Review - Scare Me Halloween 2019
Due to the large number of actors that are used by the large corporate Halloween events in The Netherlands, smaller more independent attractions tend to open up either before or after the main season. Which is great news for us as It means we can get our first Halloween fix of the season with the incredible Scare Me in Almere, close to Amsterdam.
This year's event has grown since previous versions and now includes three scare mazes, two escape room experiences and a shoot em up style creature hunt. All attractions are accessible from the central indoor courtyard which on opening night had a great atmosphere from the pirate themed band. We started in one corner and worked our way around
Pirate Adventure is a large escape room style experience which comprises several nautically themed rooms, behind an impressively themed facade. Unlike regular escape rooms, the pirate ship is full of actors, and half the fun of the experience is bartering with them to try and progress through the rooms. Clearly we aren't very good at bartering as we ended up leaving the experience missing one shoe and without laces on the other! We would like to say it was the language barrier that hindered us, but seeing as all the actors could flip fluently into English at the flip of a coin, it was clearly us being stupid! We genuinely loved the interactive element of this attraction and although not scary - the theme of a ghostly pirate ship worked well for the venue.
Having recovered our shoes, we then entered The Church - another 30 minute escape room where we were on the hunt for the legendary Holy Grail. This experience was more like a standard escape room with more puzzles and locks and we would have escaped if not for the fact that half of our group just sat around in each room while three of us did all the work. It also didn't help that the one English participant couldn't really understand Dutch, so we were definitely slower than we could have been. As it was - we were unlocking the final lock when the time run out - so with just 5 more seconds we would have escaped! Still - like the Pirate Adventure - this was a nicely themed experience and a great additional activity.
Our first genuine scare attraction was the enigmatically named Baku, and the pre-show delivered some genuinely scary jump out loud moments that we really weren't expecting. What followed was a dark maze/rope experience, that totally fitted in with the story and theme (there was a reason why our vision was limited) and the scares came thick and fast throughout, with touching, leg grabbing and sudden noises! Everything about this maze from the hand carved wooden dragons in the entry facade, through to the detail in the "oriental shop", was stunningly realised, and all came together to create an exciting maze.
Next up was Writers Block, an unusual theme for a scare attraction, but beautifully executed. After an impressive pre-show (once again loaded with scares) we were left with one order - "follow the path but only through the open doors". What then followed was a nightmarish route through multiple scenes, with the actors controlling our route through the simple opening and closing of doors. The maze seemed endless as we appeared to loop round through rooms we had already experienced, sometimes approaching them from different angles. The fact we couldn't see how we were being manipulated through the space, was very impressive and genuinely helped create the feeling of being stuck in an never- ending dream. Add in a couple of lively actors and some more detailed theming, and this maze really impressed us.
Our third attraction was Scream Hotel - which uses the same detailed facade from The Mansion, yet tells a different story of a hotel full of maniacs. It was well themed, populated with lively actors and gave us a number of really good scares. In fact it was a scare attraction that any attraction would be proud of - it did everything a scare attractions should - and did it well - just compared to the ingenious scares and effects in the first two mazes, it was probably our least favourite maze of the night.
Our final attraction was the fun and scary Kill It, which has replaced the zombie tag game from previous years. The playing arena for this attraction was a confusing mix of dead ends, old vehicles and a horde of killer clowns that could disqualify us if they touched us. With only the torches on our guns able to stop them in their tracks, we ran around the venue trying to collect as many hidden power balls as we could, all to the sound of deafening circus music and blinding light effects and lasers! This was our final maze of the night and left us on such a high. The mix of scares and laughs all created the perfect experience.
As an event in total, its clear that a lot of attention has been paid to detailed theming and storytelling to create an enjoyable user experience that left everyone thoroughly entertained throughout. It's not the largest event we have visited and it is clear that the team don't have the budget and resources of the large corporate events, but it is the sheer enthusiasm and excitement for the industry, and the desire to put on a good show, that shines through. We understand that the event may move to a new venue next year and we will definitely be back to see how it grows from here.
