Scare Me Halloween 2023
We have been visiting Scare Me for several years, and always have a great night at this independent attraction. Located about half an hour outside Amsterdam, the event is spread across two large buildings on an industrial estate, and has permission to close the road in between. This makes a great seating area by a fire pit, as well as the location for the owner Perry to play with fire at the end of the night!
The entrance into the main hall is via an outdoor pallet maze that had number of dead ends and multiple routes that the actors used to great advantage. This was an exciting start to the evening and gave us some great scares from the beginning.
Inside the main hall there are four returning mazes, each with their own unique scares and stories. We started with Ship of Souls which was as fun and scary as before. The impressive set and facade on this attraction wouldn't look out of place in a big corporate theme park, and the scenes and scares inside were as unpredictable as before. The actors did a great job of appearing from no where throughout this maze, and of course we all had to "endure" the tight squeeze of the Kraken's intestines to get out.
In the past we have always raved about Baku, and still rank it as one of the best "hooded" mazes we have experienced. Therefore we were surprised that it seemed even better in 2023. Alongside the usual practical and sensory effects we were often taken off of the rope to either "dance" with an unknown entity or (as in the case of one of our group) removed from the rope completely and sent all the way back to the start of the maze. When they were instructed to remove the blindfold they were very surprised to find themselves in the middle of a completely different group off people!
Another favorite of ours has been Writers Block, and it was great fun experiencing this with people who didn't know the secrets of this attraction. It was hilarious to listen to the startled reactions as we entered or re-entered rooms, with people in our group wondering aloud how we were being manipulated this way. It's a clever but effective trick and something we really haven't seen anywhere else.
The final maze in the main building is of course The Mansion which uses Haunted Lantern technology throughout. This is the closest to standard "haunted house" scare maze at the event, and our journey took us past multiple angry residents and into the heart of a secret cult ritual. As we have said before - the chainsaw feels kind of out of place, but is used with a great prop/drop scare that leaves most guests running out the door!
Across the courtyard - The Ride has returned with new scenes and a new addition of an actor PUSHING the cars, whilst breathing down necks or touching guests in the dark. We think this was more of a necessity than a deliberate design, as the automated ride vehicle had broken down, but the impact of having someone push us, added extra scares and actually worked in its favour.
The final attraction - Kill It remains as chaotic and fun as ever as the clowns chased us through a tangled maze of crawl spaces, fun house mirrors and more. We have to make a big shout out to the "slider" who gave us a fantastic scare as we entered the main warehouse after the pre-show. We know they are big in the US - but really do wish more European attractions would utilise sliders more as they are so effective.
One thing we must mention is that when the event is at full capacity - that you should be prepared to queue. The creators clearly pride themselves on the intimate experience of visiting a maze in your own group but also, every maze has quite a long intro/back story or narrative to set the scene. Fortunately - you can usually ask politely if this could be performed in English so you can fully understand what is happening. The only real downside to this elaborate storytelling is that queues can move quite slowly.
At the end of the night we chilled in the main area with some of the locally brewed Scare Me beer and of course watched the owner Perry as he "played with fire" in the finale show which he stressed wasn't a fire-show!
We always have a great night at Scare Me and this visit was no different. Hopefully on our next visit there may be a new maze of attraction to experience, as the line up for this year has remained fundamentally unchanged. But as it was, we visited on the last night of the Halloween season, and the whole event is currently getting a massive Christmas makeover in time for its Scare-Mas event starting in December!
The entrance into the main hall is via an outdoor pallet maze that had number of dead ends and multiple routes that the actors used to great advantage. This was an exciting start to the evening and gave us some great scares from the beginning.
Inside the main hall there are four returning mazes, each with their own unique scares and stories. We started with Ship of Souls which was as fun and scary as before. The impressive set and facade on this attraction wouldn't look out of place in a big corporate theme park, and the scenes and scares inside were as unpredictable as before. The actors did a great job of appearing from no where throughout this maze, and of course we all had to "endure" the tight squeeze of the Kraken's intestines to get out.
