horrorland scream park spain barcelona halloween horror haunt haunted house

Barcelona’s Horrorland 2019 Turns a Defunct Nuclear Plant into a Factory of Screams

We had long left the city of Barcelona behind. Winding roads carving through mountain terrain, snowy peaks in the distance, a distinct chill in the air. One more hairpin corner, and suddenly we are confronted with an imposing cooling tower, once part of a functioning hillside nuclear plant. Now part of Horrorland 2019, this tower would loom over us for the entire night – quite a sight to behold.

 

Horrorland 2019 is a scream park about an hour’s drive North of Barcelona, Spain, and is the first in Southern Europe. Only in their second year of operation, they boast an impressive lineup of five walk-through haunted houses, four mini-escape rooms, a zombie paintball shootout, a plethora of shows, and one 18+ extreme experience. The moment the doors open, the sound system roars to life, blasting Horrorland’s own guitar riff-filled theme song – barely drowning out the screams that the roaming scare-actors were getting out of the crowd. Our group had gone for the fast pass option, and I believe in Horrorland 2019’s case, it really is worth the upcharge price. The park is open for a generous amount of time, even letting people in earlier than had been advertised, but Horrorland 2019 does attract a decent crowd, especially for the mini-escape rooms. With the fast pass, we had plenty of time to have a drink or just watch the unfolding chaos around the show area, even getting a behind-the-scenes tour in without having to stress about missing an attraction.

 

horrorland scream park spain barcelona halloween horror haunt haunted house

 

The location is an absolute eye-catcher.The aforementioned cooling tower is an ever-present landmark, with the different attractions housed in several warehouses at the tower’s feet, bordering a main street flooded with music, theming and street actors. A central stage in the middle of this street functions as an outdoor hub and show area. One moment, zoomorphic butcher creatures are orchestrating a bidding war for human limbs and organs, the next, the unsuspecting crowd is ambushed and overrun by a horde of zombies – who dance to Thriller. Rancid clowns may try to seduce audiences, and even the bathrooms aren’t safe – we were witness to an enormous brute wearing a bull’s head trying to chainsaw his way into some poor guy’s privacy. Never a dull moment.

 

No scream park is complete without haunted houses – and this is where Horrorland 2019 truly shines. All five attractions were superbly themed, and we honestly couldn’t fault a single actor within. During every one of our runs, they delivered perfectly timed scares and had us screaming for our lives. Even though the park was sold out, we never ran into another group (unless the maze was designed that way – see the chaotic end of our run-through of Matadero below) and never missed a single scare, no matter whether we were in the front, middle or end of the group. What’s more – even in the tamer, more traditional mazes, actors are allowed to touch the guests, and do so with the greatest glee. After seeing the UK’s scream parks shy further and further away from contact haunts, this was absolutely exhilarating and thrilling – and clear proof that touch, when used professionally, can be such a powerful tool in a haunter’s kit. Now, time for a quick run-through of the various houses!

 

Horrorland Scream Park 2019

 

Clown Town 3D

We started the night with Clown Town 3D. We’ve seen 3D circus-themed mazes quite a few times, and usually open our night with these – they tend to be fun, colorful little walk-throughs, but nothing that keeps us up at night. Enter Horrorland 2019 – still in the queue, the two of us were separated from our group, and ended up walking through the maze all by ourselves. The 3D effects are done to perfection, messing with our depth perception, and we often had no idea where the actors were even coming from. Fun, original scares and a layout that always kept us guessing. I don’t suffer from a clown phobia, but an endless hallway lined with clown mannequins genuinely left me wanting to turn right back around. Super creepy, and easily the best 3D circus maze I have experienced.

 

horrorland scream park spain barcelona halloween horror haunt haunted house

 

Matadero

We ventured into Matadero next, and had the option to make our run a bit more personal by wearing red glow stick necklaces. The house is basically an inverse slaughterhouse, with guests as the cattle, processed by butchers wearing white boiler suits and animal masks. I endured a baseball bat positioned uncomfortably high between my legs, crawled through pig pens and quite early on in the attraction, was manhandled into a secluded room, where an assailant with a horse mask pinned me against a wall and thoroughly cleaned me with a pressurized air hose. Others got their necks and faces tattooed (with a genuine tattoo machine, only without the needle), had syringes filled with icy water emptied near their spines, and even were “artificially inseminated” – all symbolizing what we put the animals bred for consumption through.

