Terror Roulette, An Intimate Horror Experience, Premiers in Chicagoland

0:08 Terror Roulette, a new interactive horror experience has debuted this fall in the Chicago area. That's coming up on today's show from the Haunted Attraction Network. I'm Philip and this is our sixty one day Hantedon where we're counting down to Halloween by celebrating Haunted houses daily, the videos, podcasts, and thep in person experiences. Since this podcast is only one part of the Hauntedthon, the best way to follow everything is by subscribing to our newsletter or by going to our website at Haunted Attraction Network dot com to see the list of all the new content we have posting. And remember that the best way you can support us as Halloween season is by sharing our Hauntedon with someone you think will enjoy it.

0:51 Okay. Terror Roulette is a new intimate, immersive horror experience that debuted this season in the Chicagoland area. Groups of eight participants are thrust into an interactive story where they become the selecting victims of a bloodthirsty secret society. At the heart of this bone chilling experience is the enigmatic villain known as the Dealer, who literally holds all the cards. The Dealer presides over a sinister realm filled with a host of maniacal slayers, each with their own killer specialty. Terror Roulette debuted at the Arboretom of South Barrington and is a partnership between the Arboretum and IWG Entertainment. So today we're going to sit down with Jeffrey from IWG to discuss what it was like creating this event and working with a partner like the Arboretom. Enjoy. My name is Jeffrey Holmes. I'm the creative principle for Iron Wooden Glitter, which we sometimes go by IWG Productions, and we are a turnkey seasonal attraction developer, so we design, fabricate, install, operate. And you are developing a new haunted attraction in Barrington this year, Yes, we are. We are developing a brand new haunt concept.

2:06 It's called terror Roulette and it's going to be in South Barrington, Illinois, in the Arboretum of South Barrington. So terror Roulette is a secret society of underground serial killers that have been cultivated and brought together by the dealer and under the guise of going to a CD bar, guests are going to be let's call it earmarked for a special intimate serial killer interaction with a few of our collection. Let's call it. It's a unique haunt in that your groupings are malleable. So we're going to start you as a group of eight, but that doesn't mean you're going to end as a group of eight, just depending on which serial killer found you most enticing that you might find that your path diverges from your friends. Tell me how you landed on that kind of mixing of immersive and regular traditional haunts. You definitely use the right word immersive, right. We really wanted to find that balance between immersive theater and traditional haunt.

3:09 There are aspects of haunt that we love, but there's aspects of haunt that we think can be improved upon. For me personally, I really wanted to find a way to create a personal experience, something where the actor had a moment to really engage with you, and to be able to create terror that is more psychological and more practical. A lot of the directive that we received in starting the design was to find a way to make it really terrifying and to find terror that is real. There are some people are afraid of ghosts, and some people are afraid of zombies. But if I can find something that you could actually encounter in the real world and magnify that in this haunt, there's no escaping that, there's no suspension of disbelief because what we're showing you is genuine. Yes, it's an act, it's fabricated, it could happen in real life, and there's nothing more terrifying than that. Yeah, why is the reason you're focusing on the individual interaction to elicit that that emotion from people? Is that what we're trying? I think it's a combination.

4:15 I think on one hand, we wanted to bring something new and innovative because Chicago is a wonderful market, but it's also a saturated market, so we wanted to find a way that we could truly differentiate ourselves. But also, yes, our directive was create something truly terrifying, and so we dug deep to say, Okay, what is truly terrifying? And reality can be quite terrifying. I know that you all didn't start doing auditions until back in June, and then you started building shortly after that. That's a short window for this new experience. Tell me about that. Tell me about that. Sure, when you actually start to build the Haunt, you need to have a really good idea what you're doing right. There's nothing worse than starting to build something and then suddenly it's changing. Yes, we definitely auditions were in June. We had amazing outcome, some really incredibly talented people. You just wait till you see them. They are so good. And yeah, the build. The audition process and the build process are relatively simultaneous. But the actual development of the Haunt has been going on for over a year now.

