Friday, October 5, 2018

Warner Bros. Horror Made Here 2018


Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood is getting into the Halloween haunt scene with their Horror Made Here event, now in its third year on the Warner Bros.' backlot. I was excited to check it out for the first time this year and was invited to attend their media preview night to give you a sneak peek what to expect (if you follow me on Instagram, you've already seen some behind-the-scenes fun)! This year, the mazes featured include ones based on IT, The Conjuring universe, Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, Escape from Arkham, and The Exorcist. I was very intrigued to see how Warner Bros. would treat their horror properties and see if it was an event I could come back to year after year for thrills and chills!

Horror Made Here entrance

Selfies on the black carpet are always a must!

Little Shop of Horrors is adorable and full of rad horror merch!

After taking a tram to the backlot, we walked the black carpet and headed into the Horror Made Here event. We first got a chance to walk around and check out all their spooky decor and facades they had up, including the Neibolt House from IT (like last year's Neibolt House experience!), Arkham Asylum, The Conjuring universe home, the church that housed The Exorcist Forbidden Screening, and other familiar-looking homes from movies and TV shows.

 Fangtasia from True Blood

 Grabbing Tru Blood blood bags from Fangtasia

The Lost Boys arcade

 Crave Inn (haha) Cafe where you can grab a bite

IT merch in Little Shop of Horrors

While we waited for it to get dark and for the mazes to officially open, we stopped into Fangtasia for some blood bags, wandered through the Little Shop of Horrors (a gift shop where I wanted to buy everything), Crave Inn Cafe (haha), The Lost Boys Arcade, and enjoyed the eerie ambiance with the wandering monsters like Pennywise!

 Arkham Asylum

Escape from Arkham Asylum maze

They had their opening ceremonies at 7 PM, and released the monsters upon us! With the mazes open, we first did Escape from Arkham Asylum. I am not a video game player, so while I thought this maze was visually cool and fun, it wasn't very scary. It did have really great details, awesome neon lighting, and rad costumes, though. And I heard that if you are a fan of the game, you will really love it!

 This is what you encounter upon entering The Conjuring universe maze

And then there is this...eeeeeek!

 Annabelle wants to play

 When exorcisms go bad...

Thanks for the mess, Valek

Eeeeeeeeeeek!!!

Next we headed to The Conjuring universe maze, which I was so excited for! We had walked through the maze earlier in the evening before there were any scare actors inside, and it was already creepy then! It is a bit more theatrical presentation than most walk-through haunts, so waiting in line took a little longer than usual. However, once inside you get to check out the Warren's demonology artifacts and cursed objects...before realizing their most cursed object, the Annabelle doll, has escaped. You then get evacuated out of the first house and whisked into another, which was different and cool. You come face-to-face with the evil entity from The Conjuring, Annabelle from the Annabelle series, and Valek from The Conjuring 2 and The Nun. I loved the scares in this maze, I just wish it was longer.

 The Exorcist Forbidden Screening

Inside The Exorcist Forbidden Screening church

The Exorcist Forbidden Screening was next, and we filed into a church (one that has actually been used in The Lost Boys and other films) and were ushered into the pews by priests and nuns. We then watched footage from The Exorcist...and got some surprises while we were watching! Note, don't forget to watch out for the mourners when you leave the church!

 Georgie in front of Neibolt House from IT

 Look out, Georgie! Don't trust clowns in sewer drains, like ever

 Which would you choose?

 OMG clowns, clowns everywhere! Hope you don't have coulrophobia

Byyyyyye Pennywise

IT was next and I was really stoked to check it out! We wandered through different members of the Loser's Club's homes before going through the town of Derry, surviving some bullies, heading down into the sewers and then trying to escape the Neibolt House! I LOVED this maze and it was so gorgeous and fun! Clowns everywhere and the visuals were so cool!

KI KI KI, MA MA MA

 How sweet of Jason to greet new campers to Camp Crystal Lake!

Doesn't look like this camper is having a good time just hanging around

 We'll be safe inside, right?

 Saying hey to Mrs. Voorhees

Thanks for the memories, Camp Counselor Freddy

Our last stop was Nightmare on Camp Crystal Lake, featuring Freddy vs. Jason! For this experience, we hopped on a tram with other victims, errrr, I mean campers, to Camp Crystal Lake! This haunt was held away from the backlot, in a wooded area. When we arrived, we got off the tram and were on our own at Camp Crystal Lake. This was my favorite experience of the night, as we walked along dark forest paths while camp counselors popped out and tried to warn us away. Freddy and Jason jumped out at us the whole way through, and dead campers littered the woods we walked through. We also walked through a cabin terrorized by Freddy and Jason that had some fantastic scares!

 Costume and props from Beetlejuice

  Costumes and props from Beetlejuice

 Figures and set from The Corpse Bride

Sweeney Todd props and costumes

We took the tram back and disembarked by Stage 48, which contained a special exhibit called Script to Scream featuring props and costumes from several Tim Burton films as well as from other movies. It was amazing to see some items from Beetlejuice, Mars Attacks!, The Corpse Bride, Sweeney Todd, and more!

The main square that holds the main stage, shops, food stands, and scare actors

Thanks for the scares, Horror Made Here!

Overall, Horror Made Here was a fearsome and fun event and I am very glad I got to check it out! My only critiques would be that some of the mazes felt a little short, especially in comparison to other attractions, and there needs to be more mazes overall. I'm sure as this event inevitably grows, it will only get bigger and better, and they already off to a fantastic start!

You can find more information on this event, which opens today, Friday, October 5th, on Warner Bros. Horror Made Here website!

Disclosure: I was provided media access to cover this event, which included front-of-line The Losers’ Club priority access to each maze. However, as always, all thoughts are my own honest opinions.

Stay spooky!

1 comment:

  1. Wow this is awesome! Thank you for sharing so many great photos, I'd love to visit it :)

    Alice

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...