This year's event has grown since previous versions and now includes three scare mazes, two escape room experiences and a shoot em up style creature hunt. All attractions are accessible from the central indoor courtyard which on opening night had a great atmosphere from the pirate themed band. We started in one corner and worked our way around
Pirate Adventure is a large escape room style experience which comprises several nautically themed rooms, behind an impressively themed facade. Unlike regular escape rooms, the pirate ship is full of actors, and half the fun of the experience is bartering with them to try and progress through the rooms. Clearly we aren't very good at bartering as we ended up leaving the experience missing one shoe and without laces on the other! We would like to say it was the language barrier that hindered us, but seeing as all the actors could flip fluently into English at the flip of a coin, it was clearly us being stupid! We genuinely loved the interactive element of this attraction and although not scary - the theme of a ghostly pirate ship worked well for the venue.
Having recovered our shoes, we then entered The Church - another 30 minute escape room where we were on the hunt for the legendary Holy Grail. This experience was more like a standard escape room with more puzzles and locks and we would have escaped if not for the fact that half of our group just sat around in each room while three of us did all the work. It also didn't help that the one English participant couldn't really understand Dutch, so we were definitely slower than we could have been. As it was - we were unlocking the final lock when the time run out - so with just 5 more seconds we would have escaped! Still - like the Pirate Adventure - this was a nicely themed experience and a great additional activity.
Our first genuine scare attraction was the enigmatically named Baku, and the pre-show delivered some genuinely scary jump out loud moments that we really weren't expecting. What followed was a dark maze/rope experience, that totally fitted in with the story and theme (there was a reason why our vision was limited) and the scares came thick and fast throughout, with touching, leg grabbing and sudden noises! Everything about this maze from the hand carved wooden dragons in the entry facade, through to the detail in the "oriental shop", was stunningly realised, and all came together to create an exciting maze.
Next up was Writers Block, an unusual theme for a scare attraction, but beautifully executed. After an impressive pre-show (once again loaded with scares) we were left with one order - "follow the path but only through the open doors". What then followed was a nightmarish route through multiple scenes, with the actors controlling our route through the simple opening and closing of doors. The maze seemed endless as we appeared to loop round through rooms we had already experienced, sometimes approaching them from different angles. The fact we couldn't see how we were being manipulated through the space, was very impressive and genuinely helped create the feeling of being stuck in an never- ending dream. Add in a couple of lively actors and some more detailed theming, and this maze really impressed us.
Our third attraction was Scream Hotel - which uses the same detailed facade from The Mansion, yet tells a different story of a hotel full of maniacs. It was well themed, populated with lively actors and gave us a number of really good scares. In fact it was a scare attraction that any attraction would be proud of - it did everything a scare attractions should - and did it well - just compared to the ingenious scares and effects in the first two mazes, it was probably our least favourite maze of the night.
Our final attraction was the fun and scary Kill It, which has replaced the zombie tag game from previous years. The playing arena for this attraction was a confusing mix of dead ends, old vehicles and a horde of killer clowns that could disqualify us if they touched us. With only the torches on our guns able to stop them in their tracks, we ran around the venue trying to collect as many hidden power balls as we could, all to the sound of deafening circus music and blinding light effects and lasers! This was our final maze of the night and left us on such a high. The mix of scares and laughs all created the perfect experience.
As an event in total, its clear that a lot of attention has been paid to detailed theming and storytelling to create an enjoyable user experience that left everyone thoroughly entertained throughout. It's not the largest event we have visited and it is clear that the team don't have the budget and resources of the large corporate events, but it is the sheer enthusiasm and excitement for the industry, and the desire to put on a good show, that shines through. We understand that the event may move to a new venue next year and we will definitely be back to see how it grows from here.
Review - Scare Me Halloween 2018
It’s mid September and one of Europe's first Halloween events of the year, has already started in the Netherlands. Scare Me is back for their seventh outing (unlike most attractions Scare Me also opens for periods outside of Halloween), this time offering a new haunted house and a new escape room. But was it just as good as the last edition? Of course we went along to find out!
When we entered the building it pretty much looked like not much has changed. But as we started to walk around we noticed there were a couple of things missing. The shops stands are gone and you can’t enter the church anymore with out a ticket as a new attraction has replaced the gaming room from last year.
The Mansion - one of our favourites from before, has been taken over and changed into a hotel. The whole attraction has been renewed with a completely new route through the building. We loved everything about this updated shown and the team have really upped their game. It was even better than the mansion was before, with the addition of loads of new scare effects that had people running out the door!
