Universal Studios Hollywood already planning Horror Nights 2012

By Brady MacDonald, Los Angeles Times staff writer

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While most of us have Christmas on our minds, Universal Studios Hollywood is already planning for next Halloween.

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Universal has been conducting an online survey to gauge fan interest in 50 movie and television properties as potential haunted maze themes for Halloween Horror Nights 2012.

The annual post-Halloween poll offers fans a glimpse into what could be on the horror horizon at Universal.

During the past few years, the revamped Horror Nights has presented mazes based on some of the biggest horror properties: "Friday the 13th," "A Nightmare on Elm Street," "Texas Chainsaw Massacre," "Halloween," "Scream" and "Saw."

Among the possibilities for 2012 and beyond: "Psycho," "Amityville Horror," "Aliens," "Poltergeist," "Paranormal Activity,""28 Days Later," "American Werewolf in London," "Freddy vs. Jason," "The Shining," "Hellraiser," "True Blood," "Dexter" and "American Horror Story."

This year, Universal worked directly with big-name talent to bring many of the mazes to life: Alice Cooper ("Welcome to My Nightmare"), Eli Roth ("Hostel") and Rob Zombie ("House of 1000 Corpses").

As a result, this year's online poll also included musicians Marilyn Manson, Lady Gaga, Ozzy Osbourne, Kiss and Slipknot and filmmakers John Carpenter, Clive Barker, Wes Craven, Tim Burton and Quentin Tarantino as potential maze-making partners.

Via Twitter, Horror Nights creative director John Murdy has put a few movie maze contenders on his short list ("Trick 'r Treat" and "Evil Dead") while declaring some other titles difficult to acquire ("The Exorcist" and "Dawn of the Dead") or hard to adapt "Zombieland" and "Silent Hill").

Among the movie titles in the online poll with planned 2012 remakes: "Halloween 3D," "Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D" and "Resident Evil: Retribution." "The Lords of Salem," a 2012 thriller about witches written and directed by Rob Zombie, is the only unreleased movie on the list.