FACT & FICTION

Mixing historical fact with legendary tales presented its own questions; how do you ensure guests engage with scenarios based on fact and fiction within the same experience?  The answer was to present the experience ‘out of time’, in other words to place them in an environment where a simple narrative would explain that they were connected together and collectively cast into the abyss (Hell) for their dark deeds.  Whether these characters were in fact ‘historic’ or ‘legendary’ made no difference, as each would be presented in the same fashion, engineering guests to accept what they were presented with, and not question the ultimate validity of each ‘story’ implemented.  Ultimately the collective experience of ‘horror’ would become the focus, and primary memory of their journey, and not the individual story elements presented.

UNIQUELY DIFFERENT...

Early on in the project, it was suggested by the creative team that the experience should perhaps incorporate some unique element which would ensure the attraction would stand apart from any other attraction’s that guests might have seen.  To this end, the concept of separating one guest from the others was developed, and eventually became ‘The Oubliette’ – a singular experience in which the room itself ‘hugs’ the guest within.  With only one member of each group experiencing this element, it would encourage repeat visits, maintain an element of mystery, and ensure an interesting talking point.  This is a unique feature which, to our knowledge, has not been presented in any other scare attraction in the world.

It was decided that in order to engage guests with the narrative, but present an ultimately ‘jumpy’ experience, dialogue would be heavy at the beginning and end of the experience, with less emphasis on this throughout the rest of the experience.  In order to take guests on an ‘emotional rollercoaster’ we added a heavily theatrical scene midway, and a comedic skit towards the end, therefore taking guests through elements which were intended to shock, revolt, scare and even make them laugh at certain points.  The goal being to make them permanently ‘on edge’; never able to predict what might be coming next.