There’s tons of throat-slicing chaos to be afraid of at Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights and the new standout maze “Halloween: Michael Myers Comes Home” makes this year’s event even more frightening than before. This year’s guests will also take a look at critically acclaimed director Guillermo del Toro’s newest film, “Crimson Peak.”
A walk through Myers’ home gives guests an inside look into his bloody childhood. Along the maze the psycho killer stalked fans at every corner with a knife and kept guests on their toes with fear. It felt as though you are in a real-life slasher film.
The “Crimson Peak” maze was a collaborative process with director Guillermo del Toro and Universal’s Creative Director, John Murdy.
“It’s a huge challenge to tackle a film before it comes out. It [the maze] is live theater, a real twisted form of live theater. You might see something different each time,” Murdy said. “I had him [del Toro] down here last week for a visit and took him through the maze. He was all smiles, hugs and just thrilled.”
The maze featured hidden ghosts, a bathtub full of blood and dark moth wallpaper on slanted walls. The creatures in the maze had wide eyes, big twitchy movements and scared from every corner. The walk through the gothic mansion had stunning visual effect. This was hands-down the best maze this year.
You’ll find yourself dying to get in line for the two new mazes.
Nestled between Universal’s film studios and theme park rides, the annual event had six frightening mazes.
Horror aficionados will enjoy a variety of mazes from one of the most iconic horror films to a new high horror, blood-thirsty inspired maze.
“Insidious,” a supernatural horror maze, and “Alien vs. Predator,” a science-fiction maze filled lurking aliens, are returning mazes from the past years. However both included new story-lines and bloody scenes.
“This Is The End” maze didn’t disappoint, either, and felt somewhat like a trippy dream. The 3-D horror-comedy maze invited fans inside of James Franco’s house party on the night of the apocalypse. The neon graffiti-covered walls and rooms with hidden sharp-toothed red demons was intense in 3-D. The best part was the room decorated as heaven and a humorous greeting of “welcome to heaven mother f–.” Then the next scare room steps into Satan’s neon hell.
The only downside on opening night was the mazes reached a hour-plus wait time.
By 9:05 p.m. high school student Karli Leathers, had been running around the park to finish the mazes.
“We’ve already done everything besides one maze. So far I think the scariest one is ‘The Walking Dead,’” Leathers said. “It gets hot when you’re running through the mazes.”
The zombie apocalypse maze is back for a fourth year. Based on the popular TV series, the maze had multiple walkers in each room coming out of hidden walls. The detailed makeup on the bloody-faced live actors was frightening yet a favorite in this maze.
Horror Nights will end on Sunday, Nov. 1 and tickets start at $55.
