This past weekend at ScareLA, Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights creative director John Murdy and art director Chris Williams shared a detailed rundown of what to expect of their latest maze masterpiece: Universal Monsters, debuting this year.
As lifelong fans of these iconic monsters, this duo along with help from Dark Universe, Universal Pictures, and masters of their craft like artist Crash McCreery who is one of the greatest creature designers in Hollywood and Patrick McGee, special effects artist and sculptor.
The following includes spoilers from the upcoming Universal Monsters maze at Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights.
The films (and their characters) to be included in this maze are: The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Phantom of the Opera, Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, The Invisible Man, The Bride of Frankenstein, The Son of Frankenstein, and The Wolfman.
When conceptualizing this maze, they had to figure out how to bring all of these monsters from different locations together and decided upon having them all inside a castle. It would allow for them to utilize rooms you would typically find in a castle to fit for each character (like a music room for the Phantom of the Opera) They also had to decide where the maze should begin. Naturally, in true classic horror movie fashion, they decided to start with a graveyard.
The maze will start out in a graveyard that was inspired London’s Highgate Cemetery. Big tombstones, creepy statuary covered in dead vines will be the main aesthetic of this area. This won’t just be any cemetery however, but will be the final resting place of all of the Universal Monsters. By entering the area, the monsters will be awakened from their eternal sleep and will be ready to attack those who disturbed them grave site.
The first monster you face is Frankenstein’s monster. The way the duo wanted to approach the character was to highlight the fact that he is a reanimated corpse made up of multiple corpses and jolted to life via electricity. They used the work of The Walking Dead’s Greg Nicotero and images of Frankenstein from later films where he is lit on fire.
After you get through the cemetery, you come to a crypt and go inside (ala Bride of Frankenstein). Once you venture further, you realize this is the crypt of Maria, the little girl accidentally killed by Frankenstein’s monster. Frankenstein has also wandered into her crypt looking for her… and has found her… or what is left of her. Yikes! Others that have been buried come alive and prepare to attack the living. Then, someone else invades the crypt: The Wolfman.
Once again, John and Chris really broke down story of The Wolfman and wanted to represent what the story and character are all about- the beast within. As they explained during the panel, the story was written by a Jewish man and the film came out in 1941. It was written to be a metaphor for what was happening in the world at the time, when it seemed that there were men in the world turning into actual beasts due to their unspeakable acts of evil. With this, John and Chris conceptualized a Wolfman that represent the transformation from man to aggressive monster.
Next you make your way to Frankenstein’s castle, but much like in The Bride of Frankenstein, it’s already deteriorating due the the villagers that have done their best to bring it to the ground. Chris Williams worked his magic in this scene, making sure that as you approach the castle, you see all of its signs of decomposition. He and his team worked to make the castle it’s own character and with the use of fire, smoke, projections and the front facade, it sounds like they nailed it.
Before entering, you have to get past the angry villagers that have been designed to look like what you’d expect the wild, frantic peasant villagers to look like (unlike the villagers in the film that charged the castle wearing suits and fedoras as John amusingly pointed out). Inside the castle, you run into Frankenstein again and an area that says “vault”. Inside is a film vault containing all of the monster films as well as a projector. The villagers are there to burn it all down.
As you head through the castle, you start going down hallways and come across the next monster: The Invisible Man. Using UV and fluorescent light like Chris and John used in an effect for their Halloween II maze, they bring the Invisible Man to life. You can hear organ music playing in the distance which is a hint to who the next character in the castle will be: The Phantom of the Opera.
For their inspiration for the Phantom and his disfigured face, they looked to characters like Two-Face from the Batman franchise to really showcase that acid burn for the Phantom. In his music room in the maze, you find him behind his organ waiting for you.
After the music room, you enter the banquet room where find the blood feast of Dracula and his brides. The amount of blood used in this room will top the amount used in last year’s The Shining elevator scene, which was about eight gallons. The duo chose to create Dracula with a drug addict in mind. “Like anyone that has an addiction, to meth, for instance, they show that addiction on their face, so Dracula and his brides have that same addiction, but it’s just to a different drug of choice. For them it’s blood- they are addicted to blood” John Murdy explained. The masks created for these characters sound creepy as all get-out, with every vein in the human face being visible through translucent silicone.
Once you make it out of the banquet room, you come across the collection room, where artwork and artifacts are kept, including a sarcophagus. Here is where we meet the Mummy. For this character, John and Chris wanted to highlight the fact that the mummification process used to bury ancient Egyptians alive was a gruesome, agonizing process and that horror and pain should show on your face, and did in the cases John and Chris used as examples after lots of research. In this room, we also meet Renfield, who the guys wanted to look like The Man Who Laughs played by Conrad Veidt.
As you near the end of the maze, you head towards the laboratory. You hear the villagers and sounds you’d expect to hear from a madman’s laboratory, as well as see a chaotic jumble of wire and the like. You run into Igor, whose inspiration comes from The Baron from Dune, showcasing his repulsive appearance. He tries to stop you from entering the lab, but you make it through and find Dr. Frankenstein himself waiting for you.
You find Dr. Frankenstein working frantically to assemble his newest creation, The Bride of Frankenstein. At the top of the lab you once again see Frankenstein’s Monster with his hand on a big switch. Right before flipping the switch, he says “We belong dead” and blows everyone up. A true gentleman, indeed.
Due to where the maze is located, right outside the maze is a street called French Street. Since both The Phantom of the Opera and The Hunchback of Notre Dame take place in France, the creative team decided to make a monster masquerade scare zone that is attached to the maze. The Hunchback will be present and representing the King of Fools festival as found in his story, as well as other characters representing the rest of the monsters in their own style, like an Egyptian character, a vampire, etc. A Red Death version of the Phantom of the Opera will oversee the masquerade in more ways than one- the character is set to be approximately 8 feet tall.
John Murdy, Chris Williams, Slash, and Stacey Quinealty discuss the music created for Universal Monster maze.
Just when I thought this maze couldn’t be any more incredible, I was reminded that legendary guitarist Slash created the music for the maze. I was reminded because John and Chris brought audio producer Stacey Quinealty and Slash out on stage! They walked us through the music making process from start to finish and played some of the previously unshared music for us. I want to do it all justice, so I will write up a separate article for all of that goodness. All I know is that there is no way I am only going through this maze only once. I might spend my entire Halloween season wandering this maze. I don’t care if that sounds dramatic… it is seriously going to be THAT amazing!
Universal Studios Hollywood Halloween Horror Nights is select nights starting September 14, 2018. Tickets can be purchased HERE.
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