Scientists and their grand ideas of what the future might hold… can’t they just let good things be?
BREACH at SCREAM-A-GEDDON is the newest attraction to their already solid playbill. This attraction brings you into the action with the option to be a part of the show - if you volunteer to wear a glow necklace marker. Don’t worry, you can always opt-out if you feel the urge to run.
THEME:
BREACH is a sci-fi(ish) themed attraction where the scientists are experimenting on living creatures - and can you imagine? It all went horribly wrong! Stttrraaange.
There are plenty of subtle details throughout the attraction that allow the non-scaredy type to look at and gather a bit more to the story. It communicates the idea that you are in a laboratory that has recently experienced some tragedies. However, you can still hear the neighboring attractions in the background and it kind of draws you away from being able to fully sink into the theme. Maybe the drinks will help with that.
SCARES:
There is a decent mixture of scare types due to the interactiveness of these attractions. It is not all strobes-in-face-scream-in-face scares. I feel that this has to be broken down a bit further due to the interactions you get to have if you volunteer for the hands-on experience vs the scares you have when you are not marked for the taking. Some of the interactive scares are rather silly and don’t pack the punch you would expect with an attraction that is allowed to touch you, but I can imagine this is a result of ensuring that the crowd keeps moving and that no one gets injured. But there is one scare that stands out to me, or can I say lays me out? The body bags, hot Jebus, are exhilarating. Please, if you can, get the glow necklace (if you are over 18) and do the body bags.
Moving on to the not-interactive scares we have the general “pop-scare'. This is' where someone or something jumps out from a blind corner or a hidey-hole and screams somethin. They have slightly more elaborate scares, such as a wall that falls and nearly wipes you out (not really, but hey, it's dark in here). They have fog geysers to blast you and sections of the wall that disappear to reveal a rather ugly creature. If not all then most scares are accompanied by lights and sounds. I still want you to have some fun, but overall, if you are in the mood, this attraction will scare your pants right off.
SOUND:
There is a consistent soundtrack throughout and it's called screaming. Well, I mean there is screaming, but it's not the soundtrack. Lots of beeps and boops and emergency alert but behind all of that you hear an actual sound track. It’s a low pulsating track with subdued strings and a consistent heart beat type of sound.
LIGHTING:
This attraction falls in line with how most haunted attractions are lit. It’s dark. Not too dark though, so you get to appreciate the details in the attraction. I (personally) like to enjoy those moments as someone, somewhere, out there took time and hoped that someone ,somewhere, would notice. And I say to that person “Hi, I’m Mark and I noticed”. I appreciate the craft just as much as the ride. With all the lighting sources being mostly hidden it gives the attraction a kind of eerie feeling. Like it's glowing but you're not sure why or where from. The egg crate ceiling tiles do a good job of adding texture to the lighting, giving the structure some height and some depth. Of course you cannot forget the practical nature of dim lighting, that’s to say, when you are suddenly blasted by bright lights, it makes it very difficult to register what is happening and allows the attractions to come alive without you noticing.
ACTORS:
Just like any other business it’s payroll that eats your profits. Hungry little payroll. That being said, the actors are not Hollywood A-lister. These are just people who like to scream at other people. The lines are somewhat redundant and at times I can’t tell if this is poor scripting or lazy acting, but for the most part they get the job done. They are loud when they should be and quiet when they need to reset. It does make me think that it might be hard to say a line a couple of thousand times without some sort of break from the usual action. Since this park allows you to go through the attractions as many times as your little heart can take, I did come back to this attraction throughout my visit to see if it would change. The short answer is yes, of course, but you would have to be paying close attention to notice. Overall, some of the actors were great and others… should have been placed in the body bags. So between these 2 factors, it balances out.
CONCLUSION:
Overall this is a solid attraction. It checks all the boxes (sometimes with a pencil). The scares are there and the theme matches. There is nothing innovating and there is nothing that I would put in a letter to mum. It does the fundamentals and does them well. For a haunted attraction what else would you want?
