Close Menu
Inside Universal
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube Threads
    Tuesday, June 24
    Trending
    • El Artista: A Spanish Haunting announced for Halloween Horror Nights 34 during Spooky Empire
    • What’s Happening at the Universal Parks – Week of June 23, 2025
    • Hatchet and Chains: Demon Bounty Hunters haunted house announced for Halloween Horror Nights 34
    • Knott’s Berry Farm kicks of a summer of fun with Ghost Town Alive
    Inside Universal
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube LinkedIn Threads
    • Home
    • News
      • Hollywood
        • Photo Updates
        • CityWalk Hollywood
        • Halloween Horror Nights – Hollywood
        • Events
      • Orlando
        • Photo Updates
        • Universal Studios Florida
        • Islands of Adventure
        • Epic Universe
        • Universal’s Volcano Bay
        • CityWalk Orlando
        • Universal Resorts
        • Halloween Horror Nights – Orlando
        • Events
      • Japan
        • Photo Updates
        • Events
      • Singapore
      • Beijing
      • Other Universal Destinations
      • Outside Universal
        • Walt Disney World
        • SeaWorld Orlando
        • Around Orlando
        • Disneyland Resort
        • Knott’s Berry Farm
        • Around California
    • Forums
    • Inside Universal Podcast
    • Features
    • Merchandise
    Inside Universal
    Home»Features»Behind the Scenes of Insidious & Crimson Peak at Halloween Horror Nights 2015

    Behind the Scenes of Insidious & Crimson Peak at Halloween Horror Nights 2015

    September 18, 2015 Features By Bruce Babcock
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email Reddit Copy Link

    September 19, 2015 – For Halloween Horror Nights 2015, Universal was kind enough to invite Inside Universal for a sneak peak at two of its upcoming mazes for this year’s event: Insidious: Return to the Further and Crimson Peak: Maze of Madness. Insidious will be familiar to guests who attended the event in 2013 when the hit horror film made its debut at the park. The maze version of Crimson Peak will make it to audiences before the film does, similar to last year’s Dracula Untold, as the film has a release date of October 16, 2015. Both Crimson Peak and Insidious have plenty of fresh and innovative qualities to offer crowds this year, which we’ll preview below.

    Inside Insidious

    As we stood out front of the Lambert family house façade for Insidious, John Murdy, Creative Director of Halloween Horror Nights, made it a point to mention that this years maze is very much a variety of “mad science projects” that he and his team have incorporated into the maze. The maze was a hit in 2013, so obviously he wanted to retain elements of that maze while giving the fans something new and incorporating the third Insidious film into the experience. “If you’re a fan of Insidious” Murdy told us, “you’re getting the best of all 3 films.”

    Behind the Scenes of Insidious & Crimson Peak at Halloween Horror Nights 2015

    Behind the Scenes of Insidious & Crimson Peak at Halloween Horror Nights 2015

    Behind the Scenes of Insidious & Crimson Peak at Halloween Horror Nights 2015

    The first of many mad science experiments was to create a new way of spreading low hanging, thick, movie quality fog across the maze. Murdy and his team actually developed an entirely new method of using dry ice to spread across the maze, and there are various rooms within the maze that house these fog units. Carefully placed fog vents will disperse the fog in key areas of the maze and the maze will hang low as seen in the films.

    Guests will enter the house and move into the living room, where they will see the iconic baby monitor from the first film, picking up ghostly noises. This room looked largely unchanged from 2013. From this point on, most of the maze is new – with a multitude of special effects. While we won’t reveal all of the effects in this article, we will mention that one of the effects involves the use of projection mapping. Murdy and his team used visual effects to film an actor crawling across a green screen that will then be projected on to the wall, creating the illusion the demon is actually crawling against the bedroom. After Dalton’s room, we enter the Hallway of Candles. Chris Williams, Art Director and Production Designer for Halloween Horror Nights, developed a way to make hallway walls disappear, leaving guests surrounded by floating candles – achieved with the use of clever lighting and theater techniques. Suffice to say, the same clever use of theater tricks transfer to the remainder of the maze, as the Halloween Horror Nights crew attempted to stay true and authentic to the film.

