The Horror!

It wasn’t enough that Universal Studios had a Halloween attraction last year loaded with some of Hollywood’s best special effects.

Universal officials figured there had to be a way to top it for the park’s second annual Halloween haunt, which opens Friday night.

“We brought in the greatest mind in horror to create what will truly be the most interesting haunted experience ever,” said Norm Kahn, Universal vice president of entertainment.

That would be Clive Barker, the creator of gory films like “Candyman” and “Hellraiser.”

This man is known for having a twisted mind and his imagination can be downright scary.

He promises his Halloween creation at Universal, a maze appropriately called “Freakz,” will put the audience in a state of fear or at the very least cause a powerful adrenaline rush.

“You won’t see any cobwebs anywhere near this attraction,” Barker said. “There won’t be any gravestones or fake spiders. It’s going to be about something fresh.”

His masterpiece, housed in a back-lot sound stage, will have an ongoing theme and story like a movie. A caretaker, General Santiago, will guide the audience through the terrifying warehouse of gore.

“It will be a specific psychodrama,” Barker said. “I think it’s much scarier if it has a sense of story.”

We won’t give the whole thing away, but it begins with an elaborate scene designed to grab even a skeptic’s attention: “Something freakish is on a table giving birth,” Barker said. “It will definitely draw people in.”

The idea, Barker says, is if you want to know more you must move on to the next room. Among the things encountered are bloody chickens, double-headed freaks and a wedding chapel with an alien creature peeping out of the bride’s stomach.

All this will, of course, be set up with sophisticated special effects, dozens of live actors, technicians and stagehands that will help it appear realistic.

Hundreds of drawings, models and architectural renderings were used to make it look that way. Barker, also an illustrator and author, drew and scripted the entire grisly scene.

“This is a different experience for me because it’s very client-specific,” Barker said.

The target is young adults, say Universal officials. For those who haven’t figured it out by now, Halloween Horror Nights is definitely not intended for young children.

Three other mazes will be set up near Barker’s “Freakz.” There’s the “Crypt Keeper’s Screaming Room” featuring a vault of classic horror films; “Classic Creature Features” with renowned Universal monsters like Frankenstein, the Wolf Man and Dracula; and “Alien Assault,” where guests experience face-to-face encounters with creatures from another world.

The park’s other Halloween specials include “Chucky’s Wedding Chapel,” where guests can share in the festivities with the jaded couple at Chucky’s own courtyard set; “Slaughterworld,” a stunt show at what is normally Universal’s Waterworld venue; “Bill and Ted’s Halloween Adventure,” a twisted, satirical spin on current social and political issues; and “Carnival of Carnage,” a show about medieval torture that includes sword swallowers and glass eaters.

Also, a live fire-breathing and blood-spitting rock ‘n’ roll performance will pay homage to the 1970s band KISS, also known as the monsters of rock.

And for the first time, two of the park’s rides--Jurassic Park and Back to the Future--will be open at night and “spooked up” with Halloween decor.

The most frightening attraction, however, will probably be Barker’s. After all, he is considered a mastermind of horror in Hollywood circles.

“I intend to take away the audience’s sense of control, to take away their zone of comfort,” he said with a big smile.

BE THERE

Halloween Horror Nights, Friday and Saturday and Oct. 23-24 and 29-31 from 7 p.m.-1 a.m. at Universal Studios, Hollywood Freeway at Lankershim Boulevard, Universal City. Tickets are $34, $24 in advance. Information: (818) 508-9600.