There are not many things that surprise me when it comes to horror attractions but the Blumhouse Blackout pop-up in London was certainly much better than I was anticipating.

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Blumhouse Blackout is a free event where guests can book tickets via Eventbrite but there are also ‘walk-ins’ available if you just so happen to be in Soho on October 25th (today) and October 26th when the event concludes.
The experience is spaced over two floors, the main floor and the basement as our experience begins in the living room space surrounded by two purge characters.
We sit in this uncomfortable living room space filled with ambient lighting, great creepy sounds and smell pods leaving a rather pungent yet ambient feel to the surroundings with various Blumhouse IP on display from the Purge pictures on the wall to a photo of M3GAN on a side table next to a Black Phone.

You’re taken through into the main experience which has been created by Darkfield, a company specialising in 360-degree audience experiences, Blumhouse Blackout will make use of noise-cancelling headphones, lighting, special effects and interactive performances.
The company also utilises realistic sets, binaural sound, sensory effects and shipping containers to place participants in their intense evolving narratives.
In a basement plucked straight out of The Black Phone horror movie, there is a black phone on the wall and numerous mattresses for us to lie on and put on our headphones and the experience begins.
This 15-minute binaural experience is certainly one of the better Darkfield experiences that I’ve witnessed outside of the usual shipping container experiences such as FLIGHT.

What made this experience so immersive was the incorporation of lighting effects, special effects and even actors that blended perfectly with the audio experience for a rather unnerving and vulnerable experience.
When it comes to immersive experiences they don’t make you jump as such but more make you think but on this occasion, there are some well-timed jump scares that appear out of nowhere with well-timed lighting and audio cues. Just remember to keep your eyes OPEN throughout the experience to get the most out of the show.
The audio was crafted wonderfully creating this full 360-degree experience of whispers, chatter and immersion with these famous Blumhouse characters. You know your surroundings and even if you haven’t seen the films you’ll still be able to appreciate the experience that Darkfield have crafted within this pop-up.

With a little surprise at the end of the experience (I did see that one coming unfortunately) that was very clever you are led into a Blumhouse bar for a free cocktail and a meet and greet with M3GAN.
If you haven’t seen M3GAN I highly recommend it, it’s very much in the same vein as the Child’s Play remake as a robot starts to become self-aware with murderous tendencies.
Thankfully on this occasion, our M3GAN hadn’t upgraded her software to those murderous tendencies and instead was very polite and even shared some of her iconic dance moves with us. The acting was spot on and the little Blumhouse-themed playroom she was in was simply designed but effective.

Cocktails were themed around various Blumhouse IPs and you could play a little game to win a Blumhouse T-Shirt and I’m happy to say that we won out of everyone who took part which was a nice little bonus on top of our free cocktail.
We were inside the building for around 45 minutes with the Darkfield audio experience lasting around 15 minutes.
I thought the sets were nicely done and the extra effort they went into to theme the exterior of the building for a 2-day pop up is appreciated from the signage to the smoke machine and even the window decal, it’s the little things that matter and Universal and any associated companies they partner with always go the extra mile.

It was almost like a little slice of Halloween Horror Nights right here in the UK as the Blumhouse walkthrough zone that we experienced last month over in Florida had a very similar design and vibe to this little building in Soho.
With no Wolf Man in sight, this didn’t surprise me within the experience as fans weren’t too keen on this particular character at Halloween Horror Nights and he was quickly taken away from the character line-up at the horror event.
I can see why they have included M3GAN within the experience with M3GAN 2.0 due to be released next year and also a sequel to The Black Phone also scheduled for a 2025 release.
Now whilst my review has been flowing with compliments, and rightly so there was one little niggle that I feel should have been rectified on press night which took place on October 24th and that was organisation.

Whilst we were in the waiting room staff members were running around organising where actors should go and what goes where. When we were in the bar area discussions were being made on a scene that was to take place after our drink and it sort of took me out of the immersive nature that had been told up until this point.
All of the operational aspects of an experience should be dealt with before members of the public come in to experience it so that was the only thing that detached me from the experience somewhat but the main part of the show (by Darkfield) was spot-on and executed wonderfully.
Blumhouse never fail to disappoint with their large array of horror movies that have solidified themselves into history and whilst I’m not sure why they are only having a pop-up in London for two days (marketing tax write-off maybe?) I’m grateful that they did.

Darkfield experiences are not cheap and whilst Alton Towers and Thorpe Park couldn’t muster a good enough immersive experience at two of the country’s premier theme parks, a small building in Soho managed to immerse me in the creepy world of Blumhouse.
With a T-Shirt in hand, a nice cocktail in my belly and a good 45 minutes of entertainment experience I enjoyed Blumhouse Blackout and I want to thank Blumhouse, Darkfield and Universal for putting on a nice little pop-up such as this.
The Blumhouse T-Shirt we won
Roll on 2030 when Universal bring a theme park to the UK and introduces Halloween Horror Nights to the British public in what will instantly be the country’s best theme park Halloween event the moment it opens!
To check out the full VLOG (includes spoilers) from the Blumhouse Blackout event then check out the video over on our theme park and attractions site Lift Hills and Thrills below: