(Courtesy of Kompi Zombie)

Zombie nightmares have turned into reality in Jakarta.

How about a visit to the Dead Prison? The creepy sounding attraction is the latest entry in the city’s variable line-up of immersive Escape Room entertainment options, this time with a touch of zombies.

The venue opened on June 10 at Kelapa Gading’s ride-filled Mall of Indonesia.

At the price of Rp 35,000 (US$2.60), Dead Prison offers up a concept similar to other escape rooms, namely puzzles and a maze to figure out and get through, plus hordes of brain-eating zombies to avoid. The entrance fee is way cheaper than other Escape Rooms found in other big cities like in Melbourne, Australia or Budapest, Hungary, where it originates

The idea for the attraction was formed in the mind of self-billed “zombilogist” Eric Kairupan, who also leads Kompi Zombie (Zombie Troops), a community of almost 8,000 members who came together through their love for zombie movies and events.

Along with his wife, Yonna — herself a key member of Kompi Zombie’s makeup squad — Eric and his friends wanted to spread their very particular hobby to the masses, and a family mall seemed like the perfect place to do it.

“Being around people whose minds are on the same frequency as you makes it easy to develop your idea into something real,” said Eric, crediting the community for the achievement.

Everybody involved in the attraction is a part of Kompi Zombie, bringing a certain sense of pride to Eric and his friends. They began by working on the prison section before moving onto the costumes, wardens, handcuffs and makeup.

“The zombie makeup we did was always so detailed. We really do have a squad of great makeup artists,” Eric said.

Many of the non-player characters in Dead Prison are played by Kompi Zombie members.

“We really made this together, turning this community of zombie lovers into a community who can work a business. I want the members to grow with this community and I want their skills to improve. This is a group of people who really wanted to make a big improvement in our lives through this attraction,” Eric explained.

He added that the cast members were trained by senior members, focusing on zombie gestures, makeup, prop-making and costumes.

Unsurprisingly, a big influence on Dead Prison was the popular zombie-centric TV series The Walking Dead.

The show’s popularity in Indonesia can be seen in the increasing visibility of zombie displays at hobby, toy and comic conventions.

The community has worked together with FOX TV, which airs the show in Indonesia, since the show’s second season and thus takes a lot of visual inspiration from it.

Eric said Dead Prison was mostly influenced by The Walking Dead’s third season, which focuses on surviving in a prison during a zombie apocalypse.

“Visitors will experience ways to ‘release’ themselves from the prison in order to accomplish their mission, which is to save the rest of mankind. Then they will race against time; they will really have to fight their fears in order to think straight and finish the mission,” Eric explained.

For the people behind the ride, a feeling of authenticity is key to the overall experience. Therefore, it is not recommended for children to try the attraction.

“We’re doing our best to make the environment feel close to reality — all the rotten cell blocks, blood everywhere, the walls […] and the zombies. Even if they find their cell is only guarded by one guard, it won’t be enough to keep them calm,” Eric said.

The overall walk-through experience is large, but Eric said the cell block area was his favorite and the “main element” of the attraction.

“To me that’s the core of the attraction. Visitors will see what and how bad things happen in the prison. That’s why I wanted my team to really pay attention to the cell block decorations and details,” he said.

Suffice to say, Eric is more than excited to see the initial reaction of visitors.

“I personally think that visitors will be thrilled and excited about this zombie attraction. Some of them have said that Dead Prison will be too scary. But I’m sure deep down inside their hearts, they are really curious and want to know what’s going on inside the prison.”

Are you ready for us? Dead Prison is a zombie-themed adventure attraction hosted by the zombie-loving community Kompi Zombie at the Mall of Indonesia.

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Dead Prison
Mall of Indonesia, Kelapa Gading
June 10 – July 3
3 p.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays; 12 p.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends
Entrance fee: Rp 35,000 (US$2.60)

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