journey landed us straight in Bloody Marys Bar. Perfect! It lets you defuse quickly (and have a giggle at other groups coming through), and they even teamed up with Thwaites to offer their visitors a Scare Kingdom Ale to soothe the nerves. Scare Kingdom Scream Park 2011 offered a brilliant experience all round with daytime activities, fairground attractions and a bar to keep everyone in the group entertained. Fantastic characters, great stories brilliantly performed. It definitely left me checking the back seat before I got in the car! In its 4th year running and with a new concept every time, I’d say this is one you should put on your to do list as you never get the same thing twice - something that some seasonal scare attractions seem to miss. The website gives a sneak preview of what’s to come next year - Doomsday 2012. If we all make it, maybe I’ll see you there. I know I’m ready for the next instalment! Scare Kingdom Scream Park returns with a longer run than ever before in 2012. With all new attractions you can find discounts and full details at www. scarekingdom.com
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February 2012- May 2012
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THE FEAR INSIDE
Product Review
By Sceptre The Fear Inside is a new collection of dark and haunting soundscapes inspired by nightmares and evil imaginings. Created by Sceptre and released by Blue Hush Productions it contains 12 tracks of music in contrasting styles. Industrial sounds are fused seamlessly with classical chords and sound effects are convincingly mixed with the music to create cohesive soundscapes. Largely inspired by his own dark dreams, The Fear Inside draws on many generic scare attraction themes including speaking dolls and the walking dead. The haunting melodies would perhaps not be suited to the more intense gorefest attractions, but lend themselves perfectly to the more classical haunted house scenarios. As a series of soundscapes The Fear Inside provides much for the scare attraction producer to work with, offering a contrasting range of melodic and haunting themes which can easily be looped for continual play. Sceptre is the alter-ego of musician Adam C Sharp who has composed musical scores for theatre and television. He resides in Washington, USA where he currently teaches Theatre & Film at Spokane Community College. You can but The Fear Inside by Sceptre at CD Baby as well as through Itunes, amazon.com and many other digital music retailers.
February 2011- May 2012
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Product Showcase
One of the slickest scare haunt products to come onto the market has got to be the moving wall system of the Scare Factory’s Hallway to Hell. Using an independently programmable system the Hallway to Hell is able to pitch left and right, bounce, shudder, wave back and forth and collapse at will. Individual units are 10ft long, with a dedicated walkway width of 5ft, and at its tallest position it stands at 9ft. By putting two units together and programming themes differently, the Hallway to Hell can create a dramatic 20ft corridor of scares with base units available ready themed or purchased as a blank canvas to which scare creators can add their own dramatic horror haunt designs.
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HALLWAY TO HELL By Scare Factory
It replaces in both size and function the industry’s spinning tunnel effects, without the need for steps, ramps or handrails. Unlike spinning tunnels, the Hallway to Hell effect can be easily integrated within a variety of themes and fits in seamlessly with the rest of a horror attraction. Due to its modular panel design it also benefits from its build simplicity, according to its US creators, which takes “minutes rather than hours” and benefits from having small, lightweight pieces that can go anywhere in a scare attraction without the need to de-construct a maze design. For full information and to order visit www.scarefactory. com
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DearnePlayhouse
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AR THE HOUSE OF FE Attraction reece’s First Scare
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Scare entertainment in all its forms is still very much in its infancy in Europe when compared with our counterparts in the USA, however European countries are experiencing a period of fast paced growth with new attractions opening both seasonally and permanently with surprising regularity.
Allou! Fun Park is Greece’s biggest and most popular theme park destination, welcoming over 3 million visitors every year. Operations Director, Stratos Drimalitis, came up with the concept of introducing a scare attraction several years ago, and contracted AtmosFEAR! Entertainment Group in mid 2011.
Many theme parks in Europe now include permanent or long terms seasonal scare attractions among their offerings, including Europa Park (Germany), Tibidabo (Spain), Port Aventura (Spain), Walibi World (Netherlands), Alton Towers, Thorpe Park, Chessington World of Adventures (UK) and Disneyland Resort Paris (France).
After exploring various possible options, and an ever changing brief, AtmosFEAR! Entertainment Group signed a contract in late October 2011, with delivery of the attraction on December 17th - a very tight production schedule which required all other projects to be temporarily halted while The House of Fear project was undertaken. The newly created House of Fear is AEG’s 47th scare entertainment project over its 11 year history, with Ireland being the only other European country which has hosted their attractions outside Britain to date.
Parks who introduce scare attractions are enjoying great success with generally smaller investment than larger rides require. With the added element of live interaction and the ability to swap and change the content quickly and cheaply, scare attractions are now high on the ‘to buy’ list of many theme park operators, the latest being Allou! in Athens, Greece.
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Sourcing special effects and large scale properties from as far afield as Finland, America and Canada, AEG benefitted from the post-Halloween timing of the
February 2012- May 2012
www.scareworld.co.uk project, meaning suppliers were able to fulfil orders more quickly than at other times of the year. AEG handled all aspects of production for the attraction, including all interior contents, styling and design. Narrative, costumes, makeup, technical effects and the exterior facade. Eleven professional scareactors, a 2,300 square foot set with 13 individual horror environments, special effects, illusions, environmental scents, specialist lighting, a multitude of soundscapes and Hollywood style costumes and makeup combine to create the chilling House of Fear, including a seasonal scare in the form of a twisted version of Santa Claus which will be replaced in Spring 2012 with an entirely new scare. The attraction was launched just before Christmas 2011 with a national television and radio commercial
February 2011- May 2012
campaign, and wide media coverage, which has generated 3.5 hour queues on busy nights. AtmosFEAR! Entertainment Group’s creative director, Jason Karl, said: “Creating the first scare attraction for Greece has been an interesting journey for the AEG creative team. With no obvious cultural benchmark or point of reference we had to develop a theme which the Greek audience could relate too, but without creating an actual storyline. After exploring several ideas we finally decided that The House of Fear would challenge guests to endure a series of disconnected ‘nightmares’ featuring instinctive and common fears like coulrophobia, cannibalism, madness, inanimate objects coming to life, demonic possession, blood sacrifice, murder, being burned alive, total darkness and claustrophobia.” “Each environment is vaguely thematically related
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www.scareworld.co.uk to its predecessor which creates cohesion in the production design, but we can adapt and add different scares, environments and characters as the attraction evolves in the future. This way the attraction can remain permanently fresh, maintain guests interest and encourage return visits to see what has changed inside.” “Rather than replicate what we have done elsewhere, we created a brand new environment which challenges guests to squeeze through tight spaces, crawl into a fiery furnace, and get sprayed with unholy water. It is a tactile and visceral experience which taps into primal fears to target guests no matter what scares you. Combined with a labyrinthine design and multiple impacts from each scareactor, The House of Fear is a unique scare entertainment experience like no other.” “One of the biggest challenges was deciding what style of facade the attraction would have - it had to deliver a narrative of generic ‘horror’ yet not specifically focus on any one ‘nightmare’ from inside. In the end we settled on a medieval monastic theme which was vaguely connected to the first ‘story’ inside, and which gives a nod to the typical ‘haunted house’ style architecture that you may expect from a scare attraction or haunted dark ride.” Senior Show Producer Katrina Marston developed the characters that would inhabit the attraction, each bringing to life a stylized generic ‘nightmare’. “With so many options and limitless themes we
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undertook some market research early on in the project to find out what scares Greek people.” “Interviewing guests in the theme park was an interesting task - we found that they had seen very few horror films and were unable to identify anything that scared them other than political figures and insects! Religion was a popular theme, and we used this as the basis of our first scene in the attraction in the form of an Exorcist monk named Brother Samoul. Other characters include a blood soaked bride, a half dismembered living corpse, an oversized clown and an escapee cannibal. The key with all our characters is that they can ‘speak’ to the audience visually without the need for a verbally delivered narrative, although there is a script, this is secondary to their appearance. They are generic horror visions which connect with instinctive fears or make reference to well known scare narratives in books, films or on TV.” The three casts of 11 performers are a team of 33 scareactors who inhabit The House of Fear. Scream School Mentor Gary Oke said “it was a monumental task to find the performers we needed for The House of Fear with such a short timescale. Teaming up with a local casting director we auditioned over 60 performers who were asked to learn a short script and take part in short workshop style activities.” “The main problem was getting them to understand what a scare attraction is - with no such thing in Greece already, coupled with the language barrier, this was quite a task. The selected scareactors each
