The Last Survivors - Review
Zombies really seem to be the big thing at the moment and everywhere you look on television, film and nationwide events, one thing seems certain - the zombies are coming. In the last year, we have seen the zombie chase game - 2.8 Hours Later, zombie paint-ball (Zombie Shopping Mall and Zombie Manor) as well as real zombie fighting (Zombie Boot Camp).
So when the Last Survivors was announced we were slightly sceptical as to what to expect. That was until we read more details about the event and the venue. Somehow, miraculously, the organisers have managed to get hold of a real nuclear bunker and it has to be the most realistic venue we have ever attended a scare attraction in. Dark tunnels, unused dormitories, hospital bays and underground offices flitted in and out of the flickering torch beam. Not that we had much chance to look around us, as scene after scene involved careful negotiation of each room as we tried to find safety.
The Last Survivors starts its story from the moment you make your internet booking and builds a believeable story of a world under threat. You are sent the co-ordinates of the bunker and on arrival are immediately met by a contamination unit under full armed guard. We were "processed" quickly and sent to see the doctor to find out the true threat of the virus around us. We were also presented with a shiny set of earplugs which, after reading the disclaimer, we all just casually put in our pockets, thinking "come on, the event can't be that loud, can it?"
The build up of the story and the details of the virus were enough to get our group on edge and a couple of fun shock moments in the cold light of day, revealed that things were about to get scary. And we weren't even in the bunker yet!
What was incredible was that the only thing visible of the bunker from outside was a single story bugalow in the woodlands. It looked like it stands alone in the hillside which is actually an optical illusion as it sits on top of a three storey deep "city" that was still in commission during the Thatcher era (in fact, amidst all the chaos, we actually spotted Maggie's bedroom, which seemed to have a slathering zombie bent on destruction in it. Somehow it seemed appropriate!)
Once inside the bunker and preparing for lockdown, suddenly all hell broke loose. The lights went out, the nearby screams were ominous and silhouetted in the light at the end of the tunnel was clearly a zombie. It stopped, it sniffed, it saw us and then it RAN. Trapped in the darkness we had no way to escape the zombie we could see bearing down on us through our guide's torch. As it got closer, escape seemed impossible, but suddenly our Captain guide pulled out his gun and fired! The zombie dropped to the floor but his momentum meant he landed in a pile at our feet. We needed no instruction - at this point we ran!
While running, everyone in our group fumbled for their discarded ear plugs, and in the chaos we all tried frantically to put them in before any more guns were fired. We were warned, we had signed the disclaimers but all of us were shocked at the noise and power of that gun shooting in such an enclosed space. It was clear now that these were real guns firing blanks. Suddenly the event was all too real!
So when the Last Survivors was announced we were slightly sceptical as to what to expect. That was until we read more details about the event and the venue. Somehow, miraculously, the organisers have managed to get hold of a real nuclear bunker and it has to be the most realistic venue we have ever attended a scare attraction in. Dark tunnels, unused dormitories, hospital bays and underground offices flitted in and out of the flickering torch beam. Not that we had much chance to look around us, as scene after scene involved careful negotiation of each room as we tried to find safety.
The Last Survivors starts its story from the moment you make your internet booking and builds a believeable story of a world under threat. You are sent the co-ordinates of the bunker and on arrival are immediately met by a contamination unit under full armed guard. We were "processed" quickly and sent to see the doctor to find out the true threat of the virus around us. We were also presented with a shiny set of earplugs which, after reading the disclaimer, we all just casually put in our pockets, thinking "come on, the event can't be that loud, can it?"
The build up of the story and the details of the virus were enough to get our group on edge and a couple of fun shock moments in the cold light of day, revealed that things were about to get scary. And we weren't even in the bunker yet!
What was incredible was that the only thing visible of the bunker from outside was a single story bugalow in the woodlands. It looked like it stands alone in the hillside which is actually an optical illusion as it sits on top of a three storey deep "city" that was still in commission during the Thatcher era (in fact, amidst all the chaos, we actually spotted Maggie's bedroom, which seemed to have a slathering zombie bent on destruction in it. Somehow it seemed appropriate!)
