- Screaming out of joy or pants-wetting terror… Pretty much the same thing in this case, right?
You know that scene in zombie movies when the ragtag group of survivors is driving through a city? And then the zombies start banging on the windshield and running their grubby fingers down the windows?
Ever wanted to experience what that’s like for yourself? No, not really…? Well, uh, you’re in luck, because now you totally can!
All you have to do is fly to Japan. A company called Kowagarasetai, which manufactures haunted houses and other horror events, has launched the world’s first drive-in haunted house.
With the coronavirus bringing its own terror into everyday life, people in Japan did what they were supposed to and started social distancing. For many of Japan’s haunted houses, this was dire news.
Not that they can blame people. When you’re not even supposed to breathe next to another person, screaming at each other in terror isn’t the greatest idea.
Nonetheless, haunted houses need their profits. When he was thinking about what to do, Kowagarasetai’s founder Kenta Iwana saw a news article about how drive-in movies were surging in popularity.
“With the virus, I knew there would be no way we could have a traditional haunted house, with all that screaming in a small confined space,” he told CNN Travel.
“When I read that drive-through theaters were making a comeback, it was my ‘aha’ moment.”
The Garage of the Living Dead
Kowagarasetai built the drive-through zombie simulator in a covered, unassuming garage in downtown Tokyo. So if you’re walking through Tokyo and suddenly hear screams from a parking lot, don’t get too surprised.
Guests can bring their own car and go for a ride for roughly $75. However, with Japan’s excellent public transport, many people in Tokyo don’t own cars, and so the haunted house lets you rent one for $10 extra.
You don’t even need a driver’s license, since the car will just be sitting in a garage. That also eliminates the chance of a panicked guest suddenly putting the pedal to the metal and plowing through the zombie horde.
It might look cool in the movies, but in a haunted house that kind of behavior is frowned upon.
Once the car is safely parked with its engine off, the guests are handed a Bluetooth speaker. The garage door closes and the lights go out.
After a while in the pitch black garage, the speaker comes alive with a burst of static.
“Around these parts, there’s a legend that ghosts attack humans. Honk your horn three times if you want to hear more,” a voice says.
Anyone who likes horror movies should know what a terrible idea honking a car horn in this kind of a situation is. Sure enough, doing so will summon a ravenous horde of gore-slick zombies.
For 17 minutes, the ghastly ghouls will bang on the car’s windows and rock the frame. And just when you think the worst is over, they will figure out how to grab the door handles…
Blood Here, Blood There, Blood Everywhere
Of course, the zombies are paid actors and will not actually chew on your juicy, living flesh. Eventually the attack will abate and you can reverse your now blood-soaked car out of the garage.
Oh yes, there will be blood. Photos posted by a guest on Twitter show a car smeared with gore and bloody handprints.
For an additional $9, you can even purchase the extra-bloody package. We couldn’t find pictures of it, but we can assume it gets pretty gruesome.
Not to worry, though. The company will clean your car of any blood and intestines – and any possible viruses – for you as part of the service package.
Their website (written in Japanese) has a small disclaimer, though. “We cannot remove every drop of blood. Your car will be clean enough to drive on the road.”
Try explaining that to the cops. I swear, officer, it’s just zombie guts all over my front grill!
Scary but Clean
Although the guests are safe inside their cars, the zombies are still coming into close contact with each other as they crawl all over the vehicle. That could cause a real-life infection event, but Kowagarasetai says it is taking every precaution to minimize the risks for its actors.
Each car is wiped down with alcohol before every show. Rental cars will be draped in a plastic sheet, which gets replaced for each customer.
Iwana said that with the drive-in haunted house, he wants to show that even with quarantine measures in place, it’s alright to still have fun. The Japanese public seems to agree with him, as the popularity of the garage of terror has surpassed all expectations.
It was intended to be a summertime attraction, only open in July. But tickets sold out as soon as they became available, and now more than 1,000 people are on the waiting list.
Iwana said that the zombies will be back once Japan’s late-summer weather cools down. August is just way too hot for that much action in a stuffy little garage, he said.
The founder is looking forward to scaring his customers again. He said that he wants to share his love of ghouls, ghosts, and other creepy crawlies with the public.
“My parents rented horror movies and let me watch them play the Resident Evil video games since I was three. Ghosts are like Pokémon to me,” he said.
We’ll be waiting for Iwana’s “Undead Pikachu”-themed attraction once COVID stops making regular life scary enough.