    Closing remarks from John Murdy consisted of him praising working with James Wan and Leigh Whannell – noting their close personal relationships and their willingness to contribute and offer input to the event.

    Behind the Scenes of Insidious & Crimson Peak at Halloween Horror Nights 2015

    Behind the Scenes of Insidious & Crimson Peak at Halloween Horror Nights 2015

    Inside Crimson Peak

    For the first time in Halloween Horror Nights history, a maze based on a Guillermo del Toro film makes its way to the park with Crimson Peak: Maze of Madness (based off Crimson Peak which will debut on October 16th of this year). Since the maze will be unveiled nearly a month before the film’s debut, the maze will serve as a live trailer for guests who come to the event, similar to Dracula Untold in 2014, and The Thing in 2011.

    John Murdy exhibited much excitement in being able to collaborate with Guillermo del Toro – and for good reason. del Toro is one of the most visionary directors of the modern era and it’s quite evident when the famed director has involvement with any given project. del Toro and Murdy met three years ago at Halloween Horror Nights and met early in 2014 for breakfast to talk about a potential collaboration. Later that night, del Toro was informed that his newest film would be put into production earlier than expected – preventing him from working with Halloween Horror Nights during the 2014 season. However, this new time table meant that del Toro would have a new horror film – a Universal Pictures film no less – out in October of 2015. This ended up being perfect circumstances to bring the film to Hollywood as a maze.

    Behind the Scenes of Insidious & Crimson Peak at Halloween Horror Nights 2015

    Behind the Scenes of Insidious & Crimson Peak at Halloween Horror Nights 2015

    Behind the Scenes of Insidious & Crimson Peak at Halloween Horror Nights 2015

    For those unfamiliar with Crimson Peak, it is strongly recommended that you view the trailer for the film to fully understand the maze. The film is about a woman, Edith, who is haunted by the ghost of her mother as a child, who warns her of the dangers of “Crimson Peak.” Later in life, Edith marries a man and moves into his old decaying mansion, along with his sister. Strange events began to occur and the terrors of Crimson Peak are unleashed. John Murdy explained that this isn’t a typical horror film, using the term “high-horror” to describe del Toro’s latest venture. He explains it’s a gothic romance with themes similar to Edgar Allen Poe and the Hammer Horror films from the 50s and 60s. This isn’t your typical blood and guts, ghosts and goblins-esque horror film.

    As we approached the maze, crews were hard at work putting the last touches on both the interior and exterior of the maze. Building the sets to be del Toro authentic is a massive undertaking and no details were overlooked. The façade of the maze is themed to a cemetery, where most the props had to be fabricated off-site or rented, which were arriving the night we had our tour. Seeing all the work put in to the maze gives you a new appreciation for what goes on behind the scenes of the event.

    Behind the Scenes of Insidious & Crimson Peak at Halloween Horror Nights 2015

    Behind the Scenes of Insidious & Crimson Peak at Halloween Horror Nights 2015

    Since the film is not yet released, the scene descriptions will be brief, but if you watch the trailer, you’ll have a good idea of the haunting world guests will be transported to in the maze. Once you enter the mausoleum, you’ll be transported in the world of Crimson Peak – with wallpaper, rugs, fabrics, pictures and décor all themed according to the film. Murdy explains that the mansion, which you will approach in the next room, is actually character built out of clay mine, which causes the house to exhibit a rather unique special effect as guests enter the room.

    Murdy also noted that training the scareactors to scare appropriately was another challenge in bringing a del Toro film to life. The creatures in del Toro movies have very distinct range of motion that must be properly replicated by the scareactors within the maze in order for the experience to maintain congruity with the film. The actors can’t simply pop out and swing at guests, they have to twitch and move quickly. Others have to take long strides with big swings and have bugging out eyes. Simply put, there is no universal way for a scareactor to scare inside of Crimson Peak. Each scare is specifically thought out and specially trained.