February 2012- May 2012
www.scareworld.co.uk underwent specialist scareactor performance training from AtmosFEAR! Entertainment Group’s ‘Scream School’ over three days in Athens, during which they learned about the psychology of fear, health and safety and performance styles.” The attraction opened on December 17th and was attended by a hoard of journalists each eager to experience for the first time a new kind of theme park entertainment. The House of Fear represents a significant investment for Allou! owners, Hellenic Entertainment Parks, who have made theme park history by introducing the first attraction of its kind to Greece, and it has proved a major hit with Greek audiences, also featuring on several high profile national television programmes. Vaya Klingou, Commercial Director of Allou! Fun Park, said: “Allou! Fun Park introduced The House of Fear to the Athenian people during this Christmas period. Thousands of people queued up to live the fear experience and many of them returned for more!” “The AtmosFEAR! Entertainment Group team worked tirelessly to create the attraction in only a few weeks! AEG did an excellent job in training the scareactors which made The House of Fear the talk of Athens. We are certainly glad that we found AtmosFEAR! Entertainment Group and trusted them to create the first scare attraction in Greece.” The House of Fear is now open permanently at Allou! Fun Park in Athens, and planning is already underway at AtmosFEAR! Entertainment Group for changes and additions in 2012. For more information on AtmosFEAR! Entertainment Group visit www. atmosfearuk.com For further details of The House of Fear visit www.allou.gr
February 2011- May 2012
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Guest Review Alton Towers Scarefest Scare Rooms By Oliver Cook
Alton Towers Scare Rooms returned with a new and eerie 1920s theme for Halloween 2011, which allowed guests to book in for an overnight stay with a difference following reports of disturbances! The theme centred on recent refurbishments at the hotel which had revealed a previously bricked-up wing at the on-site Alton Towers Hotel complete with a special Scare Room check-in desk which was a great feature and highly worth doing as it really added to the overall Scare Room guest experience. There’s something quite chilling about a line of 1920’s bell boys walking silently towards you as the clock chimes 7pm. The time for guests to be lead upstairs to their rooms where the bell boys threw in a few scares along the way, just to test the nerve! The rooms and corridor are extremely well themed and Alton should be praised on how authentic it looked. It really did feel like you’re stepping through the brickwork into an old part of the building as the corridor looks untouched for several years with cobwebs, old sheets and a flickering strobe light.
heard the door open, you knew that it was going to be scarier than the last scene. Some of the scenes were quite intense at times and very frightening.
The scares run between 10:30pm and 2am but one of the most chilling aspects is waiting for them to occur. This is increased when you can hear noises and screams of terror coming from the corridor and the other rooms.
The acting talent was top notch and the actors fully immersed themselves into their roles and created believable, scary characters. They knew how to work the rooms well and adjusted what they did depending on what scared individual guests.
The evening starts with the bell boy delivering some gifts including a newspaper for the day after “as you may not get the chance to read it in the morning”. Guests are told a few ghost stories about the characters they will meet which nicely sets up the back stories and how they link with each other.
My only criticism was that at some points you were unsure if you were meant to do something. For example if an actor was lying motionless on the floor it was unclear if you were meant to get up and check it out or to remain in bed and wait for something to happen.
The whole night played out like a play with scenes acted out and multiple characters interacting with each other with a few scares thrown in. As it got later, the tension built up and each time when you
On saying that though, there are sometimes when you just cannot resist getting out of bed to investigate the strange goings-on. When the taps in the bathroom randomly turn on, for instance, it’s spooky but to find
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February 2012- May 2012
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a blood soaked chef stood in the shower, now that is frightening but worth the thrill!
some extra perks for Scare Room guests to make it better value for money.
The night ends at 2am with a terrifying finale that has everyone screaming in fear which left me and other guests feeling rather shaken and most likely unable to sleep for a while.
For instance, each guest receives tickets to enter the park’s ‘pay per go’ mazes for free (once per maze) as well as a fast-track ticket that allows you to skip the queue on both the Th13teen and Terror of the Towers. Guests also get to keep the special Scare Room card keys as well as the door hangers and newspaper as a souvenir of their frightful night.
So was the experience worth it? As a one off, yes. The scare room experience is great fun and offers a different experience to the theme park’s annual Scarefest Hallowe’en attractions. Although the rooms are expensive with an extra £159.00 put on top of the normal room price, even for annual pass holders, the ticket cost also includes
February 2011- May 2012
Hopefully Merlin will take the feedback given by the guests and aim to make them even more terrifying for 2012. For details of Scarefest 2012 visit www. altontowers.com
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February 2012- May 2012
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AtmosFEAR! Entertainment Group launches the UK’s first travelling hotel based scare entertainment experience, FEARooms, an interactive experience which mixes scare attraction entertainment with theming and narrative to create an alternative to the tired ‘murder mystery’ hotel concept. With staged scares, effects, horror movies and terrifying treats, FEARooms offers hotels the opportunity to place guests in a totally new form of entertainment, with live scareactors who deliver the scares throughout a pre-determined time frame. packages, FEARooms offer an affordable alternative form of entertainment that FEARooms plunges residents right into the can create media buzz, give your guests an action itself, as part of the story, they determine experience they will never forget, and take what happens when, and are free to end the your entertainment programme to an entirely encounter at any time by hanging the ‘rest in new level. peace’ door hanger outside their room. Watch our FEARooms showcase at http://www. Either as standalone entertainment, or coupled youtube.com/user/atmoshorror and download with our Themed Dining or Street Theatre our EXScream Attractions guide for full information at atmosfearuk.com AtmosFEAR! Entertainment Group
Scare Entertainment worth SCREAMING about!
February 2011- May 2012
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Home is where The Haunt Is RAT’S ALLEY HOME HAUNT By Jane Willis From the flickering light of a spookily-designed pumpkin lantern to a full-blown home haunt complete with bats’ den and cemetery on the front garden lawn, it’s all devilish dares and scares at the Galley household in the UK, during Halloween. The aptly named Rats’ Alley home haunt is the handy-work of Derbyshire couple Amanda Galley, 38, and husband Roger, 47, who transformed their modern, suburban family home into a creepy cave of Halloween scares for the first time last year. But after being bitten by the scare bug there is no going back for the couple and for Halloween 2012 they have planned a whole host of hair-raising new scares for family, friends and neighbours. This year scare-seekers brave enough to step over the threshold of the Galley home haunt will even be treated to a few horrors straight from the depths of the famous Tom Campana Holiday Shop in Winter Haven, Florida, where the couple visited on a recent trip to the sunshine state and flew home with an extra suitcase packed full of Halloween goodies. Scareworld’s deputy editor, Jane Willis, spoke to Amanda to discover just where the couple’s creepy road to Halloween home haunting began. “It all started in 2009 with just a pumpkin in the window,” said Amanda, a purchasing co-ordinator for Derwent Upholstery in the UK where husband Roger is also employed as technical manager. “Then it moved onto paper spiders hanging from the ceiling and a few shop bought tombstones for the following year. “But my eight-year-old nephew, Nick, told me that my haunted house wasn’t haunted enough! So that
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set me the challenge for 2011 and we set about creating a full blown scary house complete with a cemetery. It worked as my niece Jessica, ten, walked through it with her eyes closed! “I made all the tombstones from polystyrene, and then painted them with exterior filler for Roger to airbrush the final effects. “The front yard decorations went up and down depending on the great British weather! “I then decided to make an old fireplace which would cover my existing fire surround to create an abandoned look for my living room. “I made all of the candles from drainpipe and a hot glue gun with a battery operated candle on the top. I wanted to try and make it as real as possible without having all scene setters. “I try to make as much as possible just because we cannot buy decent items in the UK. But Tom Campana at the Holiday Shop was kind enough to open up his store for me so we have lots of extra items now. “Roger made me a haunted bookcase with moving books for the conservatory, which then served as my fortune tellers’ den. “I tried to make the haunt have different “rooms” so you started in the front garden which was the cemetery then through the spider’s lair and onto the back garden which is where you could see into the conservatory. “You then continued through the garden with all the hanging bats into the pumpkin patch. We did run out of time last year so a lot of items went unmade, I have already started on an endless pit and a mummy for this year!
