Extreme Scares: Interview with Russ Mckamey
With the popularity of Halloween attractions across the country, many people are looking for something a bit more extreme and production companies up and down the UK have started to respond.
First up was Project Fear by GNG Entertainment – an experience that first introduced the UK to extreme scaring, With elements of torture, some simulated water boarding, scenes of a sexual nature and more, the 15 minute show played out like a demented nightmare. It was scary but for all the wrong reasons.
Following this was Atmosfear Scare Entertainment with Psychomanteum at Scare Kingdom Scare Park which pushed the sexual references further with more perverted situations such as simulated golden showers, anal sex and more dildos than your local branch of Ann Summers! It was extremely shocking but the actual scares came in the scenes between the sex elements (being wheeled through the “hospital” on a gurney being a particular highlight.)
Finally, this year sees Ward 78 by Twisted Attractions, a more personalised scare experience, which although containing some physical jostling and pushing, eschewed the violence and sexual nature to create a genuinely frightening show that left us shaking,
So, following the different nature of these we started to look at the popularity of extreme haunts and the people who visit them. Of course, any conversation about extreme haunts will always turn to one event in particular - McKamey Manor in San Diego.
We recently sat down to have a chat with the owner of this extreme haunt experience – Russ Mckamey:
ScareTOUR – Hi Russ – thanks for giving us time to catch up – so before we go into more detail about your event – what do you think of these experiences (we proceeded to explain the detailed events in the three UK haunts)
Russ McKamey - Seriously? That’s really not my cup of tea. There’s two attractions there that use sex as part of the entertainment and that’s really like the lowest common denominator. It’s not very creative is it?
ST So you don’t use sexual situations in your attractions at all?
RM absolutely not. We are extreme and we WILL test people to their limits but see no need to get down a sexual route. We will break them by other means.
ST Is that what it’s about to you – “breaking people”
RM - Absolutely! We have the bravest people come into our haunt and we will do everything we can to break them physically or mentally. Our 2014 is so extreme that we have not had ONE person make it all the way through the end. Remember this is a 4 to 7 hour long experience and on our last show we had to stop as a career marine (notoriously the hardest service personnel in the world) was physically passing out, quite delirious and ready for it to end.
ST - Talking of end – is it right - you don’t have a safe word?
RM – absolutely – what’s the point in having a safe word that you can just end the experience with if it gets too uncomfortable? Everyone knows that once we start then we WILL not stop regardless of how much they beg and please. This is what makes the show so extreme.
ST – So how did you get to become such an extreme haunt?
RM – well we started as a regular home haunt but decided quite early on that we didn’t want to be a “boo haunt”. We wanted to do something more interesting and visual and as we progressed we slowly became more and more extreme with our audience demanding more and more. We don’t use sex or swear words at all which often surprises people – we are more about real fear than anything else
ST So what do you think of regular haunts?
RM – I’m a real haunt fan and I love all aspects of these things. I recently visited Universal Hollywood which follows quite a sanitised path to scare people. I stood behind some people really getting scared there and thought to myself – man, if that scares you then what on earth would you do inside our show?
ST – We’ve noticed in your videos that you use a lot of animatronics – do you find you get the right reaction from them?
RM – look lets make this clear – what you see in our videos is all stuff that USED to happen. I love my props but things like our buzz saw drill just won’t scare most people now as they are ready for it. In fact – lots of people watch our videos over and arrive thinking that they know what they are getting themselves into. Sadly for them – they don’t.
Our animatronics have all been customised to do what WE want them to – we need to continue to stay extreme so you may see an animatronic but it will never do what you expect. Anyways – nothing can really compare to the presence of a live human who can react to what the guest is saying/doing.
ST So talking of your videos – they have a massive following on YouTube?
RM- The videos are just a taste of what we do and can’t prepare anyone for the full 7-8 hour experience they will actually have to endure. Talking of watching - I am present through all tours of the house – filming it for the guest to see afterwards but also for our live feed into Las Vegas. I’m not sure who these people are but they are watching the whole scenario from afar. Wouldn’t surprise me if they weren’t betting on how long a guest will survive!
ST – So do you ever have people fight back against your actors?
RM – We don’t think it’s necessarily deliberate but yes people will strike out especially when very scared or in panic mode. We have complete control of any situation though, so if someone gets too aggressive there’s nothing that leaving them hanging upside down by their feet for half an hour won’t shake off!
ST – So just how physical is the show? Your videos show rough housing throughout and the aftermath survivor videos show a lot of bruising, black eyes etc
RM - Naturally we are a very extreme show and of course people will get banged up along the way. We aren’t deliberately torturing people but everyone needs to be in tip top physical and mental condition to experience our show. We generally don’t allow older overweight guys like myself through, and we go through a very strict monitoring and control process to ensure our guests can stand the experience. Remember this goes on for a long time and unless we genuinely see someone suffering from hypothermia, passing out or so mentally wiped out that to continue would be dangerous, then we absolutely will not stop. However much people plead.
