Dread Central Tours Halloween Horror Nights Hollywood; Exclusive Video and Images!
This past Friday, September 12th, Universal Studios’ Halloween Horror Nights Hollywood Creative Director John Murdy gave Dread Central a preview of their then-under-construction “An American Werewolf in London” and “The Walking Dead: The End of the Line” fright mazes.
Read on for the details, exclusive video, and our photo gallery!
Arriving to a heavily under-construction Universal Studios on a sweltering Los Angeles afternoon (these heat waves seem to historically hit the week of the preview), we hopped in a van to the backlot with mastermind Murdy, where “The Walking Dead: The End of the Line” maze was in its final days of preparation for Halloween Horror Nights, which kicks off next Friday, September 19th.
In keeping with the narrative of Season 4 of the popular AMC series, this year’s “The Walking Dead” maze (the third year running for Universal’s HHN) recreates the prison in which the majority takes place and introduces as well the show’s principals’ search for the purported sanctuary of Terminus. Upon arrival we were greeted by the maze’s exterior, a rather convincing correctional facility façade, with a perimeter ringed with high chain-link fencing. Just inside sat a burned out military tank (repositioned from Fast & Furious 6), as well as the prop carcass of a fallen steed (echoing Season 1 of “The Walking Dead”).
Once inside the impressive and at times two-story attraction, we were greeted by a catwalk, myriad cell doors, rotted zombies, a morgue, a recreation of the show’s convenience store ‘Big Spot’ and much, much more. See our video clip of Murdy chatting about the maze below.
From there it was on to the “An American Werewolf in London” maze, erected just outside the park’s Jurassic Park attraction. Nailing it from the onset, the exterior of the attraction was decked out to resemble the pub ‘The Slaughtered Lamb’ from director John Landis’ classic 1981 film, as was the first room we entered, replete with a bar and requisite pentagram.
Determined, Murdy and crew are set to deliver within the attraction the iconic moments of the groundbreaking flick, which, in addition to the pub, include the film’s hospital room, the demon soldier slaughter, the porno theater (screening See You Next Wednesday, a nice attention to detail), the London tube (which features a clever scare not from the film, but in keeping with it) and most importantly, the famous Rick Baker-created werewolf transformation. See our clip of Murdy talking about that below.
While we don’t want to give much more away in terms of the narrative and scares (these attractions are best experienced without heavy spoilers), you can check out our photo gallery, and keep your eyes on Dread Central for our annual coverage of the Eyegore Awards and the grand opening of Halloween Horror Nights, which kicks off this coming Friday, September 19th.
More info on Halloween Horror Nights is available at Halloween Horror Nights.com. Updates from Creative Director John Murdy can be found on Twitter, as he reveals a running chronicle of exclusive information.
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- The Walking Dead
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- The Walking Dead
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- The Walking Dead
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- The Walking Dead
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- The Walking Dead
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- The Walking Dead
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- The Walking Dead
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- The Walking Dead
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- The Walking Dead
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- The Walking Dead
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- The Purge
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- The Purge
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- An American Werewolf in London
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- An American Werewolf in London
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- An American Werewolf in London
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- An American Werewolf in London
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- An American Werewolf in London
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- An American Werewolf in London
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- An American Werewolf in London
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- An American Werewolf in London
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- An American Werewolf in London
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- An American Werewolf in London
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- An American Werewolf in London
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- An American Werewolf in London
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- An American Werewolf in London
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- Dark Christmas
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- Dark Christmas
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- Dark Christmas
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About Halloween Horror Nights Hollywood
Tickets are now on sale for “Halloween Horror Nights” at Universal Studios Hollywood as Southern California’s leading Halloween event becomes “More Dead Than Ever,” expanding to 22 select nights with more mazes than ever, from Friday, September 19, through Sunday, November 2, 2014.
Tickets to this year’s event are available for purchase at HalloweenHorrorNights.com, including a Front of Line ticket option that enables guests to enjoy priority access at each “Halloween Horror Nights” maze, Terror Tram and theme park attraction. Advance purchase is recommended as event nights will sell out.