The Asylum and Zombie Terror haven't really changed a lot. A few small tweaks and surprises have been added but they are predominately the same fun attractions from before - The Asylum is still a hooded maze and Zombie Terror the zombie hunting game.
New for this year is The Church, the second escape room like addition to the event. Just like Pirates Adventure (which has also returned with a few surprises), The Church is more of a challenging puzzle as opposed to full on scare attraction, but adds another diverse activity for anyone attending the event.
So all in - we absolutely enjoyed this seventh edition of Scare Me, and the team behind it have really added some fun and new scary elements across all the attractions. The show runs weekends until October 6th and can be found just 20 minutes outside of Amsterdam. If you can - we would definitely recommend a visit!
When we entered the building it pretty much looked like not much has changed. But as we started to walk around we noticed there were a couple of things missing. The shops stands are gone and you can’t enter the church anymore with out a ticket as a new attraction has replaced the gaming room from last year.
The Mansion - one of our favourites from before, has been taken over and changed into a hotel. The whole attraction has been renewed with a completely new route through the building. We loved everything about this updated shown and the team have really upped their game. It was even better than the mansion was before, with the addition of loads of new scare effects that had people running out the door!
The Asylum and Zombie Terror haven't really changed a lot. A few small tweaks and surprises have been added but they are predominately the same fun attractions from before - The Asylum is still a hooded maze and Zombie Terror the zombie hunting game.
New for this year is The Church, the second escape room like addition to the event. Just like Pirates Adventure (which has also returned with a few surprises), The Church is more of a challenging puzzle as opposed to full on scare attraction, but adds another diverse activity for anyone attending the event.
So all in - we absolutely enjoyed this seventh edition of Scare Me, and the team behind it have really added some fun and new scary elements across all the attractions. The show runs weekends until October 6th and can be found just 20 minutes outside of Amsterdam. If you can - we would definitely recommend a visit!
Review - Scare Me - Spring 2018
It’s the end of March and there is nowhere else in the Netherlands to get a scare fix. It's a good job that Scare Me in Almere regularly opens out of season as well as during Halloween. Therefore, this Spring sees the 6th version of the show in just a few years.
First off, there are some minor changes between the 5th and 6th edition. When you enter the building hall where Scare Me is located, it feels the same as before with the two large show piece facades of The Mansion and The Pirates Adventure. The bar and side stalls have been moved around but the rest is exactly the same. Asylum is still a hooded maze with a preshow and The Pirates Adventure is still the same escape room like haunted house.
The Mansion has seen some changes with the introduction of some scare buttons, which help make the scares a little bit more intense.
The biggest changes have been made to Zombie Terror, which has been completely relocated. The waiting line is still in the same place, but instead of playing the zombie survival game outside, it is now in a building on the opposite side of the street. By adding more effects to the area and building it more as a maze, it has completely renewed the experience.
Overall Scare Me 6.0 was exactly what we expected it to be. Generally the same as previous shows with a couple of small extra’s. The actors, make-up and decoration where all as great as last time, and by adding the new effects and the new location for Zombie Terror it has helped to improve the event. If you are in the Netherlands over the next two weeks give, Scare Me a visit if you need your scare fix.
First off, there are some minor changes between the 5th and 6th edition. When you enter the building hall where Scare Me is located, it feels the same as before with the two large show piece facades of The Mansion and The Pirates Adventure. The bar and side stalls have been moved around but the rest is exactly the same. Asylum is still a hooded maze with a preshow and The Pirates Adventure is still the same escape room like haunted house.
The Mansion has seen some changes with the introduction of some scare buttons, which help make the scares a little bit more intense.
The biggest changes have been made to Zombie Terror, which has been completely relocated. The waiting line is still in the same place, but instead of playing the zombie survival game outside, it is now in a building on the opposite side of the street. By adding more effects to the area and building it more as a maze, it has completely renewed the experience.
Overall Scare Me 6.0 was exactly what we expected it to be. Generally the same as previous shows with a couple of small extra’s. The actors, make-up and decoration where all as great as last time, and by adding the new effects and the new location for Zombie Terror it has helped to improve the event. If you are in the Netherlands over the next two weeks give, Scare Me a visit if you need your scare fix.
