Six Flags Entertainment Corp wants to own Halloween as the scary destination that delivers the most screams. Last year, Six Flags debuted a long-form ad (“Tick.Tick.Tick.”) starring a clown who terrorized a group of housemates before luring them to Six Flags with Gold Passes. The rallying cry: “Don’t Keep Fear Waiting.”
This year, Six Flags is back with an even bigger, bolder and scarier film, which helps show off the Halloween attractions at participating parks. In fact, it’s not really an ad at all. It’s a nearly eight-minute horror film created by horror aficionados for visitors to the park who love their scares. Titled “Come Out and Play,” the short leans into the arthouse side of the horror genre, with a pervasive mood of dread, hair-raising sound design, and, of course, a mysterious threat lurking in the shadows. He’s called Smiley, and he’s looking for a friendly face, in a sense. The goal: for viewers to feel the fear they will experience when they visit a participating Six Flags park this Halloween.
During spooky season, many Six Flags parks transform at night into landscapes of haunted mazes, immersive scare zones filled with costumed creatures, live performances, and themed food and drinks. While most of the park is open, including major rides that operate in the dark, the mazes and scare zones are the main attractions for guests 13 and older.
The film was created by TMA, Six Flags’ creative agency partner and the shop behind last year’s acclaimed “Tick.Tick.Tick” longform ad. TMA’s chief creative officer Harris Wilkinson, who wrote this year’s film and co-directed with John Suits of Natural Selection, said, “This is branded entertainment with one goal in mind: to make Six Flags THE Halloween destination. That’s why we shot it entirely within Six Flags parks. By showing off the mazes, the rides, and the scare zones, we give people a sense of the seasonal terror that awaits. And we anchored it with one simple invitation: ’Come Out and Play.’”
The film debuts today (10/1) and will run entirely online on YouTube and across Six Flags social media platforms.
