HALLOWEEN LIGHT SHOW 2013

Forget waiting to put up the Christmas lights. Check out this awesome display of music, and Halloween spirit…

BEHIND THE SCENES: "LA LLORONA" HOUSE AT HALLOWEEN HORROR NIGHTS 23

Part of my Halloween Horror Nights 23 (HHN) adventures was taking the Unmasking the Horror Tour. This tour takes fans on a behind the scenes look at their haunted houses. Our tour took us into 6 of their 8 houses. I decided to break them each up into their own post in order to give a better look at each of them. This is a behind the scenes look at the “La Llorona” house.

The above video is a series of photos that I took while on the tour. What I will be doing now is describing some of the things you saw in the video, so you might want to read this and then go back and watch the video again. One of the first things you see in this house is a trick they often use. There are several mannequins sitting on benches, and at night there is also a scaractor sitting along with them. As you enter, it’s your job to figure out who is real.

In the next room, you walk up on a small coffin with a boy in it. There are also two other children who have passed away on the sides. The children are now property of La Lorena, as the scaractor playing La Lorena comes from behind the coffin to scare guests out of the room. I have to say as fake as it was, I was a little surprised to see them have a child in the coffin.

As you move on, here’s another trick that I happen to like. There are several statues, and again you have to figure out which one is real. It works well the first time you go through, but once you know where the real one is it loses the effect. Last year they did this expect that they interchanged where the scaractor could stand. It kept me on my toes each time.

If you look closely in the above pic, you can see some small wiring. They are triggered to touch guest’s legs as they move through this part of the house. I always enjoy when they do things that touch your feet cause you are rarely looking at the floor.

From there we move into an open room where we cross a bridge. Looking down you see two kids in the water. Yes, at night there is actually water there. During our night tour we learned that these kids were actually faced up, but executives told them to flip them over. This is why I was surprised they had the kids in the coffin. You will also see a person with a black cloth over their head at the top of the stairs. I was a little disappointed that this wasn’t an actual scaractor.

As we move along, we are taken underwater with La Llorona. You see white sheets, but at night they use lighting effecting making it feel like you are going underwater. As you can see it gets dark, and has a very mossy look. 

In the final scene of the house at night, La Llorona is standing there reaching out to guests passing by. What’s hard to see at night are the little skeletons behind her holding her back. The scaractor playing La Llorona here actually has a rubber band like rope attached to their arm to they can lean forward, and pull them self back. It’s really supposed to be the children that she has taken holding her back. And finally below is a look at the front of the house. At night there is a projection of La Llorona on the wall above the entrance.

Overall, I can’t say this was a very scary house. It did tell a good story about La Llorona, and there was a good attempt to take guests underwater. The most interesting thing about the house was the use of the children. Using children in haunted houses always seems to be a touchy subject. So that was a look at the “La Llorona” house. If you have any questions about the house, or HHN, please feel free to ask. Also if you want a better look at a specific pic from the video just ask.

  HorrO

BEHIND THE SCENES: "THE CABIN IN THE WOODS" HOUSE AT HALLOWEEN HORROR NIGHTS 23

Part of my Halloween Horror Nights 23 (HHN) adventures was taking the Unmasking the Horror Tour. This tour takes fans on a behind the scenes look at their haunted houses. Our tour took us into 6 of their 8 houses. I decided to break them each up into their own post in order to give a better look at each of them. This is a behind the scenes look at the “The Cabin in the Woods” house.

The above video is a series of photos that I took while on the tour. What I will be doing now is describing some of the things you saw in the video, so you might want to read this and then go back and watch the video again. There is no better way to start a house then with a body without its head. The representation of a now dead Jules is outside the house, as the chaos has already started inside. 

In the first room, on your left hand side is a couch where a scaractor is yelling. In the pic above you can see a trigger they use while standing on the couch. If he’s on your left, then you better bet there is something scary on your right. You know that missing head? Well, a member of the Redneck Zombie Torture family is standing there with the head. In the video, you can see that the college students were having fun drinking before the family crashed the party. 

