This two-day Soho pop-up delivers scares, chills and cocktails as part of a promotional event for Universal Pictures and Blumhouse Productions. Our review of Blumhouse Blackout...
Photo: Cerebrum
Blumhouse Blackout, a two-day immersive pop-up experience from Universal Pictures and Blumhouse Productions, took over a building on Bateman Street in Soho last weekend, inviting visitors into the world of M3GAN, The Purge and The Black Phone ahead of Halloween. Tickets to the event were free of charge - though limited - with a walk-up queue available outside the venue for those who missed out.
Entering in groups of up to 8 at a time, visitors were first invited to sit in a shabbily decorated living room as two characters in Purge masks ominously walked around silently. With the door to the outside world slammed shut, they leapt into life and instructed guests to move through to the next room for an introductory briefing. Being directed by someone wielding an axe added to the hast in which everyone moved...
Photos: Cerebrum
The centrepiece of the experience was a 15-minute section with visitors laying on mattresses in a recreation of the basement in The Black Phone. Wearing noise-cancelling headphones throughout, an audio experience created by DARKFIELD - a company well-known for using 360° binaural audio to immerse visitors - played out in total darkness, with the only sources of light being the occasional pyrotechnics, dim lighting cues and actor interactions timed alongside the audio.
Photo: Cerebrum
These brief moments out of darkness certainly ramped up the tension and had some well-time jump scares, especially when the lights would briefly flick on to find one of the cast inches from your face, but the sections in the pitch black were the most effective as your imagination would fill in the visuals. Despite being pre-recorded, hearing others around you trying to escape, only to subsequently be captured and dragged away screaming, made the instructions in the opening moments to stay on your mattress at all times to remain safe even more impactful. The climax of the audio experience was an ASMR-like whisper into your ear that sent shivers down your spine, both from the delivery and the sound of saliva moving around their lips and mouth as they spoke.
Photo: Cerebrum
The second half of the experience took place in a Blumhouse-themed bar at the rear of the venue. At one end, M3GAN was there to greet visitors in a children's playroom. Performed by Annabel Brook, who also played Young Eleven in 2019/2020's Secret Cinema Presents Stranger Things, their robotic invitation to dance led to some of the experience's most entertaining moments, as guests recreated the viral dance moves that helped make the original film such a success. Elsewhere, an invitation to 'play a game' had guests searching the walls of the bar area with a UV flashlight in search of letters, which when rearranged made up a code phrase that would result in receiving a complimentary Blumhouse T-Shirt. In addition, complimentary themed cocktails based on popular Blumhouse films were also available.
The same bartenders who made those drinks soon shifted gear when the Purge Countdown playing on a TV in the bar hit zero, with them donning masks, smashing bottles and telling us to leave just as quickly as we’d entered. Again, you’re included to do as told when a masked stranger is holding a weapon…
Photo: Immersive Rumours
As far as immersive pop-up events go, Blumhouse Blackout was far from the most elaborate to hit London in recent years. It was certainly nowhere near the scale of events such as It Chapter Two experience at The Vaults, and The Boys Get The V by Swamp, but it was nonetheless an engaging and enjoyable experience - especially given the free ticket price.
No doubt due to logistical reasons, the event only ran across two days, despite selling out in just a few hours. With Halloween just days away after the doors to Blumhouse Blackout closed, it feels like a missed opportunity to not have the experience run for longer so more people could experience it.
Photo: Immersive Rumours
★★★★
Blumhouse Blackout ran at 15 Bateman Street on the 25th and 26th October 2024.
For more reviews of immersive experiences like Blumhouse Blackout, click here.
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