There Will Be Bloed: Uncovering Holland’s Halloween Blood Rave

A “Blood Rave” reminiscent of the famous bloody opening sequence from Blade (1998) intends to spray 5,000 litres of blood on dancers on Halloween at an undisclosed location in Amsterdam.

The story went viral this week and was rehashed on numerous blogs and sites, but very little original information was relayed about the actual event. I wanted to find out more about the story and in particular the promotion company responsible for this little marketing gem. Was this the first “Blood Rave?”

My first stop was the event’s URL, www.blood-rave.com, which redirects to the “Blood Rave” Facebook event page. As of this writing (Aug. 28, 2015), the page showed 3.9k people were attending, 739 were listed as “maybes” and 4.2k had been invited.

The Facebook event page offers a YouTube teaser video, which is actually the Blade opening sequence I mentioned earlier, with “Limited Capacity” and “www.blood-rave.com” in red font on a black background amended to the end of the clip:

[su_youtube url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwXLf-Xri0U&feature=youtu.be” width=”900″]

The event’s Facebook page also links to an unlisted eight second Youtube video showing a red substance spraying from a sprinkler system:

[su_youtube url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YKYePUG2J0″ width=”900″]

By clicking on “Tickets Available” on the Facebook event page, you are taken to a ticketscript link revealing tickets can be purchased for €24,50 and the event time is 11 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. Buyer beware: the event is listed for people 18 and older only.

The ticketscript page shows the event at a “Secret Location.” The event’s Facebook page is flooded with hundreds of comments from potential ticket buyers asking about event details, music headliners and general comments about the blood. Without scrolling through pages of comments, from what I can see very few responses from the event coordinators.

The only potential lead is where the Facebook event page says “Hosted by Blood Rave,” but clicking on “Blood Rave” just takes you to Blood Rave’s Facebook page which also doesn’t reveal much information. Another dead end. Before aborting this lead, I messaged the page introducing myself on Aug. 24, hoping for a response.

In the meantime, I knew my best source would be to track down information in Dutch news outlets—and I found an excellent lead in a Quote article by Henk Willem Smits: “De organisatie is toch niet zo anoniem, want via de domeinregistratie van blood-rave.com en gegevens uit het Handelsregister wisten we uit te vinden dat het de Amsterdamse evenementenorganisatie achter de Nederlandse versie van Neon Splash is.”

I can’t read Dutch, but Google Translate’s broken English translation made it legible enough: “The organization is not so anonymously, because through the domain registration of blood-rave.com and data from the Commercial Register, we were able to find out that it is the Amsterdam event organization behind the Dutch version of Neon Splash.”

The article gave me an associated event name, but I needed a company name. I tracked down the company holding the event by finding the owner of the blood-rave.com URL through a domain info search. The URL was registered Aug. 12, 2015; within minutes I had a name, phone number and email address, which I contacted immediately on Aug. 24. As secondary confirmation, I found the owner of the company through LinkedIn.

Through the domain registration information, I was also able to identify the promotions company: Insight-Events. I checked out their website and found out that they specialize in raves incorporating paint technics; “Neonsplash,” one of their major events, is described as “Europe’s Largest Paint-Party” where “thousands of liters of neon-paint” are sprayed on the audience. This made total sense when you consider the concept of spraying the crowd with blood. Interestingly, their website doesn’t list “Blood Rave” at all.

On Aug. 25, 2015 I received a reply from one of their employees (who wishes to remain anonymous) via their Facebook page. I messaged the source some questions that same day:

1) Is the location undisclosed as you don’t have one booked yet? I know you use paint technics so finding venues that let you make a mess must be challenging. Is there any way of finding out what city it will be in or the location?

2) Can you tell me more about the sprinkler system you will use? Is this something that is transportable? How does it work to accommodate the the substance you an on using?

3) Can you confirm contrary to popular rumors you will be using synthetic blood? Is so what can you tell me about the challenges finding a supplier that would sell that quantity and how much are you planning on using?

4) Why be so secretive about the event and not advertising it on your promotional company’s website?

5) How did you come up with the idea? Was it influenced from the Blade movie?

6) how are your ticket sales as of now? Do you anticipate a sell out?