ST - Do your shows all follow the same layout?
RM – Not really and the length of time it takes to complete the show really depends on the guests. We have a strict 2 person policy and in some of the rooms they have to work together or against each other to survive. We’ve had couples come in where you would expect the guy to be chivalrous and try to protect his wife but under extreme circumstances he would happily throw her under the bus to save himself!
ST – But surely what scares one person may not scare another?
RM – Absolutely – in our pre experience interview we ask some very specific questions about fears and phobias and believe me – it’s incredible how much information people actually give out. If they say they are scared of spiders then of course we are going to get our fattest tarantula to crawl across their face etc. Its all about creating a much personalised experience that is the closest that person can come to actually being trapped inside their own personal horror movie.
ST – One of the most interesting things is that you have a massive waiting list for people to experience this that you could charge thousands of dollars. Why don’t you?
RM – Well for us it isn’t about the money. I have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on this as it is my passion . If we were to charge people we would also have to become more regulated with certain restrictions, zoning and coding that would need to be adhered to. What we do is NOT inherently dangerous as we take the utmost precaution to ensure the safety of our guests and as I said before we will stop a show if things are going too far. Despite how it may look I am very strict with my actors and am watching all the time to ensure that no-one over steps the mark.
Talking of the actors – many of our survivors contact us afterwards and want to come and work for us themselves. Having experienced the whole show they want to be a part of something so different
ST – Wow – well it’s certainly something very unique and the waiting list is full of people waiting to experience it and shows no signs of slowing down. We wish you all the best with the event going forward.
RM – Oh we have only just started with what we can and can’t do and do and we do strongly recommend that people don’t do the experience. But people are brave and/or stupid and think that by watching a few videos on YouTube they can really understand what it about to happen to them. So, are you ever likely to be in California at all? If you are – look us up – we’d love to show you just a fraction of the show if you’d be prepared to take our sissy tour. We guarantee it will still leave you shaking!
Editor's note - Having seen the videos and talked in more detail about the contents of McKamey Manor, it is clear that this type of show really isn’t for me at this moment in time. But as we continue to visit more and more “cookie cutter” haunted houses – will the need for a thrill and a real scare ever drive me to submit to this? Currently I would say no as I neither enjoyed Project Fear or Psychomanteum. But going forward – is this really the future of scare entertainment?
What do you think?
First up was Project Fear by GNG Entertainment – an experience that first introduced the UK to extreme scaring, With elements of torture, some simulated water boarding, scenes of a sexual nature and more, the 15 minute show played out like a demented nightmare. It was scary but for all the wrong reasons.
Following this was Atmosfear Scare Entertainment with Psychomanteum at Scare Kingdom Scare Park which pushed the sexual references further with more perverted situations such as simulated golden showers, anal sex and more dildos than your local branch of Ann Summers! It was extremely shocking but the actual scares came in the scenes between the sex elements (being wheeled through the “hospital” on a gurney being a particular highlight.)
Finally, this year sees Ward 78 by Twisted Attractions, a more personalised scare experience, which although containing some physical jostling and pushing, eschewed the violence and sexual nature to create a genuinely frightening show that left us shaking,
So, following the different nature of these we started to look at the popularity of extreme haunts and the people who visit them. Of course, any conversation about extreme haunts will always turn to one event in particular - McKamey Manor in San Diego.
We recently sat down to have a chat with the owner of this extreme haunt experience – Russ Mckamey:
ScareTOUR – Hi Russ – thanks for giving us time to catch up – so before we go into more detail about your event – what do you think of these experiences (we proceeded to explain the detailed events in the three UK haunts)
Russ McKamey - Seriously? That’s really not my cup of tea. There’s two attractions there that use sex as part of the entertainment and that’s really like the lowest common denominator. It’s not very creative is it?
ST So you don’t use sexual situations in your attractions at all?
RM absolutely not. We are extreme and we WILL test people to their limits but see no need to get down a sexual route. We will break them by other means.
ST Is that what it’s about to you – “breaking people”
RM - Absolutely! We have the bravest people come into our haunt and we will do everything we can to break them physically or mentally. Our 2014 is so extreme that we have not had ONE person make it all the way through the end. Remember this is a 4 to 7 hour long experience and on our last show we had to stop as a career marine (notoriously the hardest service personnel in the world) was physically passing out, quite delirious and ready for it to end.
ST - Talking of end – is it right - you don’t have a safe word?
RM – absolutely – what’s the point in having a safe word that you can just end the experience with if it gets too uncomfortable? Everyone knows that once we start then we WILL not stop regardless of how much they beg and please. This is what makes the show so extreme.