February 2012- May 2012
www.scareworld.co.uk “The good thing was that nobody knew what was real and what was static, so we managed to scare a lot of people. We did have one lady who came around poking everything with her broomstick before she would venture near it. “We always have a fancy dress family party on the Saturday night, so I managed to get my mum, dad, brother and niece to help us scare on Halloween night. Roger and my brother, Steven, were dressed as zombies and I was an old hag. “We called our home haunt Rats’ Alley after the initial of each of our Christian names and opened on the Sunday before Halloween for our friends and family and on Halloween night we opened for the local trick or treaters who really enjoyed it and thought it was amazing. “This year we are hoping to get more interest so we might even be open over more nights yet. “We have kept a comments book from 2011 which is nice to read and this is something that I will definitely keep up.” The Galley’s home haunt pulled in more than 50 people and raised £193 which the couple donated to Waingroves Woodland Trust, a locally owned and run woodland area in Ripley, Derbyshire, UK. “The locals were all very supportive in 2011 and hopefully they will enjoy our home haunt for many years to come,” Amanda said. “I’m looking forward to attending the Universal Halloween Horror nights one year, but I think we have too much to do this year to get the new props ready!” she added.
February 2011- May 2012
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Scary FX GUTROT FX From maze layouts and theming to props and special effects, professional haunt and horror film creators strive for both quality and authenticity, and when it comes to gory makeup for the individual scare, there is no room for error. This is where FX artists such as Steve Siegelbaum, owner of GutRot Effects, based in Smithtown, New York, and a specialist in FX design and application for film, television and haunted attractions are crucial for adding that believability factor to the final cut. Throughout his ten year career in the scare entertainment industry Steve has worked with various industry pros including Christopher De’troy and his haunt crew from Loki’s workshop on the 2010 top rated hard-core bloodfest, Forest of Fear, in Tuxedo, New York, and appeared as an FX artist and actor on TV programmes such as the Channel 11 morning show with Larry Hoff and Enigma and the Fox Five Morning Show for the Big Apple Comic-Con with Elvira, Peter Mayhew and George Romero in 2006. He has been the FX artist on a line-up of independent film projects including the recent award-winning short film Abracadaver and action dramas such Dan Eberle’s Local and A Prayer to a Vengeful God (out now on DVD) and his new film, Cut to Black, due for release soon. “I work on all different types of projects,” Steve said, “but mostly trauma and gore, beatings, bruises, slit wrists and throats, stabbings and eviscerations. “For Cut to Black I created boils all over an actress’s body using gelatine appliances and then hand laid almost a hundred individual little boils. It was time consuming but what isn’t in FX makeup? “It takes a lot of time to make and apply your effects. I worked 20 days on set, recreating the same bruises for fight scenes and had to age them according to the timeline of the film. Not an easy task. “To the other extreme of a full evisceration for Abracadaver I created a fake chest piece packed with guts and blood. It had to be sliced and have all the guts and intestines fall on top of the actress placed beneath it. We went through 15 pounds of guts and 11 gallons of blood.”
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Special FX is a passion started in childhood for Steve when his late father allowed him to watch horror movies. He was nine when he died but his brother “continued the tradition” with films such as The Evil Dead, A Nightmare on Elm Street and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. “I read Fangoria and went to the Fango conventions and saw things that amazed me,” said Steve. “I wondered how they did it. From then on I was hooked on horror and would read articles, magazines and how-to-dos on special FX makeup, soaking up every word. “As a teen I would try to trick my mom, who was a nurse, with cuts or whatever injury I could come up with. I even got her a couple times too! “As I got older I realized people would pay me to do makeup on them, I would go to bars and clubs for Halloween and do bullet holes, cut throats and all sorts of trauma on party-goers.” Sat in a bar one day in Long Island, New York, Steve spotted a man carrying a ‘dead body’ across a floor and was instantly curious. “I asked him what was going on,” said Steve. “He gave me a tour of the haunted attraction he was building in the event centre part of the building. I fell in love with it and worked with them till 4am the next day then he gave me a job in my first haunt.” It was the House of the Living Dead where Steve worked as a builder, FX artist and manager for five years until 2006 prior to opening Gut Rot Effects the following year. Despite no formal FX training Steve has never been short of work and has just completed three productions during the 2011/12 season and already has a booking for a scare gig this October 2012 and is scheduled to tour his highly successful TRAUMA 101 class to various US scare conventions to teach his techniques on creating realistic trauma effects for haunt or film. “I didn’t have the money to go to school so I learned on the job,” said Steve. “I worked hard and knocked on a lot of doors to learn and work with some really great and talented people. “From learning how to build and prop, to what materials work and which ones don’t, I would try and recreate my favourite movie FX and went through a lot of trial and error. “It has been a long road just getting to where I am now but dedication and persistence pays off. You need to understand the materials you work with on any job and to learn timings in order to get the makeup done for opening. Really pushing the limits of what you think you can do in the time you’ve got. “It’s a very personal job. You work closely with many different types of people and knowing how to handle stressful situations and how to make someone feel comfortable is key.
February 2012- May 2012
www.scareworld.co.uk “When you work on someone you need to make them feel at ease. Not everyone has had large amounts of makeup on them, so explaining to them what you’re doing is very important. “You also need to be driven and dedicated to what you’re doing as people can get hurt if you’re not knowledgeable about the products and materials you use on them. “But you get such great satisfaction in this industry. You work hard for hours, days, and even months on a project, building, designing, sculpting, casting and moulding. You can spend hours on an application and go from just a pile of parts or clay, to seeing it come together step-by-step until you reach the final product. “It’s a tough and stressful challenge but being able to see your haunt or character come to life and terrify the masses is a great and satisfying feeling, that’s the reward. The feeling of making something from nothing, changing the way a person looks and feels about themselves, to watch a normally shy person now covered in blood, looking like a zombie chasing customers while screaming, “I’m gonna eat your brains”, there’s nothing like it. “There have been ups and downs and I’m learning every day and have a long way to go. But I look forward to the challenge. “This is an evolutionary industry where there is always a new technique or material coming out and staying on top of what’s new and what’s current isn’t easy, but necessary.
“I’m just getting started in my production of products and look forward to when I can produce large amounts of my applications, masks and blood and eventually want to start production on my own FX makeup line. “Right now my zombie bites are a big seller and tend to go faster than I can make them. I have just finished some really cool clown masks which have sold out and as all my pieces are made on such a limited scale, mostly one-offs, they go pretty quick.” “So keep an eye out for more from GutRot Effects, I will be coming out with new sick and twisted props and applications, continuing to keep the blood arts alive and bleeding.” Visit GUTROTFX.YOLASITE.COM and find them on Facebook.
February 2011- May 2012
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Guest Review STINGY JACK’S HALLOWEEN HAUNTS Last October the Dungeons delved into the darkest of Halloween legends as they each presented their regional variation of the King of Scare - Stingy Jack. Condemned by Old Nick himself for his nasty nature, Irish Halloween legend tells how Stingy Jack was doomed to wander the underworld in endless darkness with only a turnip lantern to light his way. Last Halloween, the Dungeons brought Stingy Jack’s twisted tale to life with scareactors and specially created shows designed for maximum Halloween high jinx, where guests were led deep into the dark myth of Stingy Jack’s curse. Visitors were warned in advance to ‘prepare for thrills, jumps and scares as this grisly turnip headed ghoul walks prowls the Dungeons’ shadowy corridors ready to pop up and pounce on the unwary... Dungeon guests will feel the blood freeze in their veins as they edge their way through Stingy Jack’s hell hole of a lair. With shadows, spiders and dusty cobwebs, Stingy Jack’s horrendous hovel is home to an army of staring turnip heads with twisted grins and mocking eyes!’ So with that in mind Scareworld sent reviewers to both The Blackpool Tower Dungeon and The Edinburgh Dungeon to see what they had in store...