    Murdy and his team were given 38,000 images to use as reference when creating the maze. Several files were used to recreate images and wallpapers for the maze. As one example, one sheet of wallpaper depicts moths. del Toro wanted to use the images of moths heavily in this film and they are featured heavily throughout the maze in various forms. Much of the woodwork in the maze also had to be computer laser cut because the designs were too intricate for a carpenter to cut on location. This is a testament to the amount of dedication the Halloween Horror Nights team gives to details.

    Crimson Peak: Maze of Madness will no doubt impress guests due to its painstaking recreations of Guillermo Del Toro’s visionary set pieces. This along with trademark Halloween Horror Nights scares will make for one of the top experiences that 2015 will have to offer. Just seeing the maze in it’s raw form already has me dying to see the movie when it comes out in October.


    Bruce Babcock

    Bruce Babcock is a contributing editor for Inside Universal, specializing in Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights event in Hollywood.

    Bruce is currently living in Southern California pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Cinema/Television Arts. He is a film fanatic with a specific interest in Universal classics and horror movies, and often attends local L.A. conventions looking for movie memorabilia and autographs. Bruce has been visiting Universal Studios Hollywood since he was merely 3 months old. A surprise VIP tour for his 15th birthday made him realize that movies are what he wanted his career to be in.


    crimson peak Halloween Horror Nights hhn15 insidious
    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
    Previous ArticleEverything You Need to Know for Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights 25
    Next Article Jock Lindsey’s Hangar Bar Opens at Downtown Disney
    Bruce Babcock

    Related Posts

    Halloween Horror Nights - Orlando

    Hatchet and Chains: Demon Bounty Hunters haunted house announced for Halloween Horror Nights 34

    June 23, 2025
    Halloween Horror Nights - Hollywood

    Jason Universe coming to Halloween Horror Nights 2025

    June 13, 2025
    Halloween Horror Nights - Hollywood

    Tickets now on sale for Halloween Horror Nights 2025 at Universal Studios Hollywood

    June 5, 2025
    LATEST POSTS

    El Artista: A Spanish Haunting announced for Halloween Horror Nights 34 during Spooky Empire

    June 23, 2025

    What’s Happening at the Universal Parks – Week of June 23, 2025

    June 23, 2025

    Hatchet and Chains: Demon Bounty Hunters haunted house announced for Halloween Horror Nights 34

    June 23, 2025

    Knott’s Berry Farm kicks of a summer of fun with Ghost Town Alive

    June 18, 2025

    Universal shares more details on the Universal Monsters coming to Universal Horror Unleashed in Las Vegas

    June 18, 2025
    About Inside Universal

    Inside Universal is a website dedicated to covering Universal Parks & Resorts, specifically Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal Orlando. Our team of editors is committed to providing fact-based, non-sensationalist content that educates and informs our readers while still focused on having fun.

    Inside Universal aims to maintain a rational perspective, allowing us to offer commentary, news, and analysis about Universal Parks. Our mission is to provide you, the reader, with accurate and in-depth reporting to the best of our ability. This is our goal - nothing more, nothing less.

    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube LinkedIn Threads
    JOIN THE DISCUSSION ON OUR FORUMS
    If you’re looking to have your Universal-related question answered, or if you’d simply like to chat about the park’s future developments, Inside Universal's forums is the Internet’s leading unofficial forum dedicated to Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal Orlando. MEI Travel
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube LinkedIn Threads
    • About Us
    • Masthead
    • Contact
    • Legal
    • Privacy Policy
    © 2025 All Rights Reserved - Inside Universal is not affiliated with Comcast, NBCUniversal, Universal Parks & Resorts, or Universal Destinations & Experiences. You may not copy, redistribute, publish, sell, or otherwise make the original contents of this website available to third parties unless you have received prior authorization from Inside Universal.

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

    This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept Read More
    Privacy & Cookies Policy

    Privacy Overview

    This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
    Necessary
    Always Enabled
    Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
    Non-necessary
    Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
    SAVE & ACCEPT