It was absolute pandemonium inside, with the lot of us getting separated from each other, each one of us getting grabbed, isolated and brutalized – the solo moments at the cost of a red necklace, a clever way of making sure every member of the group gets a one-on-one. The maze came to a conclusion in an absolutely frantic chainsaw finale, set in a disorienting sequence of rooms, dead-ends and corridors that were separated by curtains of thick plastic. Two chainsaw wielding attackers relentlessly chased us – and it took us forever to find our way out. This was the only moment we ever saw another group in the mazes, and it only added to the panic and chaos. At one point, the two butchers managed to corner me, hacking into my limbs with their chainsaws, absolutely showing no mercy. We ran out breathlessly. Truly amazing, and one of the best mazes I have ever experienced.

 

horrorland scream park spain barcelona halloween horror haunt haunted house

 

La Termica

Up next was La Termica, a maze honoring the origins of Horrorland, themed around the abandoned power plant and the radioactive sewage system that runs beneath. Donning construction helmets, we navigated mine shafts, industrial settings and toxic swamps, encountering more and more mutated monstrosities within. The theming was absolutely stunning, and usually, when this is the case, the intensity is dialed down. Not so in Horrorland, as we were mercilessly assaulted from all sides, in a maze that never seemed to end. Gigantic animatronic monsters had us cowering in corners, creatures emerging from between swampy strands of fog made us scream and backtrack in terror, and a strobe-lit cage section was almost unbearably intense. I need to specifically mention the actors in this maze: Their timing, use of space and movement were spot on. More than once, a sole actor controlled our entire group of nine people to perfection, with every single one of us screaming out and frantically trying to get away. We left this attraction genuinely slack-jawed. Such a perfect experience – with impeccable theming and terrifying scares. Stunning.

 

horrorland scream park spain barcelona halloween horror haunt haunted house

 

La Casa del Bosque

Our next maze, La Casa del Bosque (The Cabin in the Woods), forced guests to wander through a dense forest in search of shelter. This maze was a little more traditional in terms of theme and storytelling, but again Horrorland really raised the bar with innovative scares and beautiful theming. Although set in a warehouse, the initial outdoors section is truly believable, with guests hiking a tight, winding trail flanked by tall trees. Once we reached the cabin, it immediately became clear this wasn’t exactly the safe haven we had been hoping for – ghostly manifestations and mean trickery lurked around every corner. I can draw comparisons to Castle Vampyre at the legendary Trilogy of Terror at Freakling Bros – another more classically themed haunted house with so many surprises and genuinely original scares. Our group literally tumbled to the floor at the sight of, among other things, a tree and a teddy bear. I know, we weren’t proud of that either.

 

horrorland scream park spain barcelona halloween horror haunt haunted house

 

Survival Maze: Battle Royale

The final offering was Survival Maze: Battle Royale. This was something we had never seen before in a haunted house. Other mazes have left us breathless, in a fun-and-games kind of way; but after Survival Maze, we walked out disheveled, and actually out of breath, panting, in a state between laughter and disbelief, as each of us shared our own individual stories. I have never been this stressed out in a horror attraction.

In Survival Maze, forty people enter all at once, as participants in a game show. Colorful glow stick necklaces divide the crowd into four teams which are let loose in an arena. Also released are eight killers, whose only goal is to tear those glow sticks from your necks. In three rounds, participants need to avoid an ultraviolent wolf-faced inmate, a Japanese school girl twirling a katana around, a New Orleans voodoo priest with a deadly stare, and a murderous drag queen, among others. Whichever team has the most survivors after these three rounds wins.

Before the action starts, guests are urged not to run, but I can assure you, there is no chance in hell anyone could casually stroll through this attraction, and this rule goes out of the window the moment an air horn announces the beginning of the first round. As the murderers started hunting us down in the confusing confines of the survival maze, the air was electric with panic. In round one, they just showed their faces, which was enough to turn everything into a frenzy. Round two saw them becoming more aggressive and agile, and more and more participants were sent to their demise. Then round three came along, and survival was nigh impossible. I got caught in the middle of way too many people trying to squeeze through one thoroughfare, felt some massive arms close around my chest, and was effortlessly lifted off the ground by the drag queen – the other people around me were still scrambling for safety.

