MoviEscape Stockport – Haunted House

Venue: MoviEscape Stockport
Room: Haunted House
The Team: TDM, J, P, C
Date: 09/10/2017
This was our second room of the evening at MoviEscape Stockport following Sawtopsy, and I was glad we’d done them in this order. I can’t really say anything bad about Sawtopsy because it was a great room, but even a great room would have felt like a bit of a come down after Haunted House as it was truly excellent! So good in fact, that it gets a
The Story:
You play a group of Paranormal investigators sent to Crowley manor to investigate the disappearance of a previous Paranormal Investigation Team.
MoviEscape really go the extra mile with their theming. Haunted House looks and feels like an old wood panelled manor house room from somewhere you’d usually pay the National Trust to go and visit. The whole thing just looked ‘right’ with the only thing looking a little out of place being the large box from the previous paranormal team that we were investigating. This was obviously part of the story though, so even that fitted in that sense.
The room had a good mix of searching, puzzles, and locks and and the flow was generally quite linear once you got going. There was one nice feature which put us in contact with the team we were looking for (a similar device had also been used in Sawtopsy, but it worked equally well in both rooms) which helped the story move along nicely.
What really made this room stand out for me though was the atmosphere. Through a combination of the lighting and sound, it conjures a great ‘spooky’ feeling – not scary as such, just a real sense of paranormal ambience. It starts with nothing and builds slowly and subtly to a point where you start to assume it was there from the start.
At the end there was an unusual way to complete the room which involved ringing a bell, which was once again keeping in with the theme. This was also the way to ask for clues if needed.
Once we were out we got a brief tour of the other space they have available for future rooms… and there’s quite a bit, so hopefully I’ll be returning in the not too distant future. It’s a great location, and going in the evening in the dark only adds to the atmosphere.
Excellent room, loved it.