I must confess that I hadn’t heard about this attraction until a few weeks ago and on arriving at the former box factory close to the Warrington Wolves stadium, I was a little disappointed by the lack of theming as I went up the steps to the venue. I assume this is due to it being a communal area so not allowed rather than lack of ambition. I wasn’t filled with the impression that I’d have a good time before entering, but I’m delighted to admit that I was completely and totally wrong in my pre-conceptions.
Evans Haunted House is now in its third year and is a collaboration between Quasar Warrington and Lock Down Escape and uses space from both businesses in this vary limited run event. The main reception room is from the Quasar side and has some snacks and drinks available as well as some arcade games. I was allocated a time slot and could comfortably wait for my run in this area which had much more Halloween theming than outside.
While I waited I had a good chat with some of the team behind this event and they were kind enough to let me go through on my own. That said when I visited the groups that went through were small so people didn’t have to go in with random strangers, which was a nice practical approach to batching.
Eventually it was my time to enter and my run lasted a bit under an hour I think. It’s difficult to remember as the whole experience was utterly relentless from start to finish, there was no down time at all. The event utilises the various different spaces really, really well. It has a nice mixture of more theatrical set pieces, two terrifying free flowing maze sections, and four escape room ‘lite’ scenes with actors in the room, hindering and helping in equal measure.
The set pieces were fun and interactive, with the strong opening at Alice’s twisted tea party, to a very physical Exorcist scene, and my creepy introduction to a Saw-esque game which led in to the first maze which was a game of hide and seek. This free-flowing section seemed to last ages as I was terrorised and creeped out by the impressive and large number of actors.
Eventually I found my way to the second maze section which again utilised the multi-level traditional Quasar layout. The theme here was clowns and fit with the neon paint. Again the actors were amazing, it seemed to last forever and was a clever use of the space. Upon escaping this section, I had another creepy set piece with some cannibal hillbillies before I was sent on my way to a traditional finale.
Parts 1 and 2 over with, it was on to the escape room section. There are four differently themed rooms each having a couple of actors in them. Under normal circumstances I would have hoped that this would have been a nice change of pace, but it wasn’t and once again the actors were top notch in all the rooms. I must admit that despite the simplistic nature of the puzzles, I really struggled due to the interactions with the actors. After completing the prison scene, it was on to two creepy clown girls in their bedroom, a domineering convent room and last up a doctors waiting room followed by an individual appointment with the doctor. Finally, I emerged, breathless.
Final Thoughts
Hats off to all the team at the charming and innovative Evans Haunted House. Obviously they don’t have the budget of larger or more established events so there’s limited theming, set design or other effects. The costumes, masks and make up were brilliant though. It’s a well worn phrase, but actors make all the difference, and the whole team here were amazing, passionate and full of energy, I honestly don’t think I’ve jumped so much in any event yet, and I felt genuinely exhausted by the end of it.
Highly recommended by me, well worth checking out if you can and I’ll definitely be looking forward to see what they come up with next year.
Evans Haunted House has only two nights left in 2019 on 30th and 31st October.
I work below Craig and know him very well. He puts everthing he has into these events and organises it down to every little detail. Smashed it this year and cant wait for next year it will be amazing.