WHAT: The Bunker Below
WHERE: Kelvedon Hatch Secret Nuclear Bunker (Kelvedon Hall Ln, Kelvedon Hatch, Brentwood CM13 0LA)
WHEN: Saturday 14th October – Sunday 29th October 2023
PRICE: £24.50 – £25.50
OUR RATING: Do It!
This Halloween season, delve 125 feet underground at the Kelvedon Hatch Secret Nuclear Bunker for the terrifying event The Bunker Below. Back for only their third year, this season they’ve returned with a bigger team and a longer route, and while we enjoyed their event last year we were amazed with how thrilling and horrifying this trek in the tunnels was this year!
The Kelvedon Hatch Secret Nuclear Bunker was actually built in 1952-53 as part of a programme to improve Britain’s air defence network. For the next few decades it was then maintained as an emergency regional government defence site until the early 90s. Since then, it has been a Cold War museum and hosts daily tours. Yet at night during the Halloween season, the bunker proves to be a place of eerie sounds and sights, waiting for unfortunate subjects to discover the secret that lies within.
After parking up and taking a quick but mysterious walk through the woods, we came upon a large tent which served as base of operations for a secret government experiment, where we learned they have been conducting research into the science of fear. We were to be test subjects – lucky us!
Greeted by an eccentric and barmy scientist at the tent’s entrance, we were led and immediately provided our test subject rules, and were spoken to by another researcher keen to know our greatest fears and whether we could handle the experiment before us. The actors here were all fantastic, completely realistic and with hilarious commentary and ability to improvise with each audience member.
It was here we learned of The Signal, an audio recording that drives anyone who hears it mad, creating visions of your absolute worst fears. Unfortunately, the researchers have discovered that the device creating the signal can’t be shut down, and every being inside the institution is under its awful spell. After being interrogated by the researchers and a formidable military man, we were soon subject to The Signal ourselves, and led out into the depths of the woods and the bunker itself.
The Bunker Below has added a long and terrifying walk through the woods before the actual bunker experience, which turned out to be one of our favourite parts of the night. Creatures stalked and ran at us from out of nowhere, a man with a neon glowing face crawled out to us in a ritual occult area (which was completed by a burning ritualistic symbol in a campground), and a fiend with a chainsaw trapped us on a bridge with no escape. Turns out the small group in front of us were too scared to continue the trek alone so waited for us to catch up. Together the five of us somehow got through the rest of these horrifying woods and finally came upon the bunker itself, where the only advice for defence we were given was to follow the light.
Upon entering the facility it was clear that this bunker contained all kinds of manifestations of fear, and most especially the fear of the dark. Complete with uncanny soundscapes paired with sirens that had us wanting to run and panic, we were met by terrifying creatures in every nook and cranny. We wandered the bunker from office to office and up and down several sets of stairs as the building itself has three floors, but the process was so disorienting that we never quite knew where we were within the maze itself.
We remember a lot of vignettes last year including a bar and a sermon where we were invited to sit down and watch a small performance, but these were done away with this year which was to the benefit of the performance, as when we were moving we were put on high alert that anything could come at us from all sides. Most of the rooms were almost completely dark, and it wasn’t until the final moments when a light would come on and the creatures would be right on top of us. This created an unnerving and blood-curdling atmosphere that sent our adrenaline skyrocketing during the entire journey. There were countless jump scares, and the lighting and actors were so completely in sync that we were caught off guard at all moments!
One of our favourite rooms was full of computers and writing desks, where a creature with a gauze-covered face crawled under and jumped over desks with terrifying speed, coming out underneath tables and grabbing at us or flying at us from around the corner – there was only one creature but the manner in which it was able to attack us was incredible and so very scary!
We also enjoyed a room full of bunkbeds which we had to navigate in the semi-darkness, knowing that something sinister was there awaiting us poor victims, and a room where we played hide and seek with a clown! There were a few more rooms where we as test subjects were able to interact with the scene, but we found the clown one a definite favourite.
We don’t want to give it all away any more than we already have, but suffice to say that all scares will be covered here in this almost hour long journey in the chaotic bunker, from claustrophobia, to fears of pigs and doctors, all culminating in one final sprint down a petrifying 100-yard tunnel escaping from the signal and all the horrors it created.
Final Thoughts: The Bunker Below provides a spine-chilling journey, offering a heightened level of thrills and horrors in its third year. The mystery and thoughtfulness of each location, coupled with superb acting do make the experience truly terrifying and immersive. The bunker itself is a disorienting maze of fear, filled with terrifying surprises at every turn. It promises an unforgettable Halloween adventure, expanding its horrors year by year.
