USF's Halloween Horror Night Conference Call

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It’s early September. Days are starting to get shorter. And watching yourself in the mirror while brushing your teeth is going to take on a whole new meaning—especially if you’ve been a regular visitor to Universal Orlando’s Halloween Horror Nights (HHN) Web site.

 

This year’s HHN Web site does more than sell the event (“Reflections of Fear”). It also places you in the middle of a fresh, original telling of the urban legend of “Bloody Mary,” a story that has already inspired a number of variations, such as the Candyman movies and this summer’s Mirrors. And who is Bloody Mary? Just repeat her name a certain number of times in a darkened room in front of a mirror, and you just might find out.

 

This is Universal’s most immersive HHN Web site ever, said TJ Mannarino, the park’s director of entertainment at a conference call held on September 3, 2008. The site sets the stage with the story of Dr. Mary Agana, a renegade psychiatrist who disappeared on August 27, 1958. The doctor’s fate might be entwined with that of Boris Shuster, a private investigator. Her story is brought up to the present by group of paranormal investigators called Legendary Truth.

 

That’s all I’m going to say about the story. Go to the HHN sitefor more—you won’t be disappointed (especially if you dim the lights).

 

Telling this story online required the Universal creative team to come up with the largest amount of original material, including images and music, ever created for HHN, said Mannarino. The team found the Bloody Mary legend attractive because the character’s folklore is quite mysterious—no one knows the “true story” of Bloody Mary. Her story provided a great way to tie all the haunted houses and scarezones together, as well. It’s all about making “the perfect horrific cake.”

 

Actual concept drawings and elevations used to design the haunted houses and scarezones were used as "evidence" on the site, thus merging the “virtual” world with the “real” world. The park even unveiled the billboards for the event on August 27—the date that Mary “disappeared.”

 

I’m generally reluctant to delve too deeply into the HHN Web site because I like to be surprised at the park. But the “Reflections of Fear” site, while providing some cool (and creepy) background information, actually suggests as many questions as it answers. “It’s a magician’s trick,” Mannarino said. The site tells you about some characters “without connecting all the dots,” giving users “35 to 50 percent of the story to set you up for the ‘real-world’ experience.”

 

“It’s just the beginning, so pay attention,” he said.

 

But the audience is just as important as the site, according to Mannarino. Universal works hard to tailor the site to the needs of online community—to show appreciation for the event’s fans. “We’re definitely a part of the [online] community, too,” he said. Universal also appreciates how savvy the online fans are. For example, one group discovered early on that Universal had licensed the Web domain “legendarytruth.com.”

 

“Fans are always gonna be smarter than us,” said Mannarino. “We love that! The Web site gets its strength from the fans.”

 

He also gave us a look at the event itself. The immersive nature of the “Reflections of Fear” site will be reflected right at the park entrance—when you’re invited to pass through the mirror into Bloody Mary’s world. Make a choice, left or right, and you’ll be plunged immediately into one of the park’s scarezones. In fact, there will be four “very intense, highly themed zones” right off the bat (there’s a total of six zones and eight houses). Characters will venture out of the houses to provide more “street action,” and you may find scareactors in the park’s front-gate area, where you usually don’t expect them.

 

Visitors will think, “I’m in Halloween, and I can’t get out!”

 

So, I advise all of you planning to check out Universal Florida’s Halloween Horror Nightto peruse the Web site—it will enhance your visit. But if you just can’t wait, you might try lighting a few candles in your bathroom, dimming the lights, and chanting “Bloody Mary” in front of your mirror.

 

You might get there all the sooner.

 

PS--For a good summary of the site, go to CTU Agent's (Tyler's) HHN thread.