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Finding out that a rude guest tried to touch you inappropriately when you weren't looking and hearing about your colleagues' paranormal experiences—these were among the experiences that freelance actress Loo Le En underwent during her stint as a Halloween Horror Nights (HHN) scare actress in 2018.

If you've seen that video of her screaming her lungs out during her first HHN experience as a visitor in 2016, you'd be just as surprised as us when we learnt that she willingly went back to relive the scare fest in 2017.

In fact, Loo enjoyed the experience as a guest so much that she participated in the 2018 edition of the event as a scare actress instead.

We caught up with the 31-year-old, who took us down memory lane. Especially since HHN has been cancelled for two years now. Boo, Covid-19.

Pole-dancing vampire

Loo was cast in the role of a pole-dancing vampire in the Killuminati House, which features a secret society of vampires set in the streets of Hong Kong with a ritual chamber, nightclub and a cave.

Before her audition, Loo was pole-dancing as a hobby—a fact that she shared with the panel, not realising that there was a pole-dancing character that year.

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However, having pole-dancing skills were not a prerequisite for the role, as the scare actress could just do some simple movements around the pole.

If there isn't any roles available that were "made for you," the key to getting selected is to be "gung-ho and shameless," she added.

The auditions for HHN are typically done in groups in front of a panel, which you can see here and here.

Loo noted that during her audition, people came from all walks of life and were not necessarily professional performers.

The judges were mostly looking for enthusiastic candidates, the scare actress felt.

Scare actors, especially those playing minor characters, are typically given a lot of free rein when performing their role, Loo said.

As long as one doesn't break character, the HHN team welcomes actors to inject relevant details to further flesh out their role, such as speaking Cantonese in the Killuminati House, since that was set in Hong Kong.

Other roles and costumes

While other colleagues were suffering from the heat and humidity of being in thick, stuffy costumes and prosthetics, Loo had a different problem.

She ended up catching a cold once as her allocated costume was lingerie, while being stationed in the air-conditioned set.

Despite the challenges she faced in her role, she admitted that she still preferred not to be in a thick costume, due to the heat.

"When I see my friends take off the costume, they look like they just showered," she explained. "They sweat so much that they end up being stinky anyway."

She also mentioned that the mask for the costume could feel suffocating.

For one night, Loo had the opportunity to try out a different character—a creature with Chinese tattoos all over its face, who jumps out to scare visitors in the mirror room.

Comparing the two, Loo prefers the pole-dancing vampire role, as the make-up removal for the second role was a nightmare.

According to Loo, baby oil and alcohol are required to remove the facial tattoos at the end of every night - a routine that would be detrimental to anyone's skin.

The difficulty of removing the makeup at the end of each night also meant that the scare actors in that role have to be prepared to be among the last people to leave after the event ends at around 3am.

In addition, that particular role also involved more scaring compared to her distractor role as a pole-dancer, which may seem fun, but is also more tiring, Loo added.

Coping with unruly guests

Unfortunately, the role of a scantily-clad pole-dancing vampire invited some undesirable behaviour from rude guests, particularly teenagers and middle-aged men.

Such behaviour include calling Loo derogatory terms, wolf-whistling, and demonstrating make-it-rain gestures at her.

One particular guest even tried to get handsy with the actress when her back was turned for a while.

At that particular time, Loo was so focused on playing her role that she briefly let her guard down and turned around as part of a dance.

Fortunately, her colleague caught the middle-aged man and called him out (while remaining in character!) to stop before he could lay a hand on her.

Despite the harrowing experience, Loo was able to recount her version of events to us calmly and coherently.

She still gives the guest the benefit of the doubt: "I don't know whether his intent was really to touch me or if he was pretending to touch me to show off in front of his friends."

According to Loo, she was so engrossed in her performance that she was not aware of her close shave with this rude guest until her colleague had told her about it while they were taking a break backstage.

"When I heard about it, I actually felt quite scared," Loo said, "If he didn't stop, I think I would have caused a ruckus."

Loo revealed that when she accepted the role, she was usually wary most of the time due to the revealing nature of her outfit.

When she caught any guests reaching out to try to touch her, she would just move away and hiss in a vampiric manner to warn them to back off while staying in character.

After her colleague had alerted her about the guest who almost touched her, Loo said she made sure not to have her back turned when guests were present from then on.

She also expressed her gratitude to her colleagues in the same room as they would look out for each other during each shift.

Loo shared that if guests demonstrated other forms of unruly behaviour such as hurling vulgarities at or attempting to hit the scare actors, they can be reported and be kicked out of the park.

Some guests can get a bit rowdy as alcohol is served in the park, she noted.

