2016

Horror Nights 10

To mark the tenth anniversary of Horror Nights, the site will be transformed into a wild anniversary night where everything that has ever caused terror returns – louder, more brutal and more uncontrollable than ever before. A clown piercing your eardrums, a polonaise of zombies and a feast of the undead turn the celebration into a macabre spectacle, where the festive mood instantly turns to panic. Amidst reanimated creatures from years gone by, demonic figures at the banquet and a psychopathic butcher who tops off the anniversary with bloody ecstasy, one thing becomes clear: this night is not celebrating you – it is celebrating your downfall.

Honk! A clown blows a horn right in your ear, signalling the start of a wild party! A conga of lumbering zombies winds its way through the frightened crowd. ‘Do they just want cake, or are they hungry for something else?’ Meanwhile, the Nightgrabber tries to roast marshmallows over hellfire with his clumsy claws. Horrified, the visitors turn their gaze to the wall, where a reptile covered in brown and green spots is trying to climb up, leaving a long, disgusting trail of slime in its wake. With its nimble tongue, it hunts down flying cockroaches. Their nervous buzzing irritates the eardrums. With every step, cockroach shells crackle underfoot.

Vampires sit at the long banquet table made of the bones of guests from past feasts, sipping the red elixir. Their ‘fine wine’ is gradually running out. Soon, they will have no choice but to seek out new, warm lifeblood. This monstrous revelry leaves an unsavoury taste. ‘Come on, let’s party!’ roars a psychopathic butcher donning a severed pig’s head, and enjoying his own interpretation of a masked ball. Gesturing wildly, he runs towards the frightened crowd, armed with a cleaver. Shreds of meat dangle from his body.

A hunchbacked witch beckons with a bony finger, inviting you to try her potion. A pungent steam rises from the cauldron, burning the throat and clouding the senses. The poisonous mixture of hydrocyanic acid, rowan berries, datura and foxglove proves highly effective. Long, greyish-yellow strips of fabric soak up the droplets of the devilish brew swirling up from the cauldron as it is stirred. The mummy staggers awkwardly through this hall of horror. Boom! A loud bang pierces the decaying walls. Instead of sparklers, it is sticks of dynamite that are burning. Everything is shrouded in ash and dust. The haze clouds your eyes, obscuring the fact that the party atmosphere has turned sour. The ringing in your ears drowns out the hungry gnawing sounds that quickly fill the whole room. The craving to feast on human flesh, the urge to suck fresh blood and the addiction to slaying souls take hold. Fear rises, and panic takes hold in your mind. It’s time to flee! Escape is the only option. Your heart pounds in your throat. Your pulse races.

In the Temple of the Undead, the undead reign supreme. Billionaire archaeologist Mister X has met a gruesome end. He was unable to honour his agreement with the priest and failed to create an army of zombies. The serum of immortality lost its potency, leaving him to waste away in agony. Now, the burial chamber will also serve as his final resting place. Cobwebs shroud the corpse, a sticky reminder of the fleeting nature of life. Parasites swarm over the lifeless body, and the intestines swell and release foul-smelling gases as the body decays.

Fungi and bacteria thrive, creating an unappetising sight – a fitting end for the self-obsessed cynic who was obsessed with eternal youth and loved to torment people with his mind games. The soulless creatures of the crypt hunt down anyone who disturbs the peace with brutal ferocity, craving tender flesh with a greedy hunger. Any timid attempts to slip away silently from danger come to an abrupt end when a careless foot strikes rotten planks that give way with a loud crash. Splinters of wood and dust swirl through the air, attracting the insatiable monsters. The temple becomes a death trap.

Nightmare – Revenge reveals the Nightgrabber’s terrible thirst for revenge. His shadow looms menacingly on the wall, hinting at his colossal size. Oversized wings stretch out in front of the flickering light bulb, its filament now emitting only a faint glow. The enormous creature, with claws of gnarled root wood, feels his honour has been wounded and mocked, because the visitors to his lair saw through his treacherous murder of little Caroline and managed to escape him last year. Now he is punishing them with even more horrific terrors. Defenceless, they must fight their way through a wild jungle, as snakes coil their gleaming bodies over thin branches that groan under their weight.

