On a mercifully cool 90º F Hollywood afternoon, Universal Studios Hollywood’s Halloween Horror Nights creative director John Murdy, met a group of press for a sneak peek at the new “The Horrors of Blumhouse” haunted house. A double dose of terror, “The Horrors of Blumhouse” haunted houses will bring to life Blumhouse’s supernatural thriller The Black Phone and horror-comedy Freaky for brave visitors in Hollywood and Orlando. The frightening event begins at Universal Orlando Resort on September 2 and at Universal Studios Hollywood on September 8.
We approach the stout facade for “The Horrors of Blumhouse” fashioned to look like an abandoned strip mall video rental shop. Murdy explains that due to the location in the extended queue of the Waterworld show, height is limited. The concept here is that we are entering an abandoned video store in an equally abandoned strip mall that only rents copies of the Blumhouse movies FREAKY and THE BLACK PHONE.
We enter the first room and it is a title card introducing the first chapter of the house, FREAKY. Those familiar with the film will catch the nuances. In short, serial killer “The Butcher” has switched bodies with a high school girl after being cursed by The La Dola Dagger. Bloody hijinks ensue.
There was a particular hurdle that Murdy needed to overcome which is the idea that a young girl and a murderer have switched bodies. Through the use if peek-in vignettes we will catch the origins of the dagger’s curse while careening through modern-day mayhem. There is also a clever use of mirrored sets and mismatched set decoration. In a scene that depicts both the girl’s room and The Butcher’s lair, we pass through an effervescent pink-tinted room that features some rather gritty accouterments. This is followed by a turn into a stark nightmarish den with a lovely bed set.
At one point we enter a show scene that would employ a scrim effect that would reveal a grotesque scene just on the other side of the walls when the lights are switched up. Murdy points out the lengths that the creative team goes through to color match existing painted walls with a printed screen that will seem to disappear before visitors’ eyes.
We round a corner into the Woodshop class scene and it is here that Murdy gets a little giddy, showing off a new mechanical effect. As one actor in the scene pushes the body on the table pictures below, the figure’s head splits as if being cut by a saw blade. Super cool.
We then enter the world of The Black Phone and this creates a challenge as a film with a singular location. Still Murdy and team seem to have found a way to make it happen. The sequence begins with walls plastered with missing kid posters. Sharp-eyed Halloween Horror NIghts fans will spot a few easter eggs in here.
Visitors will enter the Grabber’s home, pass through the living room, and head into the kitchen.
Here, Murdy demonstrates how an actor portraying The Grabber will sit in a chair next to the phone as guests sneak by.
Then we head to the basement. It is here that Murdy points out the work of art director Chris Williams who seems to have gotten into floor treatments this year in many of the houses.
We enter the basement set and pass through the next to last scene in the house.
We look forward to covering Halloween Horror Nights for you on both coasts as the frightening event begins at Universal Orlando Resort on September 2 and at Universal Studios Hollywood on September 8.
