Final week, the Vulcan Publish staff acquired an invite to the launch of The Conjuring Universe Tour, an all-new immersive walk-through horror expertise. 

Situated at The Curve in Mutiara Damansara, the tour options “spine-chilling” set recreations impressed by a few of the extra iconic scenes from The Conjuring’s movie franchise, together with its namesake sequence, Annabelle I and II, and The Nun.

There’s a complete of 20 interactive zones (or units) altogether, and an entire walk-through of the tour takes between 45 minutes to an hour. Guests can be escorted in teams of about ten to 12 people by a tour information.

Because the tour’s Southeast Asian debut, we had been curious to see what experiences had been produced by Warner Bros. Discovery International Themed Leisure, Sunny SideUp, and Incubase Studio, in partnership with AM PM (HK) and Ace Media Community.

So with a lot pleasure, my colleague Claudia and I sucked up our fears and went to expertise the horror for ourselves.

Warning: Minor spoilers on the tour expertise forward.

After conserving our luggage and private belongings within the supplied lockers, we joined our group of 10 different media personnels in what I assumed to be the ready space. 

There, you’ll discover framed posters of all of the movies being referenced for the tour. Subsequent to every poster is a “report” briefly explaining the case of every haunting. So when you’re not solely accustomed to The Conjuring franchise, it’d assist to get some background particulars this manner.

However this isn’t actually obligatory as you’re nonetheless in a position to benefit from the expertise with out the contextual info. 

”Pack your belongings. Keep shut collectively. I hope you’ll be able to end what I couldn’t.” 

That’s how we had been welcomed with a brief clip by Sean, a “paranormal skilled”, after we had been guided to a classroom earlier than the tour started. The classroom featured snippets of the movies together with a brief introduction to The Conjuring universe.

Our tour information of the day then briefed us on the principles (mainly, don’t contact any of the props and keep in mind to show off your digicam’s flash) and elected a “final man” to look at over the group.

For context, the chosen “final man” can be a participant, however their function is to behave because the final individual out of the group to go away the set. Which means they are going to be answerable for making certain that everybody on the tour stays collectively.

So when you’re nervous about being by accident left behind, this would possibly soothe your nerves.

As soon as that was established, all 12 of us walked straight into the gloomy graveyard of the Abbey of St. Carta from The Nun. 

Tombstones had been erected in every single place and the mist made it very arduous to see forward. Not having the very best eyesight didn’t assist, however the mild illuminating from the tour information’s classic oil lamp served as an excellent lead.

We had been rapidly ushered into one other room, the place the group was led down a hall with giant human-sized crucifixes on either side that served as “to-be” headstones. All of the whereas, creepy soundtracks would play within the background, additional cultivating the horror-like ambiance. 

Then we reached what I deemed to be the second creepiest set in the entire tour—the room with the “headless” nuns. 

Okay, saying they’re headless wouldn’t be correct, however all of them had been sporting a sack bag over their heads.

This prompted the concern of the unknown and an anticipation that one thing extra would come. In our expertise, each Claudia and I had been on the sting all through the whole lot of this room simply ready for an precise individual to pop up from their “headless nun” costume.

Listening to our different group members shuffling about to get as rapidly away from the room as doable (with out working) made the expertise barely much less terrifying.

That stated, after we walked into one other room that was crammed with 5 our bodies hanging the other way up from the ceiling, I used to be weirdly relieved. 

The tour information defined that this set depicted The Nun’s ending, the place all of the nuns sacrificed themselves to cease the demon named Valak from possessing them.

Enjoying with dolls is oh a lot enjoyable… till they’re possessed

Transferring into the following room was the start of the Annabelle sequence, the place we had been ushered into the Mullins Toy Firm. Should you’re not accustomed to the franchise, that is the place the possessed doll was manufactured by a doll maker and his spouse.

Shortly after, a hall crammed with papers led us to a tiny room the place the Annabelle doll sat in a chair. Nothing actually occurred at first, however then the lights started flickering and he or she disappeared from view. 

To seek out her, we walked into Bee’s bed room, the place a tea celebration was set out and an outdated hand puppet present was taking part in.

I used to be distracted midway after I noticed a white mattress sheet floating within the nook of my eye. With out pondering a lot, I tilted my head barely solely to seek out it pooled as if the floating was a figment of my creativeness.

So you’ll be able to think about my fright after I rotated to seek out Annabelle in all her monstrous glory standing by the window, evident at everybody.

Noticing that Claudia and far of the others had moved on, I scrammed because the room started feeling just a little too naked. And what are you aware, we walked straight into Ed and Lorraine Warren’s Artifact Room. 

Seeing it in individual felt fairly surreal, having adopted The Conjuring films myself since I used to be a youngster. However I did discover that the format wasn’t actually how I remembered it being within the movies, in order that took away a few of the wow issue for me.

We carried on previous the Ferryman’s Tomb and walked right into a mirror maze, the place the tour information insisted we stick collectively. Or else the Bloody Bride can be on our heels to hang-out us. On this “scene” notably, it paid to stay with Sean-the-paranormal-expert’s recommendation and keep collectively.

All through the maze, I keep in mind questioning if the tour guides (or the remainder of The Conjuring Universe Tour staff) had left hidden instructions on this set, simply in case they by accident wound up misplaced.

The Bloody Bride appeared a few times within the mirrors to scare us, earlier than we in the end discovered the exit and wound up in Judy Warren’s Room. There, a storm brewed, home windows shattered, and considered one of our group members had her greatest fright of the night time.

In such instances, it was particularly useful to have the tour information round. Not simply to offer extra background info on the recreated movie units we had been strolling into, however to additionally soothe members’ nerves when it received too overwhelming.

To flee Annabelle’s wrath, all of us left rapidly solely to finish up on the famed tree outdoors, The Perron’s Home, the place the ghostly determine of a witch hanged herself.

Did it reside as much as our expectations?

Hell sure (pun meant).

The remainder of the tour, from set room 15 to set room 20, must be found by yourself as these are particulars we’ve been requested to not disclose. So if this feels like an attention-grabbing expertise to you to date, you then would possibly wish to take into account going via it your self. 

Tickets are presently obtainable via Klook, WeTix, Incutix, and KEEPSAKE by GSC. They begin from RM80 on weekdays and RM95 on weekends. A whole breakdown of the pricing might be discovered right here.

To start with, we overheard one of many employees members saying it’s extra of a method for followers to stand up shut and private with the movie units.

Having skilled it for ourselves, Claudia and I each agreed that it did its job, and was fairly immersive. Though we had been each just a little clueless in regards to the movies, we discovered that our information did nicely at guiding the tour and sticking to his character.

The audio and visible parts additionally labored nicely collectively to create a extra immersive expertise, and the “outside” scenes had been fairly cool. Some units additionally had extra interactive parts to them, however we gained’t spoil the enjoyable by giving examples.

Nevertheless, we did discover that the music was too loud throughout some elements of the tour, particularly in the direction of the tip. And the tour information’s microphone was not the clearest, making it just a little more durable to grasp him typically.

However general, it was an thrilling expertise that common horror fanatics may take pleasure in. Simply don’t overlook to put on snug sneakers since you’ll be strolling loads.

The Conjuring Universe Tour is presently obtainable for guests ranging from August 26, 2023, till November 19, 2023. So when you’d like an excellent scare, then a tour round this expertise would possibly simply be the de-stressor you’re on the lookout for.

• Study extra about The Conjuring Universe Tour right here.
• Learn articles we’ve written about Malaysian startups right here.

All Picture Credit: Vulcan Publish