Show Review www.parkworld-online.com ScareCON 2011


Europe’s only conference and trade show for the scare attractions industry returned this May at a new venue in the UK. Owen Ralph reports


Speakers’


attractions The attractions highlighted in this year’s ScareCON conference programme ranged from family-friendly to wicked and


twisted. Here’s a taste…


Ghost of


Christmas in Glasgow


Starlight at Crich Tramway Museum


ow in its forth year, ScareCON remains a relatively intimate affair, but as organiser Michael Bolton noted in his closing address there are more and more haunted attractions opening each year across the UK and Ireland, not just at Halloween. Organisers from five seasonal events were invited to speak at the one-day conference on May 12 at the Village Hotel in Dudley. Last October Broadditch Farm in Kent attracted between 12 and 15,000 visitors when it held its latest Hauntfest, including five separate haunts. As well as “old favourites” such as an attic, library and toilet scenes, Broadditch added a unique smell to its Spooky Castle last year by placing pig’s heads in the attraction and letting them rot! As well as gruesome tips such as these, speaker John Harris also highlighted the very tight window within which it’s possible to operate Halloween events: “Once you get to November 1 people switch off and don’t want to know about Halloween any more,” he remarked. An appearance from Hauntfest’s clown character – complete with obligatory chainsaw – then brought the conference alive! Husband and wife Helen O’Driscoll and Altaf Majeed from the Tartan Experience in Scotland decided to avoid Halloween altogether for their debut event Ghosts of Christmas which ran in Glasgow for 23 nights last winter. The couple’s twisted visions of the festive season included evil elves, scary toys and a girl intent to kill her parents because she didn’t like her Christmas presents! Presenting in a session entitled “Scaring on a Budget,“ Helen and Altaf revealed how they had set up their attraction without buying a single prop, and had also been able to lean on local students and actors to help staff the attraction. Yet the harsh weather hindered their efforts as party-goers stayed at home, and the couple lost money. They will be hoping for better fortunes this autumn when they present “Hollywood Hellhouse” at two UK film festivals.


All images courtesy of Stephen Candy


Conference unites UK fright attractions N


Abominable Stilts provided entertainment throughout the day


A more family-friendly event was revealed to delegates by Andrew Willis from the Crich Tramway Museum in Derbyshire, which each October presents a Halloween event called Starlight. “Have any of you thought about having a less scary event,” Andrew asked the audience, to which he was greeted with a stony silence. He received more feedback, however, when he asked for ideas, and most seemed to agree the one-night event – which brings in several thousand pounds for the museum – could be expanded to a either at least a full weekend, and may even command a higher admission fee. Gary Oke of the AtmosFEAR! Entertainment Group, which presents the annual Scream Kingdom in Lancashire amongst other events, spoke after lunch on the subject of marketing and promotion. As well as setting up “personal” Facebook pages for its characters, AtmosFEAR! also sends them out in full costume to distribute leaflets, with fantastic results. The company also produces its own video, which has featured not just on TV, but also several newspaper websites, who are always looking for content.


Sleepness night


Anyone stupid enough to book themselves into a “ScareRoom” rather than one of the regular guest rooms at the Village Hotel was in for a sleepless night after ScareCON. This new initiative for 2011 subjected willing participants to a series of “visits” throughout the night as the clock ticked over from Thursday and into Friday the 13th. “We bombarded people with scares all through the night and will be looking to do more of this sort of stuff soon!” revealed ScareCON organiser Michael Bolton. Participants were asked to put out a special “Do Not


Weird, wonderful and downright disturbing fancy dress at this year’s ScareBall 20


Disturb” when they had had enough and out of 10 participating rooms only three people made it through until dawn!


JUNE 2011


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