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The Blackpool Tower Dungeon The newly created Blackpool Tower Dungeon had barely opened for business when Halloween was upon them. With a multitude of options available to host the Halloween overlay, the Labyrinth of the Lost was reworked as Stingy Jack’s den. The disorienting design of the mirror maze, a scare attraction feature which appears in many of the Dungeon attractions, and others, was the perfect backdrop for a superb portrayal of Jack as a top hat bedecked ‘child catcher’ type character. Scareworld was impressed by the tales of devilment delivered through a well scripted performance and excellent costume. The scareactor portraying Stingy Jack, complete with unsettling contact lens and an imposing stature, was a well cast performer. Engaging and eerie in equal measure, the Stingy Jack encounter lasted just long enough to be entertaining and fun, while not detracting from the mirror maze experience, or the Dungeon as a whole. It is great to see Halloween entertainment which is novel and well delivered in Blackpool’s newest scare attraction, and we look forward to seeing what they will deliver this year!
February 2012- May 2012
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The Edinburgh Dungeon Utilising an entire chamber in the Dungeon complex, Stingy Jack’s encounter took place in a brand new set styled like an old Edinburgh ale house. With pumpkins and cobweb covered tankards, guests were ushered around a large table where the Inn Keeper regaled the take of old Stingy Jack. Despite guessing what would happen, it was still a jumpy moment when by a flash of lighting, Jack appeared from within the table to take his place amidst the watching guests - in very close proximity! The choice of face mask was perhaps not the best available on the market (we saw the very same mask available in a popular food retailer the very same day) the experience was both fun and thrilling, a welcome seasonal addition to what is already a top notch scare attraction experience. For more details on the Dungeons visit www.the-dungeons.com
February 2011- May 2012
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Eerie Eateries
Live actors and scary rides
Britain’s most horrible history
Shows and exciting special effects
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February 2012- May 2012
www.scareworld.co.uk Le Manoir De Paris Paris
Discover the dark legends that await you at Le Manoir de Paris, a new scare concept opened in the French capital where 13 haunting mysteries and legends of historic Paris are brought to life in vivid scary style. Take a journey through this creepy indoor tour and see Paris as you have never seen it before. Explore the cavernous hideout of the phantom haunting Paris’ opera and put your nerves to the test on a fright-fest that takes in many monstrous mysteries from the archives of French history. Located in the heart of the City of Lights, Le Manoir de Paris, which opened in May 2011 and during the Halloween season during September and October, unlocks the mysteries of the capital. Spread over two floors and almost 10,000 ft”, guests to the haunted museum follow a scary interactive path through the thrilling history of Paris and watch as the legends of Paris come to life. Mysteries including the Phantom of the Opera, the Man with the Iron Mask, the Paris Metro, the Bloody Baker and the infamous Hunchback of Notre Dame are played out through gruesome scenes located in rooms decked with spinetingling décor. Created by Belgian-born Adil Houti, a former resident of the US who now lives in France, Le Manoir de Paris is a living museum located inside a 120-year-old historic building that was reportedly used as a hospital for diseased people during the 12th Century. The historic style of the building and its history is perfectly matched for the setting of Le Manoir de Paris where groups of four people enter long corridors where horrors lurk around every corner.
February 2011- May 2012
Actors made up in gruesome make-up and blood-soaked attire seek to tell the stories in typical scare style although the language used is the country’s own, so it might be worth brushing up on your French if you want to understand the full story of each scene. But the use of descriptive scare performances translate to any language so there is no mistaking that panic, fear and no doubt screams, will spread like wildfire when a gruesome character creeps up behind or jumps out from an unsuspecting location. Le Manoir de Paris is an attempt to bring the American scare influence to the Parisian audience and so far, this new type of entertainment seems to have been a hit with the French. But Houti has been mindful to pitch the level of scare with the French audience in mind and has taken care not to make it as frightening as the scarier-end of US horror mazes. The cast of more than 20 actors went through a gruelling training regime to perfect the performance of each of the characters to bring the 13 macabre French legends to life. They mysteries include the 16th century legend of Philibert Aspairt who enters the quarries below the convent of Val de Grâce and never returns. Eleven years later is body is discovered in the tunnels under street of l’Abbé de l’Epée but his skeleton is only identifiable by the set of keys on his belt.
In March 1984, city workers in the sewers under the Pont Neuf bridge, Paris, discover a creature hiding in a corner only a few feet away from them. A Nile crocodile had found its way into the sewers of Paris, surviving on rats and the trash of the city. Truth or myth, it is a spine-tingling chiller brought to reality at Le Manoir de Paris. Few are unaware of the infamous Phantom of the Opera legend about a disfigured monster which terrorizes Paris’ Opera Garnier. But is the phantom behind strange events occurring at the end of the 19th century, leading to rumours of haunting? On May 20th 1986, a massive chandelier crashed during a production of Faust de Gounod, killing the occupant of seat number 13.
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The Prisoner in the Iron Mask is another legend explored at Le Manior. It centres on the death of one of the most famed prisoners of French history, the man in the iron mask, on November 19, 1703, who was held at the Bastille prison for 34 years and whose identity remains a mystery today. While the Carpathian Mountains are considered to be the source of vampire legends, Paris has often been the setting of their stories. Among the most known of these are Anne Rice’s “Vampire Chronicles”, recounting the tale of, Lestat de Lioncourt, a noble Frenchman transformed into a vampire in the XVIII century. His famous “Theatre des Vampires” was known to be a hotbed of vampire activity in Paris and is now a hotbed for fear at Le Manoir de Paris. The fatal stabbing of a young woman, Laetitia Toureaux, whose body was found on line 8 of the Paris Metro on Sunday May 16, 1937 at 6:30pm, is one of Paris’ most famous legends. The only passenger in a first class car, Miss Toureaux collapses as the train pulls into the Porte Dorée station, a knife in the back of her neck. A real life “locked room” mystery, her killer has never been found. The Père Lachaise cemetery was opened May 21, 1804 on the former property of Father François de La Chaise d’Aix, confessor of King Louis XIV from 1675 until his death. This cemetery is as known for being final resting place for many celebrities, as it is known for its mysteries. It is rumoured that black masses are regularly held within the gates of the cemetery, and that certain tombs give direct access to the catacombs. Use the gateway of Le Manoir de Paris for a glimpse inside this legendary tale. Escape the knife of Queen Catherine de’Medici’s assassin as you come face-to-face with the ghost of the Tuileries Gardens who is said to still haunt the gardens. It is a haunting that dates back to 1564 after Queen Catherine de’Medici acquired land surrounding the Louvre where she intending to create the palace of the Tuileries. When she deemed that her personal assassin, known as Jean the Flayer, knew too many of her secrets, Catherine ordered to have him killed. Before dying, Jean proclaimed he would return for his revenge. Books are an endless source of knowledge in The Alchemist’s Library of an alchemist seeking to uncover the secrets of the Philosopher’s Stone. Dedicated to finding the key to transform base metals into precious gold or silver, the most famous of these researchers was Nicolas Flamel (1330- 1418), a character and tale brought back to reality at Le Manoir. In 1387, a series of foreign students disappeared in Paris. They were the victims of an insane barber who slit their throats and gave their bodies to a neighbouring baker. The bodies were finely chopped and turned into pâté, then sold to unsuspecting customers in his bakery. A chilling tale re-visited at Le Manoir for scare-seekers brave enough.
