Behind the screams: We try out the Nightmare Realm as a punter and a player
No Name welcomes his latest batch of victims to the Nightmare Realm. Picture: Moya Nolan.
Standing on a Dublin street on a dark and rainy October evening, I could hear terrified screams and cruel cackling laughter and I began to wonder if I had made a mistake.
Now, I am a Halloween girlie through and through. Scary films, costumes, creepy tales, decorations, trick or treating, the food – hook it to my veins.
I love horror but I don’t scare easily. Yes, I have come a long way from the little girl who jumped out of her skin during a very tame ghost train so much so that she pulled a muscle.
So why, you may ask, was I feeling a sense of dread while waiting outside of the Nightmare Realm?
Simple. My poor planning meant I was going to the preview by myself.
Surrounded by people who are younger than I am – a true horror – the fear was real. I knew the next hour or two would be spent trying to dodge influencers’ camera phones for fear my bedraggled, rain-soaked self would make an unintentional cameo in their content.
That aside, I wondered how much I would enjoy it on my own. Since I don’t really get scared at these events, my joy is usually found in my friends’ petrified screams.
I needed the Machine Gun Kelly to my Megan Fox. (I was reliably informed by Nightmare Realm’s directors Karl and Sylvia O’Connor that when the then-couple visited last year MGK was a bit of a scaredy-cat while Megan was, as always, cool as a cucumber. And I will not pass up my one opportunity to positively compare myself to the one and only Jennifer Check.)
Thankfully, the gorgeous couple behind me in the queue didn’t protest when I told them I would be gatecrashing their night. I had found my MGK.
I have done a good few horror experiences but somehow had never crossed Nightmare Realm off my list despite its stellar reputation – it won Best European Scream Park Event 2023. But now, the Realm is getting a much higher honour: my seal of approval.
From the moment you enter, the actors and performers are on it. Their energy and dedication to creeping you out never wavers. You get certain people who will try to make them break character, but they didn’t do it once.
It’s no wonder some of their long-running characters have fan bases all their own, Molly Mayhem being a clear favourite for many visitors.
The team is made up of a range of people from trained stage actors to models to teenagers working their first job. Some are making their debut while others are back for their sixth or seventh year and just as eager to scare as they were on their first day.
The Realm is split into five different mazes, each with a different theme. There is a plot running throughout the experience if you want to follow it, Karl tells me afterwards.
Die-hard fans will follow the plot and sub-plots religiously and be rewarded with fun little easter eggs and even some throwback references to previous years.
There are five secret rooms that a lucky few – or unlucky depending on your POV – will be invited into. I got to see two of them on my trip but there are fans who will come back again and again until they find them all.
The attention to detail, and the buy-in from everyone involved at every level are part of the reason for the Realm’s success.
“Sometimes it’s the character who walks up to you and holds your hand and brings you a little bit along the way and they are telling you stuff that you don’t want to hear. It can be very unsettling,” Karl explains.
With all the minor details involved in creating the Realm, it’s no wonder that Karl and Sylvia are already planning next year’s season.
They are carefully watching to see what visitors really enjoy and respond to and using this to identify what themes will they lean into in 2024 or what experiences can they improve on.
It is their first year in Dublin’s old Fruit, Vegetable and Flower Market and the space has given them the chance to create their biggest scare park yet while also breathing some new (after)life into yet another vacant city property.
From their humble beginnings as a fifteen-minute experience in Tralee in 2009, to their first expansion to Cork City in 2011, to their arrival in Dublin, the Nightmare Realm has come a long, long way.
Over the years, they’ve pulled off some impressive scares from modern-day scream queen Chloë Grace Moretz to the Irish rugby team, but few get out unscathed.
That isn’t to say that it’s not family-friendly. Something that I really loved was the option to purchase a luminous ‘zombie band’ that younger visitors can wear.
If they get too scared while in one of the mazes, they can simply hold up the band and the actors know to give them their space.
Speaking of practical tips, I would not advise wearing a dress or a skirt as there will be times when you will be crawling or crouching under things. You’re welcome.
A few days after my visit, I was delighted to be treated to a behind-the-scenes tour of the Realm.
With the lights on, I was able to see how they created some of the uncanny physical sensations experienced in the mazes and the special effects used throughout.
I also got to see how the actors and performers prepared. Sylvia had told me that the characters generally get over any shyness after their first night.
She said that once the costume went on, they were immediately transformed. As I lurked in the backstage area, I saw that Sylvia wasn’t exaggerating.
Unfortunately, when I was fortunate enough to be transformed into a vampire myself, I did not undergo a similar transformation.
Despite the incredible work done by head makeup artist Zerica Griffin who allowed me to live out my dreams, it turns out that, undead or alive, I will always be serving awkward – see photos for reference.
Zerica, who is no stranger to high-pressure environments having worked on many film and tv productions, has been with Nightmare Realm for several years.
The walls in the makeup room are covered in character photos and inspo pics, like a very deranged vision board.
The team turn seemingly lovely people into the things that you fear are lurking under your bed when you get too hot and consider letting one foot stick out from under the blanket.
It was unreal to watch the transformations, not to mention getting a glow-up of my own.
I was loathe to take off the makeup afterwards but I was truly afraid of the potential consequences of wearing it on my journey home – strangers talking to me on public transport.
When I think of the Nightmare Realm, I can’t help but recall the words Betty Bedlam shouted at me when I first entered: “Don’t worry, I’ll see you later”.
She said it as though it was a threat, but I’m hoping it was a promise because the Nightmare Realm team are definitely my kind of people.
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