Dracula’s latest science exhibit a screaming hit with crowds in Singapore

NEWMAN Entertainment International (NEI), the family company behind Gold Coast attractions Dracula’s and the Haunted House, is breaking ground as a world-leading exporter of ‘thrillertainment’.

The Phobia Squared (P2) exhibit’s Squeeze Tunnel at the Singapore Science Centre.

DRACULA’S Gold Coast creatives have another screaming hit on their hands — in Singapore.

Newman Entertainment International (NEI), the family company behind the Dracula’s Broadbeach and Melbourne cabarets and the Haunted House attraction in Surfers Paradise, is breaking new ground as a world-leading exporter of ‘thrillertainment’.

The Newman family’s mad professors — siblings Paul, Haydie and Mark Newman and Paul’s son Luke — cut the ribbon on their giant ‘edutainment’ project, Phobia Squared (P2), at the Science Centre Singapore (SCS) this week.

An immersive experience that encourages visitors to surrender their inhibitions and face their fears, the exhibit was commissioned by the Singaporean Government after NEI’s first export, The Human Body Experience (HBX) attraction, proved a runaway hit when it opened at the centre in 2015.

John Newman (centre, bottom) and his children (from left) Paul, Marc and Haydie Newman. Their mother, John's beloved wife of 57 years, actress Tikki Taylor Newman, died in 2011 aged 83.

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“P2 is going to scare the pants off a few people,” creative director Marc Newman said.

“We have even designed bypass doors so the visitor flow isn’t disrupted by people who chicken-out.”

Designed to connect with Gen Z and teenage audiences, P2 starts with a foyer AV introduction that directs people to an elevator to the SCS basement.

When the lift cable snaps, visitors find themselves plummeting down the lift shaft as the audio announces: “Welcome to your first fear experience — Basophobia, the fear of falling.”

NEI technical director Paul Newman said fear and entertainment were a perfect

mix.

Professor X marks the entrance to the Human Body Experience, an interactive exhibit that attracted the interest of international curators and educators when it opened at the Science Centre Singapore in 2015.

“Audiences are thrilled, stimulated and excited by fear, while enjoying the escapism, music and humour of our cabaret shows,” he said.

“This mix seems to work exceptionally well for our educational attractions as the number of visitors to HBX can attest.”

SCS commissioned NEI to bring P2 to life after pouring over 30 proposals from companies around the world.

The exhibit was designed and built by the small team of scenic artists, sculptors and techies at NEI’s workshop in West Burleigh, who also cook up the gadgets, props, sets and adornments used at the Haunted House and Dracula’s Broadbeach theatre.

The team from Newman Entertainment International (NEI), the family company behind the Dracula’s Broadbeach and Melbourne cabarets and the Haunted House attraction in Surfers Paradise, have unveiled their new Phobia Squared exhibit in Singapore.

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The attraction has Dracula’s trademark art-house, spooky creative feel and includes a 3m tall shrieking animatronic gorilla, pitch tunnels and claustrophobic inflated passages.

Visitors also ride a simulated rollercoaster, get buried alive, interact with a horror movie set and make a speech in front of a virtual audience.

“Even the walls have eyes,” technical designer Luke Newman said.

He said hidden surveillance video cameras and other monitoring equipment in the exhibit would be used to map the patterns of phobias the visitors experience.

Newman International Entertainment's Human Body Experience attraction, devised by Mark Newman from Dracula, was a hit with visitors when it opened at the Science Centre Singapore in 2015.

“This data will form part of a wider study into What Freaks Us Out and will engage Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and other interactive social media platforms,” he said.

NEI has been approached by curious parties from Dubai to Russia and China, all interested in securing their own educational Phobia Squared (P2) or Human Body Experience exhibit.

“We would love to make a Phobia Squared for the Australian Education Department first,” P2 project manager and CEO Alfie Schmid said.

“I see it touring science centres locally before we sell it offshore but at this stage that hasn’t come to fruition.”