Halloween Horror Nights fans persuaded the Universal creative team behind the wildly-popular seasonal event to create a maze based on a “no budget” indie slasher film after seeing so many attendees wearing Art the Clown t-shirts.
The Terrifier haunted houses will be part of Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood on select nights Sept. 4 to Nov. 2 and Universal Orlando on Aug. 29 to Nov. 2.
Halloween Horror Nights Creative Director John Murdy, left, and Senior Director Michael Aiello outside the Terrifier haunted maze at Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood. (Brady MacDonald/SCNG/Orange County Register)
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Halloween Horror Nights creative director John Murdy doesn’t rely on guest surveys to gauge what’s in the zeitgeist and where to turn for the next Horror Nights maze.
“I look at what the guests are wearing to the event,” Murdy said during a preview tour of the Terrifier maze.
Starting in 2022, Horror Nights fans began showing up in t-shirts with Art the Clown — the demonic serial killer at the center of the then burgeoning Terrifier slasher franchise.
The Terrifier haunted maze at Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood. (Brady MacDonald/SCNG/Orange County Register)
Murdy grew up in the 1970s and ‘80s during the Golden Age of Slasher Films when Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees, Freddy Krueger and Leatherface terrorized a generation of horror fans.
Over the ensuing decades, Hollywood made endless attempts to bring the next great slasher killer to the silver screen — but nothing stuck.
“What got left behind was the iconic horror movie slasher character that we all grew up with,” Murdy said. “Art changed that.”
“Terrifier” Creator/Director/Writer Damien Leone, left, and Producer Phil Falcone outside the Terrifier haunted maze at Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood. (Brady MacDonald/SCNG/Orange County Register)
Terrifier Creator/Director/Writer Damien Leone made the first “Terrifier” film on what he described as “no budget.”
The Terrifier franchise started in 2016 with a $40,000 indie slasher film that generated buzz among horror fans and brought in $400,000.
“The first movie was about as indie as you get,” Murdy said. “It’s insane that they made that movie for that money.”
The Terrifier haunted maze at Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood. (Brady MacDonald/SCNG/Orange County Register)
The 2022 “Terrifier 2” film was made on what Leone described as a “super low budget.” The resulting $15 million box office haul and 87% Rotten Tomatoes rating put the franchise on the map and got Murdy’s attention.
“We had already decided to do this before the third movie came out,” Murdy said of the Terrifier maze. “We knew that this was one of those rare things which hasn’t been around in a long time — which is the new face of horror.”
The Terrifier haunted maze at Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood. (Brady MacDonald/SCNG/Orange County Register)
Initial conversations between Horror Nights and the Terrifier franchise started after the success of the second film, according to Leone.
“It was still a little in its infancy,” Leone said during a preview tour of the Terrifier maze. “We still needed to prove ourselves a little bit.”
“Terrifier 3” debuted in October 2024 as the No. 1 movie at the box office — beating “Joker: Folie a Deux” in its opening weekend and eventually raking in $89 million worldwide.
“I saw the box office that weekend and went, ‘Oh, OK, now it’s for everybody,’” Murdy said. “That was the moment where I went, ‘Wow, this is now mainstream.’ Because it was originally very niche horror.”
The Terrifier haunted maze at Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood. (Brady MacDonald/SCNG/Orange County Register)
The runaway success of the third film persuaded Halloween Horror Nights to green light the Terrifier maze, according to Leone.
“Horror Nights really embraced exactly what this franchise is and what it’s known for,” Leone said. “They wanted this to be the bloodiest house that they’ve ever made.”
The Terrifier maze will be like the films — extremely gory with grisly kills. Art the Clown is known for torturing his victims before killing them in increasingly cruel and sinister ways. The Terrifier maze will gleefully display many of his most iconic kills. You will leave covered in blood — or at least what you think is blood.
“We’re making it rain blood,” Murdy said.
The Terrifier haunted maze at Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood. (Brady MacDonald/SCNG/Orange County Register)
Leone was amazed when he saw the Terrifier funhouse facade on the exterior of the Horror Nights maze. He’d only ever seen a 2-by-3-foot miniature model of the funhouse that had been digitally attached to the front of a real barn in “Terrifier 2.”
“We didn’t have the money to build an actual life-size facade, so we used a very old school sort of matte technique with a miniature,” Leone said.
Plans are already in the works for the upcoming “Terrifier 4” film that will delve into the killer clown’s backstory with Leone once again at the helm.
“People throw the word icon around. A lot of people say Art the Clown is already iconic,” Leone said. “Talk to me in 20 years. If you’re still talking about him the way you’re talking about him now, then I’ll agree with you.”
