The Facility by Twisted Attractions
When Twisted Attractions first burst onto the scene in 2013, no one really knew what to expect. As a start up project from two guys more used to running DJs and variety acts, no one could anticipate how much of an impact they would make.
The Morgue Live was one of the first attractions to open for the Halloween season and soon gained a reputation for short sharp scares and some ingenious ideas. Ok, so we never really understood why there was a clown in a Morgue and the queue lines became unmanageable but the event was a big success and showed what they could do in such a small space.
Following this success the team knew they had to come back bigger in 2014 and with a quick jump down the road, they have now unleashed onto the unsuspecting public, a terrifying experience that mixes traditional scare maze tricks and tactics with an exciting mix of new and different ideas.
The back story is simple - as guests we are visiting a secret experimental lab and have volunteered to be guinea pigs in a new clinical experiment. All we have to do is relax, breathe in the gas, and hope that we come to no harm! Of course, it wouldn't be too much of a spoiler if we said that very soon things start to go wrong, and soon it is time to find a way out!
The Facility uses some of the best elements of scare mazes: loud noise, lively actors, confusing lighting effects, theatrical fog and so much more, and with some unique twists on batching and how the group pass through the show. Let's just say that no one is safe and the show cleverly mixes the groups around, defying preconceived expectations. If you walk in holding onto a loved one, there is a very good chance you will walk out holding onto someone else!
The sets have been meticulously designed and at times it's hard to differentiate the real factory walls and setting from the fake walls. The paint effects are impressive under show conditions and even with the full lights on afterwards - its incredible to see the detail that has gone into the design.
But it's all very well that an attraction looks good but what of the actual experience itself? The best word to describe The facility is "intense". Although there are no shock tactics or heavy sexual swearing, guests certainly feel that the protagonists are in charge and we all complied meekly like lambs to the slaughter. The orders are extremely forceful, but create a cohesive experience which is completely in keeping with the overall theme. When told to stand still we certainly stand still and when told to get away quick, we don't waste any time in arguing! We don't want to make these people angry!
By the end, room after room and scare after scare just kept coming, and we began to wonder just how long the attraction was. With some clever mis-direction, the show went on even longer, so by the time we had reached the wards that contained damaged victims of previous experiments we were all keen to get away as soon as possible.
The cast for The Facility are like a Who's Who of the scare attraction industry with veterans from The Dungeons, Alton Towers and Thorpe Park in the line up, alongside many many other talented local actors. From the menacing gas masked agents through to the victims and more, everyone gave incredible performances that terrified and entertained in equal measures. What also helped was the mix of theatrics with quality jump scares, so while certain scenes progressed the story through the attraction, some were just there purely to scare.
And scare they did! We all left The Facility with our hearts racing and with massive smiles on our faces. The cast were giving their all throughout the show which led to a real crazy edge to the whole experience. It did make us wonder- if we had just experienced that as a group - what the hell would the FACE it ALONE nights be like?
As just a second event from Twisted Attractions, it is abundantly clear that these guys know what they are doing and how to scare an audience.The screams emanating from around us along with the massive grins on people faces afterwards means that the team have a winner on their hands. The event is open until the end of May - why not put yourself down to be the next test subject? After all - what could possibly go wrong?
The Morgue Live was one of the first attractions to open for the Halloween season and soon gained a reputation for short sharp scares and some ingenious ideas. Ok, so we never really understood why there was a clown in a Morgue and the queue lines became unmanageable but the event was a big success and showed what they could do in such a small space.
Following this success the team knew they had to come back bigger in 2014 and with a quick jump down the road, they have now unleashed onto the unsuspecting public, a terrifying experience that mixes traditional scare maze tricks and tactics with an exciting mix of new and different ideas.
The back story is simple - as guests we are visiting a secret experimental lab and have volunteered to be guinea pigs in a new clinical experiment. All we have to do is relax, breathe in the gas, and hope that we come to no harm! Of course, it wouldn't be too much of a spoiler if we said that very soon things start to go wrong, and soon it is time to find a way out!
The Facility uses some of the best elements of scare mazes: loud noise, lively actors, confusing lighting effects, theatrical fog and so much more, and with some unique twists on batching and how the group pass through the show. Let's just say that no one is safe and the show cleverly mixes the groups around, defying preconceived expectations. If you walk in holding onto a loved one, there is a very good chance you will walk out holding onto someone else!
The sets have been meticulously designed and at times it's hard to differentiate the real factory walls and setting from the fake walls. The paint effects are impressive under show conditions and even with the full lights on afterwards - its incredible to see the detail that has gone into the design.
But it's all very well that an attraction looks good but what of the actual experience itself? The best word to describe The facility is "intense". Although there are no shock tactics or heavy sexual swearing, guests certainly feel that the protagonists are in charge and we all complied meekly like lambs to the slaughter. The orders are extremely forceful, but create a cohesive experience which is completely in keeping with the overall theme. When told to stand still we certainly stand still and when told to get away quick, we don't waste any time in arguing! We don't want to make these people angry!