I received a response in less than twenty-four hours; all but my last question was addressed. Regarding the location, ravers have an idea where to book hotels if they are traveling to the event: “We are speaking with several different venues; each have their own pros and cons. We will announce the venue as soon as we know which one fits the concept best. But we can tell you it will be in or near Amsterdam.”

The sprinkler system isn’t anything special as I envisioned: “The sprinkler system is just a regular sprinkler like you can found [sic] in many office buildings.”

Whether or not they’ll be using synthetic blood is up in the air: “We’re researching all possibilities. It depends on all kinds of different regulations and restrictions, but what I can guarantee you is that you will only see red all night. Of course, our visitors’ safety comes first, but we are definitely exploring all possibilities to make this event as freaky as possible.”

Concerning the event’s secrecy, the source said: “Not disclosing our company name has created more curiosity about the event.”

As to the event maker’s inspiration and whether or not it was inspired by Blade: “The last couple of years, Halloween parties have become more and more popular in Holland, but in our view the club nights are often way too happy. We were looking for a way to create a really creepy, dark, industrial concept. Of course, we got directly inspired by the Blade opening scene; that was why we decided to investigate the option to install a sprinkler installation with blood.”

What about the music itself? What kind will be playing at the event? Who will be playing? Many news outlets reporting the story didn’t give much or any coverage to this aspect of the story, which is probably why some have resorted to speculation:

Although there has been no word on who’s performing as of yet, the promotional company teased “house, techno and beats” as the genres of choice on the Facebook event page. Yet, this selection has been met with some hesitation from potential attendees who seem to desire more industrial and drum n bass type music to better fit the theme and better accompany the original inspiration.

Being an ex-raver from the late 1990s, I remember some crazy parties, but nothing like what is depicted in the movie Blade. This pushed my curiosity to see if I could track down such a party already in existence.

Not only did I find others, but they involved similar elements: on Oct. 31, 2013, Club Ampersand, New Orleans, hosted an 18+ event called “NeonGLOW Blood Rave” headlined by Beverly sKILLZ. The event’s promotional poster boasted: “Get COVERED in BLOOD for the first time EVER at ampersand”. But there is no indication actual blood was used: the event clearly used paint to simulate the effect.

Almost a year later, Capitol VIP Night Club in Raleigh, N.C., hosted a “Night of the Demons Blood Rave” on Oct. 30, 2014, calling it “THE BIGGEST, SCARIEST, & WILDEST PAINT PARTY IN RALEIGH!” No actual blood was used, but “GALLONS OF BLOOD PAINT” was. Unlike the Dutch event, the Raleigh rave wasn’t inspired by Blade, but by cult horror film Night of the Demons (1987).

I wasn’t able to find any other events that resembled the upcoming Dutch event, but I did stumble across a movie called Blood Rave—at least, that’s what it was supposed to be called.

John Fallon, the film’s screenwriter, had this to say in a blog post: “My ever lasting quest to see TRANCE, a film that was shot in 2007 with Dominique Swain, Brea Grant, Madeline Zima and Jeremy London from a script that I wrote and sold, continues! It seems that they renamed the film to BLOOD RAVE (as per this TV Spot I just found, see it below) and that it premiered on FEARNET last year.” Here’s the TV spot:

[su_vimeo url=”https://vimeo.com/111120733″]

Paint technics for raves are setting the trend in the party business world and the concept of the blood rave is kicking things up a notch for the spookiest holiday of the year. Blade may have set the standard in 1998, but seventeen years later Insight-Events is going to make it reality for potentially thousands of bloodthirsty ravers.

If they can pull this off, I think they may have just set a new precedent for Halloween parties to come.

