I was recently invited to participate in “Siapa Paling Berani?” Haunted Hotel Bloggers Challenge in Amber Court, Genting Highlands. Loosely translated in English as ‘Who is The Bravest?’. The challenge was held in conjunction with the newly launched local movie, ‘Haunted Hotel’ a film by Lomo Pictures, starring popular actors from Thailand, Malaysia and China. The movie has been well-received with ticket sales reaching RM 600,000 for the first three days aired in Malaysia and RM11 million in China.
Watch the Haunted Hotel movie trailer.
Movie summary: Haunted Hotel tells the story of Ling and Jun, who have had the opportunity to come to Malaysia on working trip and have won a lot of money in a casino. However, alongside of winning the money, they had to stay in a hotel known as the Haunted Hotel.
Most of the scenes were shot in Amber Court, an old apartment in Genting Highlands, hence the place become the venue of our challenge. Amber Court is not a vacant or abandoned building, but is occupied by mostly foreigners working around the area and travelers are staying in the rooms that’s turned into an apartment-hotel. The lobby comprises locally owned shops, retail outlets, laundries and telecommunications shops. Most of these shops are run mostly by non Malaysians.
As per arrangement by the organizer, we’re to stay overnight at Amber Court. I was amazed when I stepped into the hotel room. Spacious and comfortable, featuring living room, kitchen, bedroom and verandah.
It is an exclusive apartment hotel in its heyday. I reckon if not because of the ghost stories and rumours shared by many irresponsible people, Amber Court would be a preferred choice of accomodations among those who are visiting Genting Highlands.
Our room was on the 23rd floor, the top floor with a beautiful view. There are various residential activities here, but beyond that, there are places that are considered off limits due to the ‘stories’ behind it.
We were taken to the Haunted Hotel’s shooting locations before heading to one of the ‘creepiest’ places in Amber Court for our challenge.
Here’s sharing some pictures of the Haunted Hotel’s shooting locations. Most of these places are off limits to both public and residence due to various reasons. One would have to obtain a special permission from the Amber Court’s management to visit these places, so keep it in mind that you can’t go to these places, or you can be prosecuted for tresspassing.
Here’s a grilled door where a murder- suicide of a family of 7 case was said to happen.
Location where one of the ghostly character, ‘Ling’ from the movie appeared. That’s not Ling, by the way. That’s just me, fooling around at the shooting location.
The location where haunted hospital toilet scene were shot.
Dark staircases from the ‘Haunted Hotel’ Movie
A group photo just before the challenge commence.
The challenge took place at an abandoned basement cum parking lot. There’s a lot of empty rooms over here and what we need to do was just find one bottle of perfume placed in one of the rooms in the dark area. Just find the perfume within the time given and the first 6 to do that will walk away with a Violet III VC smartphone, sponsored by VC Malaysia. Violet III VC smartphone is the smartphone that’s used by the character in the movie. Sounds easy? Yes. It’s pretty simple. But the catch is each participant needs to go alone to find the perfume within 2 minutes time, equipped only with flashlight from smartphones. Recording the entire process is also part of the deal, so in my opinion, it’s quite tough as you need to race against time while trying your best not to freak out walking around in a dark and freaky place and find the perfume at the same time. Initially we were only given 1 minute to find the perfume, but all participants failed and we were given extended time of 2 minutes to search for it. It was really dark and creepy at this area and no one found the perfume during the second round as well. It is not until the third round participants started to get what they are looking for.
Here’s one of the video footage I took during the challenge but I failed to find the perfume that was hidden in there. But well, at least I tried and I already did my best, so I have no regrets. It was a very exciting experience, to attempt finding the bottle hidden by the organizer in the dark within the allocated time.
People say Amber Court is haunted. But personally, after staying in Amber Court for 2D1N, I feel that the place is just sadly misunderstood. It is actually a very nice and cozy place to stay, if you don’t judge the place by it’s old-looking exterior, that is.
Group picture: The next day before leaving, winners receiving rewards for their effort. There’s a surprise at the end of the event, though. Those who did not win the challenge were also awarded with the same prize, as a token of appreciation for the effort made during the challenge. So yes, I am one happy camper, even when I lost the challenge.
Thank you Lomo Pictures and Sam Kassim Events and Communications for organizing the challenge. And of course VC Malaysia for the smartphone sponsorship as well.
If you are a fan of horror movies, you might want to watch the ‘Haunted Hotel’ at your nearest cinema. I assure you that you’ll be getting goosebumps all over. The movie is available at 69 selected cinemas in Malaysia.