Admittedly, I always look forward to Halloween. The smell and sight of pumpkin, the signal of fall and of course, the colourful costumes and candies is enough to have me all giddy and excited. Not to mention, it falls on my birth month hence the additional ecstasy. Kidding aside, I love halloween — BUT I have never been a fan of haunted horror houses…up until Universal Studios Singapore’s Halloween Horror Nights.
Each year (this year being their 8th), Universal Studios Singapore transforms its quirky facade, nooks and crannies into one of the biggest and scariest haunted scare zone in Asia. Dubbed as Singapore’s most haunting event, this year’s Halloween Horror Nights highlights the most horrifying of both Asian and Western folklore legends that will have your hairs standing in an instant.
From the costumes to the makeup to the effects, it was scary. Truly scary that I almost lost my voice, peed on my pants and squashed Tita M’s right arm. Was the scare worth it? IT WAS! More than anything, it gave us an insider’s look into the frightening realm of the unknown. Good luck sleeping alone.
Welcome Party: Scaremony
As you step inside USS’s #HHN8, a scaremony will welcome and introduce you to the characters you will meet along the way. The show foretells of a creepy, eerie and spine tingling story filled with screams from unwilling patients. The setting? The scary Eight Lake Psychiatric Hospital.
4 Haunting Asian Horror Houses
Pagoda of Peril. Featuring trapped demons and petrifying spirits roaming freely around the prison, inside this Chinese-themed scarehouse, I had my eyes closed, clinging onto dear life while gripping the bag strap of the person in front of me and shutting my clairvoyant emotions from everything. Clearly not for the jumpy heads like me…BUT it was fun.
Pontianak. Said to be the scariest, I had the most fun inside this scare house. The Pontianak, a long-haired vampiric ghost, appears out of nowhere thus surprising you as you tread along the tightly packed Malay village setup.
The Haunting of Oiwa. Transporting you to the Japanese Edo-era, this scare house was all sounds and spine-tingling excitement. Looking at the Lady Oiwa face-to-face was a most beautiful experience – enigmatically scary.
Killuminati. Separated from the group inside a scare house might as well be the most terrifying of experience – but it was not. A Chinese secret society of vampires, this was #HHN8’s most interactive house to walk in to. Every turn draws you to another dimension, bringing you to a dominion of secrets as you go further into the darkness.
Netflix’s Stranger Things Enigmatic House
A first, the Stranger Things haunted house was cinematic to the core. Not a big fan of the tv series, it was fun treading the 12 recreated rooms with jumpy effects.
Now, do you understand how I became a scare convert in just a few hours? Do not get me wrong, I was shouting inside our first haunted house the entire time. As we got dragged by Jonathan, I learned to have fun and appreciate the eerie realm that I am in. It was, for a most unusual part, satisfyingly relaxing.
2 Scare Zones: Cannibal & Apocalypse:Earth
Considered a free zone (or so I would like to call it), the streets are decked with the most unusual of sights, smell and happenings. The Cannibal zone features brutal and cannibalistic of characters who will relentlessly terrorise you as you walk by. On the other hand, chaos and Mother Nature’s wrath will greet you as you enter the Apocalypse: Earth zone.
DEAD Talks by Gideon Grim
As you hold on to your strength and voice, one can take a breather and listen to Motivational Death Coach, Gideon Grim, as he enlightens you with tips and tricks of the halloween scaring trade. Likened to a popular online talk series, this is more relaxing — a witty interplay on the magnificently mysterious secrets of the dark.
Zombie Laser Tag Returns
Back by popular demand, this interactive game of tag gets pumped up with a bigger playing field, additional obstacles and even scarier zombies on the field. Participants, each armed with a laser tag gun, will need to fend off and kill the zombies as they move around the infested area. This will surely have your whole body working like it’s the real deal.
Do you dare to be scared? Head on to Universal Studios Singapore at Resorts World Sentosa and get ready to exercise your lungs.
Halloween Horror Nights 8 will begin terrorising your nights from 27 September to 31 October 2018.
Again, a massively spooktacular thank you to Resorts World Sentosa for flying us to Singapore to be one of the first few to witness this year’s #HHN8. Also to Jonathan Yu, Seniour Executive, Communications, for taking care of us and allowing us to get lost inside the houses. Cheers and See you soon…est!
