Sunday Funday? Sure…if your idea of fun is sitting in a room full of blood, guts and gore. That’s a party! This year’s Midsummer Scream Convention in Southern California brought out Creative Directors John Murdy and Chris Williams from Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights to give a sneak peek at some of the terror coming to this year’s event.
From the exact carpet in The Shining, to the door breaking in the right way from an axe, it’s all in the details for the team behind the annual scarefest to make sure they get it just right. This year’s Halloween Horror Nights will include some hugely popular names, including the Stanley Kubrick classic, The Shining, the hit show American Horror Story and the silly and irreverent Ash vs. Evil Dead.
But what about the rest? There are a total of eight haunted attractions at Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights this year, and when you come to a place like Midsummer Scream you don’t come without something new for show and tell, right?
While the gang at Halloween Horror Nights wasn’t ready to unveil any new mazes, or shows, they did come prepared with a look at three of the scare zones coming to this year’s event.
The names have not been finalized yet, but we know the basic concepts and ideas behind this year’s scare zones. The three revealed are also not big horror films, but original concepts and ideas.
Front Entrance
As guests walk in to Halloween Horror Nights this year, they’ll be greeted with some traditional Halloween images. There will be pumpkins, Trick or Treaters and ghosts.
The traditional pumpkin face creatures are always fun, and tend to blend in perfectly to the shadows. It makes it perfect for stalking victims and hiding in plain site.
I absolutely LOVE the ghost concept here. It’s clever, simple and very effective. It’s also a lot different than your typical Charlie Brown sheet. The witch and skeletons are also very effective, and give the perfect sense of dread. The traditionals in the front of the park will also include an army of Chainsaws…because chainsaws at Horror Nights is definitely a huge tradition.
Toxic Tunnel
The next scare zone revealed takes guests through a toxic tunnel, mostly because you’re actually going through a tunnel. Guests will be stalked by these mask and biohazard suit wearing mutants. We don’t know exactly what went wrong, but it’s not good.
Hell on Earth
The final scare zone revealed was the massive Metro Set. Hell will come to New York, as demons, devils and minions of hell have risen from the depths and have taken over. This concept is a lot of fun, and will sure make a lot of people upset. The concept art even has what looks like an honest to goodness classic interpretation of the devil. There’s the horns, the pencil thin mustache and and goatee, and event the pointy ears. We bet he even has a pitchfork.
This is the first time in recent memory that Halloween Horror Nights has tackled a pretty directly religious subject. Hellish demons and devils are a staple of Halloween traditions, and has been for decades, but very few haunts tackle the subject. It’s also not very common for Halloween Horror Nights, so we’re extremely excited to see how they do Hell on Earth.
The scare zones are just the beginning of the growing line up which also includes mazes based on The Shining and Ash vs. The Evil Dead at this year’s terrifying edition of Halloween Horror Nights. It all begins September 15th and runs all the way until November 5th.
Stay tuned for more from Halloween Horror Nights, and be sure to get social with us on Facebook and follow along with us on Twitter @BehindThrills for the latest updates!
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For more information about HHN, including tickets, visit the official website by clicking here!
