Terror Tram: Ghost Town

Backstory: The town of Lighting Gulch was founded during the hay days of the gold rush era in 1847. When a group of settlers had struck at rich when they found gold in near by cave. Despite the warnings of the native tribes people that the gold is cursed corrupts the souls by the influence of dark spirits. The town prospered for many years, the people were never content and they still wanted more gold. They became desperate and turned on each other, through a series of lynch mobs, riots and shoot outs it nearly destroyed the town itself. Until a fierce thunderstorm in 1884 obliterated the entire town and the citizens with it. After 130 latter Universal Studios constructed a ghost town that bared a resemble to Lighting Gulch. Once the town was completed, they were reports of people in old western clothes stalking the streets after dark and fatal accidents to security and actors. It was rumors that the souls of Lighting Gulch had found a new town and will guard the gold from trespasers.

Once guests board the tram, a faux documentary of the history behind the set buildings from the back lot that is based on a gold rush town that drove the townsfolk into their own destruction. Near the end, the tram stops as ghostly bandits hold the tram and tells the guests to get out.

Guests will be dropped off at the Six Points Texas area. It is pitch black with only occasional strobe lights that flash accompanied by lighting sound effects. Ghosts in Old Western clothing all deathly pale with bullet holes to corpse like will jump out from building and scare guests. Some triggers are used so that every 20 seconds a gunshot goes off scaring people. Guests will then enter through a series of mini mazes.

Entering the funeral parlor, guests will walk down the aisles were mourners can be be seen sitting on both sides. Some are mannequins others are actors that will lung at guests. Near the end, a percher will forewarn guests of their inventible fates as a not so dead body in an open casket comes to life. They will reach a corridor filled with caskets and coffins of every shape and size, voices cry for help as they bang on lids, while reanimated corpses will emerge from their caskets. An elderly undertaker will chase guests away with a shovel.

Guests will then enter a saloon, where honkey tonk music can be heard playing by invisible fingers on the piano. Saloon girls will tempt guests as the bar tender reaches out from behind the bar. Men playing a game of poker, until they turn against each other and shoot towards the guests. In one of the rooms, a lady of the night takes her revenge on one of her clients through means of sadistic pleasure. Another female actor will jump out behind a changing screen.

In the schoolhouse, children in vintage halloween masks will emerge from under their desks as an elderly school marm brandishes a ruler in an attempt to strike at the guests. 

Before guests venturer through the mines, an elderly prospector heckles and taught guests of their doomed fates. Descending into subterranean caverns with the sounds of dripping water, ghosts of miners will attack guests with pick axes.      

Guests will then find themselves in Mexico Town where a Day of the Dead once took place with candles, memorabilia's and photographs. Ghosts dressed in traditional Mexican dress are seen stalking guests as the figure of Santa Muerte looms over them.

Casts

 Ghost: People in old west style clothing with deathly pale skin, ranging from cowboys to pioneers. 

Undertaker: Similar to The Caretaker from Halloween Horror Nights Orlando. 

Saloon Girls: Women in brusque style clothing.

School Children: Children in 19th century clothing with vintage halloween masks. 

School Marm: An elderly woman in a black dress 

Miners: Men in work attire 

Townsfolk: People dressed in traditional Mexican clothing

Santa Muerte: A stilt walking actor

Hotel Hell

Backstory: The Hotel Hellmount was built in 1894 by Vincent Asmodeus Hellmount. Over the past decades, the hotel was plagued with murders, suicides, debauchery, and unspeakable tragedies that claimed the lives of both staff and hotel guests. In 1948, the Hotel Hellmount was closed to the public after vincent's daughter, Lillian, her intended, wedding guests and staff were all found dead by unknown causes. Even to this day, people reported seeing light in the windows and unearthly sounds carried to the wind. Many brave souls attempt to venture through the abandoned halls of the hotel.

