Exclusive: Fright Dome and Fortress Features Bringing The Collector to Las Vegas!
Steve Barton
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Our enthusiasm for the upcoming Halloween haunt season just spiked a bit more with the announcement that director Marcus Dunstan and Fortress Features have teamed with Las Vegas’ Fright Dome to deliver attractions based on Dunstan’s grisly flicks The Collector and The Collection.
Running select nights from October 3rd-31st, 2013, at Circus Circus in Las Vegas, Nevada, Fright Dome and owner and creator Jason Egan (who oversees the five-acre scare facility) are poised to up the fear ante with two stand-alone mazes, both of which are based on filmmaker Marcus Dunstan’s deadly, trap-filled features The Collector and The Collection. Film series FX man Gary Tunnicliffe has additionally come on board to work with the two in order to create an authentic cinematic recreation and experience, which intends to plunge attraction guests into the dark lair of the franchise’s titular killer.
Speaking exclusively with Dread Central, filmmaker Dunstan (who along with cohort Patrick Melton has created such additional frightful fare as the Feast series and Saw IV through 3D) stated of the collaboration, “We’re so thrilled that Jason Egan and the Fright Dome family are taking on The Collector and The Collection for Halloween! My parents will be there, and I was given a peek at the caliber of scares the attraction will have, and I will be the guy hiding behind my parents, pushing them in first. This is it, fright fans! Six houses. One way in. One soul at a time. No mercy. I can’t wait!”
As for what unique elements Fright Dome is set to deliver with the film-inspired mazes, Dunstan offered with a laugh, “This Halloween will be seeing a number of wonderful haunted house attractions, the best in the past ten years. So Jason (Egan) has been taking stock of the competition and learning, twisting, and turning; and this is the event which may have gone much, much too far! This Halloween The Collector will gamble with your nerves in Las Vegas, and the haunted house always wins!”
I’ll be there opening night so expect a full report from the black carpet (that is, in the event I don’t end up in jar of formaldehyde after losing my limbs in a bear trap).
For more details and to purchase tickets, visit Fright Dome online, and check out the full press release below for additional information.
From the Press Release
Just when you thought there was safety in numbers… one of the nation’s top-ranked haunted attractions introduces its first ever isolation-style haunted house themed around Fortress Features’ horror film THE COLLECTION. Beginning Thursday, October 3, Fright Dome takes over The Adventuredome at Circus Circus with five additional houses, including one based on the disturbing traps and ghastly scenes from the studio’s first installment in the franchise, THE COLLECTOR.
For the first time in 11 years Fright Dome is increasing the number of haunted houses within the sweeping 250,000 square foot haunted theme park attraction from five stand-alone mazes to six. The sixth house, a solo haunted house appropriately named “Hotel Argento,” will take only upgraded fast pass guests into the depths of The Collector’s lair. Separated from friends and forced to enter alone, guests will forge their way through traps and snares, The Collector’s demented assortment of barely coherent victims, museum-esque displays of lifeless prey, and much more. All while being hunted themselves. Will they make it out… or will they become the next victim added to his meticulous collection?
The collaboration between Fright Dome and Fortress Features will also yield a second themed house that will take on attributes from THE COLLECTOR, the first installment of the popular movie franchise. Guests will happen upon a seemingly normal home, which they will quickly recognize has been overtaken and its inhabitants tormented and trapped by a disturbing intruder. Maneuvering their way through the booby-trapped house, guests must try to escape despite the desperate pleas of the captured and the maniacal advances of a disturbing killer.
“This incredible opportunity to work with Jason and his team to create Collector-themed haunted houses will spawn the most horrific fan experience I could imagine,” said Brett Forbes producer of THE COLLECTOR and THE COLLECTION.
Jason Egan, owner and creator of Fright Dome, said, “We’ve always had one of the top haunted attractions in the nation, and I have been able to team up with amazing movie partners for incredible themes over the years. I couldn’t think of a better fit for our isolation-style haunted house, or for any haunted house for that matter, than the story behind THE COLLECTOR. The overall premise behind the movie is every horror fan’s worst nightmare- being singled out and hunted by a devious villain. I’m thrilled that our fans have embraced this event every year, allowing us to grow and make this year truly the most ominous yet.”
Egan will be working closely with the mastermind behind the Collector movies, director Marcus Dunstan, to re-create every shocking element from the two films. Dunstan co-wrote the films with Patrick Melton. Dunstan and Melton’s break came from the Bravo series “PROJECT GREENLIGHT,” which documented the making of the duo’s first horror script, FEAST, into a film. FEAST spawned two sequels as Dunstan and Melton went on to write SAW IV, SAW V, SAW VI, and SAW 3D. Currently Dunstan and Melton are adapting the Capcom video game GOD OF WAR into a feature film and have begun writing the supernatural-actioner OUTLIERS.
“This living nightmare is a dream come true!” Dunstan beams. “It is an honor to be a part of Fright Dome’s Halloween attraction. As a child who loved scary stories… growing into the kid who adored horror movies, and later becoming the fortunate adult who had the chance to help create a few fears of his own… this whole experience is a childhood wish come to life. Jason Egan is a rare soul who embraces the haunted world of horror with absolute affection. For Jason this is an annual labor of love. I am grateful beyond words THE COLLECTOR and THE COLLECTION will unleash upon the Las Vegas Fright Dome this October! And… I apologize in advance: There will be no mercy. Leave your nerves at the door. Wear a diaper. And watch your back!”
Alongside famed Hollywood FX guru Gary J. Tunnicliffe, Egan’s team will have spot-on replicas of the props, masks, and traps from the big screen. Over the years Tunnicliffe has been responsible for the makeup, props, and special effects for more than 70 feature films. He has worked with actors such as Gerard Butler, Johnny Depp, Nicolas Cage, John Travolta, and Robert De Niro. Directors including Patrick Lussier, Stephen Norrington, Renny Harlin, Tim Burton, and Wes Craven have relied on Tunnicliffe’s Los Angeles-based company Two Hours in the Dark. Franchises such as HELLRAISER, HALLOWEEN, CANDYMAN, EXORCIST, BLADE, SCREAM, and many more have entrusted their success to his twisted ingenuity.
Fright Dome is open from 7 p.m. to midnight October 3-31 on select nights. General admission tickets start at $32.95, and fast pass tickets are available for an additional $15 to $20, which allows express line entry for all six haunted houses.
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