Halloween Horror Nights 2024 advertises itself as home to a ground-breaking haunted house incorporating American Sign Language (ASL) “for the very first time.”
That’s a tough claim to prove considering the scope of the country’s Halloween scene and the countless underground attractions hidden therein. But at least at Universal Studios’ mega-popular annual event, the new “A Quiet Place” experience is indeed making history.
“What I was so impressed by when I first saw John Krasinski’s film was the level of detail that he went to to tell an authentic story, particularly with the character of Regan,” creative director John Murdy told IndieWire during the event’s opening night on September 5 at Universal Studios Hollywood. (The attraction is available at Universal Studios Florida in Orlando as well.)
“We wanted to be equally authentic in our telling of the story of his film and we went to our own great lengths to do that,” he said. “We worked with our internal experts here at Universal Studios and all of the performers in the cast and brought in people who were experts in ASL.”
The casting of deaf actress Millicent Simmonds (“Wonderstruck”) as a deaf main character in the 2018 sci-fi favorite, and its 2020 sequel “A Quiet Place Part II,” was a win for authentic representation in action that underscored the brilliance of Krasinski’s directorial debut. Taut and terrifying, the “A Quiet Place” universe hinges on an invasion carried out by blind aliens hunting humans by sound. You can’t avoid scares in the attraction, but the illusion is the same — starting with a silent pre-show video that uses open captions and teaches people standing in line some simple ASL.
“When you’re going through the house, you’re going to see a lot of American Sign Language being used by our performers, and that’s in the DNA of Horror Nights,” said Murdy. “What we’re always trying to do is to be as authentic to the movies, television shows, music, artists, video games, and whatever else we feature at the event and try to hit every single detail.”
Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl were nominated for Best Sound Editing at the 91st Academy Awards for “A Quiet Place.” In an interview with Forbes, Murdy described some of the cutting-edge techniques he used to engineer the haunt. It’s a remarkably quiet experience at times, but piping in subtle frequencies from all directions, it also conceals more speakers than any other Horror Nights maze to date. Four full-size animatronic creatures, another rarity, appear in the haunt.
“Having done horror nights for 19 years, we’ve really seen the genre of horror evolve over time, particularly with the rise of streaming,” Murdy said. “There’s just so much different kind of horror being made today and the genre is always expanding. As curators, what we’re trying to do is tap into all those different flavors.”
The box office is doing well overall and the recent prequel film, “A Quiet Place: Day One”, proved the franchise’s fanbase was holding steady as of June. But questions linger about the uncertain future of Hollywood in a broader sense. That’s especially true when it comes to doing business in Los Angeles, where the implications of a potential mass exodus by industry professionals is still playing out.
Asked about the role live events play in the horror ecosystem, Murdy said Halloween remains a “huge boon to the industry. We’re in a movie studio. The people we work with every year on Horror Nights — if it’s somebody that’s drawing elevations from a set, it’s most likely somebody who’s a production designer on a movie show or a television show.”
That cross-pollination should be a welcome silver lining for any cinephile complaining about the costs of Horror Nights tickets…or the wait time to get into “A Quiet Place.” More work means more jobs and authenticity is a hallmark of worthwhile storytelling in any entertainment medium.
“We tap into all that movie talent because they’ve worked with us in some cases 15 or more years — and they love to come and freelance for us on the props and dressing crew,” said Murdy. “A lot of the people, men, and women that do that work, they come from production.”
Halloween Horror Nights runs on select dates at Universal Studios Hollywood from September 5 to November 3.