Facade: An abandoned turn of the century hotel building with boarded up windows and burned out neon sign that spells out Hotel Hell. 

Lobby: Once guests have entered the hotel, they find themselves in the hotel's lobby. The room is collecting dust and cobwebs on the furniture and walls. A concierge will pop up from behind the front desk and ring the bell in a 

"Your rooms are ready!" 

A bellboy will emerge from behind a pile of luggage. 

Lounge: The lounge is where guests can relax and socialize, only the furniture is covered in sheets. Some of them will have actors that will lunge at guests and scare them.

Kitchen: The sent of burning meat fills the air in the kitchen as pots and pans clang overhead. The ghost of a murderous cook pops out and brandishes a meat cleaver. 

"The kitchen's closed!"

Hotel Ballroom: Music and laughter can be hard through out the hotel's ballroom, a room that once held many parties and galas. Couples in vintage evening dress attire can be seen waltzing on the floor, some of them are mannequins, other are actors that will scare guests while they walk pass them. 

Conservatory: The conservatory once housed exotic plants, only the plants are overgrown or dead. Rain can be heard on the broken windows. Statues comes to life to scare guests while ghostly gardeners emerge from dark corners with hedge clippers and spades. 

Hallway: Guests will navigate trough their way a hallway lined with doors on both sides, knocking and banging come from inside each door as if someone or something is trying to get out. Ghostly apparitions will emerge from both doors and scare guests. An apparition can be seen at the end of the hallway, it disappear and reappear in front of the guests.

Honeymoon Suite: Inside one of the rooms guests can find wedding presents, a molded wedding cake and a few decorations that a couple once spent their final lives. The ghost of a woman in a bridal gown will emerge from behind the wardrobe.  

Bathroom: Moving on to the bathroom a corpse in the tub comes alive and lunges at passing guests. A spectral image can be seen briefly in the mirror. 

Guest Room 1: In one of the rooms, antique toys are scattered around the room that move by themselves. Child like giggles can be heard as the ghost of child in edwardian clothing emerge from the bed sheets. 

"Come play with me!" 

The ghost of a governess/nanny will appear before guests eyes and threats them.

"You've been naughty!"

Red Hallway: Guests will decent into a hallway that is all bathed in red light in an abstracts and arabesque architecture. The voices of tormented souls cry for help as demonic creatures will emerge from each door.

Finale: The finale room is the boiler room with a pentagram drawn on the floor. A 10 foot tall demon will chase guest of the hotel and the maze.  

Cast: Ghosts: People in early 20th century clothing with pale monocratic skin and white pulpiness eyes.  Hotel staff: Ranging from maids, cooks, and bellboys. Demons: Skull masked and stilt walker.

Halloween Horror Nights 27 Review part 2

Scare Zones

Alters of Horrors felt like a parade in the middle of the street, yet I did like the costumes for each sacre-actors ranged from skull masks, seductive dancers and stilt walkers. 

Trick r Treat was probably one my favorites scare zones this year, it had every character, decoration  and front doors from the movie, including Sam the overseer of Halloween.

Even though the chainsaw wielding clowns wasn't officially a scare zone, but the setting for the Simpsons area was perfectly fitting.  

Invasion was nice homage on the 1950s Sci Fi B movies. The alien masks were something from a modern day science fiction movie.  

The Purge reminded me like the one in 2014. It still had people in masks with knives or chainsaws and woman on top of bus.

Alters of Horror was probably the weakest of the scare zones. It lacked set pieces and the sacre-actors were a bit camera shy. 

Overall we enjoyed ourselves at Universal's Halloween Horror Nights and we may or may not come again next year. 

Halloween Horror Nights 27 Review part 1

Yesterday my Dad, Aunt Laurie, Uncle Doug, Cousins Delaney and Jack went to Universal's Annual Halloween Horror Nights for the second time together. We went through seven houses, all the scare zones and even went to see Bill and Ted's finale show.