From there we travel into a bedroom. Seems like a safe place to sleep, but at night another member of the Redneck Zombie Torture family is standing behind that sheet in the background. On the other side, the mirror might distract you. As we move along, you will start to see some familiar things from the movie like the painting. Then there are dolls like Raggedy Ann, and the Dead Silence doll that seems to appear in a house every year. 

Again, the zombies are hiding waiting for guests to pass by. This time they are hiding behind the film you see. In the light you might not think they are well hidden, but in the dark they are. We move on to see the dollhouse, and some tools that the family used on their victims. Of course, the family isn’t too far from their tools.

Then we move onto where the fun begins. I mentioned in my look at the “Evil Dead” house how I liked how bloody it was. Well that was nothing compared to this house. We see a dismembered body as guests are warned not to go into the elevator room. You all remember that scene in the movie right? The blood is everywhere as you saw in the video. It’s all over the walls, and the ground. There are dead security guards in pieces all over the floor. At night there are still some creatures hanging around the room to catch people who are paying attention to the mess around them. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised to see them go all out with the blood, and body parts.

We then move into a control room, where you see the Merman on the floor. At night he does have water coming out from him. Up on the wall you will see the famous board they used to place their bets with. You will find choices like “Deadites,” Zombies,” “Hell Lord,” and “Angry Molesting Tree.” Next is the break room, where at night you will find some creatures hanging out by the snack machine. You will also find them having a snack on that dead body. And don’t forget to watch out for the tentacles hanging from the ceiling.

The fun isn’t over yet. Just like in the movie, we get a look at some of the evil that roams the Earth. You will see some really ugly looking creatures, and then some more familiar faces. One of my favorites is the representation of “The Strangers.” As you can see in the video there is space between the mannequin Strangers for a scaractor to stand. Of course I tried to have a conversation with them every time we passed them at night. For HHN fans, there are some characters in that room you might recognize like Jack the Clown.

“The Cabin in the Woods” house had similarities to the “Evil Dead” house, but it wasn’t as focused on the characters as in the “Evil Dead” house. Here it was more about the scenes and creatures, than the college students. There were some good scares at night, especially from the Redneck Zombie Torture family at the beginning. As you might have guessed, I loved the bloody mess. I was excited every time we got close to the elevator room. I also liked the display of creatures, and characters to end the house with. So that was a look at “The Cabin in the Woods” house. If you have any questions about the house, or HHN, please feel free to ask. Also if you want a better look at a specific pic from the video just ask.

 

  HorrO

BEHIND THE SCENES: "RESIDENT EVIL" HOUSE AT HALLOWEEN HORROR NIGHTS 23

Part of my Halloween Horror Nights 23 (HHN) adventures was taking the Unmasking the Horror Tour. This tour takes fans on a behind the scenes look at their haunted houses. Our tour took us into 6 of their 8 houses. I decided to break them each up into their own post in order to give a better look at each of them. This is a behind the scenes look at the “Resident Evil” house.

The above video is a series of photos that I took while on the tour. What I will be doing now is describing some of the things you saw in the video, so you might want to read this and then go back and watch the video again. Before I get to the video, let me mention that this house is based on Resident Evil games 2 and 3 in case you were wondering. 

The first scene we walk into is the street outside the pizza place. At night you will see a scaractor playing Leon on top of the police car shooting zombies by the car and junk on the other side. If you look close enough in the pic of junk you can see an “Elm Street” street sign. I thought that it was cool of them to throw that in. Things like that are hard to see at night, but fun to find when on the tours.

From there we move into the pizza place, where you can see a dead body on the counter. At night, a zombie is having making a meal of it as you pass by. In one of the pics, you will notice what looks to be just some blood on a white background. However, that is fridge that holds soda. At night a scaractor is hiding inside to scare you. You can see how they get in and out of it in the back. 

The next room in this house is the laundry mat. It’s here we find something I always hated it the game…the dogs! At night you will find both a stationary dog, and one that is basically a head that a scaractor pokes out behind some clothing. There are also three washing machines with one of them being open for someone to surprise you from. 

