Dracula Untold doesn’t hit theaters until October 17th, but it seems as though Universal expects it to draw a crowd because the movie will have a presence at Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights 2014. The event kicks off on September 19th and will feature the Dracula Untold: Reign of Blood maze in which you’ll meet Vlad the Impaler and get a sense of what goes down when he chooses to swap his humanity for a never-ending thirst for blood.
Hit the jump for more on the Dracula Untold: Reign of Blood maze as well as details on some of the other properties to be featured at Halloween Horror Nights this year.
John Murdy, creative director at Universal Studios Hollywood and executive producer of Halloween Horror Nights highlighted:
“While Dracula Untold will reveal the origin story of the man who became Dracula, our ‘Halloween Horror Nights’ maze will invite guests to experience the atrocities Dracula imposed on his victims in the most frightening and immersive way possible.”
In addition to Dracula Untold, The Walking Dead, From Dusk Till Dawn, Face Off, The Purge Anarchy, and AVP: Alien vs. Predator are all set to terrify Universal Orlando Resort and Universal Studios Hollywood guests as well. This will mark The Walking Dead’s third year at Halloween Horror Nights, setting up a maze inspired by what goes down in season 4. In the From Dusk Till Dawn maze you’ll head into The Twister (apparently the original name wasn’t theme park-friendly) and encounter serpent-like vampires called Culebras.
Over at the Face Off street experience, “Face Off: In the Flesh,” you’ll be able to check out 10 character creations inspired by the SyFy competition show inside five different immersive environments while the Purge Anarchy scare zone aims to bring the core concept of the film to life, challenging you to survive the night. As for Alien vs. Predator, it’s getting the maze treatment in celebration of the 35th anniversary of Alien and the 10th anniversary of AvP. Greg Lombardo, the vice president of global live and location based entertainment at Twentieth Century Fox Consumer Products teased:
“We’re thrilled to be working with Universal Studios to create mazes in Orlando and Hollywood that will bring fans face-to-face with the horrifying and iconic characters of AVP. The technology being leveraged will surely be a new benchmark and provide a uniquely terrifying and visceral encounter that puts guests right in the middle of an epic extraterrestrial battle for survival.”
As a big fan of The Walking Dead Escape, The Purge: Breakout and other movie/TV-themed immersive events, Halloween Horror Nights is high up on my to-do list, however, with no mind-blowing horror releases in 2014 thus far, past installations like Insidious: Into the Further and the Cabin in the Woods haunted house did have a little more of a draw.