By Rick West

John Murdy seems like a nice, well-adjusted guy as you walk by him on the Universal Studios Hollywood lot.  Casually-dressed, with friendly eyes and a warm smile, you'd never guess that the gentleman you just passed is on a mission: to destroy your sense of sanity and thrust you into the yawning chasm of Hell.

Some people have the greatest jobs.

Murdy is the Creative Director of Universal Studios Hollywood's Halloween Horror Nights event.  He's no stranger to Uni, or the entertainment industry, for that matter.  Prior to serving as Creative Director on HHN, John was Creative Director on Revenge of the Mummy: The Ride (USH), Universal's House of Horrors, Special Effects Stages, several versions of the updated Studio Tour, The Universal Experience: Behind the Scenes of Universal Pictures and dozens of other shows and attractions.  Prior to joining Universal, John was a show writer/producer at KBD Innovative arts and was responsible for for the creative development of attractions for Elvis Presley Enterprises, SeaWorld, Time Warner and Walt Disney Imagineering.

Despite the fact that the horrorfest only lasts 16 nights this year, planning for the event is a year-round gig.  And when the actual construction begins half-way through the summer, it's an amazing amount of work that takes place.  Murdy explained to a small group of media representatives lately that Theme Park Adventure was a part of, that putting together one of the HHN mazes is like prepping a set for three movies at once - the detail and design work is that intense.

John explains that the properties picked for the maze themes used then at Halloween Horror Nights have to have key factors to be successful within their venue, a strong fan base being very important.  A self-described horror movie fan himself, John grew up in Southern California, and at the age of 10, began building horror-themed attractions and haunted houses in his parents' garage.  He figures if he can get something into one of the mazes that he likes as a fan - everything else will fall into place and others will dig it, too.

And so far, that philosophy has worked, with such powerhouse franchises as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, A Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th slashing their way into the event with rave reviews from even the most hard core, jaded haunted attraction/dark industry veterans around.  There is just something about going to a Nightmare on Elm Street-themed maze and actually walking up to a kick-ass facade of the house from the film, encountering Freddy within in all shapes and sizes from the most memorable moments from the film series and being fully immersed into the film's culture.

Universal Hollywood has that nailed.  Not only does the company go to great lengths to get the sets constructed and dressed with props and gags that are amazingly authentic and terrifying, John and his team attack guests' senses in every way possible.

For the maze John gave us a tour of, SAW: Game Over, there will be over-powering scents that guests will be encountering, which include urine, raw sewage and burning flesh.  Universal is big on sensory overload - and the scents they use in their mazes really add a layer of realism to the surroundings that are already top-notch in quality and detail.  Why other theme parks or dark industry franchises don't do this is beyond us.  What is also beyond us is why we're actually excited about smelling feces at Halloween Horror Nights...

There will also be temperature changes throughout the mazes to further break down guests' sense of safety.  In the SAW maze, John took us through one room where a victim will be inside a hot furnace, being burned alive while interacting with guests, screaming for help.  It will be hot inside, and will stink of burning flesh.  The room immediately after is a "freezer room", where the temperature will actually plummet and guests will feel the chill of mist being sprayed on them. 

"Another thing we do is physically affect you with temperature," explains John.  "We’re actually going to have grates cut into this wall and pump in freezing cold air into this room.”

Two rooms, two vastly different temperatures.  It's all about putting guests into the movies, which John feels very strongly about.

In the opening room of SAW: Game Over, guests will be made to enter via one of the most horrific sequences of the original SAW film, The Razor Wire Maze.  Grinning, John explained to us that while of course, real razor wire would not be used... Universal would make it as realistic as possible and HHN guests will have to force their way through the razor wire to get on with their trip into Jigsaw's twisted world of terror.  The key is to put all Halloween Horror Nights visitors in the middle of the movies being depicted.  Murdy says that there is no interest in having people be bystanders watching the action - he wants everyone smack-dab in the middle of it all.

Later on our tour, John went into great detail about how Universal will go to even further lengths to make guests feel as if these experiences are real - and are happening to them.  Expect the unexpected; reality to be shattered right before your very eyes.  It sounds like a tall order, but Murdy is confident that his crew at HHN will be able to pull it off and exceed everyone's expectations with no problem.

Will Universal continue to use popular horror icons for its mazes each year?  That remains to be seen; one would guess that down the road, we may see a mix of classic horror icons going head-to-head with newly-created characters and themes, simply because, as John explained, when they are designing the mazes for Halloween Horror Nights, you can't just pluck a horror movie out of thin air randomly and make it work as a maze.  The film has to have memorable scenes, strong visual impact as far as surroundings go and of course, success at the box office and with fans.  The characters have to be doable as well.

Two examples that Murdy brought up to our group were The Shining and John Carpenter's The Thing.  Both are tremendous films, and both have a tremendous fan base and great aspects for maze material.  However, each pose huge obstacles for John and his team, were they ever to make them into mazes for HHN.

The Thing has amazing creature effects throughout it - that would be extremely hard and frankly, very expensive to replicate for a maze.  That is the biggest idea killer as far as The Thing goes.  The creatures used in the film only had to work and hold up for a couple of shots as the camera caught them on film forever.  At HHN, props have to be built to work over and over again without fail; thousands of times.  That poses a very real issue when design teams ponder what can and cannot be feasible and realistic from their end.  To do The Thing the way Murdy would want it done would come with substantial cost to Universal.  And while Murdy acknowledges that their sister park in Orlando did do a Thing maze, it is clear that the way he would want it done here in California - isn't practical at this point in time.  That's not to say The Thing won't be paid homage to in HHN's Halloween maze, as John points out that the original film is playing throughout the film as Michael goes about his dirty work.