Review - Scare Me 2017
Over the last few years, The Netherlands has seen a real increase in the number of scare events across the country. These events range from large corporate theme parks such as Walibi Holland, through to smaller, more independent events such as Horror Zone and Horror Nights NL (which is currently on hiatus for 2017)
The interesting thing, is that many of these events run outside of the traditional Halloween October period, and so on a warm September night, we found ourselves at our first Halloween event of the 2017 season – Scare Me in Almere – a short drive from Amsterdam.
As we pulled up at the venue – there was nothing that indicated that 4 scare attractions were waiting for us. Despite a few signs posting the way into what looked like disused unit on an industrial estate – there was nothing that screamed Halloween at us. Which is why we were so shocked when we stepped inside and discovered the incredible design and well themed event venue ahead of us.
The event consists of two traditional scare attractions, an outdoor zombie tag experience and a room escape adventure, alongside refreshments, vendor stands and some roaming characters. Despite being opening night (and therefore a low initial turnout) the atmosphere within the giant hall was impressive, with incredible maze facades and atmospheric lighting throughout. In fact the level of detail in these sets would put some theme parks to shame – we loved the little touches such as the stained glass windows featuring horror movie icons, or the interaction of the attraction hosts with the guests as they passed. So far - so impressive - but what would the attractions be like?
First up we experienced The Pirate Adventure - a room escape style attraction which involved a number of different puzzles as we passed through a pirate ship – tormented by dastardly pirates. Unfortunately this dialogue heavy show just passed over the head of this non Dutch speaking reviewer and although we didn’t understand a lot of the jokes and references we were able to play along with the games. Clearly a lot of effort had gone into making this show look authentic and each room and scenario was impressively created . We would have loved to have been able to understand more of it though.
Asylum was like two mazes put together to create one. The first half was quite a traditional scare attraction, with the second half a very long “rope and hood” style experience. In between there was an unusual (and genuinely worrying) torture scene that left us lying prone on a dentist style chair while the crazy doctor experimented on us with electric and probes. It sounds terrifying as it was – especially when the electric shock tool came out! So with three different disparate elements to this attraction, it shouldn’t necessarily have worked but we really enjoyed it. The mix of close up scares, theatrical performances and lots of scares during the blind section, all combined to make a strong attraction from beginning to end. Our only concern? it needed more sound/music to create a chaotic atmosphere. With our eyes covered, our sense of hearing was heightened, so it would have been nice to have had a soundtrack that disoriented us even more.
Zombie Terror - Armed with a gun and a torch we were quickly dispatched into a wasteland of crashed vehicles and abandoned cars, with the aim of recovering some “diamonds” that had been scattered around. Sounds easy, but they forgot to warn us about the hordes of fast moving zombies also in the area, and we spent the rest of the time ducking diving and shooting – trying to avoid getting “tagged” (and therefore out of the game) by one of the zombies. The attraction was great fun and included some really amusing touches such as the zombie mother pushing an empty pram and a 6 foot bloke running around in a big fluffy pink dressing gown!
We saved The Mansion for last and we are so glad we did. This was the one attraction that was the closest to a standard scare event and had multiple jumps and scares throughout all the rooms. Invited inside to see what the strange occurrences were in the house. we were treated to an incredible opening scare that genuinely put us on edge before descending deep into the heart of the mystery. Scene after scene threw different combination of monsters, along with some unusual scares and effects. This mixed up the style and flow of the maze meaning that The Mansion stayed fresh from beginning end. Another small observation – like the Asylum – is that we would have loved to have heard a louder soundtrack or some music in the house to accentuate the action. It all just seemed quite mellow in comparison – which is a shame as the scares were excellent.
All four attractions showcased some incredibly enthusiastic actors and it was only after failing to understand the Dutch language in the room escape that we actually asked if the actors could speak in English. This of course being Holland where everybody speaks English, was no problem for the actors in the slightest, but we do have to really thank for them for making the effort.
Can you imagine any scare actor in a UK maze going to that effort?
We really weren’t sure what to expect from Scare Me before we turned up. We hadn’t seen any pictures or videos from previous events so we were genuinely blown away at the artistic design and set work throughout. Everyone involved should be commended on the professional and level of quality for the whole event. So if you are in Holland in the run up to Halloween – do try and get out to Scare Me - you won't regret it!
