Trying With All of Their Fright

This year, for the first time, Universal Studios Hollywood is getting into the boo business.

Premiering next Thursday, Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights will run 12 nights through Nov. 1. A creative team with film and TV experience, a cast of more than 350 actors and stunt persons and a crew of 700 were assembled to create the Hollywood-style event, which is modeled after one at the Universal Studios theme park in Florida.

As the sun sets and the daytime park visitors leave, the entire hilltop area of the park will be transformed into a dimly lit horror landscape of fog machines, “scare-ictures,” haunted mazes and fright-filled shows.

“We’re doing mazes that bring the magic of the movies to life around you,” said Norm Kahn, vice president of Universal Studios Hollywood. “You’ll walk into a room and we will re-create a scene from a movie with the main character.”

One such maze, the Cryptkeeper’s Film Vault, immerses visitors in the horror genre where a who’s who of famed fiends are waiting. Scenes pay homage to modern horror films.

There’s the Bates Motel and the legendary shower scene from “Psycho” where visitors become victims chased through the room by a knife-wielding Norman Bates.

“Rather than watching or explaining a character, we are taking the mazes to the next level and putting you in the movie,” Kahn said.

Also in the Cryptkeepers Film Vault is Dr. Giggle’s Surgery Room, complete with spurting blood and that antiseptic hospital smell.

“With the lighting, the sounds and the smells, we really wanted to touch all the senses,” said Cory Asrilant, Halloween Horror Nights production manager.

An electric chair execution scene from the movie “Shocker” is so realistic visitors will smell something akin to burning flesh.

“I don’t know where they found the chemical, but there is some chemical out there that smells like burning flesh,” Asrilant said.

Near Back to the Future--the Ride (which will be open during Halloween Horror Nights) is the Classic Monster Maze. Here visitors are transported through a movie screen into scenes from classic horror films--including “The Bride of Frankenstein,” “Dracula,” and “The Creature From the Black Lagoon”--all presented in living black-and-white.

“When you’re not used to being in a black-and-white world, the lighting can really play tricks with your mind,” Asrilant said.

Another maze, dubbed Area 51 in reference to the secret military site in the Nevada desert, focuses on the sci-fi genre. The tour starts gently with the premise that the government has finally decided to share the peaceable alien spaceship with the public.

As you might suspect, things go awry, leading to a medical containment holding room, an alien autopsy and an alien morgue (a room that’s actually refrigerated, of course).

The Circus of Horrors, a real-life freak show with real-life freaks, will be holding court on what by day is the Nickelodeon Stage. The freaks include a guy who sticks pins through his cheek, a man who lies on a bed of nails while someone walks on his torso, and another talent who swallows lightbulbs.

“This is real stuff and it’s really gruesome. Some of them I couldn’t even watch,” Asrilant acknowledged. “And I had to audition them!”

Stage shows like the Beetlejuice Graveyard Revue and Bill and Ted’s Excellent Halloween Adventure are a little more tepid, but not much.

“We are strongly discouraging children under 12 from coming to this event,” Kahn said. “This goes way beyond just yelling ‘Boo!’ We have Hollywood makeup artists, we have prosthetics, we have eyeball appliances with balloons that inflate and we are removing body parts. That’s the level of detail we are going for. People should absolutely be concerned about being too scared.”

* Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights, Oct. 9-11, 17-18, 23-26, 30-31 and Nov. 1. Universal Studios Hollywood, Hollywood Freeway at Lankershim Boulevard, Universal City. Hours of operation will be 7 p.m.-midnight on Thursdays and Sundays, 7 p.m.-1 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Tickets, $32. Call Ticketmaster at (213) 252-TIXS. Call (818) 622-3801 for information. Not recommended for children under 12.

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Although the park closes at 1 a.m., the fear doesn’t stop here. Saturday and Sunday nights at Citywalk, Universal City Cinema’s “Night Frights Film Festival” will screen horror movies such as “Bram Stoker’s Dracula,” “Friday the 13th,” “The Lost Boys,” “The Crow,” “Scream,” “Beetlejuice” and “The Craft.”

Also on Citywalk, children can celebrate Halloween at “Scared Silly,” a festival for kids that includes crafts, cookie decorating and face painting, and runs from 2 to 5 p.m., Oct. 11-12, 18-19, 25-26. Trick or treating is scheduled for Oct. 26 from 2-5 p.m. and Oct. 31 from 4-7 p.m.

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Elsewhere on the theme park circuit, Six Flags Magic Mountain will be decked out with skeletons, ghosts and graveyard sets for “Fright Fest.” Live shows will include an animal show called “Creepy Crawly Pet Show,” the “High Sierra Hypnotist” and “Willoughby’s Haunted Mansion.” This is a family-oriented attraction and kids are encouraged to come in costume and parade through Bugs Bunny World at 3:30 p.m. each “Fright Fest” day.

* “Fright Fest,” Oct. 10-11, 10 a.m.-10 p.m.; Oct. 12, 10 a.m.-8 p.m.; Oct. 17-19, 24-26, 10 a.m.-10 p.m.; Oct. 31, 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Magic Mountain Parkway, Interstate 5, Valencia, (818) 367-5965 or (805) 255-4111. Adults, $35; senior citizens 55 and older, $20; children under 4 feet, $17; children 2 and under, free.

Pacific Park on Santa Monica Pier kicks off its 2nd annual Halloween event today, with the “Hollywood House of Horrors’ Haunted Maze,” for ages 12 and older, featuring famed villains such as Frankenstein, Freddy Krueger and Jason. Younger children can participate all month in “spook-tackular” storytelling sessions, pumpkin and face painting activities and trick or treating.

* “Hollywood House of Horrors’ Haunted Maze,” Thursdays and Sunday, 4-9 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays, 5 p.m.-midnight. 380 Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica, (310) 260-8744. Admission is $6. Ends Nov. 2.

Beginning next Friday in Long Beach, the Queen Mary Shipwreck ’97 welcomes victims to three haunted mazes, the annual “Haunted Hull of Horror” and “Londontowne of Terror,” plus an all-new “Decks of the Dead.”

* Queen Mary Shipwreck ‘97, Oct. 10-12, 17-19, 24-31 and Nov. 1. Hours are 7 p.m.-midnight. 1126 Queens Highway, end of Long Beach Freeway, Long Beach, (562) 435-3511. Tickets, $13.