Trapped Up North Review

We love trying the newest and the innovative attractions that take place in the UK, so when we heard about Trapped Up North, we couldn’t wait to visit.

What is Trapped up North?

Trapped Up North, a brand new interactive and immersive horror escape room experience in Manchester.  The attraction was opened on Saturday 1 August and will be open to visitors until Wednesday 23 December.  Trapped Up North is the ultimate 4D gaming experience which has been created by horror attraction experts House of the Dead which is led by Richard Cottier, Sally Duguid, and Paul Jamison. Richard and Paul worked behind the scenes at the region’s hugely popular Farmaggedon.  I have heard great things of Farmaggdon and had high expectation that the event would be excellent too.  

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Participants in groups of 3 – 6 are against the clock to complete their mission.  There are two initial rooms of terror to choose from: Jigsaw and Quarantine. Each room with a unique story and environment and a different menacing evil presence lurking and willing you to fail.  Only the pure will escape the Jigsaw room; finding themselves locked away in a makeshift torture chamber within the sinister world of The Judge, a prolific serial killer who has escaped from prison.   Anyone who has imagined themselves as a government agent should take on Quarantine; a deadly virus, created by the government as a weapon for biological warfare, has been leaked and contaminated their compound. Due to the nature of the attraction, the recommended age for visitors is 12+, with those under 15 years old needing parental guidance. 

What we thought

Given the age limit we had a night off without our little adventurers and were instead joined by our teenage nieces and nephews.  We set off to Manchester with anticipated excitement.  I am not one for horror but the teens were really excited so I thought I would be brave and give this a go.  We visited the Quarantine room in the evening and the location just behind the AMC ticket desk is perfect for accessing the property whether by public transport or by car.  So here is our Trapped Up North Review.

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The good bits

  • The initial room and introduction really gets you in the mood and mindset to be scared.  The set were not elaborate but very fitting for the scene and atmosphere they were creating.
  • The setting of the room, lighting and ambience inside is really creepy and makes you all really on edge waiting to be scared and frightened.  As your mind is really on edge you are forever scaring yourself and it really brings the horror into your mind.
  • There are a few moments where your heart will skip a beat and you will scream out loud (Doc and I were much worse than the children) and cowered in the corner.
  • We were really overthinking the clues and how to proceed but there are prompts at various points to help you continue and not spend your entire hour trapped in the first stage which is what we feared.
  • The room can really be a great experience for a different family or friends day out and is very different to other activities aimed at this demographic.

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Ways in which the experience could be improved

  • Without giving too much away, we were expecting more ‘actual’ scary moments with a few more things jumping out/props scaring you and keeping you on your toes.  I think if these were added at certain points it would make the  experience much more scary and would really help to fully deliver a fuller experience.
  • The lighting in the room was very dull and in keeping with the idea behind the room, however, it was really difficult to make out anything and I think a small torch, would help the search and inputting of numbers without taking away from the mysterious feel of the room.
  • The hour passes really quickly and you do get updates of the timing but I think a countdown in the rooms showing how many minutes would really add to the tension of trying to complete the task within the timescale.
  • To check that the room and props are in the correct place and working correctly as something important in our room was not working properly which was a shame.
  • The ending was a little disappointing and I think the finale of the event needs a real horrific end to leave that lasting impression on all the participants.

TrappedRoom
Overall

We spent lots of time making the tasks much harder then they were and ultimately ran out of time so were beaten by the room (though somehow we were still really close).  When we first left the room we felt a little disappointed as we thought the experience would be more frightening but on reflection the horror was there, it may not have been “in your face” as we may have been expecting.  However,  this type of horror is even more striking and the one that stays with you longer.  Throughout the time we were in the room, we were on edge, wary and frightened of what awaited us and reluctantly checked the nooks and corners for clues.  We have heard great things about the Jigsaw and would love to see how this compares to the Quarantine room.  I think Trapped Up North something very unique that you can do for an outing and I think closer to Halloween it would be a great way to mark this event.
 

Nisbah

I am a traveller, mother and blogger. We love to go on adventures (big and small, near and far) and strive to show our children how amazing and beautiful the world is! I caught the travel bug many moons ago and despite having three little adventurers, I still suffer from "itchy" feet. We love the great outdoors and one another. Come and join the fun :)

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3 Responses

  1. Ooh I think i might be to freaked out by this I am too much of a wimp, I cant watch horror movies at all x

  2. Sarah Ebner says:

    I think this might be too much for me – I am easily scared and would be jumpy all the time! My kids would probably love it though!

    • Nisbah says:

      Sarah

      I am a real softie when it comes to these things, but it is actually really good fun to do with teens and it incredible how scared you make yourself!

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