Posts Tagged ‘UK Haunts’

UK Haunts: Horror Camp Live!

Monday, May 14th, 2012

Only in the UK can you spend the night in a haunted hotel room, witness the Human Centipede live, and experience a multitude of year round and traveling haunted attractions. Now, across the pond those “Crazy Brits” are taking the terror to an even higher level with the first ever camping haunt experience called Horror Camp Live. For all of us who grew up fearing summer camps because of Jason and the all other backwoods crazies who stalk them; you better dose up on your anxiety meds or stay at home as this won’t be the camping trip for you.

 

On Friday the 13th and Saturday the 14th, in July, brave souls and scardy cats alike can pitch a tent at the overnight immersive experience, based in the fictional Campground Mass Acre (ha, get it?). For 13 hours, campers will become part of an interactive living horror game.

As darkness falls on the campground, campers meet around the fire to enjoy a two course buffet style meal while watching one of the latest horror movies, but all is not what it seems, as the terrifying night ahead becomes all too apparent, and Lockjaw – the demented serial killer, makes his presence known.

Horror Camp Live! challenges campers to undertake a series of dare games, during which they will be split up from the rest of the group. Each campers experience will be different, but all will include content which is intended to shock, scare and entertain. Campers will navigate around a series of indoor and outdoor environments during the experience, with shocks, surprises and scares at every turn.

Suitable for those aged 18 and over, Horror Camp Live! is perfect for stag and hen parties, team building events and celebrations. It is also available exclusively to groups of 30 or more. Those aged between 14 and 18 may attend, but each must be accompanied by an adult over 18.

The experience begins at 8.00pm and concludes at 2am, leaving six hours for sleeping, before breakfast at 8.15am. Survivors leave the site at 9.00am, 13 hours after they arrived.

Bored of traditional camping holidays? Visited all the scare attractions the UK has to offer? Love horror movies, books and games? Then why not try scare entertainment as it has never been seen before, you will have one hell of a time.

Horror Camp Live! Who dares wins…

Click here for more information and to buy tickets: Horror Camp Live

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Posted in Travel Terrors, UK, Year-Round Haunts | 2 Comments »

13 Haunt Stalking Destinations for 2012

Sunday, January 8th, 2012

It’s a  new year so it’s time to start planning our 2012 haunt stalking. With the haunt industry booming, there’s going to be even more ‘scare-tivities’ to endure… err enjoy in the new year. Looking at our past experiences and the highly anticipated haunt events of  the new year, we’ve complied a list of 13 haunt destinations for 2012. So count up those frequent flier miles, put in for vacation time and keep your resolutions to set out on some terrifying travels. Remember this may be the last year any of us will get to haunt stalk.

 

1. Friday the 13th Haunts: Friday the 13th occurred only once in 2010 and ’11. However, this year, we get 3 unlucky Fridays in January, April and July! A few haunts will be open this month on Friday the 13th and we only hope that even more will be open during the other ‘Friday the 13th’ dates to give us some continuous mid season scares.

2. Valentine’s Weekend Haunts: More haunts are sharing the fiendish love with special openings Valentines weekend. Here are a few of  the top haunts offering Valentine’s day massacres: Sinister Pointe (Brea, CA), Moxley Manor (Bedford, TX) and Blood Manor (New York, NY)

3. TransWorld Haunt Show (March 8-11, St. Louis, MO): For the last 16 years, TransWorld’s annual Halloween & Attractions Show has been a “must attend” event in the Halloween & Haunt industries. This year is no exception! This is the only trade show that features vendors, from across the nation and overseas, that cover every aspect of the business, from ticketing to makeup and sound FX to giant animatronics. In addition, local St. Louis Haunts open their doors to attendees. If you are a pro haunter (want to become one) or a True Blood haunt stalker, you cannot afford to miss this event.

4. Monsterpalooza (April 13-15, Burbank, CA): This is an annual convention featuring Hollywood’s award winning FX Artists, Monster and Horror related art work displays, presentations and special guests from horror and Sci-Fi. For us the highlight is the Walk-thru Monster Museum!

5. HauntCon (May 3-7, Monroeville, PA *Pittsburgh): We attended this event last year and believe it’s worth a visit if you’re a haunter or stalker living on the east coast. This is the first year HAuNTcon will be in a convention center rather than a hotel in Monoroeville, PA which just happens to be next to the Monroeville Mall, most famous for its appearance in the George A. Romero horror film Dawn of the Dead.

