Universal Orlando has announced El Artista: A Spanish Haunting, a new original haunted house that will be featured at Halloween Horror Nights 34.
The announcement was made during a special Halloween Horror Nights panel at Spooky Empire, featuring some creative minds bringing Halloween Horror Nights to life each year.
Here’s a brief synopsis of the house:
“In 19th century Spain, a tortured artist moves into an isolated country manor for inspiration, but the art comes alive and possesses him.”
El Artista tells the story of tortured Spanish artist Sergio Navarro, whose career is “in a dip,” says Ramón Paradoa, the Show Director and writer for the haunted house. Navarro, looking for inspiration, has relocated to a desolate manor in the woods called La Casa Creacion, which is inhabited by the spirits of artists who came before.
“A deep sense of evil is rooted in the manor, that exists mostly within the conservatory,” continued Paradoa. “This deep sense of evil overtakes Sergio’s mind, forcing him to paint these horrifying things that come to life, and the spirits want to use his artwork as portals to break into our world.”.
The panel also stated that the house ties into the overall “texture” of the event, and while Navarro and the house “isn’t the story of the event, the event takes place within this story”. Paradoa adds, “The theme of paintings and artwork coming to life carries through, and how we’re executing the overall theme throughout the event.”
Paradoa also touted the special effects that will bring the haunted spirits to life, including some previously used fan favorites and some new tricks. They wanted to draw inspiration from ghost stories of Horror Nights’ past, such as Dead End, Gothic, and Graveyard Games, but also “push boundaries on how to achieve ghost effects”.
“There is a lot of Pepper’s Ghost effects, ghosts physically trying to burst through paintings, pushing through the canvas of paintings, and you may or may not see ghosts walking through walls,” exclaimed Paradoa.
Senior Design, Dylan Kollath, is also working on the house. Kollath is known for designing previous haunts such as “Dead Man’s Pier: Winter’s Wake” and “Blood Moon: Dark Offerings”.
Michael Aiello, Senior Director – Entertainment Creative Development, also won’t classify Sergio as an “Icon,” as he states he’ll leave that up to the fans to decide. “We’ve identified this character as a way to tell our story this year,” states Aiello. “His influence is in the event in some capacity, maybe not the way Oddfellow was used, or even Jack the Clown; but this particular character has a beginning, middle, and end to this story.”
Spooky Empire is a biannual convention in Central Florida that focuses primarily on horror and science fiction. We’d like to thank them for inviting us to cover the panel.
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