John Murdy Takes MacabreDaily On A Behind The Scenes Tour Of HALLOWEEN HORROR NIGHTS 2022!
Editor in Chief for MacabreDaily chats with HHN Creative Director, John Murdy.
Photo By Tony Ace
Universal Studios Hollywood has a long and wonderful history of scaring the bejesus out of fans with their annual Halloween Horror Nights event. This year, like so many years in the past, the haunted houses featured were planned, mapped out, and construction started, months before the first guest of HHN will ever see them come to life on September 8th. MacabreDaily was invited to take an exclusive look at two houses for the 2022 edition of HHN with Creative Director, John Murdy.
We arrived at Universal Studios Hollywood to find our guide for the day, John Murdy, standing in wait for us near the Waterworld line que. John was decked out in his classic skull and crossbones hat and creeper shoes as usual and greeted everyone with a smile. Why wouldn’t he be smiling? He’s about to give us a deep dive into his world and show us “THE HORRORS OF BLUMHOUSE.”
Photo by Tony Ace
John Murdy: “Working with Blumhouse has gone back to 2013 with Insidious and other films from back then. We have had a great relationship working with them and this year is a little different than years past. In the past, we would always use a movie theater façade to set up the entrance into the Blumhouse maze and we also used three Blumhouse properties for those past houses. We had to change things this years for two reasons: One is that when I first saw the film “FREAKY” I knew we could do an entire house on just that film alone so we had to use it. Two, “THE BLACK PHONE” was so good and lent itself to be a perfect addition to the house as well that we just used these two properties but expanded on them quiet a bit instead of cramming three in like years past.”
The outside of The Horrors Of Blumhouse is set up to look like a 90s video store for this years HHN. We can thank John Murdy’s partner in crime, Art Director/Production Designer, Chris Williams for the idea of a “pop up video store.” As you enter the house you’ll see stacks of VHS tapes for both ‘Freaky’ and ‘The Black Phone’ ready for a one night only rental experience. ‘Freaky’ is featured first in the house and we have to say has some of the best kills we’ve seen in quite some time.
The house goes from iconic scene to iconic scene throughout, it even takes you back to the high school featured in the film, with lockers and pep rally signs galore so you really feel like you’re a part of the film and living it.
“A few of the mechanical engineers came to me and said they were big fans of HHN and wanted to contribute so of course we let them and they did some amazing work for ‘Freaky’ which I really think fans will like. Woodshop is a dangerous place and the engineers did an amazing piece for that scene from the film. A Haunted House is not a film or TV show so you have to communicate a lot in a short period of time so lights and audio have to be used to convey theme changes or story switches.”
Photo by Tony Ace
Photo by Tony Ace
“Smells and sounds are a big part of our houses and they play just as big a part to the emersion of the house as the scares and props do.” HHN has always delivered when it comes to gore and movie accurate set pieces. This maze has both in spades and we haven’t even gotten to ‘THE BLACK PHONE’ section of the house yet.
As we transition from ‘FREAKY’ to ‘THE BLACK PHONE’ the tone of the house changes. The rooms get a bit darker and you see tons of “Missing” signs as you enter ‘The Black Phone’ section of the house. If you pay attention, you may even see a young John Murdy in a few of these posters.
Photo By Tony Ace
“I did not okay the use of my photo but my prop team played a prank on me by adding it to the house anyway and it fits pretty well so I let it slide.”
The detail to this section of the house is so detailed it’s an amazing thing to see. You can even hear “The Grabbers” dog “Samson” barking at you through the doors as you walk through. Be careful. “Samson” does more than just barks at you in this section. Even the (most iconic scene to us) kitchen is utilized very well and you must pass “the grabber” to get out of the house.
Photo by Tony Ace
“We wanted to really use the different faces the grabber uses on his mask in the film to show his emotions as you go through the maze and get ever closer to the exit.”
