HOLLYWOOD HAUNTS
Attractions create ‘living horror movies’
LLos Angeles Times (TNS) OS ANGELES—Six years ago, director Eli Roth pulled on a costume from his film “Hostel” and staged an impromptu performance inside the film’s maze at Universal Studios’ Halloween Horror Nights. “He showed up, he had the costume from the movie, and he acted in every single scene in the maze for over an hour,” recalled John Murdy, creative director at Universal Studios Hollywood and executive producer of Halloween Horror Nights. “When I came down, he had gone backstage afterwards and hung out with the cast, took a million selfies, thanked everybody and as he was coming out he gave me a big bro hug.” Of course, Roth was still drenched in fake blood from the performance.
“I’ve never been able to get (the blood) off, so now it’s just the Eli Roth memorial jacket,” Murdy said with a laugh.
Horror fans and filmmakers alike flock to Universal Studios for the Halloween-themed seasonal attractions, which compete with the longer-running Knott’s Scary Farm by taking full advantage of licensing opportunities to bring thrill seekers’ favorite movies and TV shows to frightening life.
“Because we’re in the most competitive market in the world for this, I focus specifically on branded horror,” Murdy said. “It’s a lot like doing movies except we’re doing multiple movies at the same time.”
Other parks are getting into brand-name scares, but Universal has established itself as the leader in the field. This year, during 29 nights from September through November, Universal Studios Hollywood has scared up mazes based on Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining,” TV’s “American Horror Story: Roanoke” and “Ash vs Evil Dead,” the “Saw” and “Insidious” franchises plus “The Horrors of Blumhouse,” featuring elements from the studio’s films “The Purge,” “Sinister” and the just-released “Happy Death Day” as well as “Titans of Terror,” featuring Leatherface from “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” Jason from “Friday the 13th” and “A Nightmare on Elm Street’s” Freddy Krueger. That’s on top of the park’s popular “The Walking Dead” attraction and the “terror” tram ride that is hosted by Chucky of “Child’s Play.”
“Universal most definitely is associated with the horror movie, going all the way back to the birth of the studio,” said Murdy.
Soon after its inception in 1915, Universal Studios originated modern-day horror on screen with films such as “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” (1923) and “The Phantom of the Opera” (1925) before producing monster franchises such as “Dracula” (1931), “Frankenstein” (1931), “The Mummy” (1932), “The Invisible Man” (1933), “The Wolf Man” (1941) and “The Creature From the Black Lagoon” (1954), films the studio seeks to capitalize on with its ongoing Dark Universe series of reboots. And in the 1960s, after he shot “Psycho” for Paramount on the Universal lot, Alfred Hitchcock set up shop at Universal.
Halloween Horror Nights, which originated at Universal’s Florida park, began in Hollywood during the 1990s before being rebooted with Murdy at the helm in 2006. His vision is to evoke the studio’s history by creating “living horror movies” in collaboration with popular filmmakers, movies and TV shows in the horror genre. “That just wasn’t being done anywhere,” Murdy said. “And that’s really what put us on the map.”
One key was bringing in characters and environments from current movies and TV shows.
“I think the best example is what we’re doing with Jason Blum and Blumhouse films,” Murdy said, “because they’re on the cutting edge of modern horror.”
Blum, who has produced “Insidious,” “The Purge,” “Paranormal Activity,” “Sinister” and their sequels, is widely considered to be the fresh face of horror, thanks to his ability to produce low-budget films that earn high returns.
“I really think Stephen King deserves the title, but I’ll take the runner-up face of horror,” Blum joked.
Before partnering on the mazes with Universal, Blum staged his own “Blumhouse of Horrors” in downtown L.A.’s 93-year-old Variety Arts Theater (rumored to be haunted). It was a hit indie movie version of the blockbuster Universal Studios events. In 2013, the producer, 48, joined forces with Universal to stage a maze based on “Insidious.”
“I met John (Murdy) at the opening of ‘Paranormal Activity 2’ and since then, we’ve just worked more and more closely together,” said Blum. Where once Murdy was tasked with creating an experience based solely on a finished film, today he’s privy to the script and plans with Blum far in advance. “He’s super respectful of our ideas, but ultimately he has the final say,” Blum added. “Over the years, I’ve come to really trust him.”
That trust is how this year’s “The Horrors of Blumhouse” maze came to have moments from “The Purge” and “Sinister” franchises and “Happy Death Day,” which premiered on Oct. 13 (Friday the 13th, naturally).
“One of the things I was really hoping to do that we’d never done before is to do a maze which encapsulates a handful of our movies as opposed to just one movie,” said Blum. “That’s what’s new this year with the Horrors of Blumhouse.”
Though some of the props sprinkled throughout the mazes are actual set dressings from the film (for example, the baby masks worn in the “Happy Death Day” portion of the Horrors of Blumhouse maze), many are convincing replicas. “The Shining” maze, for example, evokes several sets from the classic film.
“That’s a heck of a challenging movie to turn into a seasonal haunted attraction,” Murdy said. “Sets, everything, they look straight out of the movie.”
In addition to familiar props, guests should also be on the lookout for famous faces scattered among the Horror Nights crowds: Lebron James, Ariana Grande, Pharrell Williams, Leonardo DiCaprio, the Kardashians and even the cast of “American Horror Story” have all been known to drop by for a scare.