The Boanthropic - The Society - path - Immersive Theater - Trans-media - on-going - immersive experience - ARX

Dystopia Redux – Instilling Raw and Unapologetic Horror

The year is 2049, and the world suffers from overpopulation.  Resources are low and the masses need thinning.  The Aurora Institute’s only solution is to create Dystopia, a government controlled game show that drops 5 blood-thirsty participants against each other to be the last one standing.  Do you have what it takes to survive against the competition, or will you allow one of your comrades to succeed in being the only person let out alive?

 

Dystopia Redux, the brainchild of Will Puntarich of Fringe Media Inc, is the conclusion to the Dread the Night trilogy, a series of one-night only horror experiences connected together through similar themes, ideas and story elements.  The trilogy serves as a remake (but also loose, narrative prequels) to Fringe’s previous horror trilogy entitled Dead of Night, in which the experiences From Beyond, The Ritual, and Dystopia Redux are produced as recreations of MK Ultra, Initiation, and Dystopia respectively. These experiences create a rich mythology that long-time fans will enjoy piecing together.  While the original Dystopia had a one-night run in June 2016, this Redux version of the show promised to be more sinister, intense, and evil than its predecessor.  Part escape room, part haunted house, and part endurance challenge, Dystopia Redux is unlike anything else currently operating in the New York area.

 

 

Dystopia Redux - Fringe Media Inc - NYZ Apocalypse - Dread the Night - Dead of Night - NYC - Extreme Haunt - Will Puntarich

 

 

I arrive alone to a large parking lot located behind the building of NYZ Apocalypse.  The area is empty, but I see three people waiting outside by the entrance, illuminated by the tall light fixture above.  They’re strangers to me, but I walk up and introduce myself; this will be my group for the next few hours.  Everyone is friendly.  Rapport comes naturally, and we share our enthusiasm for everything horror, getting roughed up, and testing our limits in a controlled environment.  We laugh and smile, but I realize this is only temporary. My previous feelings of excitement are replaced with a cold sadness. My new friends will soon be my enemies; I will be instructed to turn against them.

 

Our group’s conversation ends when Puntarich himself steps outside and makes his way towards us.  He’s dressed for the occasion in a white button-up shirt and tie beneath a dark suit jacket.  As he invites us inside, a devilish grin glows on his face.  We’re brought to a check-in desk where behind stands a man wearing a green pair of 80’s sunglasses.  A realization flashes across my mind: I forgot my confirmation ticket. My first mistake. Panic floods my mind. The man in the sunglasses just smiles, reaches below the desk, and produces a roll of duct tape. A piece is ripped and is placed over my mouth from cheek to cheek.   I return to the group as he bids farewell, complete with a “Have fun!”.

 

 

Dystopia Redux - Fringe Media Inc - NYZ Apocalypse - Dread the Night - Dead of Night - NYC - Extreme Haunt - Will Puntarich

 

 

I regroup with the three others in my team.  Or should I call them my competitors from this point on?   A soldier wearing heavy military gear storms out with a megaphone and starts barking out orders for us to follow.  Line up.  Start doing jumping-jacks.  Run to the other side.  One person stay.  Get on the floor and begin counting push-ups.  – A few minutes go by, but the orders don’t stop. Each breath I take becomes heavier as I attempt to inhale any air I can get (unsurprisingly difficult to do with duct tape over your mouth).  The others are holding up strong. I can’t let them see my exhaustion.  

 

Thankfully this “warm-up” concludes before I’m too overwhelmed.  A TV screen above us buzzes on, illuminating our eyes with the Aurora Institute logo.  In the style of a glitchy Max Headroom-esque video, the structure of the Dystopia game show is laid out along with its rules and how elimination works.   For each challenge, a leader is selected from the group who must get their chosen victim to quit within a one-minute time limit.  If the victim cracks or is unable to complete the challenge, they are eliminated.  If the leader fails to get the victim to quit, then the leader is eliminated.  Regardless of who is eliminated from each task, both participants are still obligated to endure the remaining challenges moving forward.  Welcome to Dystopia Redux.

 

“No one in your group is your friend.  Don’t trust anyone.”

 

We’re led into one final room before the real events begin.  Adult magazines are lined up on a countertop and the synths of  New Order’s “Blue Monday” fills the space.  If 2049 is soaked in the 80s, maybe the future doesn’t look so bad after all.  A man with an eye patch collects any personal belongings that might still be hidden in our pockets.  I do one final check on myself to make sure I’m not carrying anything important, because everything taken inside will be ruined, damaged, or destroyed.  Another man appears, this time wearing red and blue 3-D glasses.  We all line up as he reveals a vial in his hands, opening it up and placing a drop of unknown substance on each of our tongues.  We’re ready.

