Blackout, also known as Blackout Haunted House, is an immersive horror experience that was created by Josh Randall and Kristjan Thor in 2009. The simulated haunted house aims to serve as the antithesis of the traditional haunted house. Randall and Thor began collaborating on Blackout after expressing frustration that it was growing increasingly difficult to be scared.
The first Blackout event was held in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
and the business expanded to
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
.
Both Randall and Thor have stated that they view Blackout to be more "
performance art
Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...
than
haunted house
A haunted house, spook house or ghost house in ghostlore is a house or other building often perceived as being inhabited by disembodied spirits of the deceased who may have been former residents or were otherwise connected with the prope ...
".
Event
Participants must sign a liability waiver prior to entering the experience, as Blackout performers are able to touch and physically interact with the participants, although participants may not touch performers. The attraction's features will differ depending on the location and will change over time in order to avoid participants predicting what will occur.
At the start of each Blackout event a performer may ask participants about their worst fears, which they can then use to tailor the event to make the attraction more frightening.
Participants are sent into the event individually instead of in a group and they are also not allowed to speak while going through Blackout, although they are allowed to scream.
Documentary
A documentary film entitled ''
The Blackout Experiments
''The Blackout Experiments'' is a 2016 documentary that examines the immersive horror experience Blackout. The documentary is directed by Rich Fox and had its world premiere at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival. It was released by Gravitas Ventures ...
'' was released in 2016. Critical reception for the documentary has been mostly mixed. The documentary takes a look at the event and features interviews with several fans that will repeatedly attend Blackout events.
Randall and Thor limited their participation with the film, as they wanted the event to retain as much mystery as possible.
Reception
''
io9
''io9'' is part of Gizmodo media since 2015, and it began as blog launched in 2008 by Gawker Media. The site initially focused on the subjects of science fiction, fantasy, futurism, science, technology and related areas but over the years has ...
'' wrote a favorable review for Blackout, stating that participants must be comfortable with potential nudity and being touched.
Gizmodo
''Gizmodo'' ( ) is a design, technology, science and science fiction website. It was originally launched as part of the Gawker Media network run by Nick Denton, and runs on the Kinja platform. ''Gizmodo'' also includes the subsite ''io9'', whic ...
also praised Blackout, remarking that although they had been through the event twice they still found the experience unnerving. ''
The Los Angeles Times
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
'' remarked favorably on the Los Angeles Blackout, writing "Visually, Blackout is artful and occasionally kind of beautiful, evoking early ambient horror films like
Carl Theodor Dreyer's "''
Vampyr
''Vampyr'' (german: Vampyr – Der Traum des Allan Gray, lit=Vampyr: The Dream of Allan Gray) is a 1932 horror film directed by Danish director Carl Theodor Dreyer. The film was written by Dreyer and Christen Jul based on elements from J. Sheri ...
''.""
''
The New York Observer
''The New York Observer'' was a weekly newspaper printed from 1987 to 2016, when it ceased print publication and became the online-only newspaper ''Observer''. The media site focuses on culture, real estate, media, politics and the entertainmen ...
'' was slightly more critical, commenting that although they had been given a safe word during a 2011 Blackout event in New York City, some of Blackout's scares made it difficult for participants to speak and that they had not found the experience fun.
Feminist publications such as
XoJane
''xoJane'' (also known as ''xoJane.com'') was an American online magazine from 2011-2016 geared toward women and founded by Jane Pratt and co-published by Say Media. Pratt was the founding editor of '' Sassy'' and ''Jane'' magazines.
In less t ...
criticized the event's concept, and XoJane wrote that they felt that they were "not entirely comfortable with the idea that simulated sexual assault and torture should be marketed as entertainment."
Russel and Thor responded to these criticisms, stating that they were aware of the sensitive subject matter and that the experience "should be deeper than shock value, it's about finding what an actor and audience is interested in, and make them interested in going to that place. We try to be as clear as possible about what people are in for."
References
External links
* {{official website, http://www.theblackoutexperience.com/
Haunting.net's Blackout Profile
Haunted attractions (simulated)
Halloween events in the United States
2009 establishments in New York City
Recurring events established in 2009