Photo by Tony Ace
Each section for ‘ The Black Phone’ is top notch and guarantees some great scares throughout. We don’t wanna give too much away as the ending is just one thing after another so be ready for that. Next we were whisked away to the lower lot and entered the world of the Universal Monsters with the original house “Universal Monsters: Legends Collide.”
Photo By Tony Ace
Universal Monsters: Legends Collide features three iconic monsters who, very surprisingly, have never been featured in a film all together. Dracula, The Wolf man, and The Mummy, take center stage for this house and what really caught our attention was that some of the movie props from ‘The Mummy, The Mummy Returns’, and ‘The Scorpion King’ were used. You can’t miss them as you enter so keep an eye out. The outside of the house is setup like a London shipping and receiving yard and was actually based on a real location from the 1700s.
Scattered throughout the house are little nods to past Universal Monster films and scenes from those great movies. “This is an original story we created. It’s kind of amazing that these three characters have never shared screen time. It was probably due to budget in the long run and the makeup for The Mummy was so intense and expensive, that they just didn’t use him. We collaborated with Universal Orlando on this house and I wanted to set our house in London and they wanted to do theirs in Egypt so if you took the time to go to both parks, you’d see part one of the story in Orlando and part two here in Hollywood.”
The focus of this maze is the mummy’s amulet, “The Amulet of Ra” which Dracula and The Wolf Man think this amulet will end their curses so of course they want to get it and The High Priest of Karnak from The Mummy wants to use the amulet to bring back the old gods and times.
“This house has three major settings and they transition from each location to expand on the story. “
Photo by Tony Ace
“I was walking around our prop warehouse last year and noticed we had all these amazing set pieces from The Mummy films and thought they would work great for this house. Everything in one specific room are all screen used items. “
The warehouse section of the house really did feel like a huge, old building and even has that musty smell. “In years past we were limited to height constraints but for this one we had free range so we really expanded on the scope of the warehouse and sets.”
The detail to each room of the house are amazing as always from maps and pictures to even the floors and chairs or desks used. They are all movie accurate or as close as they can be.
“The Wolf Man actor has to sit in makeup for about an hour and a half every night just to get into character. We don’t use masks for this house. It’s all prosthetics and real makeup.”
The only downside to these behind the scenes tours is we don’t get to see the lightning for each room and that plays a big part in the overall tone of the house. “Everything is lit like a movie set and that alone takes a long time to get just right.”
As you get closer to escaping the clutches of these monsters, more and more characters start coming at you to try and persuade you to stick around for awhile. We even get a visit from Dracula’s brides.
Photo by Tony Ace
Going back to the sound of the maze: “Slash from Guns N Roses has done the original score for all of our Universal Monster themed houses in the past and this one is no exception. This is the fifth time he’s done this for us. There’s a tribute to Slash in the maze but you have to really look for it.”
Photo By Tony Ace
As you’re about to exit the house, you get hit from three different directions by all the monsters. Scares are a big factor in this maze over gore and it tells a great story. We can’t say enough about the details and meticulous effort John and his team put into these houses every year. Each one has a gritty and visceral feel to them that transports you into the films or properties used like no other haunted attraction based theme park does. The Horrors of Blumhouse and Universal Monsters: Legend Collide are two houses you do NOT want to miss out on at this years Halloween Horror Nights.
Photo by Tony Ace
We want to thank John Murdy for his time and giving us the opportunity to chat his ear off about HHN. Below you find a few more images from our time at Universal Studios Hollywood that feature a few HHN related props and teases.
Photo by Tony Ace
Photo By Tony Ace
Photo By Tony Ace
Tickets for Halloween Horror Nights are now available but WILL sell out for select nights so we recommend getting them early.
Universal Orlando tickets can be found HERE! And the event runs in Orlando from September 2nd to October 31st.
Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood begins on September 8th and run thru Halloween night on October 31st.
Stay up to date with “The Dark Side Of Pop Culture” by following MacabreDaily on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
