Socially distant scares: World-wide mobile horror attraction to launch in Fayette County
Horror fans will have the opportunity to take part in an interactive experience from a Uniontown horror park – all while staying in self-quarantine.
“Nobody is the U.S. is doing anything like this,” Aidan Finnegan of Haunted Hills Estate Scream Park said of “Remote”, an 18-and-over mobile horror game that begins April 22 and lasts for 30 days. “We’ve always had the commitment, in our 17 years, to innovate the horror genre and keep pushing the envelope.”
“Remote” was originally intended for release this summer, but with social distancing requirements in place through at least April 30, Finnegan said horror fans needed something to get their fix.
Finnegan said “Remote” is part horror video game, part social-media experience and part choose-your-own-adventure story. It’s inspired by works like “The Exorcist” and elements of cosmic horror in the spirit of writer H.P. Lovecraft.
Players become reporters who are investigating a tip from an unknown source about a missing girl. That leads them down the path of multiple horror-inducing storylines.
“Every decision you make gives you your own individualized experience,” Finnegan said.
To help further immerse players, when they sign up, the application can go beyond their name, phone number and email address. Each player can choose to sign a waiver to let content on their social media be used in the game. Finnegan said doing so is optional, noting personal social media content won’t be used outside of the game.
“We want to make it as realistic as we can and use every medium possible,” Finnegan said, adding that people can interact with players in “Remote” through social media, email and phone calls, which could come anytime during the day or night.
However, Finnegan said, they’re aware that even though people are at home, they still have to work and be productive. If players can’t engage in the game at the instant that virtual world comes knocking, they have 24 hours to respond and interact.
He added that the players will also be made aware that if they, as their character, make the wrong choices or fails at a task three times, they’ll be eliminated from the game.
“It’s crazy, it’s fun and it’s scary,” Finnegan said. “It’s a game changer for horror.”
Finnegan said the cost is $30, which comes to $1 a day to take part in the experience since it’s a 30-day event beginning on April 22.
Finnegan said since announcing “Remote”, they’ve received people signing up from South Carolina, California, Florida and even someone in the United Kingdom — even producers from Hollywood and others who run haunted attractions have called to show interest on how “Remote” will go.
“It’s far blowing away our expectations from what we thought it was going to be,” Finnegan said. “It’s just skyrocketing.”
For “Remote,” they teamed up with Shock Theater, a New York-based company specializing in creative alternative and interactive immersive horror experiences.
Finnegan said Haunted Hills Estates has continued to make a name for itself with their Haunted Christmas event, which was named by The Travel Channel as one of the Top 10 Scariest Christmas Haunted Houses in the country, as well as their Haunted Valentine’s Day Weekend in February, which generated festival-sized crowds.
Even though the hope remains that in-person crowds will return as the COVID-19 threat passes, based on the popularity of “Remote” so far, Finnegan said Haunted Hills Estate may offer a mobile interactive horror experience on a seasonal basis.
The deadline to sign up for “Remote” is by 1 a.m. April 21. Participants need to be 18 years or older because of gore and other intense horror elements, but Finnegan stressed there’s no sex or nudity.
For more information and to register for “Remote”, visit www.hauntedhillsestate.com