It's time for a changing of the guard at Universal's Halloween Horror Nights.
Terrifer's Art the Clown "is the new face of horror," Universal Studios Hollywood Halloween Horror Nights Creative Director John Murdy said today.
"I think he is the equivalent of what Freddie, Jason, Leatherface, and Michael Myers were back in the 1970s and 80s. What's so special about Terrifier is that it's really been a long time since there's been an iconic horror movie slasher that horror fans have embraced, and Art is certainly that."
Murdy led a group of nine reporters, including me, on a walk-through of the Terrifier house for this year's after-hours haunt event. After walking through the house today, I can vouch for Universal's Terrifier being the bloodiest gross-out house with the most gruesome kills that I have seen yet at Halloween Horror Nights.
As Universal Orlando's Michael Aiello said to me last week, the Terrifier franchise "is for an advanced palate" among horror fans. So... keep that in mind as we proceed into the land of spoilers.
The house, which will be located next to Poltergeist and accessed from the exit of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, stands behind a spot-on facade of the funhouse facade from the second Terrifier movie.
The action starts before you enter the house, however, with Art the Clown coming out to terrify fans while they are waiting in the queue. Once inside, it's non-stop kills. The house depicts scenes from the second film, populated with kills from all three movies. The motif is that lowbrow funhouse, but Universal has tricked it out with scrims and drop windows to hide the scareactors within.
Get ready to be drenched with "blood" in this house, too. Murdy declined to provide details on just what exactly Universal will be spraying upon its guests, but he did point out spray nozzles hidden in the many prop figures that will be sawed and slashed in the house.
One scene recreates an especially brutal moment when Art pours salt and bleach into the wounds of one victim. A scene in the house will depict Art shooting barrels of bleach, which will pour onto guests. (No, it's not actually bleach... but it will smell like that, Murdy said.)
From there, it's into a scene where Art slashes a victim's mouth, allowing him to pull apart his jaw - again spraying visitors with the blood. Next, it's on to the Clown Cafe, where you might not want to touch that heart in a box.
The next scene is the grossest in HHN history. (IMHO) It's time for a potty break... in a feces-smeared bathroom where a kill from each of the three Terrifier films is depicted in each of the three bathroom stalls. Yes, Universal will be pumping in the poop smell for this one.
After that, the house goes meta with a "backstage" scene where one of the scareactors portraying Art meets the real deal, with deadly consequences. The house then ends with a nod to Terrifier 3, with a Christmas scenes that includes Art's final gift to Santa Claus.
Terrifier will be one of the houses at both Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal Studios Florida this year. Halloween Horror Nights starts this Friday, August 29, at Universal Studios Florida and on Thursday, September 4, at Universal Studios Hollywood. Click here for tickets to the Universal Studios Hollywood event, from our ticket partner.
This article has been archived and is no longer accepting comments.
I know this IP is having a bit of a moment right now, and Art the Clown might be one of the most identifiable characters in horror today. However, from all indications, this house takes everything a step too far to the point where TMs who went through the house last night noted the desire to vomit afterward. I'm all for stimulating every one of the senses and expanding into the realm of gross can be a welcome change of pace at an event where so many houses can strike the same tone. But when TMs, who are typically going to skew positive when providing HHN feedback on social media, are repeatedly commenting on how revolting parts of this house are, you have to wonder what designers where thinking. There have been plenty of haunted attraction scenes in bathrooms and using elements bordering on filthy, but it does sounds like this Terrifier house goes way too far. What's worse is that the trendiness of the IP is going to naturally draw crowds to this house who won't know what they're getting themselves into. This could very much be the Human Centipede of HHN.