Is it really already June??? That’s a good thing because that means we get to start tracking the horror goodness happening at Universal Studios Hollywood as they prepare for their annual Halloween Horror Nights event. Last year, after closing HHN 2017, Universal Creative Director, John Murdy, wasted no time as he began working on HHN 2018 in November. Yeah. As he says repeatedly, “Horror Never Sleeps.”
What we know
We start the HHN Tracker 2018 catching up with Murdy’s prolific twitter feed and recounting the more noteworthy announcements. In short, there have been two maze announcements already; Stranger Things and Trick R’ Treat. They are off to a rockin’ start. But in this update, there are 4 mazes that we have discovered in varying stages of construction.
Murdy brings us up to speed recently stating…
Still writing…been writing since November 2017…that’s seven straight months! Longest stretch in the 13 years I’ve been doing this event. But we are moving into production with four mazes in construction, make up kicking off, and spfx getting mocked up
— Horror Nights (@HorrorNights) June 13, 2018
Stranger Things (Location unknown)
Yes, the pop culture phenomenon, Stranger Things, is coming to Halloween Horror Nights. The internet nearly broke when the announcement was made back in April. We still arent too sure where this will be going though.
This year’s NHHl?s????u?# is going to be ‘Stranger’ than ever… https://t.co/SxOIgWKeFi
— Horror Nights (@HorrorNights) April 3, 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
Trick R’ Treat
Seriously we flaked on this one in getting pics. You can check the video and get something a lot better though. This maze, located behind the Mummy attraction, carries with it a tremendous expectation. One of the most beloved Halloween films ever made, Trick R’ Treat promises to take guests into the terrifying world where the rules of Halloween must be abided. Sounds great to us.
Sam can’t wait to meet all the rule-breakers that will be at #UniversalHHN this year. You can’t say we didn’t warn you. pic.twitter.com/FUy3Hh4odk
— Horror Nights (@HorrorNights) May 16, 2018
Terror Tram
Jumping back to the first bits of news on the Terror Tram we get a look at some new furniture.
Working on Terror Tram this week…taking my newly arrived Victorian writing desk for a test drive! pic.twitter.com/0e61d9tGfY
— Horror Nights (@HorrorNights) May 29, 2018
Parisian Courtyard
The most visible construction in the park right now is at the Parisian Courtyard. This spot of the park sits just to the left of the Universal Plaza and near The Walking Dead attraction. Walled off, there really isn’t much else to see aside from the facade.
By the way, we are in construction on two mazes now…Trick R Treat behind The Mummy ride and ???? over in Parisian Courtyard.
— Horror Nights (@HorrorNights) May 30, 2018
What we don’t Know
Things are still relatively early at this point. We don’t know just yet if there will be a maze constructed in the Waterworld queue, nor do we know if the extended queue of Jurassic Park will be used. The popular water ride will be going down at the end of summer for its makeover to Jurassic World: The Ride.
Let’s go see if anything is happening…
Nope. So, on we go to the lower lot by way of the Studio Tour.
Backlot
Over the past few years, the use of the Backlot has become a Halloween Horror Nights staple. Here we generally get 3 mazes. As we drive by the former location of last year’s American Horror Story: Roanoke we see the familiar beginnings of horror.
Next, in the spot of last years Ash VS Evil Dead (may the show rest in peace) we see another tent popping up.
Treatments
Along the way we will be hearing a lot of HHN jargon. One of the ones Murdy uses most, in the beginning, is the term “treatment.” What’s that? Well, essentially it is a play by play of everything that the guest will see. Think of those maze walkthroughs you look up but in written form.
Just finished writing treatment for maze #3 (well converting the outline into the treatment). Came in at a hearty 95 pages. Now on to the next. Gonna be writing treatments for the next 6 weeks…or until my fingers fall off!
— Horror Nights (@HorrorNights) May 2, 2018
Just finished another treatment. This one came in at a surprisingly slim 61 pages! Now tomorrow I have to turn my attention back to Terror Tram…gotta revisit that before starting in on the next maze treatment. Been writng pretty much non-stop for 6 months now! Crazy!
— Horror Nights (@HorrorNights) May 23, 2018
Here’s what’s going on behind the scenes right now. Now that all the maze outlines are done (and all the drawing packages are either done or in development), turning my attention back to writing the full treatments…
— Horror Nights (@HorrorNights) April 27, 2018
…the maze outlines are pretty much just the narrative of the experience written from the guest POV. The treatment is capturing every detail, scenic, props, audio, lighting, spfx, video, etc. Everything going into the maze has to be captured…which takes TIME!
— Horror Nights (@HorrorNights) April 27, 2018
That’s hard enough for a movie but when it’s a TV show like Stranger Things…it takes a lot longer. Have to capture time code for each sound, dialog, piece of music we might use for the maze. The audio cue list for Stranger Things alone is 14 pages long!
— Horror Nights (@HorrorNights) April 27, 2018
Today I finished maze treatment number 2, which came in at a whopping 136 pages. I think that’s a record for longest treatment but I’ll leave that to the Twitterverse of HHN fans (since you usually know better than me). Is it a record?
— Horror Nights (@HorrorNights) April 27, 2018
There you have it, folks! I have to apologize, this article would normally have gone up on Friday. But, since we had the Kung-Fu Panda report to share we held this until today. Please, if you have questions, comment below. Don’t forget to subscribe to our HorrorBuzz YouToube Channel and if you really like what we are doing here on the site, consider contributing to 0ur Patreon page. It keeps the lights on here at HorrorBuzz headquarters and means to world to us.
Next week we will be attempting the first tracker from Knott’s Berry Farm for 2018. Get ready folks, it’s beginning.
See you in the fog.
