During October, the moon’s glow shines brighter against the navy sky, and the shadows grow thick and ominous amongst the crooked vines. A screech in the night! Is that a chipmunk or a zombie? A little darker, a little more uncertain, the world blends the realms of reality and fear, and that’s where Halloween Horror Nights® live.
The Purge hits Halloween Horror Nights in this year’s street experience.
In its 24th year, Halloween Horror Nights® at Universal Orlando® Resort is a frightening display with creepy “haunted houses,” a thrilling street experience, and bizarre shows, geared toward adults and teens who enjoy that prickling sensation on the back of their neck and the pesky tingling in their gut. Every year, locals flood the gates, but some fans of the annual event travel hundreds, even thousands, of miles to indulge their inner fear factor. So what makes this event so addictive?
Frightened guests scream at the AVP: Alien vs. Predator Haunted House.
“The entire show from characters to environment to sound effects and lighting changes completely from year to year,” said T.J. Mannarino, the director of art and design for Universal Orlando® Resort, “so the show that you saw last year is a completely different show than [the one] you’ll see this year.”
Each year, Halloween Horror Nights® in Orlando stuns guests with eight, spine-tingling and horrifying “haunted houses,” which are actually movie sets. Each house is comprised of approximately 10 rooms, or 10 mini-sets, which are of Hollywood film quality. In 2008, a feature film was shot in one house after the event’s closing.
Each haunted area showcases an intellectual property (IP) or an original concept to elicit those goose bumps and sudden chills from guests.
“We want to come up with unique, different, contrasting stories, so everyone who comes as a guest will find something in this event that they’ll love and enjoy,” says Mannarino.
John Carpenter’s Halloween frightens guests as one of this year’s eight haunted houses.
Past horror nights have seen haunted houses themed to the works of Edgar Allan Poe, after urban legends, and about deadly plagues. Universal designers have groomed certain concepts which have run for multiple years, such as Havoc and La LLorona. Havoc, a group of bald, testosterone-pumped, adrenaline-addicted super soldiers, made its second appearance at Halloween Horror Nights 23 as Havoc: Derailed while La Llorona, a murderous mother, grew from a street experience zone to its very own chilling house encounter.
“In the world of horror, Universal is known for the monsters they’ve created—from Frankenstein to Dracula to the Werewolf—and we feel as designers to carry that honor forward by creating our own characters and our own stories,” tells Mannarino.
In recent years, Universal Studios Florida® has incorporated fan-favorite properties, too, such as Silent Hill, Evil Dead, The Cabin in the Woods, and Resident Evil. One of last year’s more popular haunted houses was An American Werewolf in London, a twenty-three-year-old movie franchise from Director John Landis. The set and storytelling proved to be a rewarding experiment.
“The biggest challenge for us, is that [the movie] is all about the werewolf, and doing a werewolf character is difficult and could easily fall into something people see as not so scary, maybe dog-like instead of fierce wolf,” says Mannario.
Even the toughest guests scream at Halloween Horror Nights!
The designers ended up creating a new type of puppet with special effects, sound effects, and lightning techniques. Combining technology and old theatrical methods, Mannario and crew found the right balance to create a truly memorable and petrifying encounter with the big, bad wolf.
“I saw grown men, big 250-pound guys jumping, screaming, basically scared of a furry dog puppet,” recounts Mannarino with a chuckle. “[The wolf] captured the emotion and what we wanted to do, and to get the best compliment, working with John Landis, the director of the original film—for him to say, ‘You got it right,’ was a great success for us.”
The Walking Dead Returns to Halloween Horror Nights in Universal’s biggest haunted house ever.
Last year, The Walking Dead returned to Halloween Horror Nights® with The Walking Dead: The Undead Streets. Showcasing the first three seasons of the hit TV show, Universal designers set up five distinct zones to showcase the most terrifying scenes, like The Fall of Atlanta, Woodlands, Survivors’ Camp, The Farm, and Clear. Don’t worry. These zombies are just as vicious as the ones in the show.
Fans can expect a similar mix of original content and intellectual properties at this year’s event. Such haunted houses include, Halloween™, AVP: Alien vs. Predator, From Dusk Till Dawn, Dracula Untold – Reign of Blood, and Universal’s biggest haunted house yet, The Walking Dead: End of the Line. Original concepts include Dollhouse of the Damned, Giggles & Gore Inc., and Roanoke – Cannibal Colony.
The event has become a living, breathing entity all its own.
“People who are local and who are fans or repeat guests of the event, want to be here that very first night. They want to be in that first initial sense of magic and electricity in the air, to be here when we open and see everything fresh and new,” says Mannarino. “At the same time, the event has a maturity to it.”
“Scareactors” make Halloween Horror Nights a terrifyingly enjoyable experience.
The designers continually work throughout September, October, and until the last horror night in November to enhance fan experiences. They observe guest reactions and see where adjustments, if any, must be made to draw a high-pitched squeal from the toughest clients.
“Traditionally, we tell people that, second or third weekend are usually good weekends because the event is operating at its best level, and it’s before you hit the major crowds,” explains Mannarino.
For muggle fans, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter™—Diagon Alley will be available during Halloween Horror Nights®, but diehard fans know there are worse creatures to fear than Dementors.
“I jokingly say that [Halloween Horror Nights®] is a collectible experience that you only get to see within the month of October,” says Mannarino, “and then the only time you can really relive it is in your dreams and nightmares.”
