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Hell In A Cell - Horror themed escape room

Serena

Miss CoasterForce 2016
Staff member
Social Media Team
Well, it's been a while since anyone has posted in here! Thankfully there are a few year-round scare attractions to keep the conversations going until October :lol:

Last week, I did Hell In A Cell. It's a horror-themed escape room in Bristol. I got sent to write a feature on it for a magazine I now work for. I experienced the attraction in full, then interviewed the creators of it. It was so impressive I figured I should post about it in here too.

It's been described as 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre meets The Crystal Maze' before, and this really intrigued me. I brought along some friends as you have to have a minimum of 4 people taking part. The escape game lasts an hour and takes place in a real abandoned prison in the center of town. Talk about a naturally grim and chilling environment; I was creeped out just being led down to the cells, and the game hadn't even started!

The start is quite intense. You get handcuffed and hooded and separated from your friends. Each person gets locked in their own cell. First things first, I shook off my hood only to realise I couldn't see anything anyway as it is pitch black down there! There are clues in each cell that lead to combinations of how to find keys to unlock your handcuffs. You have to communicate with each other, shouting out different numbers etched into walls and such. I was mid way through deciphering a code on the cell bars when a perfectly timed scare actor jumped through the bars at me. Excellent stuff.

Once we had all broke free of our cells, you go through a series of themed rooms with traps and codes that help you (eventually) get out. Some of them were so imaginative and clever, it was really absorbing stuff! An ominous sub-bass soundtrack pounds out to increase the tension. There is an actor inside with you who is very good at sneaking up on people, and comes out with some hilarious one liners.

The themeing is super gory inside each room. Severed limbs dangle from the ceiling, eyeballs, blood, urine, and some truly horrendous smells take residency. It's really hands on as well. You'e not just walking through the attraction, you actually have to pick up the props and use them - dragging "bloodstained" barrels, pouring bottles of "wee" into jars to get keys to float to the top etc. There's one bit where a key triggers a really loud explosion. I nearly jumped out of my skin!

The finale features lots of crawling, tight spaces, strobe lighting, a clever little radio trick and the standard man avec chainsaw. It was a great experience, equally as scary as it was fun. Would highly recommend it to horror-goons if they are ever near Bristol.

Here's the article I wrote on it too, if you want to read what the creators of it had to say:
http://www.bristol247.com/channel/n...his-bristols-scariest-attraction-ever-bristol
 

Lofty

CF Legend
I'm wanting to go to it soon, I think I'll try and fit it in if I can be bothered - but, I detest escape rooms, with a passion. Ugh.


Sent from my iPhone 6 using Tapatalk.
 

DelPiero

Strata Poster
I've only done one escape room but it was fantastic, so a Horror themed one is definitely my cup of tea. I'll look into this in the future, thanks for the report Serena.
 

mouse

Giga Poster
This sounds like a brilliant attraction! I love that the building is an abandoned prison, would be great to see more run-down unused buildings converted to stuff like this. Never done an escape room before, they look like great fun - although I would probably get confused as to what to do and spend hours trying to get out...
 

Lofty

CF Legend
Sadly, the planning process behind using derelict buildings like this prevents more attractions from opening in the UK. The amount of times I've created proposals for clients for them to fall through due to the local council not permitting a change of use of a property to D2 is ridiculous.
 

mouse

Giga Poster
Ah that's a shame. They have such great potential, a scare attraction would be a great fit for loads of eerie run down buildings.
 

Benenen

Hyper Poster
Finally made the trek down to Bristol for this and it lived up to the hype. The start is crazy, you're bagged, cuffed and separated then put in a cell by yourself. My heart was racing and I was terrified. Although you can experience it with up to ten people, it was just my girlfriend and I in the run through which added to the isolation and meant we really had to pull our fingers out to solve the puzzles.
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It's difficult to write about this without spoiling it so I'll try to describe the atmosphere as opposed to giving a blow by blow run through. Even once you're out of the cell and into the main area it's pitch black with only a tiny torch that flickers out every now and again much like the head torches in AT's Skin Snatchers maze. At no point in the game do you solve a puzzle and whack the lights on, the whole thing is pitch black and full of smoke so even with the torch you can't see more than a few feet ahead. There's a great soundtrack of bassy rumbles that sets an unnerving tone, while searching for a puzzle piece I wandered into the subwoofer and it is ENORMOUS, the use of audio is so fantastic.

I'd never done an escape room before so it took a while to get into the swing of the puzzles but towards the end we really got into it and they were satisfying to solve. Once you find a way to open the main door it turns into more of a scare maze as you make your escape. The last ten minutes are so intense and scary and having spent an hour immersed in the environment beforehand it feels so real and not like you're in an attraction. Even if you're not that into escape games this is worth a shot just for the ending sequence which involves a lot of crawling and running. Once out you can pose for a picture with the pig face chainsaw maniac then it's back out onto the streets of Bristol trying to comprehend what just happened.
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I'd thoroughly recommend this and it was great to get in a cheeky themed attraction as the closed season continues to drag on.
 
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