ScareCON 2015

Nestled away in a private marquee within Thorpe Park Resort, a stone's throw from the commotion of giddy teenagers and beneath the thundering Swarm rollercoaster, scare industry delegates gathered for ScareCON 2015. With a great line-up of speakers and a trade floor full to bursting with delectable horror fare, the day ahead looked very promising. And with a whole evening of entertainment planned as part of the ScareBall, needless to say I was ridiculously excited.

The atmosphere was lively as I arrived at registration; even more so on the trade floor. It was a great combination of geeking out and showing off, all in the nicest possible way. Make-up demonstrations were already underway, and various horror characters were striding casually through the crowd, including an impressive grim reaper on stilts. Outside on the private terrace, old friends were catching up in the sunshine. Before the talks begun I'd bumped into countless people I knew, some of whom I'd never met in person, but we greeted each other warmly and the phrase "it's great to finally meet you" kept popping up. For the most part, the sense of community is strong in the scare industry, and this was apparent throughout the day. 

 The first few talks were engaging and insightful. Unlocked Vision Entertainment discussed their scare maze 'Hidden House', and talked us though the challenges they faced in producing this event for a corporate client. Jason Karl from AtmosFEAR! Scare Entertainment then talked us through 'Labirinto', a permanent scare attraction they created in the heart of Lisbon. This was followed by a talk on 'Cracked', the survival experience I previewed earlier this year. My connections to the Cracked event made this one even more interesting for me. However, the team did assume a lot of prior knowledge from the audience, and could have been confusing for delegates who weren't aware of Cracked.

 After a few refreshments the talks continued, the next segment leaning more towards a zombie theme. End of Days Events gave a great in-depth presentation with an exciting live zombie demo towards the end. This was dampened by a somewhat ill-conceived (yet arguably valid) question from an audience member (and lawyer) about how on earth the producers think they can "get away" with having their actors touch the guests, with only a disclaimer as legal protection. Some delegates were aghast, but the speaker addressed the question in very professional manner, albeit stating the obvious: it's what the customers want. 

I only managed to catch a few more talks before I had to leave, as the timetable was running a little bit behind and I needed to get ready for the ScareBall. My first time doing sugar skull make-up meant I had to allow a window for fuck-ups. Thankfully, there were none. We made our way back into a deserted Thorpe Park for a very special live version of the scare maze 'Saw Alive'. It was great to see so many people in costumes queuing up to experience the attraction together. Which leads me to....

 ...A very quick review of Saw Alive (Live)!

This is a great little maze with a layout to please the Saw fans; it features one or two of the more underrated Jigsaw traps, including the carousel from Saw 6 (however I think the lighting needs to be addressed in that room because I could barely see it.) The maze has lots of opportunities to deliver good scares, and the actors were extremely energetic for us. In certain scenes they appeared to be restrained, but would occasionally break free and make a run for us, which was really effective. The costumes let it down a bit; one or two of the actors looked a little too clean for the environment they were supposed to be in. That aside, it was really good fun.

 After our experience in Saw Alive, we made our way back to the marquee for the ScareBall. As I entered the room and saw the vast array of weird and wonderful costumes, I felt like I was at a huge Halloween party, which was a lovely feeling to have in June! We settled down to watch the SCARs (ScareCon Annual Recognition Awards), interspersed with live performances from The Circus of Horrors. The SCARs were probably the highlight of the day for me; it was a really positive experience, people were genuinely happy for each other and it was great to hear everyone loudly celebrating their nominations and successes. This was followed by more drinks, music, and dancing; I was feeling even more of the Halloween party vibe with some classic spooky tunes playing, including 'Thriller' of course. We're a predictable bunch.

 As the evening drew to a close, we stumbled out into a darkened Thorpe Park and began the long process of saying our slurred goodbyes to each other. Hazy plans were being conceived about who was riding in whose car, and where the drinking may continue, and after a good deal of shouting people were still none the wiser. It felt like a wedding reception. We were sad that the event was over, but still buzzing from the revelation that ScareCON will actually be returning in November. 

From beginning to end, ScareCON had something for everyone, and I would urge anyone with an interest in this industry to attend some or all of it. You're guaranteed to make some new friends, and if you're willing to listen to what people have to say, you'll learn a lot too. I'd like to say a big thank you to everyone involved in the organisation of ScareCON, and I look forward to seeing you all again very soon.