Showing posts with label Halloween Horror Nights 22. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Halloween Horror Nights 22. Show all posts

Saturday, August 4, 2012

Penn & Teller House Coming to Halloween Horror Nights

Universal has now confirmed four houses for Halloween Horror Nights 22.  They announced Silent, then The Walking Dead, Alice Cooper, and most recently, Penn and Teller.  So far, each rumored house has been dead on (pun intended.)  This leaves three houses for the Universal Orlando event unannounced, but Universal seems to have gotten the licensed houses out of the way.



Penn and Teller's "New(kd) Las Vegas is the latest house announced for annual Orlando Halloween event.  The house will utilize 3D effects and feature a Las Vegas fallen victim to a Penn and Teller trick gone awry.

An excerpt from Universal's Press Release:

This fall, Penn & Teller invite Halloween Horror Nights guests to step into a dark, dilapidated and radioactive version of “Sin City,” as if one of their magic tricks has gone terribly awry and the city has been covered in nuclear ooze. Concepted by the duo themselves, the maze will feature the best of Vegas – showgirls, slot machines, little white wedding chapel, all-you-can-eat buffet, and more – all glowing with a toxic green hue.

“Universal Horror Nights can scare the living Elvis out of you, and me & Teller, well, we've been known to take things a bit too far.  Now we're working together on showing you what it would be like to live in a post-nuclear explosion Sin City.  C'mon by, but remember, you're not playing with children here,” said Penn Jillette, the larger, louder half of the duo.

“We’ve done more than just tap into the wildly creative minds of Penn & Teller, the most influential illusionists in the world. We’ve been working really closely with them. You are literally going to hear Penn directing you through this toxic wasteland before coming face-to-face with both Penn & Teller in this jarring 3D experience,” said Jim Timon, Senior Vice President of Entertainment at Universal Orlando Resort.
In an article by the Huffington Post, it was mentioned that Penn and Teller themselves plan to be in the House as much as possible which is very exciting.

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

New HHN Permit Filed: More Questions than Answers



Universal filed a new Halloween Horror Nights maze permit today.  The problem is, the project name is the same as it was before "HHN 2012-BLD44 Herc&Xena.  It looks as if Universal is playing games with us again!


So, is it for Soundstage 33 or the Parade Building?  Casting and a few moves backstage suggest the Parade Building. I guess we will find out soon enough!

Follow us on Twitter @Parkscope and @CaptMichael87

Monday, July 23, 2012

"Alice Cooper Goes 2 Hell 3D" 4 Universal HHN 2012

Tonight on a webcast, Alice Cooper has announced a new HHN maze for the 2012 season, per HHN AddictOrlandoUnited and Inside the Magic. The maze will be in both Universal Studios Florida and Hollywood.

Last year Alice Cooper: Welcome To My Nightmare was a maze in Universal Studios Hollywood, where each room was based on a song by Alice Cooper.

Not much more is known until Universal releases more information, but until then here's the 1978 episode of The Muppet Show with Alice Cooper.

I seriously hope this is in the maze.

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Humanity

I have a confession to make: I really don’t care for anything horror related. I’ve never seen a Saw movie, never touched any Screams or anything by Rob Zombie. The closest I’ve come was Shaun of the Dead, which lets be honest, is on the horror scale up there with the Bratz movie (for different reasons, of course).


Image copyright Universal. YES, UNIVERSAL. WHY DO YOU NOT HAVE THIS AS A HHN HOUSE?

This also means I’ve never cared for, let alone been to, a halloween amusement park event. No Halloweekends, no Fight Fest, and especially no Halloween Horror Nights. Could it be my life is chaotic as it is, and I demand control at all times? Or that I naturally wish everyone is good and pure? I could fill several sessions worth of topics with my psychologist on this.



Image copyright Disney. This is my limit for 'horror'.
See, I don’t have much exposure with horror; but I do know of the movies, themes, and memes of horror in pop culture. I know about Jigsaw and playing games, psychos with chainsaws, and summer camp stories. And whatever you do, DO NOT MAKE OUT IN A PARKED CAR IN THE WOODS. Bad news.
As such, I know of the Walking Dead. The popular graphic novel turned AMC show has been a hit for years now. And now it’s part HHN scare house. Ok cool, I could get behind that.


Image copyright Universal. All rights reserved.
But I can’t.
Today I was listening to the GiantBombcast and the topic of the new Walking Dead came up. They praised it’s story telling and the impact your choices have on the world, but mentioned something really really interesting. There are very few zombies in the game. In fact, this is true of the novels and TV show.
The Zombies of the Walking Dead are a means to an end; the Walking Dead could just have easily been a killer asteroid or bubonic plague. The zombies are a means to an end of exploring the nature of human relationships, the bonds of family, and that we are the real monsters. Yet, as I look at the concept and PR release for the HHN house, I just can’t stop thinking Universal just doesn’t get it.