 

 

Dystopia Redux - Fringe Media Inc - NYZ Apocalypse - Dread the Night - Dead of Night - NYC - Extreme Haunt - Will Puntarich

 

 

Freedom is Slavery. The State is everything.

 

Before each challenge, our group’s first priority is locating an 80’s VHS tape hidden within the room that explains the guidelines for the upcoming task.  When we find the first one, our entire group sits in suspense as we insert it into the VHS player, waiting to see what omen of doom would manifest through the static of the television screen.  Dread fills my head when the first challenge is revealed: “the toilet plunge”.  The instructions inform us that the leader will have one minute to plunge the victim’s head in and out of a toilet filled to the lid with soupy, brown waste until he or she can’t bear it any longer. We line up again for our host to pick the leader.  

 

Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Mo…”

 

Just the sight of the toilet makes me want to gag, but maybe there’s a way out if the nursery rhyme fates the task on someone else…but the odds were not in my favor this time.  The host finishes her sentence with her finger landing on me.

 

I’m selected as first leader.  

 

I step forward and pick the extremely kind Mike as my victim, a difficult choice to make.  We get into position.  I kneel beside Mike as he peers down into the murky depths of the toilet bowl. 3…2…1… “I’m sorry,” I say.  I push Mike’s head down with my hand firmly grasped on top, backsplashing the gloopy remnants from the bowl onto my shirt.  “Give up, Mike.  You don’t want to do this,” I cry.  Mike responds with a gurgle of bubbles.  If he doesn’t quit, I’m next.  I don’t want to be next.  

 

I need to play dirty.

 

 “Is this what you want, Mike? Is this what you want?” I dip my hand in the bowl and start splashing the watered-down sludge all over back and forth.  I debate whether or not a wet willy is going too far, but I do it regardless.  He willingly accepts.  A minute goes by and he emerges from the bowl for fresh air and towel.  Because he withstood the entire duration, I am now eliminated. 

 

And now it’s Mike’s turn to reciprocate what I just put him through.

 

 

Dystopia Redux - Fringe Media Inc - NYZ Apocalypse - Dread the Night - Dead of Night - NYC - Extreme Haunt - Will Puntarich

 

 

By the end of Dystopia Redux, I had been pelted, submerged, shocked, confettied, and more – but going through it with the right people made it an absolute blast.  I can imagine a sour group, or even somebody who might take the experience too seriously, could easily affect the enjoyment of the game, but that’s the risk you’re signing up for if coming alone.  

 

The actors throughout Dystopia Redux were also fantastic, all uniformly dressed as the Aurora Institute’s government drones with their black sunglasses and vacant face.  Having an emotionless body monitor you at all times, silent and calculating, is extremely unnerving.  The most vocal of the cast was appropriately our host, Starry Night, a Madonna-like diva providing us with the right amount of dark banter to keep us motivated.  At one point, I turn around and notice someone recording us with a Go-Pro making it truly feel like a televised game show; though the transmission’s final destination still remains a mystery.  

 

The majority of the sets seemed to be already intact from the other survival experiences that NYZ Apocalypse runs monthly, but it’s effectively utilized to depict a crumbling society with its own unique dose of 80’s flair, all proudly displayed through the attire, tech and a soundtrack laced with The Human League and Eurythmics (again, my kind of future).  The building itself is huge with multiple themed room like kitchens and bunkers scattered throughout.  Even with the amount of space, Dystopia still managed to create a sense of claustrophobia which had me craving the open freedom, a perfect reminder for a society suffering from overpopulation.  

 

 

Dystopia Redux - Fringe Media Inc - NYZ Apocalypse - Dread the Night - Dead of Night - NYC - Extreme Haunt - Will Puntarich

 

 

Dystopia Redux excels at creating a sense of desperation in all the challenges, which is its strongest feat at grinding its participants on a psychological level.  I am brainwashed by a propaganda video with the repeating subliminal message “Freedom is Slavery. The State is everything.” over and over until the meaning itself becomes numbed in my mind.  Later, I’m intensely interrogated by the Aurora Institute drones as they fire out questions about our constitution and gender identifications.  These moments are few, and could be taken even further, acting as a wonderful balance to the primarily physical challenges.