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Enter the Assassin’s Cabaret, Le Lapin Agile, a hang-out of famous artists such as Picasso, Debussy and Maupassant and one of the oldest cabarets in Paris. In 1860 this Montmartre cabaret was known as a meeting place of thieves and murderers, so step over its violent threshold with great care. Legend has it that the gargoyles and chimeras of Notre-Dame de Paris come to life at night to scare away evil spirits. Hybrid monsters, half beast, half man, these fantastical creatures sculpted from stone are the keepers of Good sculpted onto the exterior walls of the ‘home’ of Quasimodo, The Hunchback of Notre-Dame de Paris. Famed as the character of Victor Hugo’s well-known novel, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and the centre of a Disney movie of the same name, this frightening, disfigured character lived in the bell towers of the cathedral, hiding his monstrous appearance from the crowds of the city. Now it is your chance to see his secret hideaway and meet the hideous hunch-back for yourself.
February 2012- May 2012
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But the inspiration for this terrifying new scare attraction is the legend of the rich and eccentric Count of le Manoir de Paris whose vast fortune allowed him to pursue his passion of collecting rare and precious objects. Known far and wide for the magnificent parties he hosted at 18 rue de Paradis, the count and his Manoir were the talk of Paris. All was perfect until the day the count was suddenly overcome with fever shortly after sores broke out across his body. Diagnosis confirmed the plague. Victim of a cruel fate, the Count, once beautiful and courted by all of Paris, was transformed into a hideous monster, abandoned by all. Hiding from the light, he locked himself away in his mansion. Left alone with nothing but his collections, his passion took a dark turn when he decided to collect creatures as terrifying as he. Are you brave enough to take a peek inside?
For tickets, opening times, age restrictions and more information visit the website www.lemanoirdeparis. com
February 2011- May 2012
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Guest Review Chessington Hocus Pocus By Go Merlin
Go Merlin sent Scareworld their park wide review of Chessington World of Adventures’ Halloween Hocus Pocus attractions for 2011.
The Krypt – New for 2011 No Spoilers -Throughout the attraction you are guided by various explorers, exploring the recently discovered tomb of the Kobra. The attraction relies heavily on special effects, and is well themed and very enjoyable. We rate it 8/10 and the most scary of the Hocus Pocus Attractions. Spoilers –You enter a themed queue line which features a video of an explorer telling you about the Krypt. As you enter you are greeted by an explorer who leads you down a short corridor to a statue of a Kobra with glowing green eyes. As you talk to him he leans on the statue and there is a flash of light and the Kobra’s eyes turn red and fire water at some of the guests. The corridor to the right suddenly lights up and the actor looks worried and guides you along it. As he begins to talk to you again, a portion of the wall is actually made of a special material so that an actor can lean on it and come out of the wall, causing many guests to jump. As you advance further into another corridor you notice several holes in the tombs walls and the explorer says that there is a beetle infestation. Suddenly several lights flash and foam balls are shot at you above, which provides a great scare with many getting stuck in our hair! The explorer then hands you over to another explorer who leads you into a room. As you are advancing into the next room there is a mirror which suddenly lights up with several strobe lights inside revealing a skull, which caused some members of the group to jump. This explorer closes the door and has a special UV torch which allows him to reveal a secret hidden message. After solving the riddle you enter the next room and find a tomb. The explorer slowly lifts it and an actor jumps out when the strobe lights are triggered. You are then handed over to yet another explorer. This section of the maze was formally part of the Twilight Zone walkthrough at Vampire XXI which has been slightly altered with some new lighting effects and cobwebs. The explorer takes you through, and sections of the corridors are alarmingly narrow which provides an unnerving experience! As you enter the next room which is smoke filled, there are many bright lights causing patterns to appear on the floor. You slowly advance forward, not being able to see much when suddenly you hear a huge roar and the explorer runs off set and tells you to escape. You
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www.scareworld.co.uk then see a huge gorilla head with glowing red eyes and slowly exit the maze.
seen in previous years, so we gave the attraction a 7/10.
We rate the experience 8/10 and fill that it was very well themed and had a good number of scares. It is probably the most scary of attractions for children experiencing Halloween Hocus Pocus.
The Black Forest Haunt – The Vampire Bites Back
Hocus Pocus Hall – Bewitched! No Spoilers –The attraction is based on Hocus Pocus Hall becoming overrun with witches.This year the attraction has not changed much, the main difference being the music and positioning of actors. Still it is a great attraction and quite jumpy at parts. We rate this 7/10. Spoilers – As you enter in groups of up to twelve, hands on shoulders, you are greeted by a knight who briefs you with all of the health and safety instructions. We noticed it was best to go later on in the day as at the beginning of opening there were less actors. You advance through the corridors and are first greeted by a witch who jumps out and screams “Silence in the library!” before heading into the tunnel. Further through the attraction you meet another witch who runs at you selling fresh eyeballs in a jar. As you approach the snake area an actor jumps at you who was previously hidden by the scenery. When you reach the next section you are greeted by a statue sitting in the chair wearing pyjamas. As you almost pass it, you suddenly realise it is a very well disguised actor who leaps from the chair at you. On our secondwalk-through, the actor was not at the chair but popped out of a secret hatch in the doorway. There is no more actors for the rest of the attraction although the music has been changed to a more atmospheric track. When you reach the mirror maze you are greeted by the final actor who jumps from behind one of the mirrors. This year the actors were very good at pretending to be statues, as there were many actual statues around the attraction to help them blend in. The whole attraction was covered in cobwebs which added to the atmosphere and provided some great scares. There were slightly less actors than last year and the lack of the mask scare
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positioning of the actors is changed almost every time, the actors become much more sinister in the dark.
Trick or Treat Stables
No Spoilers –The Black Forest Haunt is based on entering an old castle which is supposed to be haunted. The attraction has not changed massively this year, but was still enjoyable. We gave the attraction a 7/10.
No Spoilers – The show is aimed at young children, and is about making sure the stables are safe from ghosts before trick or treating can begin. Little children love the show, so we rate it 7/10. The show lasts about 15 minutes.
Spoilers – You enter through the themed gates are are greeted by a grave digger who says that the castle has been untouched for years. He leads you up to the castle and you travel past a giant spider covered in cobwebs and smoke.
We gave the show a 7/10 as we feel it should have included the headless horseman for slightly longer and also incorporated some jokes for the adults. The show lasts about 15minutes.
He picks a member of the group to step forward and knock on the doors of the castle. When they knock, something knocks back! The grave digger then tells the person to open the doors, as they do lots of smoke flies out and he orders them to step back. He slowly ventures in and suddenly screams and runs out. He tells you to put your hands on each others shoulders and make the cross sign if you get scared. As you enter the tower there are two models of monks either side and lots of smoke, you can hear sounds of them chanting. As you walk through suddenly you hear a loud bang that makes everybody jump, one of the monks lunges at you. The next section is new as the castle has now been extended by scaffolding so that there is a large covered area to walk through.
Overall we feel the event has been a great success this year and is certainly an improvement from previous years. It is good to see the park’s walk-through attractions increasing. The on park actors wandering around also added to the atmosphere. Our only complaint was that the park wide loop was far to repetitive and each area should have its own theme like previous years. More smoke effects could also be incorporated. But the little details this year were brilliant such as the lights on the Vampire carriages and the witches toilet. Thanks to Go Merlin for this feature www.go-merlin.co.uk
As you walk through there is lots of smoke and skeletons before you finally exit. You walk out and can see a hearse, many think this is the end of the attraction. However an undertaker attempts to measure one of you to fit in his coffin. He appears nervous and warns you of a Vampire ahead. When you almost turn the corner, smoke shoots out and you are greeted by the almighty Vampire who jumps at members of the group. We gave the attraction a 7/10 as we feel there should be an actor in the new covered section, as there was only one real scare. However the attraction is great for re rides as the storyline and
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Section Title
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re The Science ofSca
Part three
Madelon Hoedt is a Ph.D. student and parttime lecturer at the Cardiff School of Creative and Cultural Industries at the University of Glamorgan (UK). She has been researching scare attractions and other forms of horror performance for a number of years, focusing on audience response and perception, and has published several articles on these and related topics. If you wish to contact her, please send an email to the following address: m.e.hoedt@gmail.com. In the previous instalment of this series, I discussed the different theories that have been put forward regarding the enjoyment of horror, as well as asking some questions as to how these effects can be achieved. Can we find ways to create a more elaborate narrative, to give the audience a role? Can we create an experience that still pleases patrons, but pushes the boundaries of the industry? Although we might be able to provide definite answers to these questions, it will be worth looking into the concept of narrative and its role in scare attractions. Definitions of narrative often seem straightforward: we use the term to refer to a series of events that are linked together. Despite the fact that this is the easiest way to define a story, it becomes more complicated when we look at different media: is a story the same story in a book as it is in a film? The same is true for narrative in performance events; is it just that chain of events that is important?
