The Halloween scares begin tomorrow – but which should you go to? Let me help you choose.
Every year for Halloween, Sentosa Spooktacular and Halloween Horror Nights rise up and claw for new victims (like us) to scare silly.
So the same question haunts us annually: Which fear-fest should I surrender my soul to?
This year, I charged through both parks to help you answer that question. Fair warning about my fear threshold: I’m a wuss. After watching Shutter, I couldn’t walk to my room without lighting up my house like Christmas at Orchard Road.
But let’s get right to it, because the ghosts aren’t getting any less scary!
Sentosa Spooktacular
Held at the creepy historical battle grounds of Fort Siloso, Sentosa Spooktacular reproduces movie sets from famous (read: outrageously horrifying) horror films by Thai studio GTH.
This year, it morphs into the haunted town of Laddaland with three terrifying walkthroughs – all longer than last year’s.
Explore the haunted house of Alone’s Pim and Ploy, Siamese twins who underwent fatal separation surgery.
The movie’s director, Parkpoom Wongpoom, duplicated props from the set and shipped them here from Thailand. So the house you’ll be inching through is almost exactly like the one in the movie.
The Alone path also features scenes that were in the first draft of the movie script, like a labyrinthine basement.
Also waiting to claim their share of victims are ghosts from The Swimmers. It’s a hydrophobe’s nightmare – this route will pull you beyond the deep end of a pool.
Being sporty won’t help you. These are star athletes who can easily outrun and outswim you.
Finally, you can end the night at a party from Countdown, where an innocent celebration has turned into a sinister headcount.
Get ready for the trip of your life: Floors that feel shaky, doors that seem to shiver, and walls that appear to close in on you. Oh, and a maniacal guest pursuing you through the disorienting halls.
When you walk on that gangway, remember these words of wisdom: The ground isn’t moving at all. I don’t recommend any eating or imbibing prior to this trail!
If you’re more frightened by Asian horror because the stories are spookily relatable, Sentosa Spooktacular is where you want to be. After all, it won a Silver for the prestigious 2014 IFEA/Haas & Wilkerson Pinnacle Awards.
Tip: You might want to catch up on the movies so you can spot all the Easter eggs in the walkthroughs – if you aren’t too busy screaming and weeping.
I lost my soul at: Alone
Look out for: The maid who was stuffed into a fridge in Laddaland
Scare dates: 11, 17, 18, 24, 25, 31 Oct, 1 Nov
Regular tickets from $66.60 (see what they did there?). Discounted rates available.
Find out how to survive Laddaland here!
Halloween Horror Nights 4
If you’re more engaged by the Western horror scene, then Halloween Horror Nights should be your choice. The houses and zones here mostly feature Western ghouls and demons.
That doesn’t make it any less frightening though.
Halloween Horror Nights comprises a theatre show and four haunted houses, connected by four themed scare zones.
Make your way through Jack’s 3-Dementia, the first trail that makes you wear 3D glasses. The way I see it, 3D stands for Die, Dying, and Dead.
Freaky psychedelic images of clowns and snakes seem to jump out from the walls, and you can see yourself distorted in the room of mirrors – but wait, that isn’t you in the reflection…
The L.A.B conducts research on alien breeding, but where are they getting their experimental subjects from? Push past disgusting gutted bodies and solve the mystery, but risk putting your own limbs on the line.
Halloween Horror Nights also has a treat for Asian scaredy-cats. Venture through a run-down old campus, where all the nightmarish ghostly rumours you’ve ever heard about your school come to life…
And the men can recall the joys of army at Mati Camp, where a certain Sergeant Major takes torturing soldiers very seriously.
It’s like going through a war zone – you may not make it out alive. I remember sobbing throughout this petrifying route pleading to ORD.
Because its grounds are bigger compared to Fort Siloso, Halloween Horror Nights also has scare zones scattered around the park.
These include a haunted magical forest, where your favourite fairytale characters have been mutated into dreadful creatures; and a realm of lost ghost children.
Come here if you want to experience how West meets East in the most terrifying way possible. And I’m not talking about bad fusion food.
I lost my soul (and voice) at: Mati Camp
Look out for: Mini Store of Evil, where you can shop ‘til you drop dead
Scare dates: 3-5, 10, 11, 17, 18, 22-25, 31 Oct, 1 Nov
Regular tickets from $68. Discounted rates available.
By Pamela Chow
Pictures credited to Pamela Chow, Sentosa Spooktacular, and Resorts World Sentosa
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