5:20 There has been ideation and rewrite and play testing of how could this actually work. Yes, we are We definitely had a fast build, but it is it's a very focused build and so what is really refined to what we want to achieve. You come from a production company, basically, it's very different for a production company to become an operator. Tell me about that decision. We had a really great partnership opportunity here in Chicago, and part of that agreement was that we would also operate. And we have an amazing staff that's led by Jimmy Langa, who came from some other operations, has done some incredible things. Everyone in our company has years of experience in all aspects of the project. For us, it really wasn't much different it is. You're right, it is unusual, but we are very our talents are very wide.

6:17 We can take a project from just creative leadership all the way through turnkey install and operation and everything in between, from design to fabrication to any kind of IP development. For us, it really wasn't that big of a deal. We're more excited about the uniqueness of the project. It's something that frankly hasn't really been done before. When did you make the decision? I understand we have a partner here and you have all that kind of stuff, but like, how did you make the decision? What was the moment where you were like, we're going to do a haunt. We were invited to have a conversation probably a year and a half ago, and so we flew out and we had a conversation about both creative desires and business desires, and we use that conversation as an opportunity to say, Okay, what is feasible?

7:09 What is possible? Our company always starts with what's called the concept and feasibility study. We always look at all, right, do you have a vision and if you do, what would it take to create that vision and is it worth it to you or if you don't. Sometimes I just want a thing we come and look at and go all right, what is possible for a certain budget or a certain area. So we did a lot of early research to help show our now partner, is what they want feasible? Is it going to generate the attendance that they want? Does the budget they want to spend match the outcome they're hoping for? And so as we develop that, we get more excited about the project, they get more excited about the project. And then we ultimately presented a concept and a feasibility of saying this is what it would take to do it, and we got we were greenlit.

8:00 From that point on, it was all it was full steam ahead. We're working with the Arvorinum of South Barrington and so it's their property they're building, and they are awesome. They are some of the greatest partners to work with. They are so enthusiastic, so helpful, and you mentioned the thing about Chicago, right, They know Chicago and so working with them has been an absolute joy. Tarror Lette opens on September twenty first, and this open Thursdays through Sundays. Get your tickets online at tarrorulett dot com. In all serious is though tarror Let is an exciting attraction and we really want people to come see it, but the by design you really need to get your tickets early because it will sell out. It is a find seven of your favorite friends and come on down because this is unlike anything else in Chicago. We love the haunts in Chicago. We are happy and joyful to be part of that community. Finally, and yeah, this is something else. If you have to pick something, come see this. Today's episode was produced and edited by me Philip Hernandez, with post production by David Swape and original music composed by Chris Thomas. We're counting down to Halloween with daily podcasts, videos, and events in our sixty one day Hauntathon. Follow along at the link in our show notes. Our Hantathon is made possible through generous support from Gantum, Lighty and Controls. Gantum illuminates attractions worldwide with the world's smallest intelligent spotlights.

9:24 See what you're missing with a free demo. Sign up at dantum dot com slash demo that's Gantum dot com slash Demo. Our Hauntathon team includes Daryl Plunky, Emily Luis Rua, Megan Spells, Gavin Burns and Omni Adventures and Our content partners for this year include Attractions Magazine, Creepy Kingdom, Freaks of Ajgen, hont Topic Radio, Kevin Heinbach News TV On, The Adventures, Scare Track, Sharp Productions, That Halloween Podcast, The Horror of Being, Emily The Scare Factor, and This Weekend with Nick Pegiocchini. The best way you can support us this hall Wed season is by sharing our Haunted On with someone you think we'll enjoy it, and to follow along to our Haunted On, sign up for our weekly newsletter at hant Attraction Network dot com. We'll catch you back here tomorrow and every day until Halloween. Until next time, say Scary. This is a Haunted Attraction Network production