Ghouls and blood-splattered zombies beckon as Halloween peeks round the corner. If you’re hunting for a place to show off your scream-worthy costume or to score some chills, Sentosa Spooktacular, now in its fourth year, comes even more highly recommended now that it’s shifted to a new haunt (hur hur) this year.

Fort Siloso was built by the British to better defend Singapore during World War II, and was also used by the Japanese as a Prisoner of War Camp during their Occupation.

According to the event’s organizers, Fort Siloso was open at night to the public for the first time for Sentosa Spooktacular. Which makes it even harder to tell if the “ghosts” you meet are performers or the real deal!

With 5 totally new Horror Trails this year: the Ouija Board, Camp Berhantu, Deadly Doll Studio, The Land of Lost Souls and The Last Sequel, Sentosa Spooktacular will make you jump at the sudden loud screams and slams and when the “ghosts” jump out at you from hidden corners.

Each trail was spookily unique with its own story, a few more trails to spread out the snaking-long queues of about 150 people per trail, and to offer more to visitors would be good as well.

The first trail that you see when entering the compound is Camp Berhantu, which has a new interactive feature to offer. With only a laser tag gun, you need to protect yourself from the recruit who wants revenge, and his dead bunkmates, as you walk through a maze filled with mist and complete darkness.

The Land of Lost Souls transports you to Thailand via Sawadee Airlines, where creepy air stewardesses walk alongside you, and Muay Thai boxers stare at you from inside their rings. In the mist-filled stairs, you will also find cross-dressing bar “ladies” who try in vain to get you to visit their nightclub. The scary part only comes later, where there is unfinished business in a clinic that tortured young women.

The Last Sequel might appeal especially to writers…or not. It speaks about an author whose loved ones suffered endings that were similar to what he had written in his novels. As visitors walk through this gruesome trail, where the writer screams repeatedly, “Have you seen my wife?”, he just might be the next victim.

Ouija Board is probably the least scary of all. With only a Ouija board at the beginning of the trail to shock you a little, the remainder is mostly walking through intricately detailed rooms and walkways. Other than that, only the part where there was a bloodied hand repeatedly slamming a window was scary.

Lastly, the Deadly Doll Studio is perhaps the scariest of all. With doll mannequins placed around the trail, it’s hard to differentiate between doll and human, especially in the dark. Also watch out for the wall of masks, because not all are fake. You may not be able to look at dolls the way you did anymore!

Each trail is located near one another, thankfully, so you don’t need to walk too much, but the whole area, designed to turn Fort Siloso into a full-scale Netherworld, has “ghosts” roaming around the moment you enter the main gates. A friendly warning: Start running away from them and they will run after you, until you either outrun all of them (highly impossible) or plead for them to stop following you. Otherwise, you could be cheeky and distract them by introducing them to another friend of yours!

Sentosa Spooktacular also has 4 ambassadors – Pontianak, Jiang Shi, Ghost Bride and Dead Soldier, which you may see ‘roaming’ about the place. Believe it or not, they even have Facebook pages. Check them out!

To sum up, Sentosa Spooktacular was quite spectacular with its spooks and details in the trails, but adults would have probably preferred a little more intertwining with background stories of World War II action to give us a little history lesson and more authenticity as well.

Here are some tips to have a blast at Sentosa Spooktacular:

  1. Dress comfortably as Singapore’s humid and you’re mostly out in the open
  2. Bring an umbrella given the rainy season, you don’t want your bloodied face paint to wash off, do you?
  3. Wear comfortable shoes because you’ll be walking, climbing stairs and waiting in line for quite a bit for each trail
  4. Pluck up your courage to talk to one of the “ghosts”, or make them do a funny pose with you and take pictures! They just might.

Sentosa Spooktacular is still on from Oct 26-28, 7-11pm. Tickets are $48, and can be purchased from the website or Sentosa Ticketing Counters.

All photos courtesy of JayJay Lin (Klix Photography).