MAZE THEME Are you brave enough to enter the dark, haunted halls of Talbot Hall? It was once home of THE WOLFMAN, a ravenous half-man half-beast who tore a murderous path across the countryside. Lawrence Talbot's family curse lives on inside these stone walls, and death lurks around every corner. Should you survive the Wolfman's attack, you too will be cursed to become a brutal monster. As the ancient gypsy legend says: even a man who is pure in heart and says his prayers by night, may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms, and the autumn moon is bright.

WHAT WE EXPECT IN THE MAZE:
HOWLING WEREWOLVES, BLOODY VICTIMS AND MAYHEM

If Universal Studios does one thing right, it's make great creature features and their legacy of classic movie monsters continues today. THE WOLFMAN: THE CURSE OF TALBOT HALL carries on that tradition as it debuts at Hollywood's HHN this year to get horror fans howling at the full moon. There is some disappointment that this maze did not get an original build of its own, and instead will be an overlay theme hosted in Uni's year-round attraction House of Horrors, but it makes sense that there is too much suitable infrastructure in HOH to pass it up as THE WOLFMAN's residence on the hill.

HHN Creative Director John Murdy and the USH design crew have their work cut out for them if they intend to disguise the mix of themes found within the House of Horrors, though rumors persist that only a few minor changes are to be made. If they are to overcome (or at least overshadow) the Frankenstein lab machinery, jumping Mummies and playthings of Chucky, the HOH will need to be crammed full of Wolfman attacks and Talbot Hall trappings to truly set the mood from the film.

Fortunately director Joe Johnston's film offers an abundance of material to either re-theme or at least blend in with the existing House of Horrors design. The dank, melancholy crypts of the Talbot family should be a naturally fitting extension of the Catacombs and Crypt scenes existing in HOH, with a swap-out of the Nosferatu and brides of Dracula scare-actors for the Wolfman's first transformation from man to beast.  Talbot Hall has no need for resurrected mummies or a serial-killing doll, so we're hoping these sections can at least be redressed for THE WOLFMAN theme.

Both the Frankenstein Lab and the Psycho Mirror Maze could be thematically incorporated into the Asylum setting from the film, exploring Lawrence Talbot's unfortunate history of mental trauma, nightmares and hallucinations instigated by his father's cruel treatment of his young son. We can easily imagine populating the Lab with Dr. Hoenneger and his associates, whose machinery of "mental therapy" proves little more than a torture chamber where Lawrence gets his revenge by turning into the murderous Wolfman. Likewise the mirror maze could be a thematic reflection of Talbot's disturbing asylum experience, filled with the hallucinatory creatures and visions from Lawrence's fevered mind. The Morgue that follows would make a handy collection for the Wolfman's bloodied, mutilated victims as the lycanthrope wreaked havoc across the woods of Blackmoor and in the city streets of London after his escape from the Asylum. The zombies which usually haunt the Morgue could easily be replaced by fresher, claw-carved human victims along the lines of Rick Baker's gory makeup kills of Lawrence's brother Ben, the gypsy victims, and the Blackmoor hunters.  It's unlikely Murdy and team will attempt to replicate the final, fiery werewolf battle between Lawrence and Sir John in the burning manor, but HOH's ending scene in the Wolf Man Forest ties in neatly with the film's ending at the forest waterfall, where the Wolfman can leap out at guests for last-minute scares on their way out of the maze.

The Wolf Man: The Legacy Collection [2 Discs]

WHAT WE WANT IN THE MAZE:
FANGS FOR THE MEMORIES

Since Universal is overlaying the theme for THE WOLFMAN: THE CURSE OF TALBOT HALL onto the existing House of Horrors, this maze will need to be packed with werewolves lunging at fans around every corner to stand out for its Hollywood debut. HHN fans have been waiting two years for the Talbot curse to reach Southern California so expectations are high, and this maze will have to reach for the Moon in its ambition to make its pentagram mark on top of USH's year-round attraction. Joe Johnston's film offers plenty of scare potential in both monster mayhem and set design, so there's no excuse for this maze not to be a solid shocker in the 2011 lineup. Mix gore-soaked werewolves, extra effort enhancing sets with a liberal use of howling good sound effects from the film, and THE WOLFMAN could have fans screaming in terror all month long.

FILMEDGE'S POTENTIAL FRIGHT RATING:
HIGH RISK, HIGH REWARD

We should note that when Universal Orlando's WOLFMAN maze opened in their 2009 HHN event (before the delayed feature film finally hit theaters), it earned mixed reviews and did not return to Florida in 2010. Some reviews praised its "impressive scenery" and great use of sound, but found the maze "not particularly memorable" in overall haunt impact. This year, THE WOLFMAN's overlay atop the House of Horrors at Universal Hollywood could prove either a blessing or a curse: the existing maze's castle design is a close enough match to Talbot Hall in its gothic, dilapidated environment, but USH fans will expect much more than a glossing over of HOH with a couple wolfmen baring their fangs in the theatrical moonlight. Unlike Orlando's attempt, fans also have had plenty of opportunity to see the feature film inspiring this maze, so how many horrific moments and scenes from the movie are successfully translated to this attraction will affect haunt-lovers' reactions. FilmEdge hopes that USH backed up this maze theme with some bucks, and let Murdy's crew go wild to build legendary Universal scares within THE WOLFMAN: THE CURSE OF TALBOT HALL.

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