Earlier this week, Inside Universal was invited for a behind-the-scenes tour of two of the houses featured at this year’s Halloween Horror Nights in Hollywood: Terrifier and Fallout. In the first of our two-part behind-the-scenes preview, we’ll take a close look at Terrifier.
Beware of spoilers – and a lot of terrifyingly bloody gore – ahead!
Based on the three films that currently comprise Damien Leone’s “Terrifier” franchise, this haunted house takes guests through the twisted funhouse of Art the Clown to witness his disturbingly grotesque handiwork of torture, including some of the most infamous “kills” from all three films. The basic story is that Art has taken over the Terrifier Funhouse so that he can display his works of “art” for everyone passing through, taking you through some of the most iconic and disturbing scenes from the films.
Halloween Horror Nights Creative Director John Murdy explained that the creative teams on both coasts – in collaboration with Leone – decided that they “wanted to make Terrifier 2 their main setting because they thought it was a perfect setting for a haunted house”. He mentioned that they aimed to bring to life a setting similar to “the exceedingly creepy, touring kind of funhouses” that occasionally pop up around Europe and certain parts of the United States, knowing that they often embody an unsettling sense of dread fitting for this event.
Terrifier also features a few other recognizable locations from the films, such as the warehouse from the first film and the Christmas mall setting from the third, highlighting the creative team’s goal to feature as many of the franchise’s iconic kills as possible. Some scenes resemble the original films exactly, while others have been creatively integrated into the funhouse setting to serve as some of Art’s “greatest masterpieces” on display out of context.
Changes in setting are often presented through transitions into other carnival-themed attraction locations like the “Chamber of Horrors”, which help maintain the overarching funhouse theme even as guests pass through multiple distinct locations.
Unique to Terrifier at the event is that there are not only going to be performers portraying Art in the haunted house, but also a troupe of Arts that have received special training – described as Halloween Horror Nights’ own version of mime school – that will be employed in “unique and unusual ways” throughout the theme park.
While most will remain a surprise until the start of the event, we can describe one of Art’s specific appearances that’ll take place at the Terrifier house facade: when guests are waiting in line, they’ll hear the theme music “switch channels every once in a while, almost like somebody’s turning a radio dial”. A few snippets of audio will set the scene, including a police and news report from the first Terrifier movie that details the infamous pizza parlor massacre, as well as the suspect on the run. Right when the reporter describes a “tall, thin man in a black and white clown costume carrying a black plastic bag”, Art will appear just as described, ready to mess with unsuspecting guests in line.
The house officially begins as guests pass through a chain-link fence to enter the full-size Terrifier funhouse, which Murdy explained is the first of its kind. The actual Terrifier 2 film only used a miniature model of the funhouse due to the filmmakers having a low budget at the time, so it had never been built to full scale until this year’s event.
The moment guests step into the giant clown mouth entrance, they’ll find themselves immersed in Art’s twisted world, filled with a seemingly endless amount of kills, blood, and gore around each corner. Of special note is a drop window scare that’ll be used at the start of the house; a type of scare that Orlando’s houses use frequently, and which Hollywood is now integrating into the event for the first time.
From then on, guests will traverse through the funhouse, beginning with walking through graphics of the pictures found in Sienna’s dad’s notebook in the second film, as well as crime reports from the newspapers to familiarize those less familiar with the franchise with the disturbing happenings in the plot.
It doesn’t take long for Terrifier’s characteristic displays of extreme blood and gore to make their first appearance as guests turn the corner to step into the first scene called “Silly Saws” – a sequence showing guests many of the brutal ways Art saws people in half throughout the Terrifier franchise.
Be prepared from here on to be showered in everything from “blood” to “bleach” many, many times throughout the house, as Murdy promised that all guests can expect to walk out soaked.
Without detailing too many specifics, you can expect to see some of the most brutal, bloody, gross, and gory scenes ever featured in a Halloween Horror Nights house in Terrifier. Just like in the Terrifier films, every time you may think you’ve seen the worst, you’re likely to turn the corner to another scene just as disturbing – including one particularly disgusting bathroom scene that promises to be just as smelly as the infamous vomit scent from last year’s Insidious: The Further house, as fans may recall.
In recent years, a popular new trend at the event has been the use of animated figures in the haunted houses. Guests can expect to see several more this year, including the Little Pale Girl from Terrifier 2, who dramatically turns her head a full 180 degrees to gaze directly at guests.
There will also be a sensor attached to a prop in one scene, similar to the sensors used in A Quiet Place that triggered special effects when guests were too noisy during last year’s event. Since it’s no secret that guests often touch the haunted house props within reach – even when instructed not to – the creative team devised a clever twist for this brand-new sensor effect. If a guest touches the especially tempting prop rigged with the sensor, they’ll unexpectedly be drenched in “blood”, adding an extra layer of surprise to the experience.
Overall, Terrifier promises to deliver a compelling blend of brutal slasher moments complemented by a few disturbingly humorous segments – solidifying its place as a perfect addition to the event. What makes Terrifier’s highly anticipated debut at Halloween Horror Nights even more special is Murdy’s belief that the character of Art has become “the new face of horror”, as he explained:
“I think Art is the equivalent of what Freddy, Jason, Leatherface, and Michael Myers were back in the ‘70s and ‘80s. And I think what’s so special about Terrifier is that it’s been a long time since there’s been a new iconic horror movie slasher that horror fans have embraced, and Art is certainly that.”
We sincerely thank Universal Studios Hollywood for inviting us out for this behind-the-scenes preview. Stay tuned to Inside Universal for part two, where we’ll next take an inside look at Fallout – a much less conventional Halloween Horror Nights property than Terrifier, but one that contributes something unique to the welcome variety of genres now incorporated into the event.
Halloween Horror Nights runs on select nights from Thursday, September 4, through Sunday, November 2.
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