In the past we have always raved about Baku, and still rank it as one of the best "hooded" mazes we have experienced. Therefore we were surprised that it seemed even better in 2023. Alongside the usual practical and sensory effects we were often taken off of the rope to either "dance" with an unknown entity or (as in the case of one of our group) removed from the rope completely and sent all the way back to the start of the maze. When they were instructed to remove the blindfold they were very surprised to find themselves in the middle of a completely different group off people!
Another favorite of ours has been Writers Block, and it was great fun experiencing this with people who didn't know the secrets of this attraction. It was hilarious to listen to the startled reactions as we entered or re-entered rooms, with people in our group wondering aloud how we were being manipulated this way. It's a clever but effective trick and something we really haven't seen anywhere else.
The final maze in the main building is of course The Mansion which uses Haunted Lantern technology throughout. This is the closest to standard "haunted house" scare maze at the event, and our journey took us past multiple angry residents and into the heart of a secret cult ritual. As we have said before - the chainsaw feels kind of out of place, but is used with a great prop/drop scare that leaves most guests running out the door!
Across the courtyard - The Ride has returned with new scenes and a new addition of an actor PUSHING the cars, whilst breathing down necks or touching guests in the dark. We think this was more of a necessity than a deliberate design, as the automated ride vehicle had broken down, but the impact of having someone push us, added extra scares and actually worked in its favour.
The final attraction - Kill It remains as chaotic and fun as ever as the clowns chased us through a tangled maze of crawl spaces, fun house mirrors and more. We have to make a big shout out to the "slider" who gave us a fantastic scare as we entered the main warehouse after the pre-show. We know they are big in the US - but really do wish more European attractions would utilise sliders more as they are so effective.
One thing we must mention is that when the event is at full capacity - that you should be prepared to queue. The creators clearly pride themselves on the intimate experience of visiting a maze in your own group but also, every maze has quite a long intro/back story or narrative to set the scene. Fortunately - you can usually ask politely if this could be performed in English so you can fully understand what is happening. The only real downside to this elaborate storytelling is that queues can move quite slowly.
At the end of the night we chilled in the main area with some of the locally brewed Scare Me beer and of course watched the owner Perry as he "played with fire" in the finale show which he stressed wasn't a fire-show!
We always have a great night at Scare Me and this visit was no different. Hopefully on our next visit there may be a new maze of attraction to experience, as the line up for this year has remained fundamentally unchanged. But as it was, we visited on the last night of the Halloween season, and the whole event is currently getting a massive Christmas makeover in time for its Scare-Mas event starting in December!
Review - Scare Me Halloween 2022
Scare Me near Amsterdam is back for its 15th version with a number of changes across the site. First up is the fact that the team have managed to apply for permission to close the public road between the two buildings. This has created a much bigger site and more of a festival feel as people can now pass freely between the main building containing the bar and the majority of the mazes, and the subsidiary building that houses The Ride and Kill It. Once open fully for the season this area will have a bar and a further seating areas around a fire pit which should prove very popular.
But we visited on the press night, three weeks before the official opening, so we were more interested in getting round the six attractions than sitting watching the crowds!
First up was The Mansion, which has seen a massive re-theme and redesign since we last visited it as Scream Hotel, with a new detailed story about paranormal investigators going missing whilst investigating the house. Sent in as replacements - it was up to us to find out what was controlling the house, and as we explored the many rooms we were met by a number of angry residents. The actors throughout were really engaging (and most of them spoke English for us) and as the gothic story built up we were soon chanting along with some robed creatures to summon something unholy. Ok, we wouldn't necessarily call a chainsaw unholy - but it created a good scare alongside an impressive distraction technique in the final corridor that literally had us ducking for cover!
