Welcome to the second Halloween Horror Nights Tracker of 2018. As we settle in we get around to the deeper details of what is coming to Universal Studios Hollywood for HHN, yet there are still PLENTY of questions and speculation. That’s the fun part actually. Trick R Treat and Stranger Things are the two mazes announced, yet there are 6 confirmed mazes headed our way. This week we also get pointers for those auditioning for HHN in July and a little bit of explanation as to why Hollywood rarely sees original ideas for their mazes. Let’s do this!
Auditions
The auditions for Halloween Horror Nights are coming up fast. You had best not party too hard on the 4th.
Seeking:
- Energetic performers to portray various types of monsters throughout Halloween Horror Nights 2018.
- Energetic stilt walkers with intermediate to advanced levels of stilt walking** experience to portray various types of monsters throughout Halloween Horror Nights 2018.
Thursday July 5th, Friday July6th,
Saturday July 7th, 2018
Where: Universal Sheraton Ballrooms (NEW LOCATION)
333 Universal Hollywood Dr., Universal City, CA 91608
Below, Creative Director for Universal Studios Hollywood’s Halloween Horror Nights, John Murdy tweets out pointers from the @HorrorNights Twitter feed.
So I hope you can join us for auditions for HHN 2018 at Universal Studios Hollywood. June is almost over…announcement season kicks back in next month! Here’s the audition link again https://t.co/EaYfqibxnc
— Horror Nights (@HorrorNights) June 29, 2018
Pointers
If you want to be a scareactor you kind of have to approach it like an athlete. Its like training to run a marathon…and HHN is a marathon! You have to have that kind of mentality to be a good scareactor. That’s key
— Horror Nights (@HorrorNights) June 29, 2018
PUT YOUR PHONES AWAY….seriously. When you’re at an audition…its not time for selfies, streaming or anything involving social media. You’re there to audition for a job. You can’t scare and tweet. Well you can try but you wont do either well
— Horror Nights (@HorrorNights) June 29, 2018
And also along those lines…PLEASE DON’T COME IN COSTUME OR CHARACTER MAKE UP!!!! This is not Cosplay! This is not a Con. This is an auditon. Don’t worry…we’ll supply the costumes and make up. We are, after all, professionals….I think.
— Horror Nights (@HorrorNights) June 29, 2018
On along those lines…come dressed to move. You may look great in 8 inch spiked heels but keep em at home. You don’t want anything to inhibit your ability to perform/move.
— Horror Nights (@HorrorNights) June 29, 2018
Waterworld Queue
So we start here, again, at the Waterworld queue. This time, however… WALL!!! Yes, we can safely assume another maze is going into this location, just outside the Waterworld spectacular arena. It still amazes us how great this show is, despite the movie being relatively forgotten. Nice work you guys. But I digress. No news on what this maze is just yet. Any guesses?
Parisian Courtyard
So, we arrive at the Parisian Courtyard to see a strange cone-like entrance. Speculation ran rampant as we posseted the question…
What the what is this Mr. Murdy? @HorrorNights pic.twitter.com/kvAk5fGflj
— HorrorBuzz (@Horror_Buzz) June 28, 2018
Murdy’s response made us giddy with happiness. Although, we are pretty sure this is not true. Alas…
A giant cafe mocha for a new Starbucks maze
— Horror Nights (@HorrorNights) June 28, 2018
Our freinds IsItOctoberYet posed a more plausible outcome.
Looks like a fez, so obviously the not announced yet Evil Monkey maze
— IsItOctoberYet? (@IsItOctoberYet) June 28, 2018
Well I did buy a fez at Monsterpalooza
— Horror Nights (@HorrorNights) June 28, 2018
Still nothing much else to see from the other angles around the location.
Trick R Treat
So far, the maze that is, visibly, furthest along is Trick R Treat. With sets up, and scenic coming together, we can’t wait to walk through what is arguably one of the best Halloween movies ever made.
Maze construction in full swing, scenic is beginning on Trick R Treat this week, the first of the mazes to begin that process so far this year…
— Horror Nights (@HorrorNights) June 18, 2018
Stranger Things
Recently Murdy confirmed that the Stranger Things maze will be located on the lower lot, inside Stage 29. This is just behind Transformers. Meaning we will snake around the backside of that attraction and enter a fully controlled soundstage for what could be a very impressive experience.
Sound stage 29 behind Transformers
— Horror Nights (@HorrorNights) June 22, 2018
We figured out a cool way to do the Upside Down, thanks to the creativity of our special effects team. We looked at a bunch of different ways of achieving that and through a process of trial and error came up with an awesome solution.
— Horror Nights (@HorrorNights) June 13, 2018
Because of Jurassic Park’s upgrade to Jurassic World, that extended queue will, in fact, be unusable during the fall.
Considering Jurassic park will be closed in September, will that venue be unavailable during hhn?
— Levi (@sweet_tortilla) June 22, 2018
Yes. Got Stage 29 instead
— Horror Nights (@HorrorNights) June 22, 2018
Metro Sets
Moving on down to the Metro Sets area, we see three mazes in varying stages of construction all in the same general spots as the previous year.
Terror Tram
While Murdy has confirmed that the Terror Tram will follow the same, tired route, he hints at something promising. It will be an original concept, part of which was written in verse. What the heck? The Terrors of Shakespeare? How the Grinch Stole Halloween?
Terror Tram is gonna be original. Writing it right now
— Horror Nights (@HorrorNights) June 22, 2018
Finished writing the video script for Terror Tram…with a large section of it written in verse. Now working on the treatment…the last major piece of writing I have left to do on HHN 2018!
— Horror Nights (@HorrorNights) June 22, 2018
Still writing Terror Tram treatment…but almost done. I’ll try to post my annual HHN audition tips soon! Better be soon. Auditions are right after the 4th of July!
— Horror Nights (@HorrorNights) June 27, 2018
Q & A
As Mr. Murdy does every year, he has opened up again for Questions and Answers. Most of the time it is an assortment of abstract details that only the most passionate of fans dive into. This time though, we actually got a bit of an explanation as to why we out here in Hollywood tend not to get original mazes. Kind of a bummer, but at the same time, we only have ourselves to blame I guess.
OK. Been a while so I’m gonna do some HHN Q&A. Tweet me your questions for HHN Hollywood, past…present but obviously not, “what’s the next maze being announced?” I’ll answer as many as I can. Ready, steady, go (and PS…it’s 11PM here so be quick!)
— Horror Nights (@HorrorNights) June 22, 2018
I’ve always been really excited for original mazes, or even original takes on film based mazes, because I’m consistently surprised as to what unfolds inside-I don’t know how it ends. I know how successful IP based mazes are, any chance of originals down the line?
— Jimmy Ford (@jimmychanga90) June 22, 2018
I’d like to but they never rate as high with the guests as well known ones so you have to know your audeince and try and given them what they want to see
— Horror Nights (@HorrorNights) June 23, 2018
There you have it. HHN Tracker number 2 is in the books and we have 6 mazes total happening right now. watch the video for more details and imagery of the mazes in the Metro Sets. Until next time, we will see you in the fog!
