May Spooky News Update

All Across Southern California

It may only be May, but with “Half Halloween” past, we’re technically counting down the days until the autumn screams once again pierce the air. And with Halloween Season’s proliferation, we won’t even have to wait until the fall to experience some haunted goodness, because the summertime will offer some spooky fixes to those ghouls who are inclined!

Check out this run-down of some recent announcements regarding things that go bump in the night that we can look forward to later this year!

Universal Studios Announces First 2022 Halloween Horror Nights Maze

Last year, by far the highest-rated and most talked-about Halloween Horror Nights maze at Universal Studios Hollywood was Universal Monsters: The Bride of Frankenstein Lives. This original story imagined a sequel to the classic Bride of Frankenstein movie, and the latest entry to the popular HHN Universal Monsters series was the best yet! Combining incredible sets, fun scares, a great soundtrack, and an immersive, enveloping storytelling, this maze was pretty much the universal (pun not intended) favorite of HHN 2021.

It’ll be tough to follow that act, but this year, Horror Nights will present another Universal Monsters maze on both coasts—California and Florida—with its newest iteration, Monsters Collide! Featuring The Wolf Man, Dracula, and The Mummy, this maze will present a triple threat for the ages—and guests will be caught in between all the mayhem! We can’t wait to see how this latest chapter of the Universal Monsters haunted house anthology shapes up!

From the press release:

Orlando, FL & Universal City, CA – Universal Pictures’ most notorious horror icons, The Wolf Man, Dracula and The Mummy, come together for the first time ever in the all-new “Universal Monsters: Legends Collide” haunted houses as part of Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal Orlando Resort - where these infamous classic monsters invite guests to join them in an epic battle beginning this September.

Halloween Horror Nights continues to expand on the thrilling legacy from Universal Pictures – the movie studio that birthed the classic horror monsters on screen – with this original haunted house debuting at Universal Studios’ theme parks from coast-to-coast. Inspired by the event’s previous Universal Monsters attractions, this year’s unique experience resurrects the monstrous triple threat of The Wolf Man, Dracula and The Mummy for one harrowing haunted house.

This bi-coastal experience will transport guests to the 19th century with the trio of monsters seeking one thing: The Amulet of Ra. The Wolf Man believes this ancient relic contains the power to finally lift his dreaded curse, while Dracula and The Mummy have nefarious plans to use it to bring humankind to its knees. With the full moon on the rise and a race against time, guests find themselves entangled in a bloodthirsty battle between the terrifying titans - and only one will survive.

Elevating the mayhem, GRAMMY® Award-winning musician, SLASH, returns to collaborate with Universal Studios Hollywood with an original composition for their haunted house.

Halloween Horror Nights begins on Friday, September 2 in Orlando with 10 terrifying haunted houses and Thursday, September 8 in Hollywood with eight frightening haunted houses. Both events will run select nights through Monday, October 31, and additional details will be revealed soon.

Tickets and vacation packages are now on sale for Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Orlando Resort, and tickets for Universal Studios Hollywood will be available soon. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit www.HalloweenHorrorNights.com.

New Summer Immersive Experience Coming from the Creators of Opechee Haunt

Opechee Haunt was dark last year, with creator Sam Kellman off to college out of state and no loner able to host a Halloween event at his family home. But haunters never stay idle, and Sam is unleashing something new and a little different sometime this summer under a new and different outfit, Inside the Box Productions.

Per Sam: “It is so exciting to finally announce this project that has been in the works for just about half a year now, both for me and for the rest of our incredible crew. The level of storytelling and immersion is beyond any experience I've ever created for The Opechee Haunt, and I can confirm that Within Our Walls will take place at an independent venue outside of the usual home haunt space. This attraction is not technically considered to be an Opechee Haunt production, it's more so my first real immersive experience outside of the haunt brand, even though this show will DEFINITELY have its fair share of horror and drama.”

(Image courtesy of Inside the Box Productions.)

While exact details are still to come, we’ve already gotten a taste of the story from the Within the Walls web site:

This unnerving, immersive, psychological horror experience allows the audience to voyeuristically eye traumatic events confronted by a suburban home’s inhabitants– and maybe a little too much so– through cracks in their walls.
What will you see of them? What will you hear? Are your nosey actions morally justified? Were you supposed to watch that? Did you want to? Oh no. Oh god no.
Whatever the case, you’re trapped, and there’s nowhere else to go. Nothing else to do… but watch.
Groups of 10-12 guests will traverse the insides of the Pierce house at a time.
You will be encouraged to freely move about the space throughout the experience, choosing what rooms of the house to observe and when, allowing each guest their own unique set of visuals accompanying the story.
The 20-minute-long immersive play will completely envelop you within its world utilizing highly detailed sets, incredible live performers, eerie lighting/special effects work, and head-turning dimensional sound design.