Notes

1. spray 5,000 litres of blood on dancers: Janene Van Jaarsveldt, “Blood Rave to Douse Amsterdam Dancers in Gallons of Blood,” NL Times, Aug. 20, 2015, accessed Aug. 26, 2015, http://www.nltimes.nl/2015/08/20/blood-rave-to-douse-amsterdam-dancers-in-gallons-of-blood/. archive.is link: https://archive.is/cMOlu.
2. redirects to the “Blood Rave” Facebook event page: “Blood Rave,” Facebook event posted by Blood Rave, accessed Aug. 26, 2015, https://www.facebook.com/events/119185328427294/. archive.is link: https://archive.is/QI1n3.
3. The event is scheduled to take place on: Ibid.
4. event page offers a YouTube teaser video: “Blood Rave Intro,” YouTube video, 4:07, posted by Blood Rave, Aug. 21, 2014, accessed Aug. 26, 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwXLf-Xri0U&feature=youtu.be. archive.is link: https://archive.is/t984A.
5. an unlisted eight second Youtube video: “Blood Rave,” YouTube video, 0:08, posted by Blood Rave, Aug. 19, 2014, accessed Aug. 26, 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YKYePUG2J0. archive.is link: https://archive.is/UjDdm.
6. a ticketscript link revealing tickets can be purchased for €24,50: “Blood Rave || 18+ || Amsterdam,” ticketscript, accessed Aug. 26, 2015, https://shop.ticketscript.com/channel/web2/start-order/rid/CUXYAHDN/language/nl. archive.is link: https://archive.is/TuoRJ.
7. takes you to Blood Rave’s Facebook page: Blood Rave Facebook page, accessed Aug. 26, 2015, https://www.facebook.com/pages/Blood-Rave/1482112542104341. archive.is link: https://archive.is/AbZnY. As of Aug. 28, 2015, it had 606 “likes.”
8. a Quote article by Henk Willem Smits: Henk Willem Smits, “Organisator Neon Splash komt met ‘blood rave’: dansen onder douche van bloed,” Quote, Aug. 20, 2015, accessed Aug. 26, 2015, http://www.quotenet.nl/Nieuws/Organisator-Neon-Splash-komt-met-blood-rave-dansen-onder-douche-van-bloed-161310. archive.is link: https://archive.is/THtYW.
9. one of their major events: Insight Entertainment BV, “Neonplash – Paint Party,” Insight-Events, 2015, accessed Aug. 29, 2015, http://insight-events.com/portfolio-item/neonplash-paint-party/. archive.is link: https://archive.is/S19mb.
10. their website doesn’t list “Blood Rave” at all: Insight Entertainment BV, “Agenda,” Insight-Events, 2015, accessed Aug. 26, 2015,  http://insight-events.com/agenda/. archive.is link: https://archive.is/5LRHq. Only one upcoming event is listed: “7 November – Neonsplash – Amsterdam, Ziggo Dome”.
11. resorted to speculation: Nikola, “World’s First Blade-Inspired Blood Party to Open on Halloween in Amsterdam,” News (blog), Çmendina Radio, Aug. 21, 2015, accessed Aug. 26, 2015,
    http://cmendina.net/worlds-first-blade-inspired-blood-party-to-open-on-halloween-in-amsterdam/. archive.is link: https://archive.is/SzwyX.
12. “NeonGLOW Blood Rave”: “NeonGLOW Blood RAVE Halloween Night THU 10.31 @ Club Ampersand,” Ticketfly, 2015 [2013], accessed Aug. 26, 2015,
    http://www.ticketfly.com/event/370761-neonglow-blood-rave-halloween-new-orleans/. archive.is link: https://archive.is/ZHOtD.
13. The event’s promotional poster boasted: Ibid.
14. Night of the Demons Blood Rave: “Night of the Demons Blood Rave,” Eventbrite, 2015 [2014], accessed Aug. 26, 2015,  http://www.eventbrite.com/e/night-of-the-demons-blood-rave-tickets-12760931289. archive.is link: https://archive.is/eEY52.
15. had this to say in a blog post: John Fallon, “Blood Rave aka Trance Art and TV Spot!,” The Official John Fallon Blog (blog), Nov. 6, 2014, accessed Aug. 26, 2015, http://www.john-fallon.com/?p=2884. archive.is link: https://archive.is/nO9Zm.
16. Here’s the TV spot: “TRANCE aka BLOOD RAVE TV Spot,” Vimeo video, 0:30, posted by John Fallon, Nov. 6, 2014, accessed Aug. 30, 2015, https://vimeo.com/111120733. archive.is link: https://archive.is/e4vIo.

If you’re interested in vampire-themed events for Halloween, try “There Are Such Things! Vampire Studies Symposium 2015.” For further details, visit: http://vampiresymposium.com.