Madame Tussauds: Icons of Horror

4 rooms of horror-themed entertainment brought to life

The horror genre has one of the most dedicated fan followings and we can’t wait to send a chill down visitors’ spines when they immerse themselves into these iconic scenes featuring terrifying wax figures

Tiago Mogadouro Head of Marketing
Madame Tussauds New York

Tiago Mogadouro Head of MarketingMadame Tussauds New York

The idea was to create a storytelling experience, bringing a collection of classic horror films (Annabelle and The Nun from The Conjuring Universe, Regan from The Exorcist, and Pennywise from IT).

Our contribution to this project was to use immersive technology to convey critical and classic aspects of the story—and the results were truly terrifying and iconic. For this particular project, we worked with the theme design firm that built the exhibit—and they really brought all of the non-digital elements in the room to life. The characters, the set, and the room design were already amazing. And for our part, we used technology to really bring those amazing displays to life, tie them into the space, and expand on the themes to add deeper layers to the story. The goal was to make every room feel more realistic. We wanted them to feel like walking narratives, so that visitors would feel like they were really in each of those iconic scenes. 

The biggest challenge in this project was to bring these memorable characters, scenes, and elements to life without detracting from how the scene should intuitively feel. And really, it came down to a lot of small details that really added up to create larger-than-life effects. 

The success of the project was easily quantified and confirmed by the blood-curdling screams, the frightened looks of shock, the jaw-dropping reactions to the realism of the displays, and the real sense of fun, yet vivid Hollywood horror evidenced by the visitor experiences. When people walked in, expecting to relive their favorite childhood horror-movie moments, and walked away legitimately surprised by the realism (and the visceral emotional impact that came with it)—we knew that we’d played a part in creating something truly memorable and special.