Beginning Friday, icons of horror cinema will join contemporary monsters to take over Universal Studios with Halloween Horror Nights, featuring a series of attractions inspired by popular franchises from television and film.
Cal State Long Beach students, faculty and staff can take part in the horror via the new College Thursday’s Terror Pass, available at ushtix.com/collegediscounts. The only thing required to purchase the special ticket is a .edu email address. Once purchased, admission to the park is gained for Sept. 28, Oct. 5, 12, 19, 26 and Nov. 2.
New mazes at this year’s Halloween Horror Nights are based on some of the most beloved horror film characters of all time, such as Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees and Leatherface. These three will pursue visitors in both the “Titans of Terror” maze and the “Titans of Terror Tram: Hosted by Chucky” attraction.
The maze “Titans of Terror” will bring guests face-to-face with the three aforementioned killers within the small spaces of a building, while the tram version will take passengers to settings from “Friday the 13th,” “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” “Psycho” and Steven Spielberg’s “War of the Worlds” which the killers will be waiting in.
Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 film “The Shining” joins the fray of Halloween Horror Nights for the first time, taking guests into sections of The Overlook Hotel which played host to Jack Torrance’s descent into madness.
Guests will be able to confront the Deadites from the “Ash vs Evil Dead” television series, the sequel to the original “Evil Dead” trilogy known for delivering a mix of comedy and gore. Scenes and characters from the show will be among what guests will encounter in this maze.
The presence of film producer Jason Blum, founder of Blumhouse Productions, will be felt during the nighttime event in a maze featuring numerous of Blum’s films.
“[Blum] is the modern voice of horror, whose films run the gamut of intense, in-your-face terror,” Charles Gray, show director for creative development, said. “And this year, we’re taking our guests deeper into the horrific world of Blumhouse than ever before.
Blumhouse Productions’ films showcased in the maze include “The Purge” and “Sinister” series, as well as the upcoming “Happy Death Day.”
“The decisive, inventive way in which [Blum] interprets underlying issues plaguing today’s society into his films provides us with a plethora of content to create truly captivating, one-of-a-kind modern horror experiences for our guests,” said John Murdy, creative director and producer of Halloween Horror Nights.
“Saw” returns to both theaters and Universal Studios this fall. The maze, “SAW: The Games of Jigsaw,” aims to scare fans as well as give them a first look at the eighth and newest film in the franchise by including traps from it.
“‘SAW: The Games of Jigsaw’” will encompass the greatest collection of traps featured in all eight ‘Saw’ movies to bring to life the most twisted ‘Saw’ maze ever produced,” Murdy said. “And we can’t wait for our fans to relive moments from the films.”
The “Insidious” franchise will again be represented at Halloween Horror Nights, this time with “Insidious: Beyond the Further.” This maze will feature elements of all four films including the upcoming “Insidious: The Last Key,” currently set to hit theaters on Jan. 5.
The third returning maze is based on FX’s anthology series “American Horror Story,” this time based on the show’s 2016 season “Roanoke.” Characters from that season, such as The Butcher and the cannibalistic Polk family, will haunt guests in this reimagined maze.
“Because of the multitude of terrifying layers that come to life within this latest installment of FX’s ‘American Horror Story,’ we are devoting our entire maze to uncovering every twisted detail to fully immerse our guests into the Roanoke storyline,” Murdy said.
“The Walking Dead” attraction and Jabbawockeez live show will also return this year, all available at a discounted rate to CSULB students, faculty and staff.