As Halloween approaches, The Kraken Rum is testing audiences' resilience to fear in an interactive horror bar experience. 

The bar, Screamfest VII: Shock Exchange, will see the price of the drinks fluctuate in accordance with customers’ heart rates. On arrival, each guest is given a heart rate monitor and then thrown into an immersive horror experience. The more a guest’s heart pounds, the more they will pay at the bar.

The experience has been designed with the help of Recreational Fear Lab, a research unit dedicated to the scientific investigation of fear, and crafted to maximise the fear factor. Where The Kraken Rum gets its name from a sea beast of myth and legend, the experience is designed to bring to life ‘The Beast’.

The bar is situated underground in the heart of London. As guests descend into the experience they are greeted by an immersive prelude. The suspenseful, fear-building entrance is said to have more scares per minute than the best horror movies and is designed specifically to raise heart rates. 

Once through the gauntlet guests will find themselves in the relatively safe embrace of The Beast’s bar, where they’ll discover just how much they were able to control their BPMs – or not. Those with lower heart rates will have their bravery compensated, while those who let fear take over will be charged incrementally more. Yet, the price of cocktails is nothing to be feared with £7 the top rate and resting hearts being charged less than £3.

The experience which costs £10 and includes a cocktail runs from 26th – 28th October at Clerkenwell Catacombs. Residents of Glasgow, Birmingham and Leeds will also be able to join in via a VR experience. Here guests will put on heart rate monitors and VR headsets where they will take on the same test. After removing the headsets, they can discover whether their hearts betrayed them and what prices they’ll pay for their evening’s cocktails.

The experience gives audiences the chance to test their limits in time for Halloween and allows The Kraken Rum to bring its beast to life.