Celebrating 20 years of fear
Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights Hollywood gets a lot of play here on Shock because, well, we’re an L.A.-based site. However, last year, we had the good fortune of checking out the event’s Orlando branch and were so impressed, we vowed to stay on top of subsequent HHN’s in Florida.
Today, full details were unveiled regarding what’s in store for Orlando’s Halloween Horror Nights. Here’s the crunch.
Horror Nights: The Hallow’d Past â Halloween Horror Nights. The name brings with it millions of tales, each filled with thousands of screams. Now, you have the opportunity to travel into a realm where Horror Nights isn’t just an event, but a reality.
The Orfanage: Ashes to Ashes â Ashes to ashes, forever now dust. For years she has existed in the shadows, never getting her due. Misunderstood by all around her, she has had enough of her playthings at the Good Harvest Orphanage – now is the time for vengeance. This burned out shell contains the souls of the forgotten and the lost who all scream one name: Cindy.
Hades: The Gates of Ruin â Hades bids you welcome. Make your way into the Underworld, and come face to face with the most terrifying creatures of legend as you cross through the Gates of Ruin.
Psychoscarepy: Echoes of Shadybrook â The truth, as they say, is far stranger than fiction, and in this instance they happen to be correct. Although Shadybrookâs doors have indeed been closed for the last 15 years, the place is still very much alive with all of the criminally insane souls that have ever walked its halls.
Havoc: Dogs of War â Ten years ago, the Shadowcreek Enterprise was tasked with developing an elite corp of soldiers. They succeeded. Through an inhalant that includes a compound of testosterone, adrenaline, and other anesthetics, Shadow Creekâs latest run of volunteer test subjects are ready for inspection. The project name: HAVOC. The subjects are known simply as the Dogs of War.
Catacombs: Black Death Rising â During a plague of Paris and Marseilles in 1534, thousands died due to an undisclosed viral outbreak. A group of doctors took it upon themselves to quarantine the most infected citizens of the city. They had no way of knowing that the townspeople would betray them, sealing them into their doom. They have been unable to escape for almost five hundred years. Now that the dead inside have found a way out, they are rising to take their centuries old vengeance on any living being that dares to enter the Catacombs.
Zombiegeddon â The United States government has re-taken the continental United States, and is actively engaged in clearing the remaining infested pockets of Canada. The government also licenses and sanctions private companies to capture âun-liveâ subjects and use them as practical targets during these training sessions. Dozens of independent training consultant âcompaniesâ spring up, promising the best training that money can buy…and then thereâs ZAP…The Zombie Awareness Program.
Legendary Truth: The Wyandot Estate â The Spirit Seekers have come up with a machine that actually gathers spirits toward it. The group has decided to do a live broadcast from inside one of the most reportedly âhauntedâ sites in the entire United States, The Wyandot Estate, built in the 1920âs in Carey, Ohio by the entrepreneur Malcolm Wyandot and his wife Lydia. The house has been rumored to be haunted since Malcolm brutally killed 13 dinner guests and his wife Lydia before committing suicide on October 30, 1929. The team is about to get more than they bargained for as the murdered hear their call and answer with terrible violence.
SIX INESCAPABLE SCAREZONES
HHN: 20 Years of Fear â Step into the shadows of the last Twenty Years of Fear. Move toward the lantern, and encounter the most frightening characters of Halloween Horror Nights past.
Fear Revealed â The souls of Chaos, Death, Sacrifice, Mythos and Vengeance â He created them and gave them terror. Each with a part to play, they fulfilled their tasks. Their malice provided him bone, their rage gave him blood, and their terror fulfilled his soul. What has been 19 cycles for some have been eons for him. Heâs waited patiently for the final piece, and now on the 20th cycle⦠HE IS REVEALED.
Zombie Gras â This Mardi Gras parade has gone severely off course. Infected by the North American zombie infestation, the undead walk among us, searching for their next meal…
Esqueleto Muerte â Revel in the seductive taunts of Death as you wind through a glowing skeletal nightmare.
Saws ân Steam â Enormous trenches in the earthâs crust have opened below its vast oceans, exposing them to intense heat. Steam power is essential to the inhabitants of New Yorkshire, but diminishing oceans have put the city in jeopardy, forcing the citizens to evil lengths. Beware upon entering the city, as the water in your body is now a coveted resource. And the citizens will stop at nothing to get it.
The Coven â The Cult of the Raven has unsettled spirits, and its Sirens are screaming throughout the witchesâ realm. As you creep past their obelisk, beware their spells. For those who donât believe will be condemned to death.
TWO OUTRAGEOUS LIVE SHOWS
Bill & Tedâs Excellent Halloween Adventure â Party on as those two most excellent dudes return to skewer the biggest names in entertainment and pop culture.
Brian Brushwood: Menace and Malice â Experience two realms of bizarre magic by one of the countryâs most outrageous illusionists.
As you can see, the Orlando HHN deviates from its West Coast counterpart with more original mazes and scare zones, rather than attractions based on movie properties.
Source: Ryan Turek, Managing Editor