February 2011- May 2012
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Take a look at the following definitions: - “‘Narrative’ is the showing or the telling of these events and the mode selected for that to take place...” - “... narrative is the representation of events, consisting of story and narrative discourse; story is an event or sequence of events (the action); and narrative discourse is those events as represented.” Both authors state that narrative is something beyond story or plot, drawing attention to the concept of narrative as representation: it is not just about the events, about what happens to the characters, but about the way in which their story is portrayed. It is this element of representation that will be important here, as many horror entertainments do not deal with stories in the traditional sense of telling and showing the audience a sophisticated narrative. Instead, attractions often rely on other means to convey the plot as visitors are introduced to a premise (“Vampires haunt this old mansion”) and become part of the story. Although this approach might appear rather simplistic, as Torben Grodal states: “That some stories are rather simple in some dimensions is not a reason for depriving them of their status as stories.” (2003:147) In his article “Stories for Eye, Ear, and Muscles”, Grodal sets out to discuss the role of narrative in videogames, a medium which, like scare attractions, relies on the way in which the story is experienced and uses a number of features beyond a plot to achieve this. One of these is an active role on the part of the audience, as is described by Grodal:
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The reader/viewer of “traditional” mediated stories needs only to activate some general cognitive skills, including the ability to have some expectations. The story will proceed even without such expectations. The computer story, in contrast, is only developed by the player’s active participation, and the player needs to possess a series of specific skills to “develop” the story... (2003:139) According to the author, a special approach is required on the part of the player (or, spectator, for our discussion) regarding the way in which they interact and engage with the narrative. We will return to these “specific skills” that an audience requires later on in this series; instead, I want to focus on the aspect of representation. If narrative in scare attractions is more than ‘just the plot’, what is it? What does it consist of, and why are these elements important? The first features we can base ourselves on are any elements of the performance which are scripted. Is there a back-story? Do the actors have any lines? Is there a clear introduction in the form of a pre-show? Is there additional text to read once inside the venue (such as the plaques used often used in the Dungeons franchise to describe historical events)? Of course, the experience of a text will be different in performance as opposed to being read, as the delivery of text through a performer creates an additional mediation. If the actors have any lines, how are they delivered: was the choice made to use loud, insane laughter, or a nervous giggle? Lastly, and obviously, actions will not only be described, but also shown: a moving statue or a maniac with a chainsaw are more than simple sentences; they are reality. Similarly, we can look at
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the characters which are found inside the attraction. Are they original creations or characters that an audience will be familiar with: generic monsters such as zombies or well-known icons such as Pinhead? How will these choices resonate with the audience and the way in which they will experience your venue?
where the next scare could be coming from by closely looking at the room, sound can be used to confuse them and assault them from all sides, to keep the scares going even when there are no actors. Or perhaps you are more interested in creating a soundscape which uses notes that are experienced physically rather than heard?
Yet it is not just a script that is part of the show or the only means to convey the narrative; other elements need to be considered that can similarly trigger emotions. Whereas some aspects of a performance are directed or only played out in a section of a space and focus the attention of the audience,
Space is experienced by an audience in much the same way, as, like sound, it is another feature that is ‘omnidirectional’. Gaston Bachelard, in his book The Poetics of Space, describes how a space can be experienced in “a state of suspended reading”, invoking a variety of emotional responses:
...sound ... whatever events the sources of the individual sounds might represent, is in totum an immersive environment. One cannot stand back from it and see the entire picture; one’s aural attention does not have the equivalent of sightlines; the theatrical mode of listening does not gaze uniformly, but is, by nature, a state of continual omnidirectional distraction. (2010:132)
It therefore makes sense from our standpoint of a philosophy of literature and poetry that we “write a room”, “read a room”, or “read a house.” Thus, very quickly, [...] the reader who is “reading a room” leaves off reading and starts to think of some place in his own past. (1994:14)
This omnipresence of sound, as described by Brown in his book Sound, results in an interesting response from visitors. Van Leeuwen in Speech, Music, Sound, similarly draws the attention to the importance and effect of audio: “Sound never just ‘expresses’ or ‘represents’, it always also, and at the same time, affects us.” (1999:128) Whereas a spectator can (in theory) stand back from a performance, hide behind others, or shut their eyes to avoid seeing images of pain and violence, the nature of sound as an immersive environment allows no escape. Although visitors might be able to figure out
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The expectations we have of horror ask for dark caverns, gloomy castles and abandoned dungeons, filled with monsters. Similarly, our general cultural history adds a resonance to buildings and places: a horror event staged in a church will have a different ‘feel’ than the same performance repeated in a designated theatre space, which can have a significant impact on the way in which it is experienced by its audience. Spaces for horror can be theatrical; created for the event; converted from practical sewer to intricate maze; can have a mythology added (monsters and corpses were found in these very corridors) or taken away (once a church, it is now only a husk); each will have
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a different effect on a spectator and their experience. In addition to the use of space, the travel to a space has a resonance of its own, and the area in which the venue is located will equally have an effect on the overall experience. Not only can the journey to a venue thus create a feeling of nervous anticipation in an audience: as discussed in the first part of this series, many events have a ‘preshow’ experience in place in order to prepare visitors for what they will encounter inside. Where is the venue located and at what times is it open? Is the location part of a tourist area, or do visitors need to travel down dark alleyways to a place where they have never been before? In what way is it possible to weave the location and its history into the back-story of the venue and to create a more complex (and more frightening) narrative?
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The plot as represented consists of more than just a storyline and the separate elements of space, sound and human interactions are vital in creating the overall experience. Many of the features of these entertainments are not mere plot devices, but are used to create a ‘play-world’ (a concept which we will return to), the form of which will shape the way in which it is perceived and interpreted by its visitors. The importance of narrative and the way in which it is experienced returns us to the idea of ‘liveness’ which was discussed in the first part of this series, as is explained by Emma McEvoy in her article “Contemporary Gothic theatre”: “Theatre and dramatic performance have the potential for introducing potent factors into Gothic work – real space and real time.” (2007:215) Commenting on this use of space, McEvoy adds another factor to the intensity which can be created by a horror performance event: “Site-specific performance can bring the audience into the haunted house, materialising the spaces of the Gothic” (2007:220); we can invite our visitors straight into their nightmares. As opposed to other media, we have many more dimensions available to us to tell the story: script and characters, obviously, but visual elements, sound, space and location, touch and smell. Are there any features that, at this moment, you are not yet using to their full potential..?
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Haunted House ConferenCe
May 3rd - 7th, 2012 - Monroeville Convention Center -Pittsburgh, PA - USA
Education Haunt Tours HAuNTcon moves to a new city each year to offer tours of the best haunted attractions in the country. Infamous attractions that you have heard about but could never get away to see in October open for HAuNTcon attendees. Giving you an incredible once in a life time opportunity to see these attractions off season in full Halloween mode. The HAuNTcon Pre-show Tour is a two day out and back overnight bus trip touring as many as 10 more area haunted attractions. Scheduled Haunt Tours for 2012 include, Fright Farm, Hundred Acres Manor and Haunted Hills Estate, plus 10 haunted attractions on the Pre-Show Tour.
Tradeshow Check out the latest props, equipment and services provided to the haunted attraction industry is a leisurely atmosphere and schedule designed to provide one on one face time with HAuNTcon exhibitors. Both industry icons and first time exhibitors fill the 10,000 exhibit hall. There is even a Haunted Garage Sale for attendees to get into the selling frenzy.