The interesting thing, is that many of these events run outside of the traditional Halloween October period, and so on a warm September night, we found ourselves at our first Halloween event of the 2017 season – Scare Me in Almere – a short drive from Amsterdam.
As we pulled up at the venue – there was nothing that indicated that 4 scare attractions were waiting for us. Despite a few signs posting the way into what looked like disused unit on an industrial estate – there was nothing that screamed Halloween at us. Which is why we were so shocked when we stepped inside and discovered the incredible design and well themed event venue ahead of us.
The event consists of two traditional scare attractions, an outdoor zombie tag experience and a room escape adventure, alongside refreshments, vendor stands and some roaming characters. Despite being opening night (and therefore a low initial turnout) the atmosphere within the giant hall was impressive, with incredible maze facades and atmospheric lighting throughout. In fact the level of detail in these sets would put some theme parks to shame – we loved the little touches such as the stained glass windows featuring horror movie icons, or the interaction of the attraction hosts with the guests as they passed. So far - so impressive - but what would the attractions be like?
First up we experienced The Pirate Adventure - a room escape style attraction which involved a number of different puzzles as we passed through a pirate ship – tormented by dastardly pirates. Unfortunately this dialogue heavy show just passed over the head of this non Dutch speaking reviewer and although we didn’t understand a lot of the jokes and references we were able to play along with the games. Clearly a lot of effort had gone into making this show look authentic and each room and scenario was impressively created . We would have loved to have been able to understand more of it though.
Asylum was like two mazes put together to create one. The first half was quite a traditional scare attraction, with the second half a very long “rope and hood” style experience. In between there was an unusual (and genuinely worrying) torture scene that left us lying prone on a dentist style chair while the crazy doctor experimented on us with electric and probes. It sounds terrifying as it was – especially when the electric shock tool came out! So with three different disparate elements to this attraction, it shouldn’t necessarily have worked but we really enjoyed it. The mix of close up scares, theatrical performances and lots of scares during the blind section, all combined to make a strong attraction from beginning to end. Our only concern? it needed more sound/music to create a chaotic atmosphere. With our eyes covered, our sense of hearing was heightened, so it would have been nice to have had a soundtrack that disoriented us even more.
Zombie Terror - Armed with a gun and a torch we were quickly dispatched into a wasteland of crashed vehicles and abandoned cars, with the aim of recovering some “diamonds” that had been scattered around. Sounds easy, but they forgot to warn us about the hordes of fast moving zombies also in the area, and we spent the rest of the time ducking diving and shooting – trying to avoid getting “tagged” (and therefore out of the game) by one of the zombies. The attraction was great fun and included some really amusing touches such as the zombie mother pushing an empty pram and a 6 foot bloke running around in a big fluffy pink dressing gown!
We saved The Mansion for last and we are so glad we did. This was the one attraction that was the closest to a standard scare event and had multiple jumps and scares throughout all the rooms. Invited inside to see what the strange occurrences were in the house. we were treated to an incredible opening scare that genuinely put us on edge before descending deep into the heart of the mystery. Scene after scene threw different combination of monsters, along with some unusual scares and effects. This mixed up the style and flow of the maze meaning that The Mansion stayed fresh from beginning end. Another small observation – like the Asylum – is that we would have loved to have heard a louder soundtrack or some music in the house to accentuate the action. It all just seemed quite mellow in comparison – which is a shame as the scares were excellent.
All four attractions showcased some incredibly enthusiastic actors and it was only after failing to understand the Dutch language in the room escape that we actually asked if the actors could speak in English. This of course being Holland where everybody speaks English, was no problem for the actors in the slightest, but we do have to really thank for them for making the effort.
Can you imagine any scare actor in a UK maze going to that effort?
We really weren’t sure what to expect from Scare Me before we turned up. We hadn’t seen any pictures or videos from previous events so we were genuinely blown away at the artistic design and set work throughout. Everyone involved should be commended on the professional and level of quality for the whole event. So if you are in Holland in the run up to Halloween – do try and get out to Scare Me - you won't regret it!
Links:
Official Website - www.scare-me.nl/
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