EDITOR’S NOTE: The name of the attraction was originally FEARVR-5150, but Cedar Fair has since changed it due to backlash on its meaning. We left references to the number in the article based on the time of its publication. 

When we launched HorrorBuzz over a year ago, one of our biggest commitments was to bring you the best and latest video in both 3D and 360 degree formats.  We knew that this year and next year were going to be huge for VR development and with Playstation VR ready to bring headsets into many more homes next month, it seems like it will be in more households than ever.  The other thing that we quickly realized is that there is a new language of film making that is being developed to tell stories and that horror films in particular were going to have to adapt to a whole new type of scare where there was no central single point of view.

Enter haunt season 2016 and many of the parks across the country are creating immersive VR experiences as a part of their terror offerings, and Cedar Fair has elected to do the same, but instead of looking for a completely outsourced video project, has partnered with Hallow Studios to create a unique experience entitled: FearVR – 5150.

For the one or two of you unfamiliar, 5150 is the police radio code for someone who is criminally insane and that is where our story takes place, inside the Meadowbrook Asylum. The nurses that will strap you to a chair to administer a few tests seem friendly creepy enough, and soon you’ll be wearing a Samsung VR headset, and some headphones and ready to embrace some good ol’ mental hygiene.  That is unless the mysterious “Katie” who seems to be out of her bed, and out of control has other plans for you.

Yes you will be helpless and restrained as the madness surrounds you…but it’s just VR right!?!

Now Knott’s Scary Farm, was kind enough to invite us down to sample the new up-charge (yes there is a slight $10-$15 cost to this one depending on what night you attend) experience, and I must say it’s a very nice immersive experience.  If it seems to fit with Toothfairy and Paranormal Inc, there is a very good reason, the film was produced as a collaboration with Hallow Studios, and features theatrical settings designed by Knott’s Scary Farm’s own Jon Cooke, and crafted by the very same artists and technicians that help create the “live” mazes throughout the park.

No spoilers here but this is a 4D experience so there is more going on that what you just see and hear.  It isn’t as intense as some of the VR horror experiences we have sampled this year, but you’ll get some good shocks out of it.  If you haven’t had a chance to see what the future of horror looks like, this is an especially great way to dip your toes in the pool.   So when you are ready to step out of the fog and into the insane asylum book a chair over at this years Knott’s or Great America Scary Farm Events.  Tell them HorrorBuzz is having you committed.