Maybe six people managed to hold onto their necklace until the end. This was one of the most original, fun, and genuinely terrifying experiences I have ever done. Like a frantic, horror-themed game of Tag. Brilliant. I wish I could have done this over and over again.

 

horrorland scream park spain barcelona halloween horror haunt haunted house

 

Psycho Extreme (an 18+ Full-Contact Experience)

In addition to these already quite intense general access attractions, Psycho Extreme, an 18+ full-contact experience, was hidden away at the far end of the park. We got quite lucky since, unbeknownst to us, it had been sold out for months, but we managed to buy a couple of tickets from a couple who had gotten cold feet!

The experience is customizable to some degree but, in part due to a language barrier, I ended up with the most extreme version – not that I would have it any other way. Before I knew what was happening, a very stern nun had drawn three Xes on my face, which (I think) meant that I would venture through the attraction in my underwear, without a safeword, and didn’t mind getting dirty. So, in freezing temperatures, there I was, undressing in front of this nun and getting a rapid-fire physical exam, before being secured on top of a stretcher and wheeled through the rest of Psycho.

In short, I died and had my organs harvested, after which the crew realized I was alive and I got the blessing of a priest. Something along those lines. While some of the actors realized I didn’t speak Spanish and adjusted, for other scenes I had to guess what exactly was going on. This did not diminish the fun though – I mean, tie me to a stretcher and shout Spanish at me all day long, it was a blast! Electroshock therapy (without actual electrical shocks, mind), a quick tumble into a fiery Hell, open-heart surgery, and a face full of some extremely luscious boobs all made an appearance in this experience – and I left with a big grin on my face, standing mostly naked on a doorstep clutching my clothes and shoes.

 

horrorland scream park spain barcelona halloween horror haunt haunted house

 

Final Thoughts

I haven’t even talked about the mini-escape rooms, the shows, the big marquee with bars and horror-themed fairground games, the zombie paintball, or the big fireworks parade at the end. But, I believe I got the message across. Horrorland 2019 takes the prize as being the absolute best European scream park I have visited. Through a combination of contact and high-intensity scares, impeccable actors, top-notch theming, perfect crowd management and a wide variety of entertainment on offer, Horrorland 2019 is able to school the vast majority of long-running and well established European Halloween events. It’s hard for me to believe that this is only their second year running because this was truly impressive. We will most likely be back again next year – we had a fantastic holiday in Barcelona, but just this event alone was already worth the flight, in my opinion. Highly, highly recommended.

 

horrorland scream park spain barcelona halloween horror haunt haunted house

 

For more info, visit Horrorland’s official websiteFacebook page or Instagram. Check out our Event Guide for more horror and immersive entertainment throughout the year.

MORE ABOUT HAUNTING


Haunting is a resource for immersive theater and horror fans in Los Angeles and across the world, promoting art and community. Want to help us reach even more people, and get some cool perks and experiences? For as little as $1 a month, you can join our Patreon and help us keep bringing content to life.

 

If you like the above article and want to find more like it, make sure to join our community. If Facebook is your favorite, follow us there and become a part of our groups for Immersive Horror fans and/or Immersive creators. We’re active on Instagram, posting evocative imagery and informative stories to promote our reviews and recollections; follow us there. You can even find us on twitter; click here to follow. For those who want to explore deeper, we have a vibrant Slack community with new event alerts and immediate ticket sale announcements; click here to join. And subscribe to our event calendar to get emails for all or specific events (look for the link right under the calendar)! Finally, we have a newsletter that comes out once a week; click here to sign up.

horrorland 2019 horrorland 2019 horrorland 2019 horrorland 2019 horrorland 2019 horrorland 2019

About The Author

Mathias Verduyckt
Belgium based - a country where immersive theatre/horror is even more rare than the tiny bit of sunshine we get. So, I travel, often for the sole purpose of experiencing this weird, unique form of art.

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]