We recently went along to Bethnal Green in East London to experience Bloodbath, an immersive horror experience from Screamworks. We knew precious little about what to expect when we arrived, other than what we could gather from the website and social media posts, so we knew that we would be invited in to the home of a serial killer, Jack, and allowed to roam the rooms of their lair.
Upon arrival we were met by representatives outside and had to wear a hood (pillowcase) and hand over our phones, which quite frankly in this day and age, handing over your phone to a stranger is terrifying. Once done we were led, hands on shoulders, to the entrance. God only knows what anyone using the nearby petrol station thought was going on.
Once inside we were in the first room of the house. It, and all the other rooms that we went through were highly detailed. One of the things that we particularly enjoyed was this level of detail and interaction of the set, it led to a much richer experience and added background to the narrative as we went round.
In each room we weren’t allowed to proceed until we’d experienced what we needed to within the room and this mechanic will work well to ensure groups are kept separate. Without spoilers the narrative unfolds with history of the serial killer and his family before becoming much more current.
There’s some fun and effective uses of technology and some nice touches that give an illusion of agency within the experience without actually changing the overall narrative. There’s even the opportunity for snacks and refreshments part way through. Towards the end, it became a bit more physical, so as mentioned on their site, you will need to climb through and crawl in narrow dark spaces. It’s also worth mentioning that the content warnings are very valid as well. This is clearly an 18+ event.
We went through quite quickly, but didn’t feel rushed at all in our experience and it is clear how it could last up to 70 minutes. The set designs and level of detail were very impressive. We enjoyed the slightly more interactive elements on the occasions that we met various actors within the house. Only slight criticisms that we had were around the mask that we had to wear during the event, a bit more signposting and help, especially with glasses would be great. We also felt that after everything before hand the finale felt a little flat, and was mostly a bit of an exposition dump, though that said, we’re sure that anyone that hadn’t been able to dive into the detail of the set would have appreciated the explanation.
We had a fun time at Bloodbath and it is definitely worth checking out if you’re in London, though tickets are on the expensive side for that length of immersive theatre in London. That said the group size is likely to be much lower than other events and the snacks and refreshments are included. Bloodbath is currently running to May 2023 and we look forward to seeing whatever the team come up with next.