Forked tongues hiss between the fangs of the mutated vipers, sensing the warmth they seek. Cockroaches dart across the floor. Spiders the size of your palm camouflage seamlessly into the rotten leaves beneath them, muffling footsteps and rendering the approach of enemies inaudible. The path leads down through an abandoned cemetery, where souls consumed by fear are haunted by malevolent entities, and into a damp cellar. The air is thick with the scent of decay. Amphibians that have eluded evolution lie in wait in puddles clouded with frogspawn. The whitish liquid splashes up against your legs as you hurry towards the chapel. There, slumped figures sit on dark benches, showing no sign of movement – a deceptive calm.

If you approach them, they spring up and grab at anything they can reach with their pale, wrinkled hands. Clothes in tatters, you escape the gloomy shadows. But further misfortune awaits in the next room, where a blood-stained dentist is tormenting his patients. Those who prefer solid food run on and are confronted with their next nightmare – the fear of being eaten. In a stomach furrowed with villi and polyps, its mucous membrane tinged with a greenish glow, worms gnaw their way through the digestive tract. The images become etched in the memory and refuse to let go. The Nightgrabber’s revenge certainly has the desired effect.

No more bets! The ball is rolling at the Big Shoe Casino. Will heads be rolling here at the poker table too? Only time will tell. The gambling den is teeming with pleasure-seeking clowns with terrible manners. Staggering from one shock to the next, your only hope is to survive this sensory overload unscathed. Your eyes long to gaze at the devilishly beautiful dancer on the pole and trace her sensual curves. She knows exactly how to drive men wild, her cherry-red lips encircling a strawberry-red lollipop as her tongue slowly swirls around it. The sight of her suspenders stimulates your synapses as you turn away from the sweet temptation in order to escape the freshly sharpened axe of the diabolical entertainer.

Boo! Out of nowhere, a grotesque face in a red-and-blue-checked costume darts into the crowd, sending it scattering. With a powerful jolt, its white face and colourful curly wig vanish again, leaving its unwilling audience behind amid the wild chaos caused by the harlequin. Clowns to the left, court jesters to the right, rogues in front and pranksters behind – you are surrounded by the mischievous mob with their exaggeratedly colourful-rimmed eyes. An enormous jack-in-the-box leaps out of his hiding place, glowing under the black light. The jack-in-the-box glows so fascinatingly and sparkles so captivatingly that its hollow-cheeked face is camouflaged and its emaciated, gaunt body eludes perception. There’s no turning back! The rogue takes command and calls for the final dance.

The Cave – Unleashed is teeming with terrifying reptiles These monsters battle it out in the dark, musty passages to establish their hierarchy. The cave explorers’ hazy headlamps cast murky shadows onto the mouldy walls. Thick brown droplets work their way through the frogspawn-covered floor. Fat, wart-covered toads frolic in the slippery, slimy mass. Shrill screams pierce the air from the scientists’ command centre, cutting through the gurgling of the cold, deep lake at the centre of the stalactite cave that has already claimed the lives of many an intruder. As you approach the edge of the oily-looking pool, alligator-like creatures dart out of the black liquid and drag their prey into the depths.

Poisonous gases seep through the porous rock. Breathing becomes more difficult as the levels of oxygen in the air decrease with every step. A skeleton crouches in the corner, a sign that the search for the exit will ultimately be fruitless. Equipped with protective masks, the scientists know that they do not have much time left either. The history of humanity hangs by a thread. Prehistoric monsters are fighting their way back to the present day. Here, the evolution of species has been put on hold, idly watching as peaceful reptiles and amphibians have turned into bloodthirsty critters and ferocious fighting machines. The cave has become a death trap.

TEN – The Power of Horror is located behind steel doors and is surrounded by electrified cables and rusty wires. In this control centre of terror, technology developed by the company EndorPHiN enables guests to leap through mighty portals from dimension to dimension. Ten rooms full of unparalleled horror push your cognitive abilities to their limits. Whilst your memory may have suppressed the atrocities of years gone by, history is now back with a vengeance. Long-forgotten memories are brought to the surface once more.

The Guest strides purposefully towards his guests at the Hell’s Inn hotel. Beneath the plastic bag tied on his head with duct tape, his sense of hearing has grown sharper over the years. The rope around his neck is gnawed not only by the ravages of time. Rough hands clad in coarse leather gloves leave strikingly large strangulation marks on slender, white necks. Next door in The Crypt, the undead wait impatiently for their turn. The winding corridors have many dark corners where evil lurks. Claws lash out into the air, narrowly missing their target.
With frantic leaps, you manage to escape into an Asian fast food restaurant. The lucky cat waves cheerfully from the counter of The Take Away. A bewitchingly beautiful geisha serves hot, fragrant jasmine tea. Everything is still right with the world here. You quickly open a fortune cookie. The message inside, however, leaves a bad taste in your mouth: ‘Your final hour has come.’ Suddenly, the Japanese beauty’s eyes sparkle with a diabolical gleam. From behind her back, she draws a long sushi knife and, with a piercing karate cry, attacks those who, just moments ago, felt safe.