Next up was the re-imagined Pirates Adventure, which has gone from an escape room experience to a full on scare attraction. This maze clearly had the most impactful scares of the night with pirates attacking from above, a superbly clever footsteps effect as we crept through the galley to get away and a totally audacious claustrophobia style tunnel that left us laughing at not only the concept but the design. Pirates really was the stand out for maze for the event this year and the attention to detail in the set design was amazing.
Also, returning for this year were two mazes we have raved about in the past. Baku has the perfect mix of sudden scares, theatrics and a subtly terrifying hooded section. Whilst Writer's Block has an interesting concept with a great use of misdirection and confusion. Like all the other attractions - these were well acted and pulled off a level of scares and entertainment you would expect from a larger event.
Over in the other building, Kill It remains as chaotic and loud as before. There really is something crazy about running round an abandoned carnival warehouse, trying to find hidden gems whilst being pursued by some killer clowns. This year has seen even more additions including crawl tunnels, hiding spaces and an elevated section.
The final attraction is The Ride - a ghost train experience full of incredible sets, some fun effects and a good number of actors. It is so impressive that this ride has been totally designed and constructed in house, and it is clearly a labour of love for the creators. Our only criticism? As the event gets busier and more popular, the team are going to have to find a way to add more capacity to this ride (or include it as small upcharge just to keep the numbers down)
So, with Covid and everything that has happened over the last few years, it felt great to finally get back to Almere to see everything that has changed at Scare Me. This event ticks all the boxes for scares, design, acting and creativity and just shows that you don't have to be a large theme park or attraction to host a uniquely refreshing event. We will definitely be back!
But we visited on the press night, three weeks before the official opening, so we were more interested in getting round the six attractions than sitting watching the crowds!
First up was The Mansion, which has seen a massive re-theme and redesign since we last visited it as Scream Hotel, with a new detailed story about paranormal investigators going missing whilst investigating the house. Sent in as replacements - it was up to us to find out what was controlling the house, and as we explored the many rooms we were met by a number of angry residents. The actors throughout were really engaging (and most of them spoke English for us) and as the gothic story built up we were soon chanting along with some robed creatures to summon something unholy. Ok, we wouldn't necessarily call a chainsaw unholy - but it created a good scare alongside an impressive distraction technique in the final corridor that literally had us ducking for cover!
Next up was the re-imagined Pirates Adventure, which has gone from an escape room experience to a full on scare attraction. This maze clearly had the most impactful scares of the night with pirates attacking from above, a superbly clever footsteps effect as we crept through the galley to get away and a totally audacious claustrophobia style tunnel that left us laughing at not only the concept but the design. Pirates really was the stand out for maze for the event this year and the attention to detail in the set design was amazing.
Also, returning for this year were two mazes we have raved about in the past. Baku has the perfect mix of sudden scares, theatrics and a subtly terrifying hooded section. Whilst Writer's Block has an interesting concept with a great use of misdirection and confusion. Like all the other attractions - these were well acted and pulled off a level of scares and entertainment you would expect from a larger event.
Over in the other building, Kill It remains as chaotic and loud as before. There really is something crazy about running round an abandoned carnival warehouse, trying to find hidden gems whilst being pursued by some killer clowns. This year has seen even more additions including crawl tunnels, hiding spaces and an elevated section.
The final attraction is The Ride - a ghost train experience full of incredible sets, some fun effects and a good number of actors. It is so impressive that this ride has been totally designed and constructed in house, and it is clearly a labour of love for the creators. Our only criticism? As the event gets busier and more popular, the team are going to have to find a way to add more capacity to this ride (or include it as small upcharge just to keep the numbers down)
So, with Covid and everything that has happened over the last few years, it felt great to finally get back to Almere to see everything that has changed at Scare Me. This event ticks all the boxes for scares, design, acting and creativity and just shows that you don't have to be a large theme park or attraction to host a uniquely refreshing event. We will definitely be back!
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/
Scare Review
Have you also visited this or any other attractions recently? - tell us what you thought here
|
All the latest news, stories, review and gossip can be found on the ScareTOUR social media pages - the hottest presence in the UK for Scare Attractions! |
|
|
|