Fear Games Interview - Can you Survive This Extreme Haunt?

Fear Games

Extreme haunts offer an escape from control, an adrenaline rush, an intense emotional overload. They are an exploration of the self, and a discovery of inner strength. While other extreme haunts on the market accomplish this to varying degrees of success, a new extreme haunt is taking a unique approach to their experience. Fear Games is offering a completely free entry into their experience: a series of personalized and emotional tests with a BDSM twist that hopefully will teach each participant something new about themselves. Fear Games Interview.

Haunting had the honor of sitting down with Fear Games’ Mrs. C and Mr. N. These are not their real names, they would prefer that we preserve their anonymity. They describe Fear Games as “a nightmare that you don’t want to wake up from” – horror-themed, adrenaline-filled, and physically and mentally taxing. But on a personal level, it’s their “expression of the love for the horror genre, haunted houses, and extreme haunts in general.”

Trust No One

For extreme haunts, the unknown offers the ultimate terror. To preserve this unknown, an audience cannot be allowed to peek behind the curtain—but this begets the question: how can we trust a company that we don’t even know? Without fully pulling back the curtain, we hope to answer this question and discuss the background of this talented team.

“We only work with a small team of trusted actors that we personally know,” Mr. N tells us. Actors are the first line of safety, so they don’t hire outside of that without careful vetting. Mrs. C continues: “Our team has a background in theater, medical experience, and non-sexual BDSM or sadomasochism.” They make sure all members of their team have some training or familiarity with medical techniques. Safety is their number one concern.

“In our experience, we stick to a strict code of safe, sane, and consensual. Everything included in our shows has been personally done to both Mrs. C and myself before we even consider putting it in a show.” While this incarnation of Fear Games is new, this isn’t their first event, having produced a previous extreme haunt in April of 2016. Furthermore, they are not newcomers to the extreme haunt medium: they have been fans of the genre for years, attending multiple different shows—including Mrs. C’s favorite: Blackout.

I’d Buy That for a Dollar

With safe and experienced actors, why produce a free show? “Fear Games started off as a one-time event,” explains Mrs. C. “We were doing it purely for fun, and didn’t realize until afterwards that we wanted to continue with our project.” For a one-time event, it didn’t make sense to them to register as a business and charge their guests. They are true fans of this genre and wanted to use this as a way to give back to that community. As a newcomer, they understand that they need to establish trust in their brand, build a foundation for their guests, and receive feedback on what works and what doesn’t before expanding it to the masses. This won’t stay free forever—they plan to monetize the experience in the future!

Want to Play a Game?

The format of Fear Games, as the name implies, is a game—with you as the main character. This was inspired from the emotions Mr. N and Mrs. C felt playing some of their favorites. “We wanted to give guests that feeling many people have while playing a great video game: the sensation of losing track of time, escaping their daily life, and immersing themselves in a fantasy world.” While film offers these same qualities, movies differ in one key aspect: the audience isn’t active. This key distinction is what appealed to these extreme haunt creators. “We want our audience to be as active as possible. You won’t be going inside as a living prop for the actors to use,” Mr. N explains. “You can influence your environment and what the actors do in response to you.”

What’s in the Box?

The latest show for Fear Games was entitled Seven Deadly Sins, focusing on a killer who murders his victims in the style of the sin they were most guilty of. This experience was inspired by the 1995 film, Seven, but adapted to the style of their own imaginary killer. Mrs. C provides us with an example for Sloth: “Instead of tying our guests to a bed as they did in the film, we found a much more innovative way of immobilizing them.” Mr. N continues, “An inspiration for me comes from finding alternate uses for everyday products—asking myself how I could use them in a more demented way.”

Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid.

Fear Games is a physically tough experience. “We strive to have a very high level of physical contact between the guests and actors. Water-boarding, force feeding, electrocution, suffocation, whipping—it’s all on the table.” Mr. N says proudly. “Our experience has a slight BDSM twist to it since we have a background in that area. We are less about mind games to scare the guests and more about seeing how much you can physically deal with it.” They aren’t afraid to inflict a fair amount of pain—but all within a safe setting.

