Welcome back Halloween Horror Nights fans. Today we return to The Further to deliver a tour of the new Insidious 4: Beyond the Further maze exclusively at Universal Studios Hollywood HHN. The maze is based on the still-in-production film that is now titled Insidious: The Last Key. Trailer below.

Creative Director of Halloween Horror Nights, John Murdy stood before the unrecognizable facade for the maze and chuckled, “This one was so funny. The fans were trying to guess what the maze was and it was to a film that hadn’t even come out yet.” Construction on the maze began in May, months before any trailers to the film were released, and as usual, long before any announcement.

Having read the script for the upcoming film, Murdy was again drawn to the world of The Further and the many scary possibilities that it held. In the new film Parapsychologist Dr. Elise Rainier (Lin Shaye) faces her most fearsome and personal haunting yet – in her own family home in New Mexico. Drawn to the variety of environments, at least three are required for even the slightest consideration for adapting a property into an HHN maze, Murdy also noted that every Insidious maze performed well at the event. 

There was a slight risk. With a film that was still in development, and one with a target release date that came well after the event began, what they were developing for the maze could easily become obsolete with script changes and rewrites. Despite the possibility that things could change, Murdy and the team decided to push forward and design and produce a terrifying walkthrough attraction that featured the fourth film, but that also recalled the first three films, including all of the ghosts from the previous film.

That’s when Insidious 4 was pushed from an October 2017 release to a January 2018 release. Changes were inevitable and nearly inescapable at this point. Yet, Murdy still believed that the property was flexible and strong enough to continue with the project. We are pretty sure he is right.

The maze begins in the childhood home of Dr. Elise Rainier, in New Mexico. we wander through the 1950’s craftsman as ominous flickers of paranormal activity dot the foyer. Turning in to the living room we begin to get the full-on supernatural treatment as a radio crackles on about the cold war and Sputnik.

Venturing into the laundry room, we come in contact with a character known in early drafts of the script as Duck Boy. Whether or not he will make it to the actual film is another story, but Murdy thought he was creepy enough to reference. It is here that we will be getting another signature HHN element, smell. This room will smell of laundry detergent.

Of course, being the 1950’s and New Mexico, there is a bomb shelter. Apparently a major set piece in the new movie, we witness a grizzly murder here.

We then venture into The Further by way of the ubiquitous red door portal. This is where the maze brings back familiar faces and ghosts from the previous films. We will have the Red Demon, the Breather Ghost, and the Black Bride among others.

The maze ends in a relentless grand finale that directly references the climax of the fourth movie. A prison within The Further populated by malevolent spirits. 

Not Martha Stewart in the cell.

We couldn’t be more excited to be returning to the murky realm of The Further. Say what you will of the films, the mazes have been nothing but consistently inventive and terrifying. Murdy explained having a maze for a film that isn’t out yet as sort of a trailer for the movie that you can step into and experience. We are BEYOND excited to return.

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