Busch Gardens brings in Blair Witch producer to direct halloween event
by Tom Anstey | 28 Aug 2015
In what seems to be a recurring theme among the world’s theme parks pushing for boosted attendances through the Halloween period, filmmaker Robin Cowie – best-known for producing The Blair Witch Project – has been enlisted by Busch Gardens to produce the park’s Howl-O-Scream fright fest for 2015.
Following in the footsteps of the likes of Guillermo del Toro, Rob Zombie and Robert Kirkman – who have all had input into creating horror mazes for theme parks after directing and producing cult horror flicks – Cowie will create a theme for SeaWorld Entertainment’s theme parks in Tampa, Williamsburg, and San Antonio. By bringing in the horror aficionado, Seaworld Entertainment will be hoping to boost ticket sales at a time when the company is suffering across the board, with its latest earnings report marking an 84 per cent drop in profits.
"This was an opportunity to really broaden the storytelling experience," said Cowie. "This is full-contact creativity. I was a big Howl-O-Scream fan and what I tried to do was not change it, but to increase the amount of storytelling."
In addition to the new Unearthed: Scarlett’s Revenge haunted house, Dead Fall: Thirst for Blood, Zombie Containment Unit 15, Death Water Bayou, The BASEMENT, Circus of Superstition: The Last Laugh, and Zombie Mortuary will all be returning for 2015 with Cowie’s spin on things.
Halloween and the ‘fright sector’ have become big business for the theme park industry, with more and more welcoming major Halloween events every year, generating more than US$300m (€270.3m, £191.8m) in 2014 in the US alone, according to statistics from trade group the Haunted Attraction Association. It has been estimated that 300,000 will be in attendance for Busch Gardens’ Howl-O-Scream, which takes place through the month of October over 17 nights.
Cowie (right) was producer of The Blair Witch Project, a student film which ended up grossing more than US$248m worldwide Credit: Busch Gardens
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In what seems to be a recurring theme among the world’s theme parks pushing for boosted attendances through the Halloween period, filmmaker Robin Cowie – best-known for producing The Blair Witch Project – has been enlisted by Busch Gardens to produce the park’s Howl-O-Scream fright fest for 2015. Following in the footsteps of the likes of Guillermo del Toro, Rob Zombie and Robert Kirkman – who have all had input
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