While whether or not I get to attend this year is very much up in the air, one this is for sure: Universal is blessing us this year with Jack’s return!
To read an interview with Michael Aiello and James Keaton about Jack’s history, click here.
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The most wonderful time of the year is upon us, boys and ghouls! Autumn is in the air, and Halloween is creeping up on us. You know what that means — Halloween Horror Nights!
Some of the houses I’m particularly excited about – The Exorcist, AHS, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Halloween – have had my happy little horror loving brain so excited that I can barely focus. I’m finalizing plans and tickets. I’m freaking out with excitement because I know I’ll be there Sunday, finally basking in the awesome which is Universal, and Halloween Horror Nights.
I decided to pack my Blood Brothers shirt from Terror Threads to wear for the event itself. Fitting, since last year they had the Freddy vs Jason house, and this year they’ve brought Michael Myers and Leatherface back. Plus, this shirt is ridiculously cool and comfortable, as are all of the shirts from Terror Threads. If you love horror, you’ll definitely love their products.
We start the drive to Orlando Friday night, so there probably won’t be any new posts here until I’m back. Can’t wait to come back with loads of pictures for you guys!
~Angel
I’ve had a lot of things kinda drag me behind lately, so forgive my absence! I’ve missed updating you guys on the rest of the announcements for Halloween Horror Nights Orlando, and with it starting this week, and my own trip beginning next week, I probably need to catch up!
Here’s the rest of the house line up from the official Halloween Horror Nights site:
Yesterday, we were given this teaser video:
There were a lot of ups and downs to 2015. Being unemployed for a few months really ruined some travel plans or me. But there were definitely a lot of great moments over all! I’d like to look back on some of my favorite things of the past year:
Ian McDiarmid aka Emperor Palpatine
Star Wars Weekend 2015 at Walt Disney World:
While I fully plan to do an actual full post on the insane coolness which was this event, I do need to spoil it some now. In May last year, we took my nieces for their first ever trip to Disney World and Universal, and strategically planned it so the girls could go for Star Wars Weekends. Well, long story short, my nieces were picked to be in the opening parade, in which they’d be dressed as Jedi Padawans and given lightsabers and some quick training from the Jedi Academy, before leading the celebrity guests in that were riding in the parade. And they needed two adults to walk the parade with the girls… I WALKED IN THE STAR WARS PARADE WITH EMPEROR PALPATINE!
*WARNING* If you do not like or cannot handle scary clowns, fake violence/bodies, or any other intense images – this post may not be for you.
Jack is back, and this year he’s presenting a sampling of the houses of Horror Nights past. I will try to note all of the references to previous houses/scarezones as I can, and hopefully I get them all correct. Ha!
While I don’t have pictures of absolutely everything, I will try to touch on some of the most important features of the house, as well as my favorites.
*WARNING* If you don’t like fake dead people or scary things, don’t continue on with this post. Because there are fake bodies and other good stuff.
Body Collectors is a familiar face to Halloween Horror Nights, having had houses before. In 2005, the Body Collector’s maze was used in Halloween Horror Nights: Tales of Terror, which was the first time they connected all of the houses, scarezones, and shows into one large story event. The icon for this particular year was the Storyteller, Elsa Strict. She told you the story of the Terra Cruentas and their ruler, the Terra Queen. Sacrifices were made to the Terra Queen, and the bodies were given to the Body Collector’s to use. You can read more on this particular year of HHN here.
Terra Queen’s motorcycle.
Another familiar scarezone and house used at HHN in the past is Shady Brook and their patients. Shadybrook housed a particular iconic clown at one point, until he started a riot that not only led to his own escape, but diminished the reputation of Shadybrook. Psychoscarepy was used again for a scarezone this year, mentioning the escape of some of the patients, but they also brought in the Shadybrook Rest Home and Sanitarium for a house this year as well.
Combine these two familiar houses and scarezones, and you have Body Collectors: Recollections.
It’s a lovely winter night, and it seems pretty peaceful outside of Shadybrook, right?
This was seriously one of the coolest entrances to a house I’ve seen. It looked like we were really outside in the snow, and it was in the same building as the Freddy vs Jason house. The Art and Design team were really on top of their game this year!
Looks like she was…. fired. *snort* Anyway..
You enter the doors of Shadybrook to find that terrible things have happened to the nurses. What’s going on? The Body Collector’s have returned and they’re on the hunt for body parts once again.
This was a really cool little boo hole for one hallway. Patients freezing to death reaching in at you as you walk through the house. It honestly looked like it was a real window leading outside.
*insert creepy sounds here*
This was a body that a Collector was working on harvesting. Poor doc didn’t stand a chance.
Fun fact: the Collector’s are modeled after the Gentlemen in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Which is cool if you’re a nerd like me and love Buffy. But it’s also CREEPY AS HELL to walk into the room with these things all grinning down at you.
This super cool chandelier of the dead has been used in a few different houses over the years at HHN from what I understand. Unfortunately, I don’t remember which houses. But it’s still pretty interesting to look at, and a great conversation piece for Halloween enthusiasts to have in their homes.
Here we have a horrifying spine removal. There’s a scare actor on the table screaming in pain as their spine is torn out with, a horrible accompanying sound, by one of the Collectors. They had two tables that unlocked and pulled out quickly to change out the cast members faster.
The big room that everyone remembers is THIS room. The main Collector orchestrates the assembly of new Collectors, so you have these dummies being put together by Collectors all around you. The heads floating had “headless” scareactors beneath them to stand up suddenly and terrify onlookers trying to make it out.
Honestly, this was my first Body Collector’s house, and it was really awesome! I hope HHN does more with them in the future!
Did you go into Shadybrook? Have any questions? Drop me a comment!
~Angel
WARNING: This post will have some images not suitable for everyone. Anyone with a fear of clowns or simulated violence shouldn’t continue on unless you think you can handle it.
My absolute favorite show on my entire trip had to be, hands down, The Carnage Returns. I’ve heard the legacy and lore of Jack the Clown (go read more here on some of the history of Jack and HHN), but I was never at Universal at the same time as Jack… until this year. I love learning about the different icons of the event itself, and the history and lore involving them. That’s something that makes it so special. It isn’t just some psycho clown. He has a personality. He has a past. He has a logical reason to be there. And this year, everyone was ready to get “Jack’d up” and celebrate the most popular icon of HHN.
For 25 years now, Universal Studios has held an event for Halloween every year. You may know this event as Halloween Horror Nights. You may have seen various videos of Ellen DeGeneres forcing people to go through the houses and mazes at Halloween Horror Nights in Hollywood. Or maybe you saw some of the amazing promotional stuff, like the intense commercial featuring Jack the Clown and Chance (more on them later), or the Facebook ads.
But however you’ve seen it, or even if you haven’t – Halloween Horror Nights is the biggest of it’s kind.
Wandering NerdGirl 