MAZE THEME Based on the new prequel horror film THE THING opening October 14th, this chilling new maze will take you to an abandoned outpost in the frozen wastelands of Antarctica. Featuring authentic set and creature designs from the movie, let the fear freeze your blood cold as the murderous alien lurks in shadows to attack. Will you escape the Thing before it strikes again and infects you? Set in the Norwegian outpost where scientists first discover the creature and its spacecraft buried in the ice, the Thing has been thawed from its frozen tomb and now hides in the dark recesses of the station. This devious alien threat is known to "assimilate" its human host and duplicate them genetically. Hidden inside its human host, the Thing proceeds to attack new victims while disguised as another scientist, one of your friends or even as you!

WHAT WE EXPECT IN THE MAZE:
COLD, CLAUSTROPHOBIA AND CREATURES

With story and style references from John Carpenter's original 1982 horror film THE THING, and borrowed directly from the 2011 prequel film, expect THE THING: ASSIMILATION maze to embody the chilling claustrophobic atmosphere of both movies with the threat of unknown alien terror stalking your every step.

While HHN Creative Director John Murdy and the USH design crew are keeping their maze secrets closely guarded until the event opens, we can easily speculate that these thematic elements will play key roles in THE THING: ASSIMILATION haunt maze: a chilling cold environment, claustrophobic sets from the film, and a terrifying variety of assimilated creatures waiting to scare guests.

Though we're not expecting massive ice caverns housing a huge alien spacecraft in the maze, Universal has a great opportunity for high production value in this maze using the various shack, tunnel and room designs from the new film to quickly establish THE THING's sense of desolate, deadly isolation from the world. The maze's icy setting will offer plenty of distinctive design opportunities to establish snow and cold as yet another threat inside the science compound, especially if the story line has the Norwegian team or the Thing itself destroying rooms with fire or explosives in their ongoing battle. Ice walls, snow drifts and icicles will be good visual cues to help Southern California haunt fans set their minds in a frozen Antarctic mood even if our autumn weather doesn't match the show's wintery setting.

Better still, HHN guests will be the first to see the new creature designs from the 2011 film before it even opens in theaters, amping up their scare and surprise factor unlike any other movie-based maze this season. Will these new 2011 Thing-creatures live up to or exceed the grotesque, horrifying nightmares devised by Rob Bottin for Carpenter's 1982 cult classic, and how will they translate to becoming on-set monsters in Universal's maze? The inclusion of THE THING: ASSIMILATION in HHN's maze lineup might also be a promising sign for movie fans who like their creatures to be real, physical characters (like Bottin's, seen above) and not CG creations which can only exist on the big screen. Universal seems quite confident in THE THING prequel since they didn't hesitate to create a maze based on the film simultaneous with its theatrical release. If USH really supports this theme with a hearty budget, expect the most cinematic maze experience at Halloween Horror Nights from THE THING: ASSIMILATION which could make it a horrifying hit with fans this year.

The Thing [Blu-ray]

WHAT WE WANT IN THE MAZE:
ICE, ICE, BABY!

One of the key factors in establishing the environment for THE THING: ASSIMILATION is the freezing arctic weather conditions to create constant chills in HHN guests. We anticipate many visual clues to help recreate the icy conditions threatening the Norwegian science outpost, but actually pumping refrigerated air into this maze will take its environmental effects over the top.  Assuming this maze is built inside one of Universal's sound stages as commonly done for HHN, it's quite possible if not practical to actually chill the air inside the maze to have guests shivering before they ever see the first monster. They don't need to chill the entire stage, but running AC ducts into key maze areas would really help sell THE THING's Antarctic blood-freezing scare factor, and cold spots would also help this maze stand out from all the rest. Our fingers are crossed that Universal will add some frost to these frights.

FILMEDGE'S POTENTIAL FRIGHT RATING:
CHILLER CHAMPION

With top-notch, terrifying creature props and prosthetics, backed up with a solid maze monster team ready to scare guests, THE THING: ASSMILIATION could top the fright charts in its 2011 debut at Halloween Horror Nights. Already this maze rides high on our anticipation list and, depending on its location, will likely be the first maze FilmEdge visits just so we can stop wondering how it turned out. We're looking forward to THE THING prequel film as well, which will also be reviewed on this site in October.

PRE-ORDER YOUR HALLOWEEN HORROR NIGHTS TICKETS AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE NOW
SAVE $25 ON KILLER DEAL NIGHTS AND UPGRADE WITH A FRONT OF LINE PASS

FILMEDGE Visit the official Universal Studios Hollywood HALLOWEEN HORROR NIGHTS website HALLOWEEN HORROR NIGHTS opens select nights September 23 - October 31, 2011 All original content of this site is © 2011 FilmEdge.net. All rights reserved All HALLOWEEN HORROR NIGHTS materials are © 2011 Universal Studios. All rights reserved