Movie Park Germany celebrates 20 years of Halloween Horror Festival

By | September 13, 2018

BOTTROP-KIRCHELLEN — This year the greatest Halloween event in Europe will not only be sporting a new name. A wide range of innovations will be making a Festival of the multiple award-winning Halloween Horror Fest, celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. In addition to two new themes and live music acts, one new horror attraction in particular promises to be the ultimate horror experience. “With Constantin Film as our new partner and the Wrong Turn licence, we are especially pleased to have achieved a milestone in the horror genre here at Germany’s largest film and amusement park. This classic fits in perfectly with the backdrop of the Horrorwood Studios and will be an integral part of the event for the next three years”, explains project manager Manuel Prossotowicz.

As in the first film of the Wrong Turn series, a supposed shortcut will prove disastrous for Movie Park guests. They will get lost in the forests of West Virginia and become the prey of bloodthirsty cannibals. The plot of the film, portrayed in 22 different scenes, is implemented with the usual love for detail by the Mülheim-based company DEKOWERK & IDEEWERK. In addition to the well-known highlights from the first part of the film, there are also some adaptations and new sequences that seamlessly integrate the story line of Wrong Turn into the gigantic backdrops of the former “ICE AGE Adventures”. The story begins with the shady petrol station, leads past a ten-metre-high waterfall and ends at the secluded shack of the fearsome forest dwellers.

The new indoor horror attraction boasts two special features at the same time. One is the unconventional route. “It’s not about insidious corners, as it is usually the case in our horror labyrinths, which don’t reveal what terrible fate lies ahead, but through the original fairway of the former attraction”, reveals Managing Director Thorsten Backhaus. Huge rocks pile up along the way, dangers lurk everywhere behind the trees – the cannibal forest dwellers are waiting for their supper. A nerve-wracking hunt through the forests of West Virginia begins.

Second, the daring tourists visiting the national park will receive a very special prop for their journey: a solar-powered safety lamp shows them the way through the dark night. “But surprises are inevitable”, reveals Prossotowicz. This is the first time the film park has worked together with the Dutch company Haunted Lantern, which has been using this system very successfully since 2016 at British theme park Alton Towers.

For the musical and media content production of the new horror attraction, Movie Park Germany is once again making use of the many years of expertise of IMAscore and IMAmedia. The Paderborn music experts are also responsible for the musical background for the new scare zone “Fear Pier” and the sound design of the new “Acid Rain” theme area.

DJ Max Bering and Irish folk band Lappländer will be providing even more musical highlights. “The live music acts are another novelty that will help us properly celebrate our anniversary”, Backhaus comments. Famous DJ Max Bering from Bochum has already performed DJ sets alongside greats such as Felix Jaehn, Tiesto and Robin Schulz. Max is not only an integral part of the Parookaville Festival, but the successful release of his single “Life” also had a tremendous impact on the international music scene. On the four days of advance sales, Oberhausen-based band Lappländer will also be on stage performing high-tempo Irish songs and their own Nordic tunes.

The “Acid Rain” theme area will thus become not only the central party zone, but also the contact point for fans of exceptional culinary delights. Ratingen-based event and catering company Caab Event will be offering very special flavour experiences with its Halloween-specific specialities.

To celebrate the 20th anniversary, the creative Halloween team led by project manager Manuel Prossotowicz has also put a number of visions into practice in terms of decoration and ambience. Park guests will now enter into the world of horror, the “scare zones”, by passing through large entrance gates. The individual areas can thus be better separated from each other, and the gates directly alert the guests to the horror that lies before them. In addition, there will be even more decorative elements throughout the park than last year. In addition to the Hostel horror attraction, “confuser of the senses” Stephan Nölle will also be performing for a second year, presenting his new hypnosis show in the Western Saloon. As the casting director of Horrorwood Studios, he will be guiding guests into the (nightmare) world of well-known horror films.

Last year the Halloween Horror Fest(ival) at Movie Park Germany was named Best Amusement Park Event 2017. This year more than 280 monsters will be wreaking havoc on the streets of the park on 17 action days from 6th October to 4th November. A total of eight horror labyrinths and four scare zones will make even the bravest guests’ blood run cold.