We now move onto some of the bigger creatures from the game. You will see Tyrant crawling on the wall. You will also see him peaking his head through another wall. Again, there is a scaractor controlling his head from behind the wall. It might not seem like a big scare, but we saw him scare plenty of people. I think it’s interesting how they used this puppet like technique this year. It was something different, and to my surprise actually worked rather well.

The next room was certainly fun. As you entered and looked ahead, a scaractor playing Nemesis was high above the doorway out of the room pretending to shoot a giant machine gun. As you passed through the room you could feel the air of the gun. Funny how they have a “No Discharging of Firearms” sign on the wall. On the ground and to your left, a scaractor playing Claire Redfield was hiding behind a door shooting back at Nemesis. One time at night I told her to shoot him, and she replied, “I’m working on it!” To your right, there was another zombie hanging out, and scaring people. You will also notice things from the game like the plant, ammo, and the typewriter.  

Sticking with the video game theme, the next room was called “The Paused Room.” We always like to pause our games, so they decided to pause this game as well. You will see Leon on the side of the building firing at Tyrant. During our night tour, there was actually a zombie in the room, and he would move around. We asked why there was a moving zombie in a paused room, and they said there wasn’t supposed to be. I guess things change as the nights goes on. 

From here we move into the final room in this game. We are on the street trying to get on the helicopter. Unfortunately for us, the helicopter has already taken off. On the ground, again the zombie creatures are roaming around, and Nemesis appears to gun us down. In the video you can see what happens to us after he shoots us!

Overall, this turned out to be a fun house. I’m sure fans of the game will be happy with some of the things they see in the house. I thought The Paused Room was a good idea, and liked the sign at the end of the house. The creatures on the ground, and on the walls were really well done. The puppet technique proved it could scare plenty of guests at night. Hopefully I got all the character names right, as its been a while since I played it. So that was a look at the “Resident Evil” house. If you have any questions about the house, or HHN, please feel free to ask. Also if you want a better look at a specific pic from the video just ask.

  HorrO

BEHIND THE SCENES: "EVIL DEAD" HOUSE AT HALLOWEEN HORROR NIGHTS 23

Part of my Halloween Horror Nights 23 (HHN) adventures at Universal Orlando was taking the Unmasking the Horror Tour. This tour takes fans on a behind the scenes look at their haunted houses. Our tour took us into 6 of their 8 houses. I decided to break them each up into their own post in order to give a better look at each of them. This is a behind the scenes look at the “Evil Dead” house.

The above video is a series of photos that I took while on the tour. What I will be doing now is describing some of the things you saw in the video, so you might want to read this and then go back and watch the video again. The house starts with a look at the famous evil Book of the Dead, and some of its pages. Then you walk under the sign that says, “Evil Dead.” If you are wonder why I didn’t get a better picture of that it’s because of how the rooms are connected. There is a big curtain there, which doesn’t allow you to step back, and take a full picture.

From there we go into the first room of the house. On your right, you find Eric reading the book, and releasing the evil. You can see I took a picture of the book, and even snuck in a pic of his face. When the house is open, the wall in front of him is a screen showing the evil traveling through the forest like in the movie.

As we move to the next room, we see the evil has now taken over Mia. When we get in the room, you can see Mia bent over on the ground. At night, a scaractor lays under her, as if Mia is vomiting on them. Again I took a pic of her face, and no she didn’t vomit on me (thank God). 

The series of scenes from the movie continues, as we are in the bathroom where the Olivia decides to slice open her mouth. She isn’t in the pic, but at night the scaractor playing Olivia is hiding in the showing waiting for you to walk by. I like the bloody mess she has made! 

This bloody mess continues into the kitchen, where there is more body mutilation going on. Here we are in the scene where the Natalie tries to cut off her arm. At night the scaractor playing Natalie is sitting in the chair doing just that. As you walk by at night, you just might be hit with some water simulating the blood gushing from her arm. 

Then onto one of the more recognized scenes of the movie. In the hatch to the basement, the scaractor playing Mia sits telling everyone that they are “going to die tonight!” At night, it was certainly one of the fun rooms to go in because we have all seen that scene over and over in the trailers. 