“As the movie studio that invented the horror film genre, we hold ourselves to a very high standard in producing the best and most terrifying Halloween experience,” said John Murdy, Creative Director at Universal Studios Hollywood and Executive Producer of “Halloween Horror Nights.” “Our ongoing collaboration with today’s most influential filmmakers and musicians, and movie and television horror properties, contributes to the authenticity of ‘Halloween Horror Nights’ and delivers one of the scariest, most compelling experiences anywhere. This year will be ‘More Dead Than Ever’ with more event nights and even more mazes, and we can’t wait.”
“Halloween Horror Nights” 2014 will feature a slate of all-new haunted attractions including “The Walking Dead: The End of the Line,” inspired by Season 4 of AMC’s Golden Globe®-nominated and Emmy® Award-winning TV series. The bone-chilling maze will place guests at the heart of a harrowing journey to seek sanctuary at Terminus, an elusive destination that promises community for all. Mirroring the terror that befell the residents of the West Georgia Correctional Facility, now overrun by savage walkers, the experience will send guests fleeing from the fallen prison into unknown territory as they stage a desperate battle for survival against flesh-eating walkers and ruthless humans.
The engrossing television series will seep into other parts of Universal’s backlot with predatory walkers prowling the secluded wooded areas of the movie studio. “Terror Tram: Invaded by the Walking Dead” will take guests down the daunting path to Terminus, interspersed with landmarks and walkers from Season 4, including the “burned moonshine cabin,” “charred walkers” and “mud walkers.”
Filmmaker Robert Rodriguez’s cult film and El Rey network’s acclaimed supernatural TV series “From Dusk Till Dawn” will debut at this year’s event in a new maze designed to thrust guests into its deviant world where they will encounter sordid mythological creatures known as “Culebras,” serpent-like vampires who have tormented the Earth for centuries.
Celebrated Grammy® Award-winning musician SLASH, hailed as one of the 10 best electric guitar players of all time by Time magazine, is joining forces with Universal Studios Hollywood to compose the first-ever original score for the theme park’s hypnotizing new 3D maze, “Clowns 3D Music by SLASH.”
Other marquee mazes will include “Dracula Untold: Reign of Blood,” a terrifying new haunted attraction based on Universal Pictures’ upcoming epic action-adventure; “AVP: Alien vs. Predator,” bringing together the most deadly species spawned from two blockbuster films; “An American Werewolf in London,” inspired by Universal Pictures’ Academy Award®-winning film; and “Face Off: In the Flesh,” featuring gruesome characters from Syfy’s hit TV series.
A series of unnerving scare zones will also infiltrate “Halloween Horror Nights,” terrorizing guests as they navigate the darkness from one terrifying maze to another, beginning with “The Purge: Anarchy,” inspired by Universal Pictures’ disturbing blockbuster thriller. “The Walking Dead: Welcome to Terminus” will awaken swarms of predatory walkers in a gruesome scare zone situated adjacent to the new “The Walking Dead” maze.
Additional scare zones will include “Mask-a-Raid,” featuring hordes of bloodthirsty cannibals masquerading as French aristocrats; “Dark Christmas,” a Pagan-themed area where demonic creatures hunt disobedient children and drag them to hell; and “Skullz,” based on the Native American legend of Wendigo, a malevolent supernatural half-beast monster with an insatiable appetite for human flesh.
As a complement to the nighttime event, Universal’s most popular rides and attractions will also be open to guests, including “Transformers: The Ride-3D,” “Jurassic Park—In the Dark,” “The Simpsons Ride” and “Revenge of the Mummy—The Ride.”
“Halloween Horror Nights” dates are as follows: September 19, 20, 26, 27, October 3, 4, 5, 10, 11, 12, 16, 17, 18, 19, 23, 24, 25, 26, 30, 31, and November 1, 2, 2014.
Categorized:News