And there is no peace to be found in Dr Reeves’s Asylum either. His experiments on the living and the dead are shocking the world. In a dilapidated factory hall, pallets and wooden crates are piled high. What is stored inside can only be guessed at, as red droplets ooze from the corners. In a steel cage sits a pitiful creature, bound to a wheelchair with cable ties, uttering tortured cries of distress. You want to help, but you know that any effort will be too late and that you’ll be the next victim if you don’t hurry now. Next door in the Laboratory, zombies reign supreme. They have taken control following failed experiments and maul anyone who dares enter. Rosemarie’s nursery, by contrast, seems peaceful and cosy.
In the bed adorned with dolls, the little girl sits with her head turned towards the wall, apparently sewing. No doubt a pretty little dress for the wood-carved marionette lying beside her. But little Rosie is not using a needle and thread on velvet and silk. With the tendons of the deceased, she weaves together flaps of skin to create a new face for herself. If you don’t want to lose your nose and ears, you’d better be quick. Dr Reeves’ patients are waiting in the next room. He has chained his human guinea pigs to metal beds in Possession. Dried blood coats the white tiles.

Behind a shower curtain, the outline of a muscular body with a sharp object in its hand can be seen. Chased by a killer who won’t stop at anything, the terrified visitors sprint on at breakneck speed. But danger awaits in the next room too. A thunderous werewolf howl causes the walls to shake. Even in the corridors, you can hear the growling and rumbling of the beast with its enormous paws. Its fangs glint in the glow of the full moon, making even the Nightgrabber nervous. In the forest, he hides behind heavy fir branches, his eagle eyes scanning the darkness illuminated by the moon. It was here that he previously stalked the innocent Caroline and hunted her down. Anyone who manages to escape him will have survived the most terrifying few minutes of their life. Whether they will survive the sleepless nights of the years to come, however, remains to be seen.

Fireworks in the Greek themed area at Europa-Park at Horror Nights 10. Visitors can be seen standing below.

The stately villa known only as The Mansion stands majestically on a hill, looking down upon the chaos of the night. The Butler admits visitors in small groups to the magnificent building through the servants’ entrance to play the game of their lives. Anyone who wants to find the exit must first solve puzzles and pass tests. Since the owner, Mister X, met his maker for failing to honour the terms of his deal with a priest who promised him immortality, the estate has fallen into disrepair. In this exclusive escape game, participants can earn keys to move from room to room.

Whether using a magnet, brain teasers, or strength and stamina, the tasks can only be solved as a group. If things get too intense, you can escape using a code word. The mystical library smells of old books that tell tales of bygone eras, harbouring dark secrets. A pitch-black labyrinth leaves you disoriented, casting confused souls back into the darkness of the night. It pushes you to your physical and mental limits. The Mansion has a consciousness of its own. Only a select few are allowed access to the residence. Will they ever find their way out again?

Endowed with magical powers, diabolical creatures battle their way through the ForgotTen Forest. Armed with bristly brooms, they stumble through the thicket, sometimes rustling and rumbling loudly, other times creeping silently and unnoticed until they can pounce on their prey. This forest is eerie and cold. The night wind blows the treetops back and forth. Like dark clouds they stretch out in front of the moon. Defenceless and completely at their mercy, you run straight into the clutches of the mad witches.
Off Limits lies abandoned next to the Temple of the Undead. Yet the place is not as deserted as it seems. Hordes are waiting to emerge from their den. The sound of ragged breathing can be heard through the brittle wood of the containers. The creatures of hell are awakening. The zombies fight their way to freedom with unbridled force, splinters flying through the air. Now the time of the undead has come!
Burning cars line the length of Dead-end Street. Gloomy silhouettes shuffle awkwardly through the landscape. Their slow, deliberate movements are deceptive. The moment they sense the presence of humans, they spring swiftly from behind the wreckage. The smell of gas lingers in the air, creating a nauseating mixture with the sickly sweet scent of death. A single spark could spell the end. No sooner have you stepped into this Horror Nights scenario than the descent into the hell of Dead-End Street begins.