THE THING
Assimilation

Based on the upcoming prequel horror film, THE THING:ASSIMILATION skillfully recreates the claustrophobic, chilling environment of an Antarctic science station beseiged by a shapeshifting alien threat.  Thing creatures pop out to attack from the shadows while unlucky victims being assimilated into lethal alien monsters provide authentic horror elements seen in the film. Improvements in lighting and monster acting since the employee preview have refined and enhanced THE THING's scare quotient. While the maze may lack the sense of paranoid pursuit with its static scene displays, there's no arguing John Murdy and the design team (with prequel creature designs by Tom Woodruff and Alec Gillis) have built one of 2011's top mazes filled with thrills and genuine air conditioned chills. RATING: * * * *

HOSTEL
Hunting Season

Think of HOSTEL: HUNTING SEASON as your Halloween express lane, delivering all the gruesome torture horror and gore without waiting through a film story. The Lower Lot location is HHN's typical spot for their gorefest attraction, and Eli Roth's first collaboration doesn't shirk from what makes fans shriek. The HOSTEL franchise is an upgrade from the previous SAW mazes which had grown a bit tired at HHN since its theatrical novelty wore off. Fans are now among the hunted, running from gruesome kills and lethal predators in a maze of terrifying scenarios. Surprisingly light on the gross-out smells HHN often employs in its 'meat mazes' when FilmEdge visited, HOSTEL offers what film fans expect though it may not be as extreme as true gore hounds may desire. RATING: * * *

THE WOLFMAN
The Curse of Talbot Hall

Transferring the lycanthropic feature film into USH's existing House of Horrors site, THE WOLFMAN: THE CURSE OF TALBOT HALL suffers from a half-hearted transplant of theme which fails to disguise the unrelated elements from the year-round maze. Can't Universal cover up Chucky's niche for one month and redress scenes better to simulate Talbot Hall? THE WOLFMAN truly needs an original, stand-alone venue to shine in the moonlight and get fans howling with fear. Alas, the otherwise excellent werewolf makeup and characters get lost in a muddled mess of haunt designs current and custom, and with little new to exploit THE WOLFMAN's classic horror potential — Univeral IS the home of werewolf cinema, after all! — the scares are too diluted and far between to satisfy HHN fans yearning for fur-and-fangs terror this Halloween. RATING: * *

ROB ZOMBIE'S
HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES
In 3D ZombieVision

Returning to HHN after its debut in 2010, ROB ZOMBIE'S HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES keeps the bar high at Universal once again and remains a fan favorite. While there may be little new to see in the maze, it's also hard for Murdy and his crew to improve on such a success. The 3D Zombievision format is no gimmick, but rather an artful application of maze design, color schemes and expert show lighting to produce a truly disorienting, nightmarish experience in the best meaning of those terms. This maze brings the best characters and scenes from the film to life while blending these elements with original show scares to make the best of both concepts. Inventive, intense and in your face frights once again put HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES at the top of HHN's list. RATING: * * * * *

ALICE COOPER
Welcome to My Nightmare

Shock rocker Alice Cooper has inspired the most playful, musical haunt maze of 2011, welcoming HHN fans into his ongoing nightmare of spiders, executions and truly Sick Things. Borrowing horror images and characters from his original 1975 Nightmare album and its 2011 sequel, Cooper fans will revel in the details from his songs and stage concerts. More hardcore HHN goers may find the maze light on big scares, with the possible exception of the Dead Babies scene which is just outright creepy. WELCOME TO MY NIGHTMARE is a good start, but it lacks true haunt menace. Perhaps building on Cooper's lyrics and imagery and adding a more explicit horror edge to them would buff up the maze's scare factor to a level that makes it an all-star shocker for Universal next year. Turn that terror amp up to eleven and let Alice's nightmare rock! RATING: * * *

LA LLORONA
Villa de Almas Perdidas

LA LLORONA makes that rare HHN graduation from scare zone to featured maze in 2011 and this mythological crying spirit scores well in its debut. The Hispanic legend tells of a woman who drowns her own children to be with the man she loves, only to have him reject her. The mother's mournful spirit now wanders the mortal world, wailing in sadness and threatening to steal the souls of the living. La Llorona's appearance is a blend of ghostly bride and creepy dark-haired spectre so popular in Japanese horror films, which is solid scare fare by itself. One of Universal's best looking and designed mazes that celebrates its theme very artistically, the screaming actors jumping out deliver good if basic haunt scares. Raise the bar on terrifying surprises and this could be a star in Hollywood's annual event for years. RATING: * * *

TERROR TRAM:
Scream 4 Your Life

This year's Terror Tram experience is rethemed for the release of SCREAM 4, which admittedly isn't such a promising prospect given the sequel number in the title which translates to "more of the same." We give credit to the concept of the Bates Motel hosting the Stab-a-Thon horror film fest, which blends a classic Universal tour stop with an HHN-specific scares in an outdoor maze of movie-inspired murders. The 'drumline' of chainsaw monsters greeting the tram on the backlot is always fun to watch, though tramping past the old GRINCH sets gets a bit tiresome every year. The zombie outbreak amid the WAR OF THE WORLDS crash neighborhood is passable, but it's very hard to generate up-close scares in such a large open air site. Granted the Terror Tram is an integral part of the Halloween Horror Nights tour at USH, but you'll have to work (and walk) to fill your scare quota. RATING: * *

HHN Preview Workshop
Photo Gallery

This week FilmEdge was part of a small group of press invited to attend a first for Universal Studios Hollywood: a workshop preview of their HALLOWEEN HORROR NIGHTS 2011 event with hands-on looks at the actual gruesome makeup, masks, costume and props appearing in the mazes and scare zones this season. Explore our massive photo gallery and get your exclusive first looks at the masks, makeup designs and character costumes you won't see in-person until HHN opens on September 23rd.