Houses

The first house went through was the Horrors of Blum House which featured three of the Blum House production films; they were Sinister, The Purge, and Insidious. The house seemed to emphasized more on the Insidious film franchises while the rooms that featured The Purge and Sinister were a bit short and would have been more effective if it was around night time.

Scarecrows; The Reaping reminded of Tomb of the Ancients, only its set in an old farm house takeover by scarecrows ranging from zombies to pig heads. 

Hive, even though the name of the house is misleading, has a unique backstory to this house; a house overrun by a hoard of vampires that ranged from Nosferatu like to bat like; just the way vampires should be depicted in movies and TV shows. The make up was fantastic, the rooms of the house were filled with debris ,and the entire house was only lit in black light.

Dead Waters was kind of short, but I did enjoyed it with it's swampy environments from a submerged river boat to the den of the Voodoo Queen. It liked the effects that were walking through the river boat made us feel off balance. There were some voodoo trinkets that were decorated throughout the house. The zombies were more corpse-like rather than what the media depicts nowadays as bloody and raving for brains.

The Fallen reminded me of Hades; The Gates of Ruin and Gothic, with it's arabesque style architecture and the flying demon effects were phenomenal. It was truly something out of Dante's Inferno.

The Shining was a unique experience, the rooms were like recreations from the sets and scenes from the movie, but it was a bit more psychological that the hotel seems to have taken a mind of it's own. The audio dialogue was different in the maze from the movie, as if they didn't had afford the rights.

American Horror Story was final house of the evening, like it's predecessor from last year it featured Asylum, Coven and Roanoke. Showcasing scenes from certain episodes from each series and characters such as Bloody Face, The Angel of Death, Pepper, Papa Legba, Delphine Lalaurie, and the Butcher. 

Trick r Treat

Facade: The front yard of Emma all decorated with Halloween paraphernalia with sheet ghost scarecrows, orange lights, jack-o-lanterns, and severed hanging body parts. The corpse of Emma is strung up to a post, like scarecrow, with a lollypop in her mouth. 

They will walk through the front porch of Principal Willkins with a trail of blood on the steps. Billy Willikins will jump out from behind porch with a mask and scare the guests. Inside Principal Steven Willkins's house, the severed head of Charlie is place on a table filled with razor blades and cyanide for kids who haven't checked their candy. Principal Willkins will stab at the head with a knife, he will also attack guests. Guests will exit through the backyard, where a victim in a body bag emerges from a shallow grave. 

Outside guests will come across the remains of a school bus submerged in a lake from a rock quarry. Voices of children can be heard with in the fog as jack-o-lanterns flickr in the darkness as the lights blow out from a gust of wind. Zombie children in vintage Halloween masks and costumes, as well as chains, will emerge from the fog. Sam will make his first cameo in the house.

Guests will then enter a forest with Jack-o-lanterns lining the forest pathway, as the howl of wolves can be heard through the night sky. A young woman in a Red Ridding Hood outfit will emerge from the bushes as she pleads for help, a man in a dark clock and mask with vampire fangs emerges from the darkness and drags his victim away.

In a forest clearing lit by bonfires, women in skimpy halloween costumes dance seductively in the middle of their werewolf transformations with sharpened fangs, talons, and wolf like eyes. They will either snarl or swipe their claws at the guests, a fully formed werewolf will emerge an underbrush and attack guests. Sam can be seen sitting on a log. 

Guests will then find themselves in the front yard of Mr Kreeg all decorated with Jack-o-lanterns. Old man Kreeg isn't too happy with both the decorations and the trespassers in his house as he brandishes a baseball bat. 

Inside Mr Kreeg's house, words of Trick or Treat, give me something good to eat are scribed all over the wall. Sam will raise his lollipop made weapon in an attempt to strike, but Mr Kreeg will fire a shoot gun at him. The finale scare will Sam as he is unmasked to revile a pumpkin faced demon.