Join the email list & get your tickets at www.hauntcon.com
Sharing information is what HAuNTcon is all about. You can get knowledge about what to do and what not to do; about what has worked in the past and what has not either by years and years of experience and experimentation or by attending the 50 hours of Haunter education provided in three days at HAuNTcon. During the HAuNTcon education program cutting edge technologies are explored, new ideas are developed, old concepts are refined and reworked, and sometimes tried-and-true haunting methods are thrown out altogether for better, more efficient techniques! Learn first Hand Through! • Informative Seminars • Make-up Demonstrations • Actor Training Classes • Hands-on Workshops •
Prop Building How-to’s
Costume Ball Show off your creepiest character for fun rather than work at the HAuNTcon Costume Ball and dance the night away to classics from the crypt. THE social event on the Haunting Calendar, attendees can sink their fangs into fantastic food, beer, wine or a cash bar for the more adventurous. Prizes and surprises throughout the night. Themed as a Zombie Ball for HAuNTcon 2012 in Pittsburgh, costumes are not required but come ready for great networking and more fun than is allowed by law. Presented by
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Scary World Port Aventura - Spain Port Aventura, one of Spain’s largest theme parks, puts Halloween at the top of its seasonal entertainment offerings. Halloween brings guests flooding to the park to endure a seasonal treat which sees the entire resort transformed into a twisted version of its usual European/ international appearance. During the 2010 Halloween event, I was lucky enough to spend several days at the park, experiencing its midway and headline entertainments. Top of the agenda are the dedicated scare attractions which open only during the scare season period. In ‘La Mina Del Diablo’ - or ‘The Devil’s Mine’, guests explore a disused mine shaft in which a variety of scareactors bring to life scenes depicting old time wild west mining activities. Dragging shovels and impact based scares take place in a converted queue line area, which doubles as a scare attraction throughout October. The exterior of the attraction is well themed with gory dismembered bodies, twisted in old mining machinery, and tattered sheets which sway in the autumn breezes. The culmination of the experience takes place in a strange ‘greenhouse’ based area in which guests must navigate narrow pathways brushing between dead plants and avoiding sudden appearances by the scareactors. Although brief, The Devil’s Mine conjures up a true sense of the darker side of the American wild west, and prepares park guests for the larger attractions in the park. ‘Horror en Penitence’ - or ‘Horror in Penitence’ places guests in a typical haunted house attraction, built in a dedicated building and
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fronted with a detailed decrepit house facade. Upon entering guests are ushered down a darkened door lined hallway passed portraits of long dead inhabitants, and into the attraction building itself. A thunderous sound track ensures a quick throughput, with guests encountering a variety of well designed rooms and passageways including a tilting room, lunatics bedroom, torture chambers and graveyard. The attraction culminates in a somewhat disappointing ‘spinning tunnel’ which doesn’t fit the overall ‘ghost town’ theme, but the core elements of the attraction are effective, and populated by well trained scareactors who make good use of the available scare zones. ‘La Selva Del Miedo’ - or ‘The Forest of Fear’ is hailed as the largest scare attraction in Europe, and probably is as it takes over several daytime attractions and queue areas which are closed off from late afternoon, to allow the effects and scenes to be installed ready for night time operation. Beginning in tree lined walkways, and snaking through a disused bus, toxic themed scare zones and into tunnels and caves, the impressive experience lasts around 20 minutes. As guests make their way through the various areas, scareactors make sudden attacks and create impacts with large scale gory illusions. Lighting and fog create a sense of eerie unease
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and, despite the continual throughput, a sense of of two characters and the celebration of their threat is accomplished. undead union with a ‘get up and dance’ scene. Fun and spooky in equal measure the Banquet Elsewhere in the park roaming scareactors of Fear was a treat, and something I have no perform short vignettes and interact with guests witnessed elsewhere. as they move around the park. Most impressive was an ‘Exorcist’ style character who provided Port Aventura Halloween is an excellent scare a great photo opportunity as well as performing entertainment event, offering something for a simple, yet effective, illusion inside a large everyone, thrill seekers and families alike. For scale ‘bed’ prop. Other characters include a further details visit www.portaventura.com ‘Beetlejuice’ style character and an escaped lunatic known as ‘Loco’. The daily Halloween Parades give the park a chance to show off an impressive cast of zombies, Addams Family style characters, skeletons and clowns as they dance and perform their way around the resort in a ‘Disney’ style presentation. Several live stage shows are also performed throughout the day including a Vampire themed rock show ‘Mystery’ and a Saloon based burlesque style production ‘La Danza de los Vampiros’. Outside the park, a resort hotel is transformed into ‘Hotel Burn’, very akin to Alton Towers Scarefest ‘Scare Rooms’ this experience places guests inside the tale of a hotel with a haunted past. Live scareactors enter the bedrooms to deliver narrative driven content which tells the tale of the haunted buildings past, and detailed theming creates an immersive sense of place which is both impressive and scary. ‘Un Banquet De Miedo’ - or ‘The Banquet of Fear’, was a themed dining spectacular first introduced in 2010. The show took place in a converted restaurant which was themed to include subdued lighting, quirky cobwebbed furniture and a piano which was being played by a live scareactor as guests entered. Passing by a robed figure holding a live owl, the theatrics of the experience were second to none. During a three course banquet, a ghostly tale came to life as scareactors swept around, and onto, the tables, interacting with guests and providing atmospheric entertainment as the themed food was served. With bloody butchers brandishing huge knives and lunatic madmen, the culmination of the story saw the betrothal
February 2011- May 2012
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Once again Kevin, Wayne and their team have been out and about in search of a scare. Scareworld are pleased to have some of thier latest reviews here for you. Don’t forget, for the latest news and reviews on all the scariest goings on, check out their site at www.scareattractions.co.uk. dark passageways and scenes and The Field of The Haunted Hayride at Tulleys Farm ShocktoberfestScreams, a long (much longer than we’ve experienced before) corn maze with wide pathways and dark scenes scattered throughout, including a long dark maze section towards the beginning. However, rather than cover old ground (you can read about these in our previous reviews from 2010 and 2009) we wanted to concentrate on the new attractions since our last visit and the new for 2011 Hell-ements. Everyone loves a clown… don’t they? Well inside “It’s Curtains” you get more than your fair share. These mischievous, murderous clowns are on the run and coming for you… pull back the curtains and see, if you dare! With it’s disorientating use of coloured canvas it really is hard to know where to go next, unfortunately for us the clowns knew exactly where we were going! The Cellar. We’d heard so much about this attraction and what can we say? Well, it’s by far the best maze at Shocktoberfest, not just because we have a soft spot for our old friend Esmerelda, but because of the full on action and energy that this attraction manages to create. Combine the superb talent in the maze, the story and the sets then this is the maze of the event for us.
Shocktoberfest 2011 : Tulley’s Farm We hadn’t visited Tulleys Farm for a couple of years. Then the invitation came in to visit on the preview night… so on a mild October evening we made our way down to Crawley to experience Shocktoberfest 2011. Since our last visit Tulleys have not only invested in more mazes, they have also invested into the infrastructure around the event. The entrance gates, the pay desks and the many covered areas make this a more pleasurable experience from the off. But, what about the mazes? Well, the old favourites are there - The Haunted Hayride with its random scenes and scares along the route, The Creepy Cottage, living up to it’s name and some fabulous small
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So, finally onto Hell-ements. This is Tulley’s new maze for 2011 and little was known about this attraction before we ventured towards it. The queue started to buzz with anticipation as the attraction opened and then somebody mentioned it’s dark inside. Well, yes, it’s a scare maze they do tend to be dark… but maybe not as dark when you have a fabric bag over your head! It’s a UKs first and to put it politely it’s great. Don’t get me wrong your not going to come out the end screaming, shouting and out of breath (The Cellar is made for that) but you are going to come out thinking “what was that?” and “did I see that?”. Hell-ements is more psychological than screamie and it works well. The changes in direction and elevation all add to the discomfort with the bag on your head just letting you see enough, but not give too much away… Oh and finally – don’t let go of the rope…
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WWW.SCAREATTRACTIONS.CO.UK ScareVille - Suffolk
scarers, who did their job pretty well, and some nicely-timed startle scares. The pathways are dimly litEventually you left the inside section and headed out into the fields and wooded areas. Note that this is a long walk over open ground, so whilst on a dry moonlit night it is relatively safe walking, it could get slippery under foot on wet nights or as the path gets more well-trodden. Make sure you wrap up warm, and have suitable footwear!
