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For the first time, Universal Studios Hollywood is allowing fans to choose the theme of a scare zone to be featured at Halloween Horror Nights this year.
The “Choose Your Scare” online voting competition begins June 4 with the winning scare zone concept appearing at the event in Fall 2014. Voting takes place on the official Halloween Horror Nights Facebook page through June 18 with the winning area to be announced on June 19.
Update: The winning scare zone is Mask-a-Raid!
“We are always listening closely to what our fans want, but this was the first time ever that we actually went out and put the power completely in their hands to determine part of ‘Halloween Horror Nights’ content,” said John Murdy, Creative Director, Universal Studios Hollywood and Executive Producer of “Halloween Horror Nights.” “The avalanche of votes we received confirmed our fans’ desire to be part of the process, and we are happy to give them exactly what they want.”
The new Scare Zone, staged in the theme park’s French Street location, will transport guests to a time when masquerade balls were a staple of the social calendar in pre-Revolutionary War France. However, visitors will soon learn that behind the elaborate, jeweled masks of powdered and perfumed party-goers are members of a blood-thirsty cannibal cult.
Three possible scare zone themes are presented: Corps, Mask-a-Raid or Ghoulz. Each is described below, complete with new character artwork.
Scare Zone, Option 1: Corps
“The War to End All Wars” has left a swathe of destruction through battle-torn France, and on French Street at Universal Studios Hollywood’s Halloween Horror Nights, World War I-era soldiers have returned from the dead. The constant artillery bombardment has turned the twisted network of trenches into a sprawling graveyard, and now “The Lost Generation” is rising from their muddy graves and coming home to haunt the streets of “old Paris.”
Scare Zone, Option 2: Mask-a-Raid
Masquerade Balls were a staple of the social calendar in pre-Revolutionary War France; a time for the members of the French aristocracy to misbehave behind the cover of elaborate, jeweled masks. But “mask-a-raiding” among the powdered and perfumed party-goers are members of a blood thirsty cannibal cult. Bon appétit!
Scare Zone, Option 3: Ghoulz
In 19th century France, restrictive laws and social norms prevented medical colleges from acquiring the one asset they need most – human cadavers. To solve this “body shortage crisis,” universities employed “unsavory characters” to do their dirty work and steal corpses from cemeteries in the middle of the night. Unfortunately, the grave robbers on Universal Studios Hollywood’s French Street have developed a morbid fascination with the dead – and a taste for human flesh.
