As Halloween season draws to a ending , and many are getting in our last fright at stamping ground , Universal Orlando ’s Halloween Horror Nightshas some parting gifts to keep the liveliness operate all twelvemonth . Discover Universal is launching its first story serial , Halloween Horror Nights : Haunted Tales , a podcast of spooky and creepily atmospherical anthology expands on the backstories fromthis year ’s houses and scare zone .
Here ’s what Michelle Westfall ( Sr . Content Strategist for Podcasts and Video at Universal Orlando Resort ) and Charles Grey ( Sr . Show Director , Entertainment Creative Development at Universal Orlando Resort ) shared about the speculation and much more . ConsideringNBC Universal having a bit of franchises joining Meta including Horror Nights , it ’s decidedly count good for hangout devotee .
Sabina Graves , io9 : I had the opportunity to go go to Halloween Horror Nights during opening . And before that , I was keeping track the sort of message that perish up on for the podcast on social media when I total across the Horror Nights anthology . I ’m curious how that collaboration into expanding the base park haunt world into a story podcast came to be ?
Photo: Universal Studios Orlando Parks and Resorts
Michelle Westfall : Great head ! The anthology series actually came from an idea I had like a while back where I was like , “ It would be really cool to know a little more about the stories [ behind the houses ] . ” I had friends and household who had come to the theatre with me and would be like , “ That was a really cool house , but what was the tarradiddle ? ” You know , maybe they did n’t do much inquiry into it . So I opine , what if we kind of took that and told the tale in audio with sound effects and euphony and really kind of put you in the mood of Halloween horror nights . So that ’s kind of where that idea stemmed from . Charles really helped me with a full reveal of Halloween Horror Nights [ on the seedpod ] and from there we intend , “ Okay , what if we did a series where , you experience , every hebdomad we have a new household that we bring out and we tell the stories [ behind them ] ? ”
So I reached out to Lora Sauls in amusement . I was like , “ Would you be interested in maybe doing something like this on the podcast and kind of tell the story , take it however way you desire to take it ? ” And of row , she was like , “ That sounds really great ! ” So we think to test a couple houses this year to see how they perform on the podcast . Are people talking about them ? So we opt four houses and one scare zone that their [ Horror Nights ] squad kind of separate it up . And as you credibly get wind , everyone record a dissimilar house , we did “ Dead Mans Pier : Winter ’s Wake , ” “ Bugs Eaten Alive , ” “ Fiesta De Chupacabras ” and “ Spirits of the Coven ” for the theatre . And then we imagine let ’s do a panic zone [ Sweet Revenge ] as well , which is nerveless because it tied into the Tribute entrepot ’s story .
io9 : Was it really loose to transform these house pitch mythologies into podcast conformation ?
Major Sweets and Sweets RevengePhoto: Sabina Graves/Gizmodo
Charles Grey : For houses , we have to in reality force ourselves to transfer bit of the story , every experience include each scene of the house , the streets , has to be like a Polaroid ikon . It ’s got to be like you convey to get it in one take . So for us create it , we have a second of a backstory but then we have to see what we ’re endure to let on so we do n’t confuse people . So this leave us a great chance to really say the thing we want to say or just add those extra bed back in . And then I think for people who experience those stories , it really gives a full groundwork and can add to kind of worked up coaction . come together and joining us on the journey , have that ammo at the very start and then seeing things revealed is more impactful — especially the characters or the reasons why people do the thing they do . So , yeah , it ’s a lot of playfulness . Rwo years ago , we wrote some level too for a lot of the stuff and then so to be able-bodied to read them was like a campfire narration … you know , sitting around the campfire , telling your specter stories .
Westfall : I was seeing on Twitter that some people were like , “ I ’m mind to it in my car on my way to Halloween Horror Nights . ” And some people were like , “ We ’re sit in stay and scream and listen to an episode before going to go do Dead Man ’s dock . ” After hear to all the episode , I walked through Dead Man ’s Pier and I was like , ” I do n’t know that I would have really understood the violin had I not listened to that episode . ”
io9 : Right ! I listened to that instalment for work before going and explained it so much ! add up a whole new level to the experience for my favourite house of the year .
Westfall : Exactly and maybe you go through the house and then after you operate through the theater , you were like , “ Oh , I want to learn more about it ” so you may play that episode . That ’s kind of what we were thinking too .
greyness : And it ’s not really spoilers because a peck of the stuff we ’re just going deeply in the fibre or what happened just before the motivate effect , you know ? You see an IP or a movie or television receiver show that you ’re familiar you have that [ background ] come in . But I will say that we have specially in our original stories macrocosm building here for the great unwashed who arrive year after year . We are creating these stories and layering them on . Sometimes thing have connexion to other zones or from preceding years we do n’t repeat , but we do link up a lot of times . And a lot of times it ’s very subtle . Sometimes we ’re like , we do n’t care if people get it or not . If they do ? Amazing . If not ? Okay . So to have multitude see the opportunity to see those connection , links also within these stories is is a gravid boon .
io9 : So I started drop dead to Halloween Horror Nights East pretty late , so I ’ve never really experienced a lot of the icons like The Director and Jack the Clown . And my pet maze last year was the The Icons Maze , because I get to at last get the drop-off notes of these different characters that I had had huant friend fill me in on . With this sort of thing are you thinking to continue some of these stories with the HHN icons through this medium or will it continue as expand guide to the house of the year ? I loved that the Fiesta de Chupacabras story had both an English and Spanish translation !
Charles Grey : We have tended to have the icons in some shape or form only during anniversary years , a lot of times as a criterion for people who visited before . Again , I ’m not saying that ’s going to encounter in the future , but that ’s been what ’s happened in the past . And you get on societal medium , you get on the web log and we can actually see what people are very interested in , what they ’re latch onto .
Westfall : That is something we started to contrive for next year to see , okay , what does the twelvemonth look like ? These did pretty well [ with these sign of the zodiac ] , I ’ve seen a lot of people receive them really well , so I thought , is there another post we can do it ? It agree Halloween very well . So that ’s something that we ’re hope to do next year , I retrieve there could be a place for storytelling in those forms .
Check out Discover Universal for travel guides and more tarradiddle of Halloween onYoutubeand wherever you get your podcasts .
require more io9 newsworthiness ? Check out when to await the latestMarvelandStar Warsreleases , what ’s next for theDC Universe on film and TV , and everything you need to know aboutHouse of the DragonandLord of the Rings : The Rings of Power .
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