The experience puts guests in a voyeuristic role, watching a family with untold secrets slowly crumble. And given Sam’s ingenuity with this past Opechee work, and the talent he’s assembled for the Within Our Walls team, this is sure to be an amazing theatrical event!

Keep up to date with The Opechee Haunt on Instagram, Twitter, and Youtube at @OpecheeHaunt, and follow @InsideTheBoxProd for more specific updates on the Within Our Walls show.

Midsummer Scream Announces More Line-Up’s for 2022 Convention

Finally, we have a few announcements on new panels and additions to this year’s Midsummer Scream, which will be returning after a two-year, COVID-forced hiatus at the Long Beach Convention for an expanded three day run, July 29th through 31st!

Celebrate Sid Krofft’s 93rd Birthday at Midsummer Scream

Come join Midsummer in celebrating television legend Sid Krofft's 93rd birthday on Saturday, July 30 at Midsummer Scream! One half of Sid & Marty Krofft Pictures, Sid helped create television shows including Land of the Lost, H.R. Pufnstuf, Horror Hotel, and Sigmund and the Sea Monsters.

If you grew up with nightmares of the Sleestack or Witchiepoo, you can credit Sid!

(Sid will only be in attendance on Saturday... but Midsummer Scream runs from Friday, July 29 thru Sunday, July 31.)

Composer of the Apocalypse Panel Announced

Midsummer Scream is excited to announce another major panel presentation: COMPOSERS OF THE APOCALYPSE, which will take place on our Main Stage Sunday, July 31st.

Composers of the Apocalypse will be a 90-minute presentation featuring talented musicians that have created iconic horror film scores, famous themes, and have breathed life into the musical soundscape of films and shows that have thrilled us for decades. During the presentation which will be moderated by Michael Kolence of Grimm Life Collective, guests will learn about the history, process, and musical challenges behind some of the most iconic horror film soundtracks of all time.

Joining Michael on stage will be John Massari (Killer Klowns From Outer Space, The Ray Bradbury Theater, The Wizard of Speed and Time); Harry Manfredini (Friday the 13th and sequels, The Swamp Thing, House); Holly Amber Church (Open 24 Hours, Ruin Me, Dark Light); Alan Howarth (Halloween 2-6, Christine, They Live); Richard Band (Re-Animator, Troll, Ghoulies); and Christopher Young (Hellraiser, A Nightmare on Elm Street 2, Guillermo Del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities).

As an added bonus, John Massari will be live performing his Killer Klowns March origin story, and sonic composer Alan Howarth will perform a 10-minute live montage of synchronized video from Halloween II, III, IV, Escape From New York, Prince of Darkness, The Thing, They Live, Retribution, and Hoax! In addition, he will discuss his creative process for music scoring and sound design utilizing analog and digital synths with real world samples.

Music fans and horror aficionados won’t want to miss this incredible gathering of musical masters that will close out Midsummer Scream 2022. The Composers of the Apocalypse are coming to Long Beach, and there’s nothing you can do to stop them!

Saturday Night Party Theme: Deadly Disco

The theme of Midsummer Scream’s Saturday night party (July 30 from 8pm-midnight), a.k.a. Midsummer Scream After Dark, will be DEADLY DISCO.

Halloween night 1978; trick-or-treating has ended and parents across the small town of Haddonfield have tucked their children into bed, some left under the watchful eyes of their babysitters. Adults looking for some additional excitement, or perhaps one good scare, have hit the town in outrageous costumes, ready to party and dance the night away!

Guests of the Deadly Disco can enjoy an evening of music dejayed by @lvcrftofficial and are encouraged to dress up to compete in the costume contest featuring a $500 Grand Prize, visit the Rabbit in Red where @peepshowmenagerie has curated a lineup of burlesque performances, or sit back and watch a special screening of a film from the franchise that put the little town of Haddonfield on the map!

Tickets to Deadly Disco are $25. Purchase during checkout with your Midsummer Scream tickets; if you already have your Midsummer Scream tickets, purchase at:
https://midsummer-scream-2022-ticket-add-ons-104238.square.site/

(Party tickets are included with every Gold Bat ticket).

Guests under the age of 18 must be accompanied by an adult. IDs will be checked at the door!

Notes: all kinds of Halloween party music will be played, not just disco! Costume contest open to any themes or ideas - winner will be selected by a vote from judges who each set their own criteria. Tickets may be sold at the door but event is likely to sell out much sooner!

All of this is on top of the Hall of Shadows line-up and the Original Monsters Kids panel announced last month! If you haven’t gotten tickets yet, head to MidsummerScream.org for more information and link to purchase!

That wraps up our spooky announcements for May (well, at least until or unless more news pops out this week. We’ll also be covering the return of Ghost Town Alive! and Knott’s Berry Farm’s summer events next week, since we had prior conflicts during this past weekend’s start to the aforementioned Knott’s favorites. In the meantime, I’ll continue to be bad at organically wrapping up these update posts.

Boo bah!