This Halloween, Dar il-Waħx is set to return with bigger, bolder and better frights thanks to a horror house-first: the use of augmented reality. Iggy Fenech finds out more from artistic director Patrick Vella.

For the past seven years, Dar il-Waħx (Haunted Dungeon Malta) has been spooking visitors with some pretty daring feats, which have included slimy bugs, nasty clowns and even being buried alive in coffins. Now, Curtain Raiser – the production company behind the annual ghoulish event – is taking all that one step further by introducing augmented reality into the Dar il-Waħx experience.

Dar il-Waħx is hosted in a World War II shelter underneath Il-Barri Restaurant in Mġarr.Dar il-Waħx is hosted in a World War II shelter underneath Il-Barri Restaurant in Mġarr.

“This has been a long time in the making,” says Patrick Vella, who is the brains behind the season’s most highly-anticipated event. “In fact, the software being used was created in Indonesia specifically for us, and following much testing, we have just finished the final trial run.”

In a nutshell, visitors to the attraction will be given an Android phone, as well as virtual reality goggles, to tour the horror house. These can then be used to bring to life an array of objects that can be found at the venue, including portraits and various nooks and crannies.

The location for this year’s Dar il-Waħx is a World War II shelter underneath Il-Barri Restaurant in Mġarr: “I couldn’t believe my eyes the first time I saw the shelters,” Patrick continues. “In the past, we have experimented with a variety of places, including abandoned mansions, the Old Prison in Corradino, and other WWII shelters, but this place is simply incredible!

“There’s a medical clinic and a school, beds and army paraphernalia, bits of airplanes and even gas masks lying on the floor. But they’re not props we placed there; they were there when we walked in, and we were dumbstruck. It’s literally like going back in time, and that, in itself, should be enough to spook you.”

We didn’t go for gore but, rather, for weird and disturbing

Patrick, however, is adamant that the traditional formula that has made Dar il-Waħx a favourite with many is to be kept, and this includes reenactors who will explain the story behind this year’s edition (and, this time, teach you how to use the new technology), live actors who will be hidden in plain sight waiting to give visitors the bone-chilling frights, and a spine-tingling soundtrack.

“The augmented reality part will then build upon what’s already there. Nevertheless, we didn’t go for gore but, rather, for weird and disturbing. Ghosts come out of pictures, gargoyles roar, Victorian clowns stare, bugs crawl and past memories come to life in waves of lamentations.”

The idea for a Dar il-Waħx-like concept first crossed Patrick’s mind many moons ago when, as a young boy, he would head to Marsaxlokk and pass by a really spooky house on the waterfront. In fact, his vision for Dar il-Waħx is rooted in his past, and so it comes as no surprise that his idea of horror is derived from things that were, and primordial fears.

About the venue itself he comments that “having spent a lot of time working down in the shelters, I have come to realise how much pain these walls hold; how much people would have suffered when they were forced down here because of bombs.”

Dar il-Waħx is open on October 26, 27, 28 and 31, and between November 2 and 4. Each night will be made up of 12 25-minute shows that run every half hour between 7pm and 1.30am.

www.haunteddungeonmalta.com

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