Sanitorium and Lockdown Origins by Immersive Events
Saniatorium by Immersive Events is set in the foreboding Dana Prison in Shrewsbury. This abandoned prison lends itself to be a perfect setting for a zombie style piece of promenade theatre. Set ten years after the Lockdown story that took place in 2015, we are thrown head first into a dark, ominous prison packed with zombies. Upon check in at the prison, we were escorted to a small unit opposite the main gates. This well-lit empty room is where we met our fellow survivors.
After reading a few safety points and crossing our name off their board, our small talk was abruptly interrupted by a trio of army officers who needed our help. Small talk was over and before we knew it we were at the main gates of the prison with a dozen zombies climbing the steal gates urging to get their teeth into us. Our group of 30 was split into smaller groups of 10, and everyone had to work in their teams to ensure we all got to the safe room without being eaten alive. Each group had to collect different items to ensure a cure can be made for the virus, with us taking it in turns to wander the dark, cold corridors of the prison in order to collect the important items. Throughout the event we were attacked from all directions from vicious and fast zombies. Luckily none of us were bitten, or were we?
The story ended with all three groups culminating together watching a live feed of our officers succumbing to the zombie hoard. The prison lends itself perfectly to this experience - the hallways filled with metal bar doors can be as quiet as a library and then as deafening as a rocket launch. The actors worked the space beautifully and managed to get in some fantastic impact scares along with moments of true fear whilst we were running for our lives! The cast are a very talented group - the zombies are believable and the prison officer characters were well thought out and diverse. The only small criticism we would make is the slight confusion on how we could actually make the cure towards the end of our experience. However, no one ever said it would be easy.
Lockdown Origins is a scare maze that directly follows Sanatorium. We are taken to the ‘Mero Lab’ to see where the virus originated. We entered the labs waiting room and were greeted by a lab host who was perfect for her role. Whilst explaining the back story of the lab she slipped in the rules and safety aspects of the maze. We are all now very used to listening to the boring safety spiel at the beginning of and attraction, so it was breath of fresh air for someone to tie it in with the story line along with being in character.
The outstanding features of this attraction were most definitely the actors and secret passages, and each room had a perfectly placed, well executed scare. The actors were amazing from beginning to end and kept us running to the prison entrance for the maze finale. The whole maze created a huge sense of panic and danger with multiple test subjects coming to attack us. We just need to make a special mention for the actress in the hexagon room spitting blood at the window, the visuals of this scene looked fantastic! After running for safety we found ourselves actually escaping through a tool cupboard into the pitch black. Not surprisingly - we weren’t alone!
Immersive Events have two very different yet both equally enjoyable attractions. The acting, narrative and sets work in unison to give us an immersive and frightening experience. The only small criticism we have would be the transition from first attraction to the next. The ‘middle section’ between attractions could have flowed more to enhance the story and experience, rather than a stop/start system. However we understand the maze throughput was considerably lower to ensure guests have a more personal experience. This niggle aside, Immersive Events gave us some great frights and we can’t wait to see what the team have lined up for us during their Christmas event.
After reading a few safety points and crossing our name off their board, our small talk was abruptly interrupted by a trio of army officers who needed our help. Small talk was over and before we knew it we were at the main gates of the prison with a dozen zombies climbing the steal gates urging to get their teeth into us. Our group of 30 was split into smaller groups of 10, and everyone had to work in their teams to ensure we all got to the safe room without being eaten alive. Each group had to collect different items to ensure a cure can be made for the virus, with us taking it in turns to wander the dark, cold corridors of the prison in order to collect the important items. Throughout the event we were attacked from all directions from vicious and fast zombies. Luckily none of us were bitten, or were we?
The story ended with all three groups culminating together watching a live feed of our officers succumbing to the zombie hoard. The prison lends itself perfectly to this experience - the hallways filled with metal bar doors can be as quiet as a library and then as deafening as a rocket launch. The actors worked the space beautifully and managed to get in some fantastic impact scares along with moments of true fear whilst we were running for our lives! The cast are a very talented group - the zombies are believable and the prison officer characters were well thought out and diverse. The only small criticism we would make is the slight confusion on how we could actually make the cure towards the end of our experience. However, no one ever said it would be easy.
Lockdown Origins is a scare maze that directly follows Sanatorium. We are taken to the ‘Mero Lab’ to see where the virus originated. We entered the labs waiting room and were greeted by a lab host who was perfect for her role. Whilst explaining the back story of the lab she slipped in the rules and safety aspects of the maze. We are all now very used to listening to the boring safety spiel at the beginning of and attraction, so it was breath of fresh air for someone to tie it in with the story line along with being in character.
The outstanding features of this attraction were most definitely the actors and secret passages, and each room had a perfectly placed, well executed scare. The actors were amazing from beginning to end and kept us running to the prison entrance for the maze finale. The whole maze created a huge sense of panic and danger with multiple test subjects coming to attack us. We just need to make a special mention for the actress in the hexagon room spitting blood at the window, the visuals of this scene looked fantastic! After running for safety we found ourselves actually escaping through a tool cupboard into the pitch black. Not surprisingly - we weren’t alone!
Immersive Events have two very different yet both equally enjoyable attractions. The acting, narrative and sets work in unison to give us an immersive and frightening experience. The only small criticism we have would be the transition from first attraction to the next. The ‘middle section’ between attractions could have flowed more to enhance the story and experience, rather than a stop/start system. However we understand the maze throughput was considerably lower to ensure guests have a more personal experience. This niggle aside, Immersive Events gave us some great frights and we can’t wait to see what the team have lined up for us during their Christmas event.
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