A Japanese group Kowagarasetai, which is a haunted house and horror event production company, is trying to take people's minds off from the Coronavirus pandemic in a very strange and unique way. The Japanese group previously had created an attraction that followed social distancing guidelines with a bone-chilling experience, a drive-in haunted house.
Now, they are offering the customers in Tokyo to grab a chance to lie down inside a two-meter windowed coffin-like box, listen to a horror story, and get poked by fake hands—to get a 15-minute horror experience. Kenta Iwana, Kowagarasetai's founder said, "The pandemic is stressful, and we hope people can get a bit of relief by having a good scream." According to reports, during this 15-minute show, the customers can also watch some actor's performance who normally perform at venues such as theme parks.
Relief From COVID-19 Scare
Japan has reported 61,499 cases and of coronavirus over 1,000 deaths as of Saturday, August 22. But, in the midst of the pandemic, when people are forced to follow new safety measures that are completely opposite from their daily lifestyle, this Japanese group is trying to divert their minds from the stressed environment by letting them experience something very new and exciting.
Before launching this new 15-minute horror show, last month Kowagarasetai, translated as "Scare Squad", offered drive-in horror shows, which were living nightmares that included zombie attacks on vehicles, splashing artificial blood, while the customers were safely seated inside the cars and experienced the events.
Iwana told CNN, "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," but when "I read that drive-through theaters were making a comeback, it was my 'aha' moment."
In terms of a traditional haunted house in Japan, guests can escape from the place if they get frightened. But in this case, customers were confined to their cars and could not escape the horrors during the zombie apocalypse show. At the end of the performance, before the customers took the vehicle off the area, the zombie actors cleaned the fake blood on the car.
While talking about the new coffin show, Iwana said, "We needed to have something that we could take anywhere, and coffins are easy to move. All you need to do is put them in a dark room."
A 36-year-old customer, Kazushiro Hashiguchi, who paid 800-yen ($7.60) to lie down inside the coffin and experience the horror show said, "Lots of events have been canceled because of the coronavirus, and I was looking for a way to get rid of my stress, but after spending 15 minutes for the performance, I feel relaxed."