6. Midwest Haunters Convention (June 8-10, Columbus Ohio):  This is the largest Halloween show of its kind in the US serving a primary audience of Haunted Attraction Producers, Actors, Artists and Home Haunters.  It provides regional businesses and residents the opportunity to shop for professional quality Halloween related products along with educational seminars and workshops and networking activities for haunted attraction industry professionals. Of course, the main reason to go is for the world’s largest haunted attraction bus tour.

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7.  Tides of Torture (Dates TBD): We know that seeing Kathie Lee Gifford in a bikini could be scary enough, but this Caribbean cruise promises even more terrors at sea. This cruise convention will feature a Fangoria-sponsored film festival and some of your favorite horror actors including Jason actor Kane Hodder who really enjoys being on a boat.

8. London (UK) Haunts: Last year our friends at Theme Park Tourist shared some great reviews of the UK haunts and with the 2012 Olympics taking place this summer in London we highly recommend the trip over the bloody pond to experience their renowned year round and seasonal haunted attractions.

9. New York Haunts: We now know why this is the city that never sleeps. It’s because everyone is having nightmares! NYC boasts some of the nation’s most extreme haunts and offers haunts in unique metropolitan locations all the way out to the dark woods of Sleepy Hollow in upstate. This is a “not to be missed” destination during the fall.

10. Pennsylvania  Haunts: While in NY, you might as well head down to PA as well. Pennsylvania is home to some of he nation’s most highly rated haunted attractions including; Jason’s Woods, Bates Motel, and Field of Screams just to name a few.

11. Texas Haunts: Texas is a big state which provides a lot of room for haunts. Throughout the year and especially during haunt season Haunt Stalkers can find a haunt (or two or three…) in nearly every town with the Dallas-Forth Worth area and Austin leading  the terror with their renowned haunts such as Cutting Edge, Hangman’s House of Horrors, and House of Torment.

12. Central Florida Haunts: If you’re a fan of haunts and Theme Parks then Central Florida is the destination for you. While there are only 2 major haunts, Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights and Howl O Scream at Busch Gardens; these 2 offer more than enough mazes and scares to make for a satisfying trip.

13. Southern California Haunts: From Hollywood down to San Diego; Southern California offers just about every kind of haunt experience a haunt stalker would want. There are first class Theme Park haunts, hayrides, stand alone professional haunts, boat haunts, and impressive home haunts. You’ll need to plan at least a week long visit, covering two weekends, in order to sample some of the SoCal’s top haunts.

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Posted in Conventions, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Florida, Haunted Happenings, Howl-O-Scream, New York, Pennsylvania, Southern California, St. Louis, Terror Tips, Texas, Travel Terrors, UK, Valentine's Day Haunts | No Comments »

Maze Review: Carnival of Screams at Alton Towers’ Scarefest 2011

Monday, October 17th, 2011

 

Exclusive for Scare Zone, here’s a review from our fellow Haunt Stalkers at Theme Park Tourist of Carnival of Screams at Alton Towers’ Scarefest 2011.

The UK’s most popular theme park, Alton Towers, has once again kicked off its annual Halloween Scarefest celebrations. The event features a diverse line-up of family-friendly shows and entertainment alongside three adult-oriented horror mazes. One of the mazes, Terror of the Towers: What Lies Within, has featured in every Scarefest event to date and is included with the price of admission. The other two, The Boiler House and Carnival of Screams, require a separate entry fee of £6-7 each (or £12 for both).

Introduced last year in place of the fan-favorite Field of 1000 Screams, Carnival of Screams debuted to mixed reviews. While we found the central theme (a circus gone bad) and external theming to be very strong, the execution of the maze itself was lacklustre. It was too short, there was a total lack of plot and the finale (an encounter with a King Kong-style giant ape) was more funny than scary. We hoped that 2011 would prove to be the year when the maze lived up to its potential and had guests running for their lives away from its troupe of murderous clowns.

In previous years, the two upcharge horror mazes have been hosted in the grounds of the Alton Towers Hotel, outside of the park itself. This allowed the creation of the sprawling Field of 1000 Screams, and also created a real sense of spooky isolation when waiting to enter each of the mazes. For Scarefest 2011, both The Boiler House and Carnival of Screams have been relocated to the futuristic X-Sector area of the park. The Boiler House suffers badly from this move, as the feeling of waiting outside a genuine abandoned boiler house is now long gone. Carnival of Screams, meanwhile, looks bizarre during the day (it opens to the public at noon) – what is a garishly-colored circus tent doing in the middle of a space-themed land? At night, however, it blends in well with the illuminated rides to resemble a genuine, creepy funfair.

