By Scott Cronick
In the 30 or so years that I have been living here at the shore, Atlantic City – for whatever reason – has never had a consistent horror experience.
Showboat Hotel and Abracadabra are hoping to change that.
Horror buffs like me – I literally watch a horror movie a day during October and have traveled haunted houses around the nation with my wife – will be delighted to check out Sinister Asylum, a new haunted attraction inside Showboat Thursdays through Sundays through Oct. 29, that its organizers hope becomes that annual attraction Atlantic City has been missing for decades.
“We are pumped to be here,” said Albie Manzo, an event producer who teamed with Abracadabra, a well-known Halloween store in New York City, to bring Sinister Asylum to Showboat. “It’s awesome, and people are excited about it. We partnered with Atlantic City Theater Company for some great actors, and for our first activation here, we couldn’t be happier so far. I definitely think there is an opportunity here.”
A haunted trek
Those familiar with Showboat when it was a casino will recognize Sinister Asylum’s home: Scarduzio’s, a fantastic former steakhouse and sushi joint that has been transformed into a house of horrors.
“Scarduzio’s was perfect for us,” Manzo said. “Everything is in such great shape in there, and then we retrofit it to make it the asylum we needed. The Abracadabra guys just went over the top with the design and the animatronics. It has a real movie set feel to it. And in the activation, you really feel like you are somewhere else. And we plan to evolve it so people keep coming back. We really couldn’t have asked for a much better setup.”
On your journey through this restaurant that has been transformed into an asylum, you will encounter fallen angels, maniac nurses, demented doctors, unhinged patients, masked freaks, a pig-faced chainsaw monster, a smorgasbord of decapitated humans presented in front of the former sushi counter, an executioner jester and plenty of cool animatronics and actors trying to scare the bejesus out of you.
It’s creepy, gory and fun, just like any haunt should be.
But Sinister Asylum is different in a major way. Usually, photographs are strictly prohibited inside any haunted attraction wherever you go. But at Sinister Asylum, guests are encouraged to take photos – and even selfies – with the actors who are terrorizing you, which means you can walk away with some very cool pictures this Halloween season.
“It’s an immersive experience more than anything,” Manzo said. “You are in there and having fun. It’s about engaging people in a different way and being open minded about the substantial family-oriented approach that Showboat has taken here with the waterpark and the arcade and other stuff here, so we want to be inclusive of that as well. From a creative standpoint, we wanted to take a different approach and appeal to not just horror fans but a different audience, too. We want to help people create memories. In most places, you go through these and in a blink of an eye, it’s over. Here, you can interact with them in a fun environment. I tell everyone they can take their time in there and take pictures. But, even though we do all of that, it’s still a great, scary experience, so the majority of people run out of there.”
For those out there who are a little timid, don’t fret: No one will touch you!
“It’s not an intense experience with actors touching you, and you are not allowed to touch the actors,” Manzo said. “Not everyone is into that. No one is going to tie you up and douse you with water. It’s scary, but we don’t want to break the snakes out just yet.”
Abracadabra, it’s a haunted house!
For those who think Abracadabra sounds familiar, it should be.
Its flagship store on West 21st Street in New York City is famous for not only being one of the most well-known places on the planet to get everything from costumes to props to yard decorations, but it was recently the space where scenes from the demented Art the Clown flick “Terrorizer 2” were filmed.
According to Fox 59, “The bloody dismemberment of a Halloween store cashier in one scene (followed by a scene of Art posing with the severed head among animatronic clowns to fool window shoppers) introduced audiences to Abracadabra NYC, a real-life, multi-level costume superstore,” the network wrote on its website. “It was used as both a shoot location and a setting for several scenes, which prompted fans to seek it out upon learning it was a real place. Since then, the iconic store has become an unofficial tourist attraction for horror enthusiasts; an association that’s been fully embraced by the staff.”
“It’s the kind of place that when you go there this Halloween season, there is a line around the block,” Manzo said. “We met doing things together in Asbury Park, but this is the first event where we are working together at Showboat, and hopefully that will be a long, fruitful relationship. They are an unbelievable partner. The first haunted house I ever went through, I was part of, so I am not someone who was into this world before all of this when it came to horror films and all that. But now got bit by the horror bug after seeing how the Abracadabra guys are so into it. It’s contagious. When you see these props, they aren’t things you find lying around. They are movie-quality stuff that’s here, and all of it intersects with the actors. It’s a great experience.”
The future?
Manzo said he hopes the first edition of Sinister Asylum is just the beginning. And they will even keep improving the space this season.
“We have a great speakeasy at the end of the experience, and we are installing two-way mirrors where you can’t see out, but those sitting at the speakeasy will be able to see people being scared,” Manzo said. “That’s going to be awesome. And ideas like those are what we will keep bringing to the table.”
If the lines at 5 p.m. on a Saturday three weeks before Halloween are any indication, Sinister Asylum may have found a permanent home.
“I’m a New Jersey guy, and Atlantic City is a place close to my heart, so hopefully this will be a long relationship,” Manzo said. “Next year, we are already talking about how we make it bigger and better. This is not just about walking around a Halloween store. We have to transport you to somewhere different and awesome, and I think we did a great job at that, and it will keep getting better and better.”
(Sinister Asylum will be featured at Showboat Hotel in Atlantic City 5 to 11 p.m. Thursdays to Sundays through Oct. 29. Tickets start at $25 and include free parking. Go to SinisterAsylumNJ.com for tickets or ShowboatHotelAC.com for more information, including room packages.)
Scott Cronick is an award-winning journalist who has written about entertainment, food, news and more in South Jersey for nearly three decades. He hosts a daily radio show – “Off The Press with Scott Cronick” – 4 to 6 p.m. weekdays on Newstalk WOND 1400-AM, 92.3-FM, and WONDRadio.com, and he also co-owns Tennessee Avenue Beer Hall in Atlantic City, while working on various projects, including charitable efforts, throughout the area. He can be reached at scronick@comcast.net.
