This past weekend, I was invited by Universal Orlando Resort to attend the media event and opening of Halloween Horror Nights. Now in its 26th year, Halloween Horror Nights is bigger than ever in Orlando, with a mix of original mazes and properties such as Halloween and American Horror Story.
For the first part of our event coverage, here are comments from Universal Orlando Resort's Creative Development Show Director Patrick Braillard on what you'll encounter this holiday season, along with official preview photos from most of the mazes.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre:
Patrick Braillard: "[The Texas Chain Saw Massacre]... is one of our favorites. We look forward to showing you guys the Hewitt homestead using the actual ground plan as you make your way through your environments to revisit certain scenes from different angles, giving you an opportunity to get scared by a lot of leather faces. There will be chainsaws."
Halloween: Hell Comes to Haddonfield:
Patrick Braillard: "We also have the opportunity for the very first time to tell a true sequel in maze form. Because we know the story of Halloween 2 so well, as fans and as creators, we get the opportunity to take you into that exact story, starting the maze with the last two rooms of the '14 maze before moving on and telling the rest of Michael Myers’ story."
Krampus:
Patrick Braillard: "...It's a Christmas maze, it's a horror maze, it's a comedy maze. We couldn't wait to explore the story of the Engel family and take you through their experiences in that house. You'll see gingerbread men, you're going to see the teddy bear. You're going to see cherub, you're going to see jack-in-the-box, you're going to see Krampus, you're going to see a lot of elves.”
The Exorcist:
Patrick Braillard: "We have been wanting to do this maze for years. This is the scariest movie of all-time. It also presented a very unique challenge for us as the creators, because 90% of this movie takes place in a single bedroom. What we decided to do is take those favorite moments as fans and blow it out as if it were a fever dream. You're going to walk through the maze, and the very first thing you're going to see is the façade, that very famous façade, and you're going to have the chance to literally walk through the movie's poster before going into the maze. Once you hit that portal, all bets are off. You're going to see those famous moments from the film."
American Horror Story:
Patrick Braillard: "We're really excited about American Horror Story. We get the opportunity to take this amazing show, with so many varied characters and so many amazing sets, and show it to our guests—to dump you into the worlds of season 1, “Murder House,” season 4, “Freak Show,” season 5, “Hotel.” We get the opportunity to take you in and show you what it's like to actually be a part of American Horror Story. We are very, very excited to show this maze. It's one of our uber-mazes. It takes up the majority of soundstage 19. You're going to have a lot of fun in that maze. We are thrilled to bring this maze back. There were stories left untold over the previous years that we now get a chance to show our guests."
The Walking Dead:
Patrick Braillard: "For the previous years, we formed a thought that it was going to be a single chronology from the beginning all the way through the end. This year, we get the opportunity with AMC's The Walking Dead to take you through our favorite moments of the series from the beginning until now. We get to revisit scenes that you may have seen in the past, as far as the house is concerned, but take you through them from a completely different entrance and exit. We get to give you a different camera angle, as it were, as you walk through these events. Plus, we can take moments from the street zones from the past, bring them into the house, blow them up, and give them the due that they deserve. We get the opportunity to do things with this maze that we haven't been able to before, and it's going to be a lot of fun."
Lunatic's Playground:
Patrick Braillard: "This Act I for Chance in Lunatic's Playground gives us the opportunity to tell her story, but it also gives us the opportunity to do so in a very unique way. With the technology that Wildfire presents with 3D, we've got the opportunity to truly mess with our guest's perception as they walk through and see the story of her taking over the asylum with the maniacs. That's a good maze. It's a great opportunity for us to show our guests Chance's story."
Tomb of the Ancients:
Patrick Braillard: "All of the ancient civilizations had ruins. You've got the Egyptian pyramids, you've got the Aztec Temples. What if they weren't temples at all, but rather warning signs? ...Something goes horribly wrong and one of those seals is broken and you get sent into this Tomb of the Ancients. We minimized the pathway, we've lowered the ceilings. We take you into an area where, if you're claustrophobic, you're going to have a problem with this maze. We've got monsters and creatures that are going to be coming out from every single angle, and it is one of the most impressive environments that we've ever had in our tenure."
Ghost Town: The Curse of Lightning Gulch
Patrick Braillard: "Ghost Town: The Curse of Lightning Gulch gives us the opportunity to revisit the spectacular maze from 2004 that we had created, but in a whole new light. The story is that miners and settlers had set up this town because they found gold. Now, that's great for them, but unfortunately when they discovered the mother lode that was in a nearby hill and brought it to the town center, they could have no way of knowing that it was cursed. It caused everyone to get greedy and have gold fever and everybody died. You get the opportunity to go through that town."
Check back later this week for the Q&A with Greg Nicotero and my impressions of the event. For more details on Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Orlando, visit:
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