It was with high hopes, then, that we shuffled into the big top to begin our tour of the Carnival of Screams. After a very brief introduction from a suitably unsettling clown, we were sent on our way. The early signs were promising, with an obese, caged circus freak reaching out to grab at members of our group. Sadly, this proved to be the first and only time that any of us screamed throughout the entire experience.

The remainder of the maze features a few impressive set pieces. The highlights are a hall of mirrors (we laughed at one clown’s taunt of “silly boy” as the leader of our group walked straight into his own reflection), and a room covered in spots from which there is no obvious exit. Sadly, that’s really it – the remainder of Carnival of Screams is a fairly generic walkthrough.

Perhaps the biggest disappointment is the clowns themselves. Last year’s troupe appeared to have some genuine circus training, performing a few stunts and some impressive mime acts. This year, however, they seem to be generic scare actors, offering little more than the grunts and shouts associated with zombies, ghosts and other standard haunt creatures.

For the second year running, Carnival of Screams is over far too quickly. The giant ape finale is gone, and there’s really nothing to replace it. Instead, groups simply spill out back into the park, many of them asking “was that it?”. At £6 for a single maze, we expected more – rather than an improvement, the 2011 version of the attraction is actually a distinct downgrade from last year’s offering.

There’s still a good maze to be created out of Carnival of Screams. Clowns are scary, and the external theming is too good to waste on such a limited experience. Word-of-mouth is likely to catch up with Alton Towers eventually, and some of those who paid the upcharge this year may think carefully before digging into their wallets again in 2012. We hope that the park lengthens the maze, invests in some talented scare actors, layers on a plot and introduces a fitting finale. If it does, it will have a carnival worthy of its name.

Haunt design: 3 skulls

Scare factor: 2 skulls

 

Read Theme Park Tourist’s full review of Scarefest 2011 at Alton Towers HERE.

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“Phobophobia” in London to Feature The Human Centipede

Tuesday, October 11th, 2011

This Halloween season, Scare Zone has been featuring some great haunts from England on our site (including Fright Nights at Thorpe Park and Alton Towers’ Scare Fest). This week, we bring you details of “Phobophobia” at The London Bridge Experience and London Tombs.

The attraction features tours of the site’s dark history during the day and “extreme” scares once the sun goes down:

During the day… The History behind the horror Halloween! 10am-6pm 17th October – 1st November (Family friendly). Our family shows are suitable for all ages, exploring 2000 years of London Bridges dark Halloween history. Travel back in time and be taken on a journey led by first class actors and the stunning special effects throught London’s scariest attraction. After The London Bridge Experience you will be given the option to descend into the London Tombs-winner of the “Best Year Round Scare attraction” at the Screamie Awards for the past 3 years, for our special Halloween experience. We do offer a guardian angel tour for our younger guests allowing them to experience the tombs in a less scary format.

After dark… Extreme scares – Halloweens most hellish event! 7pm-Late 27th October-31st October (over 11′s only). What can only be described as the ultimate Halloween show, Phobophobia focuses on the fear of fear itself. Phobophobia, 2011 brings you face to face with the subject of common phobias, as well as a few bizarre ones. Make your way past walls that are dripping in blood, squeeze through confined spaces and gasp in terror as you’re met with spiders, snakes, ghosts and ghouls, cackling witches and creepy clowns. Deep within the gothic catacombs under London Bridge sinister spirits are poised to prey on unsuspecting visitors. The London Bridge Experience and the London Tombs have joined forces to create Phobophobia 2011 to ensure Halloween tthis year is a genuine fright fest!

This Halloween, The London Bridge Experience & London Tombs leave you at the mercy of the Bloody Butcher and his hellish clan, guaranteeing to give you the scariest, nerve shredding, most exhilarating and pulse racing Halloween yet! Also new for 2011 – we will exclusively be featuring the Human Centipede (First Sequence)!

Yes, that’s right: this is the first Halloween attraction (to our knowledge) to feature the infamous Human Centipede! While many have joked that this movie would make a great haunted house at Halloween Horror Nights, we never really thought someone would try to bring it to life at a haunt. But leave it to the Brits to push the boundaries. We just hope that those scareactors are getting paid extra for their roles.

The “extreme” event begins October 27th and runs through Halloween. In addition, Dr. Heiter (Dieter Laser) will make an appearance to give out autographs at the event from October 27 to October 29.

