Haunted houses in Japan uses a new concept to keep the business ongoing. The new concept was a drive-in haunted house. The new concept also protects people from the spread of COVID-19.
In the car, guests can scream as loud as they want without even wearing a face mask. The concept also might be scarier than a traditional haunted house said a haunted house producer, Kenta Iwana to AFP.
“At the drive-in haunted house, guests are confined in a car so they can’t escape the horror until the end. It makes it even scarier for them,” said Iwana.
Iwana also said that he thought about the idea when struggling with many event cancellations because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Orders for conventional-style haunted houses were canceled one after another and we lost about 80 percent of our clients,” he said.
Iwana and his team named Kowagaraseta wanted to create performances that suitable for the current situation. They will be wearing face masks painted with fake blood and playing recorded screams.
One of the actors that play a blood-soaked killer in the team, Kota Hanegawa said that the new concept has a few positive feedbacks from the audiences.
“I can get very close to guests even though they’re behind the windscreens,” said Hanegawa.
“It’s interesting to see their reactions so close up while keeping social distance,” he added.
Although many amusement parks are slowly starting to reopen, the team still continues the drive-in concept for this time being. It is believed that tickets for early next month at a Tokyo garage have already sold out.
Source: Channel News Asia, AFP