Guests who tried to fight the scare actors have been thrown out, Loo revealed, and while it's not a common occurrence, it does happen from time to time.

Determined to unlock "secret room"

Other than rude guests who do not respect boundaries, Loo also shared an anecdote of a particular guest who caught the attention of the scare actors for being so persistent in seeking the secret storyline scenes.

The Killuminati House boasted interactive elements, including splitting the guests into two paths, with some having the privilege to be invited to the secret room(s) as part of a secret storyline.

Killuminati may be a haven for vampires who relish in their immortality, but there are also Defectors who partake in underground plans and activities to defeat the monsters.

Guests who are chosen by the Defectors (and have essentially completed the secret storyline scenes) will receive the Defectors' sticker and Garlic Spray.

According to Loo, scare actors in her house, including herself, would react in a fearful manner if they spot any guests bearing the sticker or if guests sprayed them with the Garlic Spray.

Loo shared that there were some guests who were very determined to unlock the secret storylines, which seemed predominantly reliant on one's luck.

One of them was so persistent that he revisited the house ten times.

The guest's efforts were recognised by the scare actors, who felt bad that he had tried many times to no avail.

As a result, someone representing the Defectors decided to give him the Garlic Spray.

Perseverance paid off for this guest in this scenario, but there is still no guarantee that revisiting a house at least ten times can definitely unlock any potential secret storylines.

Long-haired woman in white dress

Sentosa's reputation as a popular tourist destination makes it easy to forget its less glamorous past as Pulau Blakang Mati, which translates to "Island of Death Behind" in Malay.

Prior to joining the event, Loo had heard stories and rumours, but she did not expect it to actually happen to her colleagues in the same house.

She heard that prayer sessions are conducted before the event - a practice that was also reported by a former production staff.

Loo revealed that she did not personally experience any supernatural encounters.

However, she had heard about incidents that happened in her house, Killuminati, as well as in other houses, from her colleagues.

In one specific story, Loo divulged that other colleagues had detected the scent of flowers while working the same shift as her.

According to a superstition, the presence of a pontianak, a vengeful female ghost who died during or after childbirth, is marked by a floral fragrance.

One of her colleagues allegedly experienced an incident that took place in the room she was stationed at while she was taking a break backstage.

Playing the role of a jiangshi (Chinese hopping vampire), the colleague was hiding behind a curtain while wearing a harness to propel him forward quickly to jump-scare visitors.

According to Loo, the colleague first smelt flowers before feeling someone yanking on his harness, which prompted him to spin around, only to find himself faced with a long-haired woman in a white dress.

He then forced himself to turn back to the front, just in time to notice an approaching group of guests and subsequently launched himself out to scare them.

When he returned to his spot behind the curtain after scaring them, the woman was already gone.

Loo was impressed by her colleague's professionalism and dedication to his job despite feeling terrified at that time.

Even as he retold the story, she noted that he remained quite cool about it and did not seem too perturbed by the experience.

Loo added that there was another female scare actress dressed as a long-haired woman in a white dress, albeit without her hair covering her face, in the same house.

However, she pointed out that it seemed unlikely to be that particular scare actress as she was stationed at a completely different section and it was unlikely that she would leave her post to wander around the house during her shift.

According to Loo, this particular scare actress had also encountered a similar incident as the jiangshi scare actor on the same night - she had allegedly met a woman wearing a white dress with her hair covering her face while on shift.

Believing it was her counterpart who had prematurely arrived to take over her post while she went on a break, the scare actress asked the woman dressed in similar garb as her what was she doing there and reminded her that her shift was not over yet.

The woman remained silent and walked away, which the scare actress found strange but did not think too much about it.

She only considered other possibilities upon hearing the stories of the other colleagues.

Loo also said that the transmission and discussion of such incidents among the employees resulted in an employer addressing the group of them, reminding them not to think too much or spread hearsay.

However, simply hearing about her colleagues' experience was enough to drive Loo to visit a Guanyin temple to procure some flowers to bathe in and an amulet that she wore under her costume during shifts.

A friend who could see aura also observed that Loo's aura was apparently very "bad" and "grey" and gave her "holy candles", which she lit in her room every night when she went for her shift.

"I don't know whether it works or not but at least it has a placebo effect."

Despite her fears, Loo never considered dropping out, as there was always someone else in the room with her, and she made sure that she was never alone.

While Loo said it is unlikely that she would return as a HHN scare actress due to how much her skin suffered from the job, she encourages everyone to try out for the audition and work as a HHN scare actor (when it is safe to revive the event again).

"It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience but it's also something whereby just once is enough."

You can learn more about Loo's experience as a scare actress here:

Top images courtesy of Loo Le En.

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