 

I had a chance to talk with Puntarich afterwards where he told me a bit of his background.  He studied advertising and design at school and found the inspiration through films and comics to create a horror experience for his final thesis. “I grew up in the haunted attraction industry.  Being a huge fan of the English horror anthology Dead of Night, I took the name and wrote out an anthology based horror experience set around a shadowy organisation that uses these experiences to test human subjects and how those humans would react to those tests.  At the same time, this was 2008, I had gotten myself into conspiracy theories and I found those concepts to be way scarier than actors with chainsaws and the usual you’d see from haunts. I wrote stories based on what I was fearful of: Government control, martial law, MK Ultra, and the Illuminati.”

 

At its core, Dystopia Redux is a disturbing and bleak what-if scenario of a possible desensitized future our world could turn into, with our current state of politics blended in. “All my shows must tackle real world issues with some elements of the fantastic attached to them,” Puntarich says.  “For Dread the Night: The Ritual, I am exploring the original content from Dead of Night: Initiation but also talking about sex trafficking of children and elite societies that oversee those operations. This is a subject that hits close to home for me.”

 

 

Dystopia Redux - Fringe Media Inc - NYZ Apocalypse - Dread the Night - Dead of Night - NYC - Extreme Haunt - Will Puntarich

 

 

While The Ritual will serve as the last official show produced by Fringe Media Inc. in October, Dystopia will be remounted for a third time in September as Dystopia: Escape House.  The show will contain a new theme, new characters, and new missions, but Puntarich doesn’t want to stop there. With its narrative and aesthetics already being fairly cinematic, Puntarich said he couldn’t resist the idea of putting together a proof of concept for a Dystopia film.  “I’ve wanted to make a “haunt gone wrong” film since Dystopia was banned from opening at our original location.  When my partners and I met to talk about movie ideas, we all agreed that this was a good chance to make a proof of concept for a film and also promote the end of Fringe and the start of something new at NYZ Apocalypse.”  

 

A recorded walkthrough of Dystopia is already up on the Dystopia Redux facebook page complete with static, glitches, and totally rad 80s content thrown into the mix.  Puntarich is currently in the process of preparing an alternate cut in which he plans to screen on the festival circuit.

 

 

Dystopia Redux - Fringe Media Inc - NYZ Apocalypse - Dread the Night - Dead of Night - NYC - Extreme Haunt - Will Puntarich

 

 

With a number of different horror shows planned between Fringe Media Inc and NYZ Apocalypse, October will be a busy month for Puntarich.  Along with their monthly survival horror experiences, NYZ Apocalypse will host TOTAL FEAR, Long Island’s largest indoor haunted house.  [TOTAL FEAR] is a huge production,” says Puntarich. “There will be nothing like it in New York. Three interactive shows happening all at once. It’s a massive task.

 

The other production Puntarich is producing is NIGHT GAUNT, a series of connected experiences that are heavily influenced by David Lynch, H. P. Lovecraft and blended together with a dose of cosmic dread.  Though limited information is currently available, audiences will inhabit the role of a private investigator tracking a missing girl. Players are expected to travel through a real town, interacting with actors and non-actors alike.  “You’re given spending money for your adventure and must do business in town, get items and any information you need to progress in the experience. It’s defiantly live action role playing with a twist.”

 

With every show, Puntarich hopes audiences will leave with questions in which they can possibly apply the answers to their everyday life.  “I want people to leave thinking about the bigger picture of the what the show was about. That is why theme is important. Even if someone doesn’t see it flow the way they want, the overall theme is what I want consumers to take away. Maybe they might learn something about a reality they didn’t know of until after. Maybe they learned something new about themselves.

 

 

For more information on Fringe Media Inc and their upcoming shows, you can follow them on their Facebook.  For more information on NYZ Apocalypse, you can visit their website and Facebook.  Check back for more coverage on East Coast horror events on  Haunting.

About The Author

Jon Kobryn
Jon’s fascination with immersive experiences started with haunted houses, but going through Punchdrunk’s production of Sleep No More opened up an entirely new world. A graduate of Temple University’s film program, he lives in Philadelphia with his cat and enjoys traveling, mixology, and Nine Inch Nails.

No Comments

Share your Haunting words...

H A U N T I N G
Contact us : [email protected]
© Haunting 2020. All Rights Reserved.

Immersive Theater Intensity Scale Haunting Glowing A - Immersive Theater - Extreme Haunts - Horror Experiences
Visit Us On FacebookVisit Us On TwitterVisit Us On InstagramVisit Us On YoutubeCheck Our Feed


Expand your world
Become immersed in the artistic and evocative narratives of Immersive Theater

Check out our sister site:

Immersed Logo - Green
ENTER THE FOG
Generic filters
FILTER YOUR SEARCH
Reviews
Company Hub
Events / Experiences
Haunting.net | [email protected]