Every year, around this time, about a week or two before Halloween Horror Nights kicks off simultaneously  at Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal Orlando Resort, we get a peek inside the masterful creations of immersive horror. This year, Universal Studios Hollywood Halloween Horror Nights has what many are calling the best line up the event has ever had; 6 mazes including Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Blood Brothers, Halloween: Hell Comes to Haddonfield, The Exorcist, Freddy Vs. Jason, Krampus, and American Horror Story. Of course, that is not to mention the newly installed year-round The Walking Dead attraction, bringing the tally to 7 mazes.

We meet Creative Director for Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights, John Murdy, on the New York Streets area of the Backlot along with a few other invited press for a tour through what is one of this years most anticipated mazes, American Horror Story. Smiling Murdy greeted the group and began to talk to us about what we are about to see.

The American Horror Story maze pulls from 3 of the 5 previously aired seasons; Murder House, Freak Show, and Hotel. Bare steel framing flanked the entrance to the maze which Murdy explained will soon be encased by a facade that is being fabricated off-site. The entrance will look like the Murder House from season one.

Standing outside the largest maze tent erected this year, we are advised that much of the maze is still very much under construction. What’s more, the power is off in the maze, meaning lighting is poor. To add to that, photos were restricted to specific areas. We were asked to refrain from shooting pictures of scenes that were still draped in plastic construction masking. That is to say photographing was a challenge.

We enter the first segment and Murdy explains that, prior to each segment, we will be told which season we are entering via cleverly themed video screens.

“There is one thing I latched onto about each of the American Horror Story seasons,” Murdy said, “So here, whether you in Murder House, Hotel, or Freak Show, you are always arriving on Halloween Night.”

Entering Season 1’s Murder House, he explains that the character, Addy, will be warning us as she did in the pilot episode, “You’re gonna die in there.” Nice. The art of distilling each of the seasons became apparent as we went from a normal looking hallway to a scorched children’s room.  This is a scene depicting Larry Harvey murdering his family by setting them on fire.

“What’s cool about the show (Murder House) is that it goes through different time periods,” Murdy said. “It’s all about the spirits in the house and the spirits that are haunting the house. So it jumps back and forth in time periods. It allows us to do the radical jumps environmentally within the house.”  After leaving the charred bedroom, we pass through a modernized bathroom that will feature a scare from the Piggy Man, then right into the 1920’s Montgomery House version of the home.

Of course, we next run into Dr. Montgomery. Busy with his many experiments, we are exposed to the gruesome and ghoulish monstrosities here.

What is fascinating, even up to this point, were the varied environments we had been through.  We entered what seemed like a classic 1920’s style mansion, that was then a 1994 nursery burnt to a crisp, then in a modernized bathroom in that same home, then down into the basement. Despite still being under construction, the detailed work by Art Director Chris Williams is shining already. The clean architectural touches in the hallways to the worn brick in the basement, things seem authentic. Along the tour we are seeing sections of the maze have received set dressing.

Rounding a final corner in the Murder House, Murdy stops and points to a pile of bric-a-brac. Murdy explained that they devised a fiendish scare that would offer super-fans of the show a special treat

“Ryan (Murphy) came up with this great idea,” explained Murdy.” In the first season, Constance, played by Jessica Lange, mentions that she had four children. They cast the part, they shot scenes, but, as often times happens, this character’s scenes got left on the cutting room floor. But they still left that line of dialogue in the show. Ryan thought it would be a great idea to have the fourth child of Constance come after you as you were leaving the final scene in the Murder House.”

We turn a corner and are in a forested section of the maze. We have entered Freak Show’s Season 4, and have just come across the scene in which the supremely disturbing Twisty the Clown has attacked a couple in broad daylight, bringing their picnic to a screeching halt. Up ahead, we see Twisty’s hideout, a rundown school bus that is shrouded in branches and overgrowth.

Sculpted by Kuka arm, Twisty’s hideout was totally fabricated from foam, then painted. The realism here is phenomenal, as you could not tell that it was anything but a rusted over heap of junk. Again, a perfect example of the movie magic that Universal can pull off.

As you recall, the maze takes place on Halloween night.  Hence, we arrive at the Freak Show as Mordrake is summoned. Those familiar with the show will remember that it was verboten for freaks to perform on the 31st of October so as not to summon Edward Mordrake. It was said that, if they did, Mordrake would come and steal a member of the living to the spirit realm.

We enter the gapping mouth of the Freak Show tent to what Murdy describes as a gory scene on stage.  Here Chester Creb will be sawing his assistant in half at the behest of his dummy, Marjorie. While in the tent we will even get to run into Dandy. We won’t tell you where though.

We finally move on to the final segment of the maze based on season 5, Hotel.  Staring Lady Gaga as a vampire countess, Hotel took place in the Hotel Cortez, an art deco styled lodge with a wickedly sinister cast of residents. This seemed to feature what would be the most challenging of sets. But things are kept tight, and eerie, not grandiose and glamorous.

A hidden flat screen heralds the entry of Hotel (Season 5)

“We are arriving at the Hotel Cortez on Devil’s Night,” explains Murdy. “So you will be hearing all of the stuff that is going on here.” Motioning to the art deco doors on either side of the hallway, Murdy explains, “Here you will be attacked by Lady Gaga’s character, The Countess.”

The key character in season 5 wasn’t The Countess. Instead it was Mr. James March, the designer of the Hotel Cortez.  A sinister man, he took cues from H.H. Holmes and designed an entire building that would facilitate his fascination with torture and death. By that token, we as guests at Halloween Horror Nights arrive at the trophy room scene of the Ten Commandments killer.

We then wander further into March’s machinations of terror by wandering into the section of the hotel that he sealed off.

Standing in the last scene of the maze, which we will not spoil, Murdy explained that it was a pretty daunting task to whittle things down for this maze. Murdy had said that when they originally decided to pursue American Horror Story, he met with Director of Entertainment for Universal Orlando, Mike Aiello, to discuss the project. It became clear that they were both on the same page as far as how to handle the material. The unfortunate reality of the matter is that, while we would love to go through each and every moment of the show that we hold dear, it just isn’t feasible.  Murdy and Aiello had to select the seasons they liked the best from the 5 available, then they had to narrow each season down to four or five key scenes.

Murdy and Aiello pitched the idea to Show Creator, Ryan Murphy in February and he was immediately on board, even throwing his own ideas on the table.

“When we met with Ryan Murphy,” Murdy remembers, “We asked if he’d ever been to Horror Nights.” Murdy smiled, “He goes, ‘Are you kidding? I go every year!” Yes, even the people creating the movies that terrify us are fans of Horror Nights. This fan base is one that will only continue to grow as long as there is a nightmare left in the world.

Tickets to this year’s event are available for purchase at www.HalloweenHorrorNights.com/Hollywood, including the Frequent Fear Pass which allows guests to visit multiple times throughout the event.

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