From there we start making our way out of the house, but not before running into some interesting decorations. There are cats, and other creatures hanging from the ceiling. Once outside, we are basically at the end of the movie. You see the car, which is flipped over in front of the house. At night, they have fog, and mist blowing at you to simulate the raining blood at the end of the movie. You might also want to watch out for who’s hiding in the bushes. The house then ends with another look at the book on a swing, and more pages hanging on the wall. 

Overall, I think they did a good job recreating scenes from the movie. The makeup used on the bloody scaractors was great. Maybe the house wasn’t that scary, but I enjoyed how it got bloodier as we went through it. I also got a kick out of the Mia saying that we are “going to die tonight!” It definitely made me feel like I was in the movie. So that was a look at the “Evil Dead” house. If you have any questions about the house or HHN, please feel free to ask. Also if you want a better look at a specific pic from the video just ask.

  HorrO  

The Walking Dead: Funny Pics!

Excited for the return of The Walking Dead? I know I am! I thought I would bring back this video to get you prepared for the big night. Enjoy if you haven’t seen it!

GRAVITY REVIEW

A medical engineer and an astronaut work together to survive after an accident leaves them adrift in space.

Starring: Sandra Bullock, George Clooney, and Ed Harris

Directed by: Alfonso Cuaron

Written by: Alfonso Cuaron, and Jonas Cuaron

  Remember when you were a kid, and would play on the monkey bars. Swinging from one side to the other. Swing, grab, and hold! Swing, grab, and hold! Swing, grab, and hold! That was for fun, but what if your life literally depended on it? Swing, miss, and hit the ground. Not this time! Swing, miss, and die!

  The thing that stands out about “Gravity” is how it brings out the fear of the situation. The crew is outside of the shuttle working when debris comes flying at them at a rapid speed. There is no time to lose, and no place to hide. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) gets detached, and is set drifting in space. As the audience, just imagine being her space boots. Spinning and spinning with nowhere to go. Imagine being stuck floating in pitch-black space until your oxygen runs out. Now that is something to fear!

  Fortunately for Ryan, Matt (George Clooney) is wearing a pack that allows him to control where he’s going so he’s able to recover her. However the pack doesn’t last forever, and it’s up to them to get back on a shuttle that can take them to Earth. Now it’s monkey bar time. They have to grab a hold of something, or face drifting off into space again. This happens over and over again, and surprisingly remains effective. Why, because the situation strikes fear in the audience, and they wouldn’t wish that anyone (hopefully).

  What adds to that fear is the stunning visuals. They do an excellent job of making the audience feel like they are in space along with the astronauts. It also helps when watching it on the big IMAX screening that engulfs the audience in the darkness of space. When the debris comes around and starts destroying everything in sight it almost makes the audience want to duck for cover.

  The movie moves at a great pace. Every time it gives the astronauts, and audience a chance to breathe something else goes wrong. The intensity quickly picks up again, as they fight for their lives. Throw in some really ominous music playing in the background reminding the audience it could be over with one missed opportunity to grab onto something.

  While watching the movie, the audience is completely caught up in what’s happening. Looking back at it, of course there are a lot of convenient moments. The debris happens to hit everything but the astronauts. There happens to be enough shuttles within distance for them to attach to. And of course the fact that they are actually able to swing, grab, and hold so many times.

  The beauty of “Gravity” is how it creates such a gloomy situation. As soon as things go wrong, the audience realizes just how scary it would be to actually have that happen to them. The visuals, pace, intensity, and score of the movie keep the audience on the edge of their seat. Yes, there are some convenient moments, but they won’t hit the audience until after the fear goes away. With that, I give this movie 3.5 pools of blood!

  HorrO

The Weekly Fall Horror On TV Schedule

Here is a look at the weekly Fall Horror on TV Schedule…

Sunday:

The Walking Dead on AMC at 9:00

Monday:

Sleepy Hollow on Fox at 9:00

Tuesday:

The Originals on CW at 8:00 and Supernatural on CW at 9:00

Wednesday:

American Horror Story Coven on FX at 10:00

Thursday:

The Vampire Diaries on CW at 8:00

Friday:

Grimm on NBC at 9:00, and Dracula on NBC at 10:00

And don’t forget shows like Hannibal, Bates Motel, and Being Human will return early in 2014!