What is an ‘Overnightmare’ at The Shining's Stanley Hotel? We Found Out!

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PEOPLE’s Julie Jordan went to Colorado for Peacock's immersive Halloween experience themed to Blumhouse films ‘Freaky’, ‘Happy Death Day’, ‘Insidious’ and ‘The Purge’

Full transparency, I don’t particularly love horror movies.

So naturally I was a little hesitant when asked to check out Peacock and Blumhouse’s first-ever “Overnightmare,” an immersive weekend-long Halloween experience themed to fan-favorite Blumhouse films InsidiousThe PurgeHappy Death Day and Freaky.

What hooked me was that it would be taking place at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colo., famous for being the inspiration behind Steven King’s The Shining. I do love the idea of ghosts so I decided surely I could be brave enough to handle a few scares and see what the sold-out experience would entail.

Arriving to the Lodge at the hotel, the experience started right when my husband and I checked in and were greeted by a “conci-scare-ge.” We were shown to our room, which had been decorated like a scene from Happy Death Day, complete with colored lights and the radio playing the song the lead character Tree hears when the same day begins (after she is killed the night before, like Groundhog Day with a spooky twist).

For our nightly interactive scares, we selected FreakyHDD and The Purge, each with a different scare threshold from one to four daggers, four being the most terrifying. My 17-year-old son informed me that Insidious was the scariest movie he’d ever seen, so I was fine opting out of that one. We were told to be in our room 15 minutes before each experience began and to hang the Do Not Disturb sign on the door.

In the meantime, we checked out the rest of the Lodge, where there were constant encounters of various characters from the movies, as well as the Teacup room, a spooky salon that took guests inside the world of Peacock’s new thriller series, and the Blumhouse Bar with couches and cocktails made for horror fans. Guests also had the opportunity to play company’s upcoming video game, Fear the Spotlight.

Our meals throughout the two days were delicious and in between scares, we roamed the hotel’s main building and grounds, taking in the spooky season vibe, which resulted in a sold-out hotel even on weekdays. Each night we were also invited to screenings of the Peacock series Teacup as well as the Blumhouse film Speak No Evil.

For our scares, it was already unnerving waiting for the knock on our door to pull us from our room. Each of the experiences were orchestrated by very convincing actors playing characters from the movies. They took us up to the third floor of the Lodge where rooms had been turned into terrifying scenes.

As we walked through, the characters interacted with each other and brought us into each fear-filled moment. I’ll just say Freaky and Happy Death Day were more jump-scares while The Purge had us on our knees at one point in a room that appeared to be covered in blood.

And even though I admittedly had my eyes closed for most of it, I would still do it again. Facing your fears was a huge part of the experience and I will always highly recommend that to anyone.   

Horror fans who prefer their scares from the comfort of home can find some of the best Blumhouse movies streaming on Peacock now, like Insidious, Happy Death Day, Halloween KillsGet Out, The Purge franchise and Freaky, plus, new episodes of its original series Teacup . From “Freaky Franchises” to “Horror 101” collections, the full Peacock Halloween offering includes more than 150 titles to help anyone enjoy this Halloween season.

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