Universal will have video auditions for Halloween Horror

Universal Orlando has announced video auditions for “scare actors,” the performers for its Halloween Horror Nights event.

“To ensure candidate safety and proper social distancing, this year’s auditions will be completed via video submission,” a post on the resort’s auditions site reads.

Universal has not announced any HHN details since a ticket deal and some hotel packages were unveiled on March 10. Several days later, the resort’s theme parks, hotels and other attractions were shut down because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Horror Nights events in the past — the next one will be the 30th edition — has featured multiple elements that could give organizers and potential attendees pause in 2020, including enclosed haunted houses populated by lurching scare actors and a conga line of visitors. HHN also has featured stage shows with large audiences and scare zones with yelling performers.

Halloween Horror Nights was scheduled to operate on select nights between Sept. 10 and Nov. 1, and those dates remain on the official website and the audition posting.

Last year, Universal revealed the themes of its 10 haunted mazes over several months from late March (”Stranger Things”) to August (”House of 1,000 Corpses”).

For 2020, the audition site notes, HHN is looking for performers with “slender to athletic builds” who are available for rehearsals beginning in mid-August.

Among the submission requirements are a headshot, resume, full-length photo and a link to a video that details previous Horror Nights experience and scary-movie preferences. “To help gauge height, please film video in front of or beside a refrigerator,” the notice reads.

The video-submission deadline is July 20. For more information, go to auditions.universalorlando.com/home.