Following my recent review of House of Horror Escape Room 2 – Exorcism, I got an opportunity to talk with the creator Wayne Lennox and asked him a few questions about; how he came up with the original idea, what were his influences and what we can expect from the new infamous room 13.
Q. The House of Horrors Escape Room has opened up in Brentwood, how did the original idea come about?
A. I was the creator of last year’s House of Horror and this year I wanted to give people horror all year around and not just a special Halloween event. I am an avid fan of escape rooms and I always wanted to create my own. The House of Horror was the first event I ever done and as I am fascinated by these escape rooms, I thought it would be a good idea to mix them together. There are a lot of escape rooms about these days, but I thought let’s do a pure horror escape room theme.
Q. there are going to be 13 escape rooms all together, what can we expect from these themed rooms?
A. We are going to make some of the room’s child friendly, as we would love to make it family entertainment place, but then we also want to tip the scale both sides. You’ve got very child friendly rooms, then you’ve got extreme horror the other end of the rainbow more for adults and everything in between. So, hopefully these is something for everybody.
There is going to be a room open for the summer holidays which is a zombie shooting arena for young kids with nerf guns, so that should be good fun.
Q. The rooms are going to be aimed at different abilities and age groups, but going to the more extreme side how hard are the more difficult escape rooms going to be and how many participants do you think will complete it?
A. The levels will be difficult in all of the escape rooms, some are going to be easier than others, but I think you will have to be quite savvy to work all of them out. It’s also all different types of gore factor or how much horror that surrounds the actual escape. Obviously, you have locks, codes keys, clues and all of this going on in the room. I think it’s also what’s going on in the room that causes the urgency and the horror experience, it adds to the ticking clock and trying to get out within the hour. You have the Exorcist room, the medical madness where you have the blood, gore and the medical themes. The ranch which is all wood everywhere and you have to use shooting skills to get out of there. There are different levels between the extreme and the horror, but the worst one will be room 13 to try and complete. Not only is that going to be an escape room, but it’s obviously the UK’s most brutal Halloween experience, so we have to live up to that credibility this year and take things further into whatever realm that is.
Q. Obviously last year was quite extreme so this year you need to take it further
A. Yeah, room 13 was very raw and set mainly in one smallish room. That has become so popular that is now going to expand and be put into multiple locations. I don’t think we can increase the pain threshold much more from what we did last year because that was brutal for any human being to go through, but we can certainly add more horror wise. But we are going to add new techniques and new ways to test peoples pain threshold and scare factor. It’s going to be new and fresh for room 13 and it will still live up to its name. I didn’t think so many would make it through last year, I really didn’t think that many would enter the room to be honest with you. Such a high percentage of people bought a ticket for it and poked their head in to at least see what was going on and a high percentage wanted to stay in until they completed it. We are going to be pushing the boundaries this year on that room, room 13 will certainly make its mark in history this year.
What were some of your influences when designing the escape rooms?
I would say movies. My background is directing commercials, pop videos and now movies myself. I think a lot of horror influences people, unless something bad happens to them in the real world I think a lot of it happens from movie experiences. I remember when I was young and everyone watched horror films, its wasn’t a great taboo or anything. You wait until your parents go out and searched for the video recorder. I love old school horror, intelligent horror and the classics. I am not so much into modern horror with all these jumpy effects. That’s why its good to model some of these rooms on the immersive side, so when you go into these rooms you don’t feel too much like you’re on a set or in a building in Brentwood, you become part of the room. Fingers crossed if I can succeed with that, I’ve done what I set out to do.
Q. What has been your favourite room to design?
The Exorcism room is great, that is the first room and the one I am really proud of. I have never built an escape room and I didn’t know if I had enough clues, not enough clues, how hard they were etc. I think the most proud of is the Exorcism room because that is the first one. I don’t know if its luck or because I have been to so many escape rooms, but I just hit the nail on the head, with the clues and timing it’s worked out really well. But like anything in life, you start a new project, you’re getting into it and that’s the best one ever and so on. That’s how I feel about my project and I fall in love with everything that I am doing. As I go from room to room, if you phone me next week I will be like, this room is going to be epic.
Q. Will the themes for the rooms be changing throughout the year?
A. We are going to get 13 rooms built by Halloween, then after Halloween we are going to do a full circle and then start changing rooms to make it exciting even if you have been to that room before. We are forever creating new ways to make it exciting. I for one will not enter an escape room twice, it’s just not worth it, because you know what you are doing so there is no fun in that. We give people 13 rooms to choose from at Halloween and then after we finish room 13 it will be chopping and changing rooms around, joining rooms, taking away things and giving every room a complete overhaul.
Q. What has the response been like so far?
It has been great really busy with loads of bookings, you can see online the support has been great from everyone, family friends and also fans of the House of Horror who came last year and new people. I certainly take my hat off to anyone trying to be creative or thinking a little bit different, because its hard to make anything like this work as a business, so I appreciate anyone who is behind this and support it.
Q. Have you got any plans for future events either in the current location or expanding to further locations elsewhere?
A. We would love to take House of Horrors to different locations in the future to be more creative, new ideas, new settings, venues and new ways to create immersive experiences. It was great to bring it back this year, but certainly moving forward, me and my business partner Tina Smith are looking at loads of exciting venues.
Q. Do you have any other projects you are working on?
A. I am still filming a lot making music videos working with lots of artists, shooting commercials and I am in the middle of a horror movie myself with a Dutch production company called New Amsterdam. That’s in talks at the moment and should start next year.
You can find out more about House of Horror Escape Rooms and book events on the website www.houseofhorrorescaperooms.co.uk
Published in various websites, Philip is a reviewer who is best known for his interviews and media coverage of independent projects including; films, books, theatre and live events. Always on the lookout for something different to cover!
