Thursday, October 31, 2013
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
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.
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
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.
Friday, October 18, 2013
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.
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
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.
Sunday, October 13, 2013
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!
Friday, October 11, 2013
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!
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
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!
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