Once inside the bunker and preparing for lockdown, suddenly all hell broke loose. The lights went out, the nearby screams were ominous and silhouetted in the light at the end of the tunnel was clearly a zombie. It stopped, it sniffed, it saw us and then it RAN. Trapped in the darkness we had no way to escape the zombie we could see bearing down on us through our guide's torch. As it got closer, escape seemed impossible, but suddenly our Captain guide pulled out his gun and fired! The zombie dropped to the floor but his momentum meant he landed in a pile at our feet. We needed no instruction - at this point we ran!
While running, everyone in our group fumbled for their discarded ear plugs, and in the chaos we all tried frantically to put them in before any more guns were fired. We were warned, we had signed the disclaimers but all of us were shocked at the noise and power of that gun shooting in such an enclosed space. It was clear now that these were real guns firing blanks. Suddenly the event was all too real!
This greeted us on arrival
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Be prepared!
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The remainder of the attraction then comprised more running, zombie dodging, shooting, hiding and generally panicking for our lives. At times we would be separated from our group or the safety of our guide, and this only left us feeling more vulnerable and scared.
An interesting aspect of The Last Survivors was the interactive nature of the show. At all times we were part of the team, either helping on the radio or checking rooms were clear before entering. This made us all work together and when we had to hold a door closed, we all worked together to ensure survival.
At times, we were faced with choices which could decide our fate. Do we take the doctor who 'may' have been bitten with us? Do we take the briefcase with a supposed antidote in? We were told afterwards that our experience would have played out differently depending on what choices we made. Unfortunately, we were 4 grown, but scared men, so we left the lady doctor locked up and tried to save ourselves!
As the tension built up, we got closer to the exit and a very big surprise left us running out for our lives. An army Sergeant was waiting for us and as we reached the surface we were told that we had survived the experience and we were thanked for coming. We all just looked at each other as if to say "Really? Is that it?" After all the amazing events until that point, we were quite disappointed that there was no conclusion or redemption.
As it was, it turned out that this was the first ever public run through of the show and the team knew they had more work to do on the ending. We sat with them for quite a while afterwards and hopefully they have taken on board some of our ideas for when the show re-opens this week.
An interesting aspect of The Last Survivors was the interactive nature of the show. At all times we were part of the team, either helping on the radio or checking rooms were clear before entering. This made us all work together and when we had to hold a door closed, we all worked together to ensure survival.
At times, we were faced with choices which could decide our fate. Do we take the doctor who 'may' have been bitten with us? Do we take the briefcase with a supposed antidote in? We were told afterwards that our experience would have played out differently depending on what choices we made. Unfortunately, we were 4 grown, but scared men, so we left the lady doctor locked up and tried to save ourselves!
As the tension built up, we got closer to the exit and a very big surprise left us running out for our lives. An army Sergeant was waiting for us and as we reached the surface we were told that we had survived the experience and we were thanked for coming. We all just looked at each other as if to say "Really? Is that it?" After all the amazing events until that point, we were quite disappointed that there was no conclusion or redemption.
As it was, it turned out that this was the first ever public run through of the show and the team knew they had more work to do on the ending. We sat with them for quite a while afterwards and hopefully they have taken on board some of our ideas for when the show re-opens this week.
There's a whole underground city under there!
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The guy with the gun was our awesome guide!
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It's a shame we had to be so negative about the ending as we loved every second of the show until that point. The venue was amazing and the actors were all convincing (especially our brave Captain who guided us). The entire show is a really unique take on a zombie experience and is probably the closest to a horror movie we have experienced. It was also not quite as long as we were expecting (but we did make the wrong choices a few times which may have impacted the scenes we saw).
For a first public run of the show, we have to say that The Last Survivors was well executed, and provided a number of really good scares and memorable moments we are still talking about a few days later. The designers have a brilliant venue, a strong acting team and some great ideas for the future. We look forward to seeing how the attraction is expanded going forward.
For a first public run of the show, we have to say that The Last Survivors was well executed, and provided a number of really good scares and memorable moments we are still talking about a few days later. The designers have a brilliant venue, a strong acting team and some great ideas for the future. We look forward to seeing how the attraction is expanded going forward.
For more details of The Last Survivors, check out their website -
http://www.thelastsurvivors.co.uk/
You Review
Very good value for money, worth every penny. The actors must have put in so much time and effort to create such a scary and very well planed out experience. From the moment we arrived it all kicked off and we was all extremely scared. Good value for money, very good story line, great team of actors (although there were only 6 during the run it seemed like we saw 20 different zombies and humans! 5 star definitely going again for the Halloween special !
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