Prove those movie characters are idiots by beating the villain.
Much like unathletic sports fan shit-tweeting about professional athletes, many horror fans will trash characters in horror movies making "stupid" decisions without considering other factors, like how much adrenaline is pumping through their veins or how scared they are that they are about to die a brutal death at the hands of a maniac. Sure, some (most?) stupidity is required for the plot to work and action to be had, but there's a non-zero amount that can be explained by people being people and all the baggage that comes along with it.
So to give these so-called fans a chance at proving just how smart and capable they are, I propose a business where customers (hereafter referred to as players) get to experience a horror movie in real life.
Scenarios may be custom-made or based off of movie franchises such as:
Everything inside the map is based off of the scenario: costumes, environment, goals, weapons, traps, etc. Players will simply be placed into the environment with no idea what's about to happen because movie characters never do. They simply know they must escape and there's only one way to do so.
The goals are the same across all scenarios: either escape the area or "kill" the villain. Killing the villain is simple (see Killing the Villain). Escaping is a bit trickier because there are multiple subgoals that aren't always obvious. For example, subgoals may be in the following order:
A time limit is in place to ensure there is adequate pressure to move at a reasonable pace.
The map may be littered with traps that the villain knows well, but is just as able to fall victim to.
The traps depend on scenario and are realistic in the accessibility sense (Jason Voorhees can't set up a claymore behind a door because he doesn't have access to claymores) and capability sense (Jason Voorhees can't build a tripwire connected to a swiveling .50 BMG machine gun because he's not smart enough).
Traps may include:
Various weapons can be found around the map that interact with both the players' and villain's sensor-covered costumes. Each weapon has a sensor in it to allow "hit" registration on the person. Hit points vary by weapon type, intensity of use (e.g., how hard it was used), and where it hits on the body. For example, a gun headshot is an instant kill, a knife stab to the hand is X, and a sword chop to the elbow with sufficient speed is massive and renders that arm unusable while also starting a timer for that player to either stop the bleeding or die. The treatment must be effective and applicable to the wound.
Weapons are selectively available based on scenario, so not everything may be present. Potential weapons may include:
Players who want to quit out of stress or fear may yell out the safe word at any moment, which will be heard by game staff through microphones. Lights in that area will immediately cut off to prevent knowledge gain while a staff member blindfolds and leads them out to the waiting room. The other players may continue to play if they are sufficiently far from the quitting player; too close and everyone goes on pause.
The ideal building shell for this is a large, empty warehouse where the supporting infrastructure can be built without revealing any information. Players enter into the administrative area, sign the necessary paperwork, don the costumes, get explained the rules, then head out into the arena.
Players are charged $X to enter the game, with anywhere between 1-6 players depending on the game style. Players who survive get paid out $(X × Y × S), where Y is some multiplier determined by the business and S is the fraction of surviving players. For example, a five-player game where four players survived and the house paid 5:1 would result in a payout to each player of $(X × 5 × 4/5) = $4X. The multiplier increases proportionally to the number of players who attempt, but do not win, the game.
It's important to note that only players who survive get paid and players who die get nothing. This encourages players to act just as selfishly as they would in real life when there's a legitimate threat against their lives. It also incentivizes working together to ensure as many people as possible survive because it a) increases the odds of others surviving (unless there are idiots in the group), and b) increases payout amount.
Confident players can wager extra money up to a limit and multipler decided by the business when initially registering; however, the business is not obligated to accept it as they can do their due diligence on the person to either reject, counteroffer, or accept the terms. For example, Chad is extremely confident he will win, so he proposes putting down $(10 × X) at 3:1 odds, both within the Y × X and Z:1 odds limits set by the business. There is both an individual limit and group limit on the potential payouts.
Another potential idea of attracting more customers is having a jackpot that gets paid into by every losing player's registration fee and gets paid out to the winner.
Players who quit are considered dead.
In order to prevent knowledge transfer, and thus unfair advantages, between different players and groups before, during, and or after the game, the following precautions are taken:
Players sign a waiver before playing ensuring they understand the physical and psychological risks of playing the game.
VR is definitely an option, but in-person fear is more intense and thus representative of the experience of characters in movies.