On any given hot summer day in late August, Creative Director for Halloween Horror Nights, John Murdy can be found in his natural habitat, the Universal Studios Hollywood Backlot. It is here, at this time of year, that the creative mastermind along with his Art Director Chris Williams, concoct worlds of distinctly detailed horror.

A peek at the Overlook Hotel

Taking the world’s most popular IP’s Universal Studios has made a name for itself by thrusting guests into hyper-realistic recreations of their favorite horror films. Last year alone, Universal brought The Exorcist, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, and American Horror Story to life for the special Halloween event known as Halloween Horror Nights (HHN). 

This year, Murdy has set the bar just as high with creating a total of 8 mazes for guests to experience. The most that Hollywood’s HHN has EVER featured. The properties include Freddy, Jason, Leatherface, Ash Vs. Evil Dead, Saw, American Horror Story, The Horrors of Blumhouse, and the one we are looking forward to the most – The Shining.

Often referred to as one of the movies that would be impossible to recreate in a maze experience, Murdy finally acquired the rights to devise an immersive walkthrough of this classic Stanley Kubrick film. The rights to the intellectual property were just the beginning as Murdy and his team then had to attempt to capture the oppressive foreboding of the slow-burn horror film while balancing the typical jump scares that HHN guests have come to expect.

Door, pre-REDRUM

There was no way to recreate the facade of The Overlook hotel, it is entirely too massive. They, instead, shove you right in into the action with an impressionistic interpretation of the film. The maze will begin in the Labyrinth at the front of the hotel. You are immediately immersed in a vision; a door, scrawled with REDRUM. Guests will feel what it is like to have “The Shine” or the psychic ability to see the past, present, and future . In this case the outlook is pretty much terrifying in any direction and we have to find out way out.

Touring the maze it is staggering the level of detail that has been slathered into it. Murdy and Williams poured over the film to extract even the most subliminal of details to enforce the idea that yes, you were IN The Shining.

Period pictures dot the walls of the Overlook hotel, with sconces on the walls that look as if they were plucked from the screen.

At one point during the tour we notice that all of the hotel room doors are all missing the numeral two. This is because, Williams noticed that the font used for the 2 did not exactly match what is seen, peripherally on the screen. All of the real, brass numbers were pulled and ordered to be redone.

The textiles were also meticulously recreated to match exactly what is seen in the film. At one point we get a tour of the infamous room 237 and are aghast, not by any paranormal activity, but by the 70’s style clash of patterns. You could feel Kubrick’s cold,  geometric aesthetic and the effect is chilling. 

Yes, there is even the infamous “Here’s Johnny” scene.

How does the maze end? Wouldn’t you like to know.

Okay I will tell you.

The maze ends like the film as we try to escape with our lives through the frozen hedge maze.

Jack under wraps

After getting a look at this maze I can say this will easily be one of the major highlights of Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood.  A property that John Murdy and Chris Williams have been working a decade to get has finally come and it will not disappoint. It seems that they have the right balance of classic hauntd house foreboding and startling jump scares, along with the impeccable attention to details and environments that are a Halloween Horror Nights signature.

Halloween Horror Nights kicks off this Friday, September 15th.

Join us for our special VIP Haunt Events! Tickets are going fast.