Seance by Hide and Shriek
It’s hard to believe that the talented Hide and Shriek team have only been creating events since October 2015. In the 18 months since then, they have given us The I’Scream Factory, Dead Centre, Alien Escape, Delectably Dead and their Halloween Scream Park including the completely bonkers Boiled. Each attraction has perfectly blended horror and humour, to create genuinely immersive experiences that have garnered positive reviews from both us and the punters alike. Based in the Victoria Shopping Centre in Southend on Sea, their impressive theatre façade and booking office hides a warren of dark passages, and it is in a dark corner of their unit that they have built their latest attraction – Séance.
When it was our turn to enter we were met by our host in a bright yellow Sou’wester who guided us through to an impressive house façade. The washing on the line was blowing in the wind, lighting was flashing and thunder was rumbling away. It was a stunningly unexpected sight and immediately set the mood for what was about to happen. Once inside the house, we were asked to locate the lounge and we passed through several beautifully themed rooms before taking our places at the table. Everything around us looked real – this genuinely could have been a dining table in a real house. Outside the window, the storm was still raging and the sheets were still blowing in the wind. But the incredible theming was just the start of the experience
Settled round the table, the séance was overseen by a disembodied recorded voice. It may have been more intimate if an actor had been used for this, but the conceit that the investigator was outside observing us worked well. The tension during these early scenes really started to build as we reached out to the resident spirits. By the end, the fear and tension levels were cranked up to 11, as loud noises, periods of intense darkness, live actors and more, were thrown at us. Some of the special effects were stunningly achieved and we still can’t work out how some of them were done!
This year we have seen a number of different Séance type attractions and regular readers will know that we disliked the white faced actor who overstayed his welcome in 31 Copeland Road or the fake possession ending of The Harrowing. Therefore it was exciting to see the Hide and Shriek team relied on some great AND simple effects, that provided great believable scares, that left us running out the door back to the lobby.
Compared to some of the larger scare mazes and zombie events they have created, Séance is a deceptively small and simple attraction. But its appearance hides a massive technical and thematic achievement that packs a mighty punch. We know this is a very heavily over used cliché – but you REALLY don’t want to miss this! It is a masterpiece of theatre, which genuinely terrifies and entertains. If this is what a company can produce with just 18 months in the industry, then God help all the established scare attraction producers out there. Hide and Shriek are about to go stratospheric – and we for one will be following them wherever they go!
When it was our turn to enter we were met by our host in a bright yellow Sou’wester who guided us through to an impressive house façade. The washing on the line was blowing in the wind, lighting was flashing and thunder was rumbling away. It was a stunningly unexpected sight and immediately set the mood for what was about to happen. Once inside the house, we were asked to locate the lounge and we passed through several beautifully themed rooms before taking our places at the table. Everything around us looked real – this genuinely could have been a dining table in a real house. Outside the window, the storm was still raging and the sheets were still blowing in the wind. But the incredible theming was just the start of the experience
Settled round the table, the séance was overseen by a disembodied recorded voice. It may have been more intimate if an actor had been used for this, but the conceit that the investigator was outside observing us worked well. The tension during these early scenes really started to build as we reached out to the resident spirits. By the end, the fear and tension levels were cranked up to 11, as loud noises, periods of intense darkness, live actors and more, were thrown at us. Some of the special effects were stunningly achieved and we still can’t work out how some of them were done!
This year we have seen a number of different Séance type attractions and regular readers will know that we disliked the white faced actor who overstayed his welcome in 31 Copeland Road or the fake possession ending of The Harrowing. Therefore it was exciting to see the Hide and Shriek team relied on some great AND simple effects, that provided great believable scares, that left us running out the door back to the lobby.
Compared to some of the larger scare mazes and zombie events they have created, Séance is a deceptively small and simple attraction. But its appearance hides a massive technical and thematic achievement that packs a mighty punch. We know this is a very heavily over used cliché – but you REALLY don’t want to miss this! It is a masterpiece of theatre, which genuinely terrifies and entertains. If this is what a company can produce with just 18 months in the industry, then God help all the established scare attraction producers out there. Hide and Shriek are about to go stratospheric – and we for one will be following them wherever they go!
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Links:
Official Website: www.hideandshriek.co.uk/
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ScareTOUR review of Hide and Shriek Scream Park
ScareTOUR review of Dead Centre
ScareTOUR review of I'Scream Factory
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