Image copyright Universal. HHN 19, sponsored by Home Depot.
Comedy lets you talk about the uncomfortable topics of our time, action is a pure revenge fantasy against the system or others, and horror has always shown what defines us as humans. Frankenstein, Dawn of the Dead, and yes Shawn of the Dead, show what it means to be human and interacting with a society at large, even one in disrepair.
Universal seems intent on focusing only on the zombie quotient of the Walking Dead. They are erecting a few hallmark locations of the novel and show, adding some zombie actors, then letting you walk around. This will probably entertain enough, but this seems like a waste if it's just a maze.
I am not privy to the plans of HHN coordinators, nor do I offer any consulting work (thank god). But Universal is missing a real opportunity to explore some dark depths of who we are, what we think of our fellow ‘survivors’, and most importantly, what we decide we stand for. I hope Universal has more surprises up its sleeve and really wows me. I hope we see real, honest, smart survivor actors in the house, who make us choose how we want the events to unfold. The best thing they can chose is to limit the zombies to a brief, tense encounter, one that is lead up to by deep character moments and hard choices.


Image copyright Capcom.
Will this happen? Who knows. I'm split. Some of their promotional imagery suggests it might, and a Jim Hill interview gives high hopes. Other bits hint that it will just be zombies, zombies, zombies. If Universal is only interested in the cheap thrill of brain eating, though, why not chose Resident Evil? It fits in with the video game theme of this year’s HHN and probably is cheaper, royalty wise.
I am being very picky right now. But I think it’s something worth thinking about. What if we really introduced some themes of humanity and being pushed to our socio limits. This is such a strong concept that, I think, it could be a haunted house attraction perfect for year around operation...

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

The Walking Dead Coming to HHN

©2012 Universal Orlando. All Rights Reserved

The hit TV show/comic series The Walking Dead will be coming this year to Halloween Horror Nights 22! Rumored for months, we finally have confirmation today in the form of a website update! With this and Silent Hill, this year is looking to be very exciting so far!

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Halloween Horror Night Site Update 7/17/12

©2012 Universal Orlando.  All Rights Reserved.

Universal Orlando's Halloween Horror Night's 22 website has been updated to include Silent Hill and a blurb about the event overview.

On Monday, an iconic Silent Hill nurse was added to the front page.  Unlike the nurse from the Hollywood HHN site, the Orlando nurse is Hollywood's modest twin and has her cleavage covered.  Boobs...the HORROR!

©2012 Universal Hollywood.  All Rights Reserved.

Today, the event overview was updated to include:

On select evenings, Universal Studios Florida® will transform into the nation’s premier Halloween event. Escape infection as you make your way through all-new haunted houses, spine-chilling scare zones and live shows, all while a horde of flesh-eating zombies prowls the darkened studio streets. There’s truly no better way to meet your end than at Halloween Horror Nights.
This confirms that zombies will indeed be featured in this year's event and possibly quite prominently.  Sean offers this observation:
 "What if they're going for a more "interactive" experience this year. Silent Hill is being touted like no other, and the "Your Alternate Ending Awaits" along with "Escape infection" just seems like there could be a touch of that this year. Of course it's probably just PR speak...but it would be really, really cool if they could somehow pull it off."
The entire Parkscope Staff will be attending HHN the first weekend of October.  Plan accordingly.  Also, follow us on Twitter @Parkscope.

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Silent Hill House Announced for Halloween Horror Nights

© 2012 Universal Studios. © 2012 Universal Orlando. © 2012 Konami. All rights reserved. 


Today at the Silent Hill press event at Comic Con, the first official house of Universal's 2012 Halloween Horror Nights was announced.  Both Universal Studios Florida and Hollywood will be getting houses based on the video game turned movie franchise, Silent Hill.  Universal and Silent Hill creator Konami will be working together to bring Silent Hill to life at Halloween Horror Nights.

Watch Universal Orlando's Jim Timon and Hollywood's John Murdy announce Silent Hill:




At the event, it was announced that the houses will feature "movie quality sets."

Keep checking Parkscope for future updates on Halloween Horror Nights and follow us on Twitter @Parkscope.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

7/10/2012 HHN Update

Update from today's auditions! Seems like anywhere from 7-8 houses, and the inverse number of scarezones.

SS33 seems to be taking the place of the fallen SS44, and it's believed that one of the original SS's listed in the permits will be a dual run house, in my opinion based around this year's "icons". Yes, plural. The wild card is something listed as "DG" on the house list. But this could also be a scarezone misplaced by a source.

Now, the scare zone information was listed under these acronyms:

CP
LP
BY
LG
SO
Zones

No one really knows what they mean. So speculate away!

UPDATE from Michael:  I am still trying to figure out how permits work, and I do not follow the HHN permits very closely, but the Soundstage 44 Haunt permit was amended on June 29th to have Soundstage 44 removed from the project.  Yesterday, July 9th, it was updated by the Fire inspector.  I am speculating/guessing that the Soundstage 44 permit was transformed into the permit for Soundstage 33.

Okay HHN fans, transform and roll out for now.-Michael