Last Updated on September 5, 2024 by Angel Melanson
Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights is on the horizon, as we chomp at the bit to visit all 8 houses coming to Horror Nights on opening night, we took a behind-the-scenes tour of two new houses: A Quiet Place and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre:The Legacy of Leatherface. Universal’s Creative Director, John Murdy, walked us through the houses, giving us behind-the-scenes access and insight into the inception and creation that went into bringing these stories to life.
First up, A Quiet Place. The house is based on the first two movies in the franchise, A Quiet Place and A Quiet Place II. There are three things that make this particular house unique. If you’re familiar with the world of A Quiet Place, you’ll remember our hero is a young deaf girl who uses ASL to communicate with her family.
This acts as a huge benefit, keeping them safe in a world where creatures hunt by even the slightest sound. The pre-show video guests watch while in the queue will be totally void of audio and feature ASL. The video stars a deaf performer who works in the park, she also trained the haunted house cast in ASL. The video sets up the story for the guests, informing them of “Certain signs you need to know if you want to survive in this world.”
For the first time ever, ASL will be incorporated into the actual house. The A Quiet Place movies are not silent — far from it. But they do use very intentional sound, as Murdy describes it as: “Low frequencies, high frequencies, sometimes things you can’t perceive but you feel. Naturalistic sounds.”
Horror Nights houses typically use big giant sounds and big giant speakers for jump scares. Not the case for A Quiet Place. What’s in store is different than the norm, “Subtle sounds. Not your typical haunted house audio environment.” Murdy explains that the houses typically utilize big speakers aimed down at guests. The world of A Quiet Place does not lend itself to the usual sound design.
During last haunt season, at the end of October, Murdy and his team did a whole mockup of this house to test the sound, integrating scenic props to house the audio. The unique sound design for this house utilizes “lots of little speakers” situated close to guests, rather than the large speakers positioned above visitors.
Another unique aspect is the use of puppets and full-blown animatronics to bring the creatures of A Quiet Place to life. The creatures in the movies were created using CGI, so it was up to Murdy and his team to build practical creatures from the ground up. Last year, Murdy noted the first time use of animatronics in the Chucky maze. That served as a (successful) test case, and the team is building even larger-scale animatronics for A Quiet Place. Making the big leap into full-size creatures.
Murdy also shared this house is one of the most highly detailed and realistic sets he and his team have built for Horror Nights to date. The “sand trails” beneath our feet are immediately evident. In the movies, John Krasinski's character made sand trails for his family to walk on to muffle their footsteps and avoid the wrath of the creatures. Shhhh, let’s keep going.
The first creature we encounter is striking. Murdy explains, “Plates on the head open up for them to listen.” This creature is missing some of its skin, so since he's not fully dressed, I can't show you just yet. But you're going to be impressed. This room is equipped with a “Little sensor. Once you break it, the creature rises up on its haunches and roars.”
Here's a look at one of the creature puppets in a corn silo.
These things are ridiculously impressive. An animatronic creature features more than 14 servo motors just in the head alone. And even sans servo motors, the massive puppets are imposing even with the lights on. We can't wait to check this all out with the creatures in action under the show lights.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre: The Legacy of Leatherface
Next up, we head down to the lower lot for The Texas Chain Saw Massacre: The Legacy of Leatherface. Now, this is far from the first iteration of a Texas Chain Saw Massacre house at Horror Nights, in fact, Murdy got to walk the legendary Chain Saw director/co-writer/producer Tobe Hooper through one incarnation of the house: “Tobe came to the event back in 2007, I have all these pictures of him in our first Texas Chain Saw Massacre house, taking pictures of every scene.”
There’s absolutely no way to top that epic moment, but for the 1974 film’s 50th anniversary, Murdy wanted to try a new approach: “I wanted to do something entirely different to celebrate the franchise’s history.” The answer? Taking a multi-verse approach, incorporating the many iterations of Leatherface from all nine films. The perfect setting to kick off our multi-verse adventure? A slaughterhouse, of course! “You’re at a location that’s talked about and referenced, but you never see — the slaughterhouse.”
Guests will notice an immediate Easter egg when approaching the slaughterhouse. Take a look up at the sign, Hooper & Henkel Meat Processing, a nod to Tobe Hooper and Chainsaw co-writer Kim Henkel. Murdy called up the late Tobe Hooper’s family and Kim Henkel, letting them know, “I’d like to honor them by naming the slaughterhouse after them.”
Horror Nights fans will be familiar with the pre-show setup that occurs while waiting in line. For this house, “While you’re out front, there’s a spoken word narration done like the hitchhiker’s character setting up the story. People didn’t die fast enough in this tiny little town, so now they’re actively killing people and processing ‘the meat’ far from the eyes of prying authorities.”
2017’s Leatherface will welcome guests into the slaughterhouse, concealed in a cow carcass, beckoning visitors into the building as he checks out the meat… err… visitors. Upon entering the slaughterhouse, guests will encounter Leatherface’s extensive collection of skin faces.
As we pick our way through various body parts, I can’t help but imagine the stench that awaits us on show night. I ask Murdy about what’s in store for our olfactory receptors, and he assures me he personally tests out the scents, and this particular house is going to be ripe. Oh good.
Venturing further into the slaughterhouse, guests will encounter the many different iterations of Leatherface through the various rooms. Murdy researched the meatpacking industry’s history and procedures, crediting Chicago meatpacking houses of the 1860s with creating the first assembly (or disassembly) lines.
The pulley systems and stations inspired by the Chicago slaughterhouses will be filled with a different type of meat in the Sawyer slaughterhouse. Human corpses (and sometimes just the skin of corpses) hang from hooks and various contraptions, overflowing bins and floating in water fixtures. Buckets of heads and bowls of guts beckon.
We make our way through a refrigerated room which the Sawyer family has clearly not kept cold. (Pretty sure all this meat's gone bad!) Navigating through curtains of human skin, doing my best to not let it touch my face.
A cemetery scene featuring burial plots for various Sawyer family members prominently displays MEAT icons, the sort of pig statuary one would find out in front of a BBQ restaurant. Murdy explains that for the Sawyers, Meat is sacred. Meat is god, and that’s reflected in the iconography displayed in the family graveyard.
Before we exit, we end up back in the original 1974 Texas Chain Saw Massacre house. The front porch is adorned with the Sawyer version of beaded curtains, bones strung up on display. And as we step over the threshold to the house, pelts are hung on the walls, with the staircase going up to the right, and the horrifying sliding door dead straight ahead. Even without haunt actors in the house, it’s unnerving to walk past the door when you know exactly what comes out of there, and what happens when he does.
Big thanks to John Murdy and the Universal team for having us out. We can't wait to see all the nightmares you've cooked up this year.
Halloween Horror Nights 2024 starts Thursday, September 5 at Universal Hollywood, running select nights hrough Sunday, November 3rd. All event tickets for Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood are now on sale. For more, read our full list of all houses coming to Horror Nights. Fans can get a jump-start on their Halloween Horror Nights gear with an all-new merchandise collection available for purchase now at Universal Orlando Resort and Universal Studios Hollywood, as well as online.
Stay tuned for our upcoming coverage of Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights Hollywood and Orlando!