They want these experiences to haunt your thoughts afterwards. They aim to accomplish this by finding unique tests that surprise their guests. “Some of our favorite trials are finding interesting and unpleasant concoctions for our guests to eat or drink,” Mrs. C explains. “We love using natural elements like water, air, or earth in disturbing ways.” While Mrs. C focuses on the physical, Mr. N discusses the mental repercussions: “Guests will definitely experience pseudo-sexuality and violence. They will be asked to disrobe partially or disrobe an actor. Our last show in 2016 involved full body contact with an actor lying on top of the guests while suggesting obscene horrors.”

Every Town has an Elm Street

A location can influence an experience just as much as the actors and tasks within—and Fear Games understands this. “We don’t have a permanent location, meaning the venue changes for every show,” Mr. N admits. They select the venue for the story they are trying to tell. “We want to try out different spaces and see what works for us,” Further, they don’t want guests to come to feel familiar with a location. “We want to keep them on their guard—and a constantly changing location can create this feeling.”

Mrs. C provides some detail: “The venue we used for the Seven Deadly Sins show fit our needs in that it created the sensation of a large space while still being fairly small. Guests were walking up and down alleyways, hallways, and up and down stairs instead of being confined to the haunt rooms during the show.” They aren’t confining themselves to the typical garages or bedrooms—they are innovating and providing unique locations as they grow.

Welcome to Prime Time, Bitch

You won’t find a fleshed-out narrative within Fear Games. “Think of it as a bad nightmare, where one scene of horrifying surrealism jumps to the next,” Mr. N explains. Fear Games is far more focused on the emotional response. “I think that’s part of the beauty of extreme haunts. The emotion isn’t limited to just fear. We want to scare you, confuse you, excite you, anger you, and most of all, get you to question yourself and your actions. I want guests to walk out knowing more about themselves than when they walked in.”

Further, Mr. N wants each guest to feel a personal connection to their show. “I want each guest to feel like they are part of the show—and not just watching it. Each guest has something unique to bring, and we try to treat each guest as an individual with their own fears and personality.” Mrs. C elaborates, “There are some events every guest will experience, but the dialogue and personal interactions are all personalized. How rough or gentle the actors are with you and what they say to you is all based off of your reactions to them.

We Came, We Saw, We Kicked Its Ass

The goal is any good extreme haunt is to survive without using the safe word. But even with this goal, player success looks different across haunts. To Mrs. C, “Player success has less to do with whether they won the game, and more to do with how they responded to it. For a new player, a success would be turning them on to the concept of extreme haunts. I love to hear that new players want to come back to Fear Games, but I also love to hear that they enjoy the experience and want to try other haunts.” As mentioned earlier, they are passionate about the haunt community and hope to help it grow—not just for them, but for all haunts. “For an experienced player, a success would be to introduce them to something new, even if it was just a small part of our haunt that they hadn’t experienced elsewhere. I want them to find out something they didn’t know about themselves before they walked in, whether it’s that they are uncomfortable with something or that they really enjoy something that they didn’t know before.” Mr. N sees success a little more simply: “I want our guests to be happily disturbed.”

I Ain’t Got Time to Bleed

Fear Games is a twenty-minute experience. This is the perfect length for those wishing to try an extreme haunt without having to face a full-hour experience. This inclusivity is important to Fear Games. “We are open to all guests, no matter their haunt experience—or lack of it.” Mrs. C admits. “We wanted a show that would challenge experienced guests but wouldn’t overwhelm extreme haunt virgins. We wanted them to have a fighting chance to win.” Mr. N adds in a key point: “We want everyone to leave wanting more.”

I’ll Be Back

The future looks bright for Fear Games. This October, they have a new show planned with the possibility of collaborating with another haunt. A 2018 show is already being planned conceptually. They are also planning to convert to a business model and start charging for this show (don’t worry, October will still be free). Mrs. C lets us in on a little secret: “We’re leaning toward the idea of a carnival theme for the next off-season.”

This initial offering is a way for Fear Games to get their name out there and build trust in their audience. They are passionate about horror and extreme haunts and want to give back to a community they love. As Mr. N says, “We will continue to provide our experience for as long as we have guests that want to attend, push their own boundaries, and try something new.”

For more information, check out their website and follow their Facebook.

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