Insidious: Return to the Further is haunting Universal Studios Hollywood this year.  Featuring scenes from all three Insidious pictures, the maze is the second time producer/director James Wan and Creative Director for Halloween Horror Nights, John Murdy, have chosen to work together in this franchise.  The first was in 2013 with Insidious: Into the Further, which turned out to be one of the highest scoring mazes in Horror Nights history, scaring the pants off of thousands and cementing a reprise.  With the release of the third film, it was a no-brainer that this successful attraction would return in an evolved form.

John Murdy led a tour through the maze recently to explain what guests could expect when traveling back into the mysterious and terrifying world of Insidious.

“We really wanted to get things started right off the bat and get people back into the Further,” explained Murdy. The first room will have no actors but will have indicators that things are getting ghostly.

The entrance resembles the iconic Lambert home from the films. Low-lying fog, fluttering lights, and the sounds of a demonic entity emanating from a baby monitor indicate the presence of paranormal beings. This maze will feature several firsts for Universal Hollywood Halloween Horror Nights, as the creative team devises new ways to terrify guests.

“We are always trying to come up with new ways to scare and new things to do,” explains Murdy. “In this case, we needed fog to crawl the surface of the floor as guests entered the maze.” From a technical standpoint this is a nearly impossible feat to accomplish with dry ice in this setting. “The amount of dry ice we would end up going through would be insane.”

The designers at Universal had to come up with an efficient way to keep fog on the floor as guests shuffled through non-stop, achieving a consistent effect.  “This maze will feature several, what I like to call, ‘science experiments’.” Murdy laughs.

The Black Bride appears in a 50/50 mirror in the entry.

We enter another room where a hospital bed sits, blankets strewn on the floor, with a figure of a young boy on the floor.  Across the room is a camera snapping pictures, trying to capture evidence of ghosts, strobing the room randomly. This is yet another first: in this room, they are combining digital mapping with live actors and triggered effects to deliver something pretty unique.

“If all goes well,” says Murdy, “this is going to be a phenomenal scare.”

Above this scene, a digital projector is used to deliver a one-of-a-kind scare.

Still representing the first film, we then cross over into The Further.  Indicated by a red door, we cross over into the lair of the Red Demon.  Collector of trinkets and children, this monster wants nothing more than to keep everything to himself.

Of course, one of the hallmarks to any Universal Hollywood Halloween Horror Nights maze is the generous amount of set dressing and detail.  Here, the collections of the Red Demon are in piles as guests attempt to find their way out of his hell.

Each of the insidious films is represented here in the new maze.  In fact, it is very clear which film you are experiencing as you go through the maze.  Each transition, from one film into the other, is indicated by red doors or portals that guests navigate through.

Entering the third film, we walk into a red elevator.

Things get even more creepy when the suffocating ghost from the third film begins to terrorize you as you make your way deeper into the maze.  Again, Murdy and his team made sure to include all of the minute details from the films that would further sell the idea that you have entered the movie.

In the corner these origami cranes hang

Soon we find ourselves deep in the inky blackness of The Further again.  Unsettling and mysterious, figures leer at you as you make your way to the finale.

As we concluded the tour, Murdy sat, relaxed, in the center of the finale room.  In front of him, a seance table littered with tools for communicating with the dead. Around him a red, velvet room lined with talisman, occult items, and psychic tools.

“We wanted this final room to feature all three movies and really end the experience with a bang,” Murdy explained.  Loud, chaotic, and terrifying, this will be a seance that has completely gone off the rails.

From what we have seen, the new Insidious: Return to the Further maze will easily maintain the high standard of quality and inventive scares set by the first incarnation of the maze two years ago.  With new effects that have never been attempted before in a maze and an army of nearly 40 actors waiting to terrify, This is going to be a must-see at Halloween Horror Nights.

So far we have delivered sneak peeks at four mazes from the Halloween Horror Nights line-up for 2015.  There was Halloween, Michael Myers Comes Home, Alien Vs Predator, Crimson Peak Maze of Madness, and now Insidious Return to the Further.  Tomorrow, we will be bringing you our final HHN preview article as we interview the folks behind Jabawockeez, the new dance spectacular show featured at the event this year.  We would sincerely like to thank Universal for this privilege.  We would also like to thank Mr. Murdy for the tours, but also for the endless hours of work put into this one-of-a-kind event.  There is nothing else like it.

Mr. Murdy, thank you for the scares!

There you have it for Universal Studios Hollywood’s Halloween Horror Nights new Insidious Return to the Further maze.  It looks like it’s going to be an amazing season.  We are still unsure about a possible HorrorBuzz event at Universal Hollywood’s Halloween Horror Nights this year.  We ARE however holding two amazing events with Knott’s Scary Farm for Saturday the 26th and another with Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor on Saturday October 3rd.  Buy your tickets now for both of those.  They are selling out fast.

To learn more about “Halloween Horror Nights,” click here.
For more information about “Halloween Horror Nights” at Universal Studios Hollywood visit www.HalloweenHorrorNights.com.

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