Hungry Ghosts – Halloween Horror Nights 5

By Dejiki on October 27, 2015 in Attractions, Halloween Horror Nights, Theme Parks

The Blood Moon has cursed a Chinese village to go through the Hungry Ghosts festival for all eternity. Meet the villagers, vengeful spirits and haunting beauties at Halloween Horror Nights 5.

SPOILER WARNING

This post includes photos of scenes and characters captured in the Hungry Ghosts scare zone. We welcome haunt fans to share their reviews and experiences about Singapore’s unique scare zone.

Overview and Thoughts

Click to expand and read our review and commentary

The scare zone at Jurassic Park is usually the scariest, because of the heavy use of fog and theatric lighting in the ‘jungle’ environment.

Hungry Ghosts is based on the annual ‘ghost’ festival in Chinese culture where the gates to the underworld are open. Spirits from below may roam on Earth freely for a month. But what happened here, thanks to the Blood Moon, is that the festival went on forever. The village is encased in a time loop, cursing the living to go through the rites and prayers (or have they died and not realise?) while the dead now rule the village.

The name of this village in Chinese, 恶鬼村 (è guǐ cūn, lit. Evil Ghosts Village), is a homonym for 饿鬼村 (lit. Hungry Ghosts Village). So they’re both evil… and hungry.

The infamous choke points affecting last year’s scare zones were alleviated in this year’s design. The paths are never too tight or dark to walk – some fans might be disappointed by this. Instead the zone is often flooded in colour. It’s a joy for photographers who take ‘available light’ photos.

Compared to Forbidden Forest (2013), Hungry Ghosts doesn’t have the village atmosphere. It felt like separate scenes being staged in the jungle of Jurassic Park. You see props related to the festival and its rites scattered all around, but it’s not a cohesive village. The graves are all cramped at one spot. Then there are random altars and objects gathering in their own spots. Then the opera ghosts have their own sections.

Despite being in an open space, each area of Hungry Ghosts has its own area music. The transitions are subtle, sometimes fleeting. With the lighting, it creates surreal spaces (or a better word, a nightmare)

Each scene is more or less anchored by a single or pair of scare actors, so it’s closer to the design aesthetic of Scary Tales, where a scene is a ‘story’. It’s not a problem – the zone just lacks spontaneous interactions between characters when it’s designed like that.

I still think that the park could use the back-end of Jurassic Park. There’s space for a good 3-4 extra scenes there. Maybe next year.

The Blood Moon has stopped time in this village, trapping everyone in an eternal hungry ghosts festival. As spirits are unleashed to roam free, the living are caught in a living nightmare…. or have they already departed too?

The gloomy, dream-like village entrance is guarded only by some lingering phantoms…mostly invisible.

After stepping through the misty entrance, you find a field of large altars. Beware of what’s hiding behind them.

The second area, taking place in the ‘forest’, is haunted by demons and ghouls. Beware of the Well ghost, who has already died in the tepid waters but didn’t realise.

(Visiting this zone during off-peak period is recommended. Not only is it amazing to photograph.. You may get some good scares here.)

Entertainment for the departed: Traditional Chinese Opera performances. But the Blood Moon has trapped them in an endless night.

At the far end, the path takes a turn into a graveyard, where vengeful spirits linger in the mist.

This zone has one character that has attained iconic character status.

Known as the Lady in Red, she died waiting for her lover.

Listen to her haunting words in our video below.

Instead of finding her husband, she draws long lines of eager park guests wanting to take photos with her.

Stuck in a trance, this woman tends to a table of offerings.

Tree spirits can also roam free.

The next section of Hungry Ghosts is eerie, with haunting Chinese opera music.

A lonely dancer performing to an invisible audience.

The village wraps up with a funeral. Has everyone crossed over?

Hungry Ghosts scare zone used to have a direct connection to the Hell House, a paper mansion that is made to burn, bringing you straight into the underworld! The haunted house entrance has since been moved further away to improve the experience of the scare zone.

Bonus: Hungry Ghosts video

Discover the lingering spirits in an eternal Hungry Ghosts festival.

Have you crossed over to the underworld?

From vengeful ghouls to haunting beauties, Hungry Ghosts has a lot to offer in its misty village setting. Let us know what you think about this scare zones in the comments section!

Looking for the HHN5 review? Discover uniquely-Singaporean haunts at Halloween Horror Nights 5 here!