Observations: Holiday horror comes to Britain

Looking for a summer break you won't forget in a hurry? How about spending the weekend screaming and running through a Lancashire campsite at the UK's first “immersive horror” holiday?

After running similar events in Europe, AtmosFear, a Preston-based “scare entertainment production company”, is launching Horror Camp Live at “Camp Mass Acre”, aka Blackburn's Scare Kingdom Scream Park.

As darkness falls, thrillseekers pitch a tent and strap in for a night “akin to being in a living horror film”. Creative director Jason Karl says: “At first it seems like a tacky summer camp. Everyone meets around a fire for dinner but then it all starts to go horribly wrong. It becomes apparent a demented serial killer is on the loose.”

Campers will each have a different experience as they are separated from the group and set a series of “dare-based challenges”. The website mentions “total darkness… latex… narrow tunnels… and sudden loud noises” and warns “you may be forcibly handled, moved, bound, hooded, chained and subjected to simulated torture by our scare-actors”.

Karl hopes Horror Camp Live will tap into the growing market for immersive horror – a US import. “It's not like going on a ghost train. It's for people who like extreme entertainment.”

Horror Camp Live, Scare Kingdom Scream Park, Blackburn (www.horror camplive.co.uk) on 13 July, 10 and 11 August