Here are some highlights from the HHN conference call/podcast with Michael Roddy today.
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Today James Michael Roddy, Show Director for Universal Orlando and one of the creators of Halloween Horror Nights, took the time to talk to us about details from this year’s event elements and theme development for “Ripped from the Silver Screen.” In other words, Roddy seemed to touch base on a little bit of everything that would be featured in this year’s event. He started off with how and why the designers chose to re-imagine the classic franchises of Frankenstein, Dracula, and Wolfman.
“I’m a huge fan of these franchises and through re-imagining them I feel in some small part that I’m contributing to their legacy. The problem with these designs is that through the years things have happened to them through marketing and advertisement that may have taken the fear out of them. We wanted to pay homage to the original design while bringing these creatures to a new generation and making them terrifying once again. They are three of the most immersive houses we’ve ever created for Halloween Horror Nights. Our Frankenstein takes place after ‘Bride of Frankenstein’ so when you walk up to the castle you see the crumbling fa�ade and you see how Doctor Frankenstein has been putting the castle back together haphazardly using methods similar to how he creates his monsters, and you’re stuck in the middle of this battle. When you walk into Dracula you’ll see it’s actually Castle Dracula and you’re being attacked by his feral, creature-like brides. In Wolfman you’re actually walking through a forest and through gypsy camps being chased by the Wolfman.”
Roddy also stated that when creating the Wolfman house, the design team actually was invited to an early screening of the film and full access to the film’s ideas and concepts, making it possible to bring the whole experience of the film to life right around you.
He also touched on the Usher and his house, Silver Screams. A lot of people seem to be wondering about the Usher and how he fits in. “At Entertainment, we consider the Usher to be an icon that can stand toe-to-toe with any of our past icons. You’ll feel his presence as soon as you enter the park and he’ll be welcoming you into the event. Silver Screams is the house where you get the back story of the Usher, you get to walk through some of his favorite movies like Phantom of the Opera. We also created Silver Screams as a maze where you can see some of the other amazing properties we wanted to use that we didn’t feel constituted an entire maze. Properties like My Bloody Valentine 3D and Shaun of the Dead are great movies we wanted to use but didn’t think we could create an entire house for.”
Roddy then talked about how this is the first time Universal has decided to do an event entirely centered around movies and cinema. Although we had the Director as an icon in 2003, the rest of the event was not themed to movies. This year, every house and scarezone is either a direct intellectual property like the Saw, Wolfman, and Chucky franchises, or inspired by movies and their themes. Roddy gave examples like Lights, Camera, Hacktion being themed around making movies, or Containment being themed around movies like “The Fog” and “Planet Terror.” These types of experiences harken back to the films while not being branded to them.
He then moved on to talk about the 6 scarezones guests will be experiencing and their locations. The locations are similar to last year’s scarezones, but they might have been moved or changed slightly. Lights, Camera, Hacktion will take place in Hollywood, Containment in Production Central or in between Shrek 4D and Jimmy Neutron, War of the Living Dead in the alley next to Shrek where American Gothic was located last year, Horrorwood Die-in will be located in front of Mel’s, Cirque du Freak in Kidzone, and Apocalypse located in New York.
He briefly described things guests will be seeing in each scarezone such as a wall of green glowing fog in Containment, and a huge movie screen with vehicles parked in front of it in Horrorwood - where guests will be attacked by characters such as Lady Ganush from “Drag Me to Hell” and characters from “The Thing.” And of course guests will see returning favorites like the Chainsaw Drill Team and the Rat Lady whom Roddy called their ‘good luck charm’. He also stated that queue videos and the text messaging component will also be returning this year.
This year’s event is shaping up to become very solid. With such a long list of big name franchises, re-imaginings, and brand new content expanding all across the park, this year could be one of Universal’s better events, leading us straight into Horror Nights’ 20th Anniversary.
