We were given two free tickets to experience this years Halloween at Shepton Mallet Prison. Whilst we were given the free tickets, we have full editorial control of what our review of the event says.
Our Slasher Review
On Thursday night we were invited along to Shepton Mallet to experience this years Halloween offering by Immersive Events and Zombie Infection. the event has three attractions in Locked In A Box, Turf Wars and Zombie Town. All three are completely different and none of them was weaker than the others. They were all on top form and all so amazing. The event runs from the 21st - 31st October and tickets start from £59 per person with additional extras available to purchase on the day.
Top tip for the event: Pay for the gun for Zombie Town
Things that bite: The speakers in Locked in a box can occasionally be quiet
Value for money: Yes
Scare Rating: 3/5 - Its more immersive than very scary
Do we recommend: Hell Yes
FOR A MORE IN DEPTH REVIEW PLEASE READ BELOW
Our Stalker Review
On Thursday evening we were invited along to Shepton Mallet Prison to experience a collaboration between Immersive Events and Zombie Infection. The event has three immersive experiences in Locked In A Box, Zombie Town and Turf Wars, all of which are set inside a decommissioned prison in the heart of Shepton Mallet in Somerset. We arrived, checked in and were given our box numbers for Locked In A Box. We entered the bar area and chilled and had a drink before we were split into three groups. Our group had seven people in it and we were told we would be starting with Locked In A Box. Not much information had been given before hand about what to expect from this experience other than we would be individually locked in boxes and stuff would happen around us and that the experience was pirate themed. We were lead up a few flights of stairs and taken to a room barely lit by candlelight. The candles were blown out and we were left alone.
Warning, Below may contain spoilers. Proceed at your risk.
Locked In A Box had started. Out of no where, thunder cracked and lightning flashed revealing a cloud sky and a highly themed room that I feel was supposed to be on board a docked ship, but i could be wrong. A pirate entered the room. He was inebriated and completely channeling his inner Jack Sparrow. He was cheeky, flirty and definitely had sea legs as he was wobbling all around the room. Another pirate entered and had an exchange with the drunk pirate and the story started to unravel. We were given gems to hold and taken into the room to be put into our boxes to be sneaked to the island. The boxes are actually bigger than I was expecting with plenty of room to lay down or even sit up and each box contained bones and other things. What happened next was a 20 minute experience which is very story driven and you really go on quite a journey. I won't say what actually happened but you meet a variety of characters along the way. You are then told to leave your box and you revive the captain. What happens next was completely unexpected as you are thrown into such an immersive finale that requires you to move around a lot to keep up with the story. It was such a brilliant experience and one that could so easily be changed to different stories so it works in so many ways. It was such a great way to start and we were incredible excited for what else was to come. It is also worth noting that with Locked In A Box has a lantern option available at £10 to help you see inside the box.
Next up for our group was Zombie Town. From the art work and small information released we had worked out this was going to be an immersive zombie experience but what we didn't know was that it would actually be a bit of a treasure hunt in the old Street and Back to Terror sets from the 2018 and 2019's Halloween events. We met our leader who tasked us with finding the objects and gave us our guns. Guns are an optional extra at £10 per person but its so completely worth it. I don't think it would have been as immersive or as fun without the guns. Our group entered tentatively and split off to explore the town. The zombies liked to hid in the dark so came out of no where and whilst we were told not to shoot them from a 3m distance it was actually quite difficult to do so we did have some close up shots. As the half hour went on we all got really into the experience and enjoyed shooting the zombies. Once we had found all seven things (I think the number changes depending on how many are in your group) we headed back to base. We were then told that the evacuation area was the other side and that we had to run through the town with what little ammo we had left, get to the end, turn and then shoot down the zombies. It was a great finale and our team was buzzing but we had no time to rest as we were taken to our last experience Turf Wars.
I had heard a few things about Turf Wars before so knew that it was essentially a large scale escape experience that you had to do whilst being hunted but I wasn't expecting what we experienced. We were led into the Grid, the arena where the Turf War happens and led to a colourful archway. Our host explained the rules of the experience and then it was time for us to meet our Hunter. As we signed into the event earlier in the evening we had the choice of Viking or Clown. I had chosen Viking. The lights started to flash. It felt very game show like and our hunter was revealed to be the Clown. Weirdly, our group burst into cheers and laughter and seemed really upbeat about it. The host then said at the end of the count down we were to run to the end of the corridor and the game begins, Three, we were gone. Our whole group took off on three. We at PSG have done a few escape rooms and luckily our group had a fellow escape room reviewer in it (Brit of an escape habit), so we worked really well to solve the boxes. What I didn't expect was how much running was required. The clown character is a fast moving one and it really made the experience for us as we kept having to run from the boxes to avoid getting caught and put in jail. We manged to beat the Clown in about 20 minutes but it was honestly the best high to end on and I was so impressed by how quickly you actually get drawn into it and how much you try to avoid getting caught.
Halloween at Shepton Mallet Prison was amazing. There really is no other way to describe it. It had the perfect mix of immersive theatre and scares and entertainment. The entire team is obviously so passionate about each thing in the experience and it shows how much they really care. If it was this good on its first night than I genuinely wish I could go back on their last day when everyone had got fully into the swing of it as I think it would be phenomenal. I want to say a huge thank you to everyone involved in making this event incredible.
Halloween at Shepton Mallet Prison runs from the 21st to the 31st of October. Tickets start from £59pp for the three experiences with additional extras available for purchase. For more information and to book tickets you can visit the Halloween at Shepton Mallet Prison website.