Everland horror attraction Blood City partners with Netflix for big scares ahead of Halloween

Home > Culture > Food & Travel

Everland horror attraction Blood City partners with Netflix for big scares ahead of Halloween

Published: 30 Sep. 2024, 16:45 Updated: 30 Sep. 2024, 17:48

YIM SEUNG-HYE
yim.seunghye@joongang.co.kr

Actors stage a zombie musical show for 15 minutes every evening at at the "All of Us Are Dead" zone, part of Everland's Blood City. [SAMSUNG C&T]

Yongin, GYEONGGI — It's not just the adorable giant pandas that attract swarms of visitors to Korea's theme park Everland in Yongin, Gyeonggi. When the weather starts to cool down, Everland invites zombies to add chills and thrills for its annual Blood City zone. This “horror-themed zone” was first introduced in 2019 to create a chilling vibe ahead of Halloween. This year, for its eighth edition, Everland collaborated with Netflix to create the zone, which is themed around two popular horror series, "All of Us Are Dead” (2022) and "Stranger Things” (2016-).

Since opening this year's Blood City on Sept. 6, Everland said it's been creating a buzz among young visitors online. The number of online posts about Blood City increased seven times compared to last year, and official videos posted by Everland on its YouTube channel surpassed over 10 million views.

First stop, Blood City

"It's been attracting more foreign visitors as well,” said Park Ju-hyun from Everland's theme park planning division. "From Sept. 6 to 26, the number of foreigners who visited Everland doubled compared to the same period last year.”

Joe Cho, director of communications at Netflix Korea said Everland and Netflix had deep discussions and selected the two series to create this year's Blood City, as they both were hit shows on the service that boast a wide fan base around the world for mixing the "horror, coming of age and science fiction genres.”

The main entrance of this year's Blood City, which was created in collaboration with Netflix at Everland in Yongin, Gyeonggi [SAMSUNG C&T]

Despite being a weekday afternoon on a recent Tuesday, hundreds of visitors, both young and old, were crowding into Blood City to see zombies roaming around in their typical stiff, uncoordinated and awkward gait.

"Aaahhh!” screamed a young high school boy, as zombies — or actors working for Everland dressed as zombies — hunched forward, with their shoulders drooping and heads tilted to the side while making low, guttural hisses and snarls.

"Don't come near me,” the boy yelled and quickly ran away from the zombies while his friends burst out into laughter, trying to capture the scene on video.

Visitors take pictures with zombies at Everland's Blood City zone. [SAMSUNG C&T]

"Stanger Things" zone at Everland's Blood City in Yongin, Gyeonggi [SAMSUNG C&T]

The zombies resemble the main characters of Hyosan High School students in "All of Us Are Dead,” which is based on the original Korean webtoon titled “Now at Our School” by cartoonist Joo Dong-geun. The series takes place at a high school in the fictitious city of Hyosan and centers around a gang of students as they battle their way through a zombie outbreak. The first season recorded 560.78 million viewing hours in the first 28 days after its release on the streaming platform. To date, it is No. 4 on Netflix’s Top 10 most popular non-English TV shows, after “Squid Game” (2021) and seasons four and five of “Money Heist” (2017-21).

In fact, this "All of Us Are Dead” zone managed to bring to life in stunning detail the fictional city of Hyosan and the school featured in the series.

The eerie atmosphere, the disturbing sounds and the zombie-infested Hyosan High School building set up in the zone immediately immerse visitors in the show, making them feel as if they've stepped right into the heart of the hit Netflix series. The unsettling sights and the ominous setting effectively recreate the chaos and tension from the series, allowing fans to experience the spine-chilling world firsthand.

Visitors can also dress up like student zombies at the uniform rental shop and get special makeup done. The highlight of this zone is the Horror Maze. A separate admission ticket priced at 15,000 won ($11.45) is required to access this horror-filled maze where zombies constantly attempt to frighten you. Only those over 15 years of age can access the maze. Every evening, a 15-minute show where zombies come up to show off their moves is also popular among visitors.

Choi Min-kyu, 37, who was sitting in the front row with his wife and his seven-year-old daughter for the show said his family lined up for the show an hour before it began.

"I'm so into zombies that I wouldn't miss the opportunity to see them up close,” he said. "These young actors are so talented and they look so real. I really could feel how much they've rehearsed for this show. I couldn't take my eyes off them.”

At the "Stranger Things” zone, visitors will feel like they've gone back in time to 1980s.

The set resembling Starcourt Mall, the shopping center featured in the series, is installed in the zone, and visitors can have a go at various games to win themselves different prizes.

Actors dressed up as zombies entertain visitors at Everland's Blood City zone in Yongin Gyeonggi [YIM SEUNG-HYE]

"The collaboration between Netflix and various distribution companies focuses on satisfying viewers' various expectations based on the genre and theme of the content, while also offering a new way to have a different experience on Netflix's brand identity,” said Park from Everland. “This collaboration with Everland shows the expansion of such partnerships, as visitors can directly experience the thrill they felt from the shows through various events taking place in a large-scale space."

This year's Blood City with Netflix runs until Nov. 17.

BY YIM SEUNG-HYE [yim.seunghye@joongang.co.kr]