Guest Reviewers, David & Susan Ellis, took a trip to Kentwell Hall to visit Scaresville. Would the 2009 Screamie Award winner live up to expectations? Set in the beautiful 500-year old Kentwell Hall, Gardens and Farm in “deepest Suffolk”, Scaresville is now in its 3rd full year, and after winning a Screamie Award for its 2009 attraction, the set-up for 2010 could well follow with similar success. The long dark drive up the access road to the Hall leads to a parking area, and the screams that are clearly audible as you leave your car set the tone perfectly for what lies ahead. (Note that Kentwell Hall is probably tricky to get to without a car). “Victims” are sent through the attraction in groups of 6 to 8, and are informed to try to keep together as a group and not catch up with other groups ahead of you, as this may spoil some of the surprises. It was generally possible to follow this sound advice, but see the reference to the Catacombs below. The tour starts inside, where there is a healthy mix of “rooms” to walk through. Much of Scaresville happens in the dark, and this really means dark, so those who are uncomfortable with walking around and feeling your way with your hands may not find the attraction suitable. There were some nice effects in these rooms, including severed heads, various dangling skeletons and more surprises. The rooms contained a few
The outdoor section is longer than you think it might be for such an attraction, with everything being just sufficiently lit to keep you on the right route but dark enough to keep you on edge for what might be lurking around the next corner, hidden behind the next tree-trunk or hung from the next overhanging branch. There are a few startle scares, some excellent use of illumination making the scares work all the better, and some natural theming (such as scary silhouetted trees, small fires burning, and scary-looking donkeys) that all added to the overall scare-factor! During the outdoor section you will encounter a minefield, falling trees, steps, a rope bridge and some quaint characters such as Maggot and Tizzy, who add to the atmosphere through their tales of witchcraft and curses (male visitors may well heed Maggot’s warning of a curse on their “gendering stones”). There is an option to take the “chicken exit” on a number of scares but generally the route follows a continuous circle, so you need to be prepared to do the whole walk. The group head out into the Village...The final sections of the walk includes a number of outbuildings converted into dark mazes, where you literally cannot see anything and have to rely on feeling your way in the dark for the exit doors. The Rat Run was well done, and as for the Catacombs, it is still unclear if there is actually a way out…the visitors we encountered all managed to get back out of the “in” door”. “You’ve failed miserably”, was the welcome back to the outside world, after 20 minutes of total darkness. Although the actors are instructed not to touch guests, the Catacombs is pretty much guaranteed to involve moments of inappropriate touching with other members of your group, or indeed other groups, as it appears the Catacombs might end up being the final resting place of many who enter! The last main scare area (or “scarea” if you will) is a maze of yew trees, dubbed Yew Castle by the locals, and more scarers were on hand to ensure visitors finished their tour in the same frightened state they began it. Despite Scaresville appearing relatively expensive (ticket prices range from £15.45 up to £26.50 for Halloween weekend depending on day and time slot), it is definitely worth every penny. Deserving of a Screamie Award this year? Absolutely!
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Scare Listings CURRENT EUROPEAN SCARE ATTRACTION ENTERTAINMENT LISTINGS CURRENT EUROPEAN YEAR ROUND SCARE ATTRACTIONS The London Dungeon, London London, England www.thedungeons.com Attractions: The Crypt Labyrinth of Lost Souls Plague Great fire of London Surgery: Blood and Guts Torture Judgement Bedlam Traitor: Boat Ride to Hell Sweeney Todd Jack the Ripper Vengeance Bloody Mary Extremis: Drop ride to Doom Scream, Madame Tussaud’s London, England www.madametussauds.com The London Tombs, The London Bridge Experience London, England www.thelondonbridgeexperience.com The Ghostbus Tours, London London, England www.theghostbustours.com Haunted Crypt, Pleasure Beach Resort Lancashire, England www.pleasurebeachresort.com Carnesky’s Ghost Train, Blackpool Lancashire, England www.carneskysghosttrain.co.uk Pasaje Del Terror, Blackpool Lancashire, England www.pasajedelterror.com Buccaneer Bay, Newquay Newquay, Cornwall www.buccaneer-bay.co.uk Sunken Village of the DAMNED, Buccaneer Bay
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Newquay, Cornwall www.buccaneer-bay.co.uk The Stratford Ripper Experience, Stratford-Upon-Avon Warwickshire, England www.stratfordripper.co.uk The Haunted House, Dickens World Kent, England www.dickensworld.co.uk Dracula Experience, Whitby Yorkshire, England www.draculaexperience.co.uk SAW Alive, Thorpe Park Surrey, England www.thorpepark.com The York Dungeon, York York, Yorkshire www.thedungeons.com Attractions: Torture Chamber The Great Plague Labyrinth of the Lost Judgement of Sinners Dick Turpin Ghosts of York Bloody Vikings Guy Fawkes Witches Burned Alive Gladiators of York The Castle Dungeon at Warwick Castle, Warwick Castle Warwickshire, England www.warwick-castle.co.uk Terror Tower, Scarborough Yorkshire, England www.terrortower.co.uk Ghost Dinner Kent’s Cavern, Devon www.kents-cavern.co.uk The Edinburgh Dungeon, Edinburgh Edinburgh www.thedungeons.com Attractions: Judgement of Sinners Torture The Save of Sawney Bean Burke and Hare Mary King’s Ghost William Wallace
February 2012- May 2012
www.scareworld.co.uk
Extremis: Drop ride to Doom Labyrinth of Lost Souls The Blackpool Tower Dungeon, Blackpool Blackpool, Lancashire www.thedungeons.com Attractions: Elevator to Hell Dark Chapel Plague Torture Judgement of Sinners Labyrinth of Lost Souls Vikings of the North Skippool Smugglers Pendle Witches Extremis: Drop Ride to Doom. The Amsterdam Dungeon, Amsterdam Amsterdam, Holland www.thedungeons.com Attractions: Elevator to Hell Torture: The Bloody inquisition VOC: The Botavia Rembrandt’s Secret Spanish Inquisition Meynes Cornelis Labyrinth of the Lost Plague Reaper: Drop Ride to Doom The Hamburg Dungeon, Hamburg Hamburg, Germany www.thedungeons.com Attractions: Torture Chamber The Inquisition Labyrinth of the Lost Plague Ghosts Flood of 1717 Extremis: Drop Ride to Doom Tibidabo, Barcelona www.tibidabo.cat The House of Fear Allou! Fun Park, Athens, Greece www.allou.gr El Viejo Del Caseron Parque De Attraciones, Madrid, Spain www.parquedeatracciones.es
www.terramiticapark.com Pasaje Del Terror Tivoli World, Malaga, Spain www.tivoli.es Krueger Hotel, Tibidabo Barcelona, Spain www.tibidabo.es The Bram Stoker Dracula Experience Dublin, Ireland www.thebramstokerdraculaexperience.com SCREAM! Madame Tussauds, Amsterdam, Holland www.madamtussauds.nl STAGED SCARES The Woman in Black, Fortune Theatre London, England www.thewomaninblack.com Circus of Horrors, Touring the UK www.circusofhorrors.co.uk SCARE DINING The Creaky Cauldron, Stratford Upon Avon Warwickshire, England www.seekthemagic.org Attractions: The Stratford Ripper Experience The Jekyll & Hyde Experiment The Halloween Imagiscarium of Dr Thaddeus Bombay The Hellfire Club, Manchester Manchester, England www.thehellfire.co.uk The House of Magic, London London, England www.houseofmagic.co.uk Frankenstein, Edinburgh Edinburgh, Scotland www.frankenstein-pub.co.uk Frankenstein, Glasgow Glasgow, Scotland www.frankenstein-pub.co.uk
La Maldicion de la Momia Terra Mitica, Benidorm, Spain
February 2011- May 2012
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February 2012- May 2012