The Shining is another film that would pose great challenges to Horror Nights designers.  Great surroundings to play with, great visual gags to work with, but the iconic character is Jack Nicholson.  Let's face it... you can't hire a bunch of people to be Jack Nicholson.  That in itself is a deal-killer for that particular property, explains John.  That, and apparently the various legalities of using that particular property are daunting, whether that means from Stephen King's end of the universe or the film companies involved with the rights to the movie.  HHN fans should not hold their breath for a Shining maze any time soon.

At the same time, fans shouldn't mourn the departure of last year's horror icons such as Freddy.  John says that the Nightmare franchise was a blast to work with and that he would revisit Freddy's world in a heartbeat in the future.  So just when you feel uber-depressed that you missed your chance to come face-to-face with Freddy... who knows what nightmares may return someday down the line.

But for now, Universal is focused on this year.  And this year, the main feature is the SAW franchise.  And there will be plenty of it: the SAW: Game Over maze in the lower lot, two SAW-themed scare zones and even heavy integration into this year's Terror Tram attraction.

For SAW lovers, HHN '09 promises to be a dream come true.

The detail that we saw throughout the SAW maze is staggering; as you enter the facade that is Jigsaw's warehouse lair (once upon a time, the facade for Texas Chainsaw), you can instantly see that there is big money behind this.  Universal's mazes are not home-grown or bare-bones budget-wise; the company understands that Halloween has become a multi-billion dollar industry and to attract the fans and more importantly - to wow them - you have to put your money where your mouth is and truly deliver.  That means authentic surroundings and sets.  If you're supposed to be in a freezer room, then you can bet that Universal will drop the temperature and you will be in a freezer room.  There's no way around it and John and his team are not interested in cutting corners.  Period.  They go to excruciating lengths to bring these mazes to life for HHN guests and they love what they do.

At the end of the day, it is obvious that the fans love it to.  And Murdy is all about the fans.

Posting in an almost-constant dialogue with Halloween Horror Nights fans, John has embraced the technology of Twitter (http://twitter.com/HorrorNights) and has been using it to its fullest extent when asking fans what their music suggestions are, how they feel about certain aspects of the event and anything else that comes to mind.  And rather than force-feed his followers non-stop images or event marketing, he has honestly opened the flood gates of communication with his fans.  That is rare and it is wonderful - where John gets the time to continuously tweet and respond (he responds to fans much, much more than he posts) to people is anyone's guess.  We're thinking the guy never sleeps and actually lives in one of the mazes somewhere deep within Universal Studios.  The communication and request for input from guests is unprecedented and Theme Park Adventure applauds it.  Other companies need to take their cue from John and use this technology in the same way.  Their own events will only be better for it, and Universal certainly understands and sees that.

Despite the fact that there are incredible hours logged in bringing each maze to life at Halloween Horror Nights, being the Creative Director means you're involved in much, much more than a few walk-through attractions.  John is heavily involved in the Terror Tram attraction as well as scare zones and shows throughout the property.  Recently, John stopped in to watch the auditions for this year's Rocky Horror tribute show for Halloween Horror Nights.  He's busy, busy, busy!

"Heading out to the backlot to work on Terror Tram then off to Jigsaw's Lair in SAW: Game Over to film Billy's videos," reads one of John's recent tweets to fans.  Even on the go, Murdy is very careful to keep the fans in the loop.

And that is exactly why Universal invited Theme Park Adventure to tour SAW: Game Over with John.  It wasn't to give us the means to post a spoiler of the maze room-by-room, step-by-step; why would we do that, knowing that our readers want to know a little about the maze - but are looking forward to exploring it and living the nightmare on their own?  There's none of that here, kids.

What we took away from the tour and face time with John Murdy is the thought process behind something like SAW.  Or Halloween.  Or Bloody Valentine.  Or any of the mazes guests will eventually experience at Halloween Horror Nights.  The success of these elaborate mazes depends on the enthusiasm and genuine love of these properties that John and his team share.  These themes and films are in good hands - in turn, so are we.  But that's not to say we're going to be cuddled and loved with warm fuzzies and SpongeBob balloons.  No sir.

John explained that the fans that come to Universal's Halloween Horror Nights are as hard core as they get.  Each year, just when Murdy and his team feel like maybe they've crossed or almost crossed a line in some way, the guests eat it up.  That translates to one thing: MORE.  More gore, more intensity, more detail, more adult content and yes, more blood.  Visitors to HHN should be very aware that guests are sprayed, squirted and dripped on at almost every turn throughout the mazes; SAW: Game Over is going to be no exception.

Continuing to log long hours in meetings, visiting vendors to keep on top of mask and make-ups for the scareactors, John seems to have an endless amount of energy bringing Halloween Horror Nights to life for the thousands and thousands of fans waiting anxiously for October 2nd, Opening Night, to roll around.  After spending some time with John and seeing the honest enthusiasm and love he has for this event, we are confident that HHN is going to deliver.

And then some.

"Chucky called and woke me up at 5AM!" wrote John in an early-morning tweet to the fans.  "He says he killed two more night cleaners last night.  Oh, and he had a message for you.. "You're all dead!""

ALL IMAGES ON THIS PAGE ARE COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL BELONGING TO UNIVERSAL STUDIOS HOLLYWOOD.  NO PORTION OF THIS PAGE MAY BE COPIED OR REPOSTED ELSEWHERE WITHOUT THE EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION OF UNIVERSAL STUDIOS HOLLYWOOD AS WELL AS THEME PARK ADVENTURE.  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Back to HALLOWEEN HORROR NIGHTS 2009 Contents