Halloween Horror Nights is back for another terrifyingly spooky season at Universal Studios Hollywood, opening September 5 and running on select nights through November 3. With eight chilling mazes, exclusive food and beverage selections, and a reimagined Terror Tram as one of the Universal Studios Hollywood rides still open during Halloween Horror Nights 2024, there’s plenty for guests to enjoy. Fans of the A quiet place Franchisees will be thrilled to learn this One of the new mazes follows the events of the first two films, Place guests right in the middle of the action as they must hide and remain silent so they do not attract the dangerous creatures.
Guests must silence their screams if they want to survive the terrifying, post-apocalyptic world of A quiet place. Like the Abbott family, You must be quiet when you go from the farmhouse to the forest and then to the stable.. As soon as you make a sound, monstrous creatures that can hear the slightest noise will chase you down and silence you for good.
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Screen RantAlong with several other media outlets, had the opportunity to visit Universal Studios Hollywood and preview two of the exciting haunted houses for 2024. Halloween Horror Nights creative director John Murdy provided a tour of “A Quiet Place” while detailing what makes this One of the most challenging, and most unique, mazes they have ever tried. Murdy also explained how closely they are working with Paramount in order to bring the films and the creatures to life in a way that does them justice.
Three things make The Quiet Place Maze unique
ASL was used extensively in the design
Standing outside the A quiet place Maze, John Murdy goes over what makes this maze so different from the 114 houses that Universal Studios has put up in their Halloween Horror Nights events over the years. He explains there are three things – Audio, American Sign Language and the creatures.
When you saw a quiet place in the theater, a lot of people came out talking about it being a quiet movie, but it’s never really quiet, it just feels that way because they use clever audio design tricks. “What we landed on is what we call near-field audio design– says Mardi.Typically in a Halloween Horror Nights house, there would be very, very large speakers up to the top of the roofline, hidden from guests.– With a quiet place, they did the opposite.We had to go to very, very small speakers, a lot of them, and then try to get them as close to the guest as we could..”
The second thing is the use of American Sign Language. John Krasinski had a very specific vision for his movie. For the character of Reagan, he specifically cast a deaf actress and incorporated ASL into the movie, not only with the way Reagan communicates, but also other members of the family. “We knew this was a very important part of the film, so we wanted to try to incorporate it into our house, and we did it in two ways..”
The first is when you wait in line, there are video displays where the backstory of the world is explained. This is done entirely with ASL. “We cast a deaf actress who works here at Universal Studios Hollywood. There’s literally no audio, except for some static blips and blips, because it’s as if the survivor of the world of the quiet place is telling you what you’ll need to know to survive.“What she keeps repeating are Some basic signs that you need to know if you want to survive in this worldwhich are then repeated by the live performers inside the maze.
The final difference is the creatures. Anyone who has seen these films knows how massive they are; however, They are not practical in the movies but created by CGI. This means that John Murdy and his team have to find a way to bring them to the table from a quiet place:
“Last year we made a house with Chucky. Chucky was really the test case for doing things like this in the future. Chucky was the first time we used animatronic figures. We built 17 animatronic Chuckys last year, but they were very Little they are like 2 1⁄2 feet tall. These guys are very, very large animatronic characters. There are ten creatures in this house.
Bring the terrifying creatures to life
Puppets and animatronics are key
As said before, There are six creature puppets and four creature animatronics placed throughout the maze. These are all built on site in Hollywood. In fact, Universal Studios Orlando is also doing a quiet place, and Hollywood created their creatures. Shipping things like this isn’t often cost-effective, but with something so integral to the story, they knew they needed to produce them in Los Angeles, Murdy said.
“Our makeup artist built them all, and we sent a whole bunch, along with La La Chooza from Monstruos, because they’re doing Monstruos this year, our house from last year. It doesn’t happen that much, because when you’ for the shipping Things, especially big things, such cross-country, it’s not very cost-effective, but in this case, because the creatures were so critical, and we started to get into animation. Have the benefit of the mechanical engineers that Work here to plan everything for us, we decided to collaborate in this way on this particular thing.”
Murdy admits that These creatures are by far the most complex animatronics they have created. Chucky was quite complicated, but it was their trial run to discover if they could physically do it, and how they could sustain themselves over the several months that the event runs. The team started working on the designs for the creatures during Halloween Horror Nights last year, and the physical construction part started earlier this year.
The creatures become more and more terrifying as the maze goes on. Not only because they pop out when you least expect it, but because of the detail and work that goes into them. They look just like the creatures from the movies, complete with their sharp teeth and no eyes. The plates on their heads open in various positions, Which is demonstrated throughout your time in the maze.
Perfectly capturing the feel of the films
Sand paths dampen the sound of footsteps
Right from the beginning of the US A quiet place Maize, guests will notice the attention to detail. for example, There are sand paths just like in the movies For you to go on to soften the sound of footsteps. Merdy details that there are a lot of human performers in the cast of the maze, but they are not necessarily put there to scare guests. They are there to help the plot and bring the authenticity of the film to life:
“We do a lot of what we call cause-and-effect triggers. We know our guests. We know they’re not going to be quiet. There’s no way they’re really going to do that, even though that’s what they’re constantly told in the pre – Show so we are going to punish them every time they do not obey there are a lot of hidden flag sensors so that when you get close to something, it causes a noise to go away.”
One of the many details brought to life is that in the farmhouse, there are boards painted gray. in this film, These are the ones that don’t climb. There are also strings of lights hung up outside to alert guests when there is imminent danger.
When guests are in the barn, It feels as if you are stepping into the film itself. Here is where the family has soundproofed everything to keep the newborn baby safe, as well as not allowing it to attract creatures with any noise it makes. They built this special box that is insulated with a lid, and then they put an oxygen mask on the baby, and that’s how they try to hide the sounds that the baby makes from the creatures. Mardi explains the inspiration for the maze with this scene:
“A creature comes into the barn and breaks a water pipe, and the whole root cellar starts with water, causing the baby box to float like Moses in the reeds, then the creature comes from the water, and that’s what we” Re doing. [There is a ] Fully animated figure, and he’s going to rise up out of the water. All the areas you see that are black will be filled with water. It’s actually not that much water, but we dye it so you can’t see the bottom. When he rises up, you get blasted with compressed air. This room is a really good example of the work our props and dressing team does. They have to create and make all this stuff.”
As with the live actors in the maze, some scenes are not meant to scare, But are there to move the story along and add to the plotAs Murdy explained.
“We work with the studios to get as many photographs as we can get. Of everything. And then we have to reproduce it and try to get all the little details of the scene right. It’s a towel that’s always hanging over this one particular Furnace. Because they hide in it, and they use it to not close it all the way so they don’t run out of oxygen.
It’s part of the storyline with Emmett is that he has a whole family but he’s the only one left, so there are drawings of his family plastered all over his little hideout down here in the oven. So this is a very presentational scene. It’s not necessarily trying to scare you. It’s just trying to communicate the end of the second movie.”
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About Halloween Horror Nights 2024
It is a beloved annual tradition
You never feel more alive than when you are scared to death at Universal Studios Hollywood Halloween Horror Nights, Southern California’s scariest Halloween event. Bring your friends and you might survive. Enhance the horror with a RIP tour or admission that includes express access. Or, maximize your awe by staying near the screams with a hotel & ticket package.
Halloween Horror Nights 2024 at Universal Studios Hollywood runs on select nights from September 5 to November 3.
Tickets can be purchased HereAs it is ticketed separately from general admission to the park.