Hawker Centre Massacre – Halloween Horror Nights 6

Like the popular Siloso Gateway Block 50 before it, Hawker Centre Massacre is an highly immersive haunted house themed uniquely to Singapore.

This haunted house is set up outside of Soundstage 28. Tunnel People and Jing’s Revenge were done here as well. But what makes this year’s quite different is the open-ceiling concept, to give you that airy ambiance of a hawker centre.

Being brighter than most houses, a lot of details could be seen by guests, and it’s a treat to see both real props, and well-made prints simulating shelves and racks filled with things. The consistent white square tiling everywhere. The awful clothes and sundries being sold. The signages and banners? They all look quite real, sans some editing to avoid trouble with recognisable brands.

One thing that broke the immersion to the narrative was the scare actors’ appearances. The make-up seems to be rather inconsistent with the boils and rashes. Apart from the masked infected (which is the easy way out), everyone’s got healthy eyes – guess the park is scrimping on contact lenses this year. But the experience just sticks out when you can make perfectly normal eye contact.

It seemed like blacklights were to be used for some parts of the house, but it was too bright for the effect to work well. The layout of this house is also fairly angular, with the stalls and shops placed side-by-side, and possibly back-to-back as well. There isn’t a lot of space, but it mimics the pragmatic (albeit cramped) layouts of real hawker centres. Visitors to Ulu Pandan are going to find some of its horrific sights, smells and sounds a bit too close to home.

Surprises
There are red buttons scattered around the hawker centre. Give them a push.