ST – So how did you get to become such an extreme haunt?
RM – well we started as a regular home haunt but decided quite early on that we didn’t want to be a “boo haunt”. We wanted to do something more interesting and visual and as we progressed we slowly became more and more extreme with our audience demanding more and more. We don’t use sex or swear words at all which often surprises people – we are more about real fear than anything else
ST So what do you think of regular haunts?
RM – I’m a real haunt fan and I love all aspects of these things. I recently visited Universal Hollywood which follows quite a sanitised path to scare people. I stood behind some people really getting scared there and thought to myself – man, if that scares you then what on earth would you do inside our show?
ST – We’ve noticed in your videos that you use a lot of animatronics – do you find you get the right reaction from them?
RM – look lets make this clear – what you see in our videos is all stuff that USED to happen. I love my props but things like our buzz saw drill just won’t scare most people now as they are ready for it. In fact – lots of people watch our videos over and arrive thinking that they know what they are getting themselves into. Sadly for them – they don’t.
Our animatronics have all been customised to do what WE want them to – we need to continue to stay extreme so you may see an animatronic but it will never do what you expect. Anyways – nothing can really compare to the presence of a live human who can react to what the guest is saying/doing.
ST So talking of your videos – they have a massive following on YouTube?
RM- The videos are just a taste of what we do and can’t prepare anyone for the full 7-8 hour experience they will actually have to endure. Talking of watching - I am present through all tours of the house – filming it for the guest to see afterwards but also for our live feed into Las Vegas. I’m not sure who these people are but they are watching the whole scenario from afar. Wouldn’t surprise me if they weren’t betting on how long a guest will survive!
ST – So do you ever have people fight back against your actors?
RM – We don’t think it’s necessarily deliberate but yes people will strike out especially when very scared or in panic mode. We have complete control of any situation though, so if someone gets too aggressive there’s nothing that leaving them hanging upside down by their feet for half an hour won’t shake off!
ST – So just how physical is the show? Your videos show rough housing throughout and the aftermath survivor videos show a lot of bruising, black eyes etc
RM - Naturally we are a very extreme show and of course people will get banged up along the way. We aren’t deliberately torturing people but everyone needs to be in tip top physical and mental condition to experience our show. We generally don’t allow older overweight guys like myself through, and we go through a very strict monitoring and control process to ensure our guests can stand the experience. Remember this goes on for a long time and unless we genuinely see someone suffering from hypothermia, passing out or so mentally wiped out that to continue would be dangerous, then we absolutely will not stop. However much people plead.
ST - Do your shows all follow the same layout?
RM – Not really and the length of time it takes to complete the show really depends on the guests. We have a strict 2 person policy and in some of the rooms they have to work together or against each other to survive. We’ve had couples come in where you would expect the guy to be chivalrous and try to protect his wife but under extreme circumstances he would happily throw her under the bus to save himself!
ST – But surely what scares one person may not scare another?
RM – Absolutely – in our pre experience interview we ask some very specific questions about fears and phobias and believe me – it’s incredible how much information people actually give out. If they say they are scared of spiders then of course we are going to get our fattest tarantula to crawl across their face etc. Its all about creating a much personalised experience that is the closest that person can come to actually being trapped inside their own personal horror movie.
ST – One of the most interesting things is that you have a massive waiting list for people to experience this that you could charge thousands of dollars. Why don’t you?
RM – Well for us it isn’t about the money. I have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on this as it is my passion . If we were to charge people we would also have to become more regulated with certain restrictions, zoning and coding that would need to be adhered to. What we do is NOT inherently dangerous as we take the utmost precaution to ensure the safety of our guests and as I said before we will stop a show if things are going too far. Despite how it may look I am very strict with my actors and am watching all the time to ensure that no-one over steps the mark.
Talking of the actors – many of our survivors contact us afterwards and want to come and work for us themselves. Having experienced the whole show they want to be a part of something so different
ST – Wow – well it’s certainly something very unique and the waiting list is full of people waiting to experience it and shows no signs of slowing down. We wish you all the best with the event going forward.
RM – Oh we have only just started with what we can and can’t do and do and we do strongly recommend that people don’t do the experience. But people are brave and/or stupid and think that by watching a few videos on YouTube they can really understand what it about to happen to them. So, are you ever likely to be in California at all? If you are – look us up – we’d love to show you just a fraction of the show if you’d be prepared to take our sissy tour. We guarantee it will still leave you shaking!
Editor's note - Having seen the videos and talked in more detail about the contents of McKamey Manor, it is clear that this type of show really isn’t for me at this moment in time. But as we continue to visit more and more “cookie cutter” haunted houses – will the need for a thrill and a real scare ever drive me to submit to this? Currently I would say no as I neither enjoyed Project Fear or Psychomanteum. But going forward – is this really the future of scare entertainment?
What do you think?
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