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Posted in Haunt Profiles, Horror Movies, International Haunts, UK | No Comments »

Maze Review: Experiment 10 at Thorpe Park’s Fright Nights 2011

Sunday, October 9th, 2011

Exclusive for Scare Zone, here’s a review from our fellow Haunt Stalkers at Theme Park Tourist of the new 2011 maze Experiment 10 at Thorpe Park’s Fright Nights.

The Fright Nights 2011 Halloween events are now well underway at Thorpe Park in the UK, featuring a line-up of five horror mazes. Of these, four (Se7en, The Curse, The Asylum and Saw Alive) are returning from previous years. That leaves one, Experiment 10, as the sole new addition for this year. Does it live up to expectations?

Experiment 10 is located in Thorpe Park’s arena, and is made up of a number of portable container crates. These are themed around a government test laboratory, where experiments on humans have taken a serious turn for the worse. The external theming is more impressive than for any of Thorpe Park’s other mazes, two of which (Se7en and The Curse) are basically giant tents set up in drained-out swimming pools. Unpleasant-looking doctors circulate around the queue asking guests questions about their health, adding to the atmosphere of anticipation. Meanwhile, the blood-stained walls of the containers are a clear indication that the experiments are not going to plan.

After reaching the front of the queue, guests are herded into groups and shunted into the lab’s “reception” area. There, they are greeted by a well-spoken and pleasantly dressed scientist. As they are welcomed onto a tour of the Experiment 10 lab, there is time to look around the room at some nice details, including photographs of various demented-looking colleagues. The actors throw themselves into their roles nicely – with ours peppering us with unnerving questions (“What blood type are you? We’ll find out soon enough!”).

On entering the first room inside the labs themselves, things begin to go seriously awry. Guest are suddenly broken out of the “hands-on-shoulders” comfort zone that they associate with the other Frights Nights mazes, and sent off on their own into the first section. While it’s best to keep the full sequence of events a secret for those who haven’t yet experienced Experiment 10, be warned: claustrophobics will not like the first half of the maze at all. When we eventually emerged back into a room with the rest of our group, we were a little frightened but laughing uncontrollably. However, at least one of those accompanying us was literally begging to be let out of the maze.

From there on, things become a little more traditional. Once the disorientation of the initial set-piece wears off, Experiment 10 becomes a fairly standard walkthrough maze past a series of predictable “evil laboratory” elements. Crazy looking doctors? Check. Surgery table covered in blood? Check. You’ll have seen most of this before – although you probably won’t have been in quite such a hurry to get back out into the fresh air.

While the underwhelming second half of Experiment 10 and the lack of a big finale prevent it from hitting the heights that it perhaps should have done, it is still the stand-out maze at Fright Nights 2011. Though it doesn’t push the boundaries of horror mazes to the same extent as some others have attempted (such as Busch Gardens Tampa with Alone), it is still unique among mazes at major UK parks for featuring a solo element. The plot may not live up to those of the very best Halloween attractions (such as last year’s Boiler House at Alton Towers), but it is still a step up from the generic or non-existent storylines seen in many mazes. There’s a solid base for Thorpe Park to build on next year, and we look forward to being lab rats once again in 2012.

Haunt design: 3.5 skulls

Scare factor: 4 skulls

Read Theme Park Tourist’s full review of Thorpe Park’s Fright Nights HERE.

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Posted in Haunt Reviews, UK | 2 Comments »

Killers Live!

Monday, March 7th, 2011

The UK is home to some great year round and traveling haunted attractions and during the last weekend of this month (March), you’ll be able to embark on a new and promised to be shocking haunt experience called Killers Live! This will be apart of Whitby Gothic Weekend.

This makes us want to dust off our passports and jump over the pond for some Bloody British terrors.

Killers Live is a full on, shocking journey into the unknown where YOU will be the main course. You will make your way through a multitude of rooms, corridors and locations where anything can and will happen. Using live actors, special effects, lights, sounds and detailed sets Killers Live is not for the faint of heart. If you like the idea of being in the centre of your very own horror movie then Killers Live is for you. Grotesque creatures, masked murderers and vile, blood soaked lunatics await you inside this nightmare world of terror. We dare you to give it a go…

KIllers Live is running for 4 days ONLY from Thursday the 24th of March to Sunday the 27th of March at the The Shambles, Whitby. If you want to experience the nightmarish world then book now to avoid dissapointment. Advanced booking is highly recommended and tickets can only be purchased beforehand through the website via Paypal.

KIllers Live opens from 11.30am until 8pm for all 4 nights. For exact ticket information, prices and dates please see the booking page.

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Posted in Haunt News, Haunt Videos, Screaming Soon, UK, Year-Round Haunts | No Comments »