HONG KONG: Visitors to Ocean Park's Halloween Bash will have lots to creep them out this year. Local university students are building a haunted house based on local legends for the October event.

Winston Li Ho-yin and Michelle Chau Man-ying from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University have been declared winners in the design competition sponsored by Ocean Park for its Halloween Bash.

The winners were delighted that their concept outshone 70 other competitors.

The year-two Hotel & Tourism Management students spent three weeks planning to haunt people in their "Purgatory Express". The concept comes from local ghost stories set on trains.

"Taking trains is our daily habit. Scary stories occurring on trains are just like the collective memory of Hong Kong people," Li said.

Visitors will explore familiar elements of trains, platforms, coaches, and have an underground brush with the Underworld. The haunted attraction will be built at Ocean Park's new funicular train system scheduled to open on September 7. This is the first time Ocean Park has held a competition to collect local horror stories.

The theme park also intends to turn the film "Recycle" directed by the Pang brothers into a real-life attraction. Danny Pang Fat and Oxide Pang Chun are renowned for their scary movies. "It (the haunted house) is really scary. Don't come unless you dare to," the twins said.

The ninth Halloween Bash will be held from September 25 to November 1, Friday to Sunday and public holidays.

Opening hours will be extended. The Bash will open at 5 pm this year, instead of 6:30 pm as in previous years. There will be eight haunted houses with more than 400 performers and three areas for terrifying encounters with netherworld denizens. The concept for each area is based on urban ghost stories.

Chairman Allan Zeman, making an appearance as the king of the Underworld, said the park has increased its budget for the annual party.

Zeman is upbeat about attendance for the remainder of the year. He said he hopes to see record attendance again at the Halloween Bash. Last year's attendance of 500,000 to the Bash is the current benchmark.

(HK Edition 08/14/2009 page1)