By the end, room after room and scare after scare just kept coming, and we began to wonder just how long the attraction was. With some clever mis-direction, the show went on even longer, so by the time we had reached the wards that contained damaged victims of previous experiments we were all keen to get away as soon as possible.
The cast for The Facility are like a Who's Who of the scare attraction industry with veterans from The Dungeons, Alton Towers and Thorpe Park in the line up, alongside many many other talented local actors. From the menacing gas masked agents through to the victims and more, everyone gave incredible performances that terrified and entertained in equal measures. What also helped was the mix of theatrics with quality jump scares, so while certain scenes progressed the story through the attraction, some were just there purely to scare.
And scare they did! We all left The Facility with our hearts racing and with massive smiles on our faces. The cast were giving their all throughout the show which led to a real crazy edge to the whole experience. It did make us wonder- if we had just experienced that as a group - what the hell would the FACE it ALONE nights be like?
As just a second event from Twisted Attractions, it is abundantly clear that these guys know what they are doing and how to scare an audience.The screams emanating from around us along with the massive grins on people faces afterwards means that the team have a winner on their hands. The event is open until the end of May - why not put yourself down to be the next test subject? After all - what could possibly go wrong?
To read our review of The Morgue LIve, click here
For further details and to book tickets for The Facility - please visit the Twisted Attractions website
For further details and to book tickets for The Facility - please visit the Twisted Attractions website
You Review
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Review of the FACE IT ALONE version of The Facility
The facility (Face-It-Alone) was an incredible experience, so intense and scary definitely not for the faint hearted. You enter not just alone but you are made to wear like a police forensic outfit with mask included. They interact more than normal, and are a lot more militant with you in this particular experience. to some points where I was blindfolded, put in a wheelchair and guided through parts of the maze, made to crawl on all fours, tied to a metal bed whilst enduring some form of simulated torture. The most certainly put the X into extreme and in my opinion as far as extreme runs go they were up there with some of the big names. The run was incredibly scary a huge amount of jump scares, you barely got half way through the first corridor and you got scared, and the experience became more chaotic as you went through. I was on edge the whole time without question. Definitely worth the money and Twisted Attractions are up there with the big leagues and have the potential to be even bigger!
The facility (Face-It-Alone) was an incredible experience, so intense and scary definitely not for the faint hearted. You enter not just alone but you are made to wear like a police forensic outfit with mask included. They interact more than normal, and are a lot more militant with you in this particular experience. to some points where I was blindfolded, put in a wheelchair and guided through parts of the maze, made to crawl on all fours, tied to a metal bed whilst enduring some form of simulated torture. The most certainly put the X into extreme and in my opinion as far as extreme runs go they were up there with some of the big names. The run was incredibly scary a huge amount of jump scares, you barely got half way through the first corridor and you got scared, and the experience became more chaotic as you went through. I was on edge the whole time without question. Definitely worth the money and Twisted Attractions are up there with the big leagues and have the potential to be even bigger!
Twisted Attractions who came up with Birmingham's 1st ever scare maze The Morgue Live have now come up with a new scare maze called The Facility. After visiting the morgue Live which when visited I thought was a brilliant 1st attempt great maze and would be the start of twisted attractions journey to scaring people.
And now The Facility, well a new maze new story bigger venue and as I would describe it; The Morgue Lives BIG SCARY BROTHER. The story was well thought through and kept simple, a facility which were looking for test subjects for their new SAG13 gas.
How would I describe my experience in one word? Amazing, this new maze took some of the best elements in scaring and where as most mazes. I find the anticipation is always much worse than the actual scare itself, in this maze for the 1st time i could say the scare was so scary that even if you were not scared from anticipation you would soon be terrified from the superb acting in the facility. Out of 10 i would have to give this particular maze 10/10 for its sheer scariness, the way the story and scares were executed and I have never seen such an incredible use of the element of surprise, while it appears to be only 1 person in a room appearances can be deceiving and something or someone could appear from nowhere and disappear again and if you were being followed then unless they wanted you to know, you would never know about it.
And now The Facility, well a new maze new story bigger venue and as I would describe it; The Morgue Lives BIG SCARY BROTHER. The story was well thought through and kept simple, a facility which were looking for test subjects for their new SAG13 gas.
How would I describe my experience in one word? Amazing, this new maze took some of the best elements in scaring and where as most mazes. I find the anticipation is always much worse than the actual scare itself, in this maze for the 1st time i could say the scare was so scary that even if you were not scared from anticipation you would soon be terrified from the superb acting in the facility. Out of 10 i would have to give this particular maze 10/10 for its sheer scariness, the way the story and scares were executed and I have never seen such an incredible use of the element of surprise, while it appears to be only 1 person in a room appearances can be deceiving and something or someone could appear from nowhere and disappear again and if you were being followed then unless they wanted you to know, you would never know about it.
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