Alton Towers first opened its Haunted House ride back in 1992, with legendary designer John Wardley being handed responsibility for creating it. Using a people-mover system from Mack rides that enables a rapid throughput of guests, the ride was packed full of jump-out scares but remained aimed squarely at a family audience.

With attendance dropping, Alton Towers opted to revamp the attraction in 2002. The exterior remained much the same, but inside a new laser gun system was installed and the ride was renamed Duel: The Haunted House Strikes Back!. The backstory, told through videos which guests can catch a brief glimpse of in the extensively-themed queue, is based around the disappearance of a genetic surgeon who once lived in the house. His experiments on the dead have resulted in army of gun-wielding zombies attacking it - and guests are asked to blast them back into the grave.

Riders score points by shooting at glowing targets, some of which are located on zombies and other monsters, but many of which are simply glued to the wall. The large number of targets can result in an aching trigger finger at the end of the ride, but competitive spirit usually sees guests continuing to blast away until emerging back into the station.