Eli Roth’s Hostel: Hunting Season to be New Maze at Universal Studios Hollywood Halloween Horror Nights

Universal City, CA — Eli Roth, the multi-talented director, writer, producer and actor, will adapt his enormously successful “Hostel” film franchise to create “Eli Roth’s Hostel: Hunting Season,” a twisted new “Halloween Horror Nights® maze at Universal Studios HollywoodSM. The event begins on September 23 and continues on select nights through October 31.

“Hostel: Hunting Season,” for which Universal will build elaborate sets re-creating locations in Slovakia, will mark the horror auteur and star’s first effort at transforming his screen work into a live theme park experience. The maze will re-imagine the film’s dehumanizing torture chambers and send guests on a spiraling journey through the corrupt halls of Elite Hunting’s torture factory. Elite Hunting, a secret society that tortures and kills American youth for sport in exchange for large sums of money, will prowl the factory and prey on its many maze visitors.

Eli Roth, said: “Creating a maze for ‘Halloween Horror Nights’ is a horror fan’s dream come true. I’ve been visiting ‘Halloween Horror Nights’ for years, and still remember the heart-pounding terror of going through the mazes for the first time. For me it was like going inside the world of a movie and experiencing it in a visceral environment that simply cannot be replicated, and in subsequent years I’ve found I’m just as scared as I was the first time.

“I am so happy to join forces with the creative team at Universal. Our collaborative vision to bring ‘Hostel’ to life will give both fans of my movie and horror fans a scare they could never have imagined. People will have a chance to experience some exact moments from their favorite ‘Hostel’ scenes, along with some new surprises.

“ I was honored to receive an Eyegore Award at last year’s ‘Halloween Horror Nights’ event, and began talking to Universal about a ‘Hostel’ maze even then. This is something I’ve dreamed of for years. I may even dress up and appear in the maze one night as a torturer. So when you say ‘I scared you,’ you can literally mean that I scared you!”

In addition to the “Hostel” franchise, Eli Roth is well-known to film audiences as the writer-director-producer of “Cabin Fever” and as the baseball bat-wielding co-star of Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglorious Basterds,” for which he won a Screen Actor’s Guild Award. As a producer, his film “The Last Exorcism” was a box office smash and he is currently in post-production on the “Clown” and “The Man With the Iron Fists,” both of which are slated for release in the coming months.

Eli Roth is the first star to be announced as a collaborator in this year’s Halloween Horror Nights event and will be a key member of a Hollywood horror “dream team” assembled by Universal Studios Hollywood to create the ultimate “live” Halloween nightmare. He is also serving as a judge in Universal Studios Hollywood’s annual “Halloween Horror Nights” short film competition, which will culminate in a presentation to a winning filmmaker during the “Eyegore Awards” on the event’s opening night, September 23. “The Thing: Assimilation,” a new maze inspired by Universal Pictures’ upcoming thriller, has also been announced and will add to the Hollywood horror clout.

“Halloween Horror Nights” 2011 will bring unprecedented star power to an array of unrivaled, film production quality mazes uniquely themed to today’s most definitive horror properties and deliver the most compelling, spine-chilling, haunted attractions. All-new terror filled “scare zones,” original shows and the popular “Terror Tram” will be among the ““Halloween Horror Nights” offerings. Additional new content for the 2011 “Halloween Horror Nights” mazes and attractions will be announced shortly.

The theme park’s favorite thrill-ride attractions will also remain open for “Halloween Horror Nights” as well, many with menacing twists. Favorites include “The Simpsons Ride®,” “Revenge of the MummySM – The Ride” and “Jurassic Park® In the Dark.”

Updates on “Halloween Horror Nights” are available at Halloween Horror Nights.com and also on Twitter and Facebook, as Creative Director John Murdy reveals a running chronicle of exclusive information. Fans are invited to follow John Murdy on Twitter at: Twitter.com/HorrorNights or via Facebook at: “Halloween Horror Nights – Hollywood (Official).”

Universal Studios Hollywood is a unit of the Universal Parks & Resorts division of NBCUniversal. NBCUniversal is one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience. NBCUniversal owns and operates a valuable portfolio of news and entertainment television networks, a premier motion picture company, significant television production operations, a leading television stations group, and world-renowned theme parks. Comcast Corporation owns a controlling 51% interest in NBCUniversal, with GE holding a 49% stake.