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"Think of the horror film moments that stay with you. The moments that push you back in your theater seat and make you look away. The screams of audience members in a darkened theater. The things you see again at 3 a.m."

"A cold, lifeless hand takes your ticket. You're left with a bone-chilling shiver as you move toward an empty theater seat. The lights dim, voices fade, the film begins. The screen starts to rip apart as the action comes straight for you. The show's about to begin..."

Halloween Horror Nights Orlando event
RFSS
Halloween Horror Nights: Ripped from the Silver Screen
Slogan Ripped From the Silver Screen/It's Showtime
Year 2009
Icon The Usher
Icon attraction Silver Screams
Number of haunted houses 8
Number of scarezones 6 (Official)

1 (Unofficial)

Preceded by Halloween Horror Nights: Reflections of Fear
Followed by Halloween Horror Nights: Twenty Years of Fear

Halloween Horror Nights: Ripped From The Silver Screen (2009)[]

Halloween_Horror_Nights_XIX_Commercial

Halloween Horror Nights XIX Commercial

HHN XIX Commercial

Universal announced on June 25, 2009 that the year's event would incorporate characters from the movie franchises, Child's Play (Chucky), Saw (Billy/Jigsaw), and Universal's The Wolfman.

Ripped from the Silver Screen's theme surrounded a mysterious old movie theater, the Universal Palace Theater. The Icon of the event was the appropriately called Usher, or Julian Browning, a mysterious, undead usher who haunts and cares for the theater. The Universal Palace itself seems to be an evil entity-- it "attacks" those who do not show it respect, as Julian warned as he introduced visitors to the website.

 Dates & Times[]

Event Nights[]

September 25-26 2009

October 1-4, 8-11, 15-18, 21-25, & 28-31 2009

Event Times[]

Sunday through Thursday ran from 7:00 PM to 12:00 AM

Friday and Saturday ran from 7:00 PM to 2:00 AM

Ticket Prices[]

Single Admission: $69.99 + tax

Event Website[]

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Throughout August, the website showed grainy monochrome images of the theater, while a voice discussed a historical society's attempt to restore it. As time went by, portions of the theater were gradually "filled in"; when a viewer rolled the cursor over the screen, sepia-toned photographs would appear. Reports of the theater's violent history were also released on the site. Each report discussed a different horrific event tied into one of the movies featured, and showed "evidence" from each case:

  • Trapped told the tale of a man who rudely talked on the phone during the screening of a film. Other patrons forced him to leave, and he climbed to a higher portion of the theater to seek better reception. Officials found him days later, decomposing; his leg had become trapped in a twisted, rusty portion of a staircase, and he had bled to death. A list of names covered with blood was found next to the body; these names, along with the "trap"-like death, relate to SAW.
  • Insane revealed stories of twisted, warped toys that had been found throughout the theater. Though the toys were placed in a Lost and Found, no one ever claimed them. Some theatergoers developed an intense fear of the toys; psychiatric reports revealed that one man was convinced that the playthings were deadly, and trying to kill him. A bloody pull-string from a talking doll much like Chucky was also found, linking these cases to Chucky: Friends til the End.
  • Missing showed images of three young pranksters who disappeared on Prom Night. The three young men had been banned from the theater for breaking rules, but entered the theater on that night through an emergency exit. Various clues were found in the sewers below the theater, including bloody flowers and wrenches, but the young men's bodies were never found. This mystery is linked to The Spawning; the creatures of that house most likely devoured the boys and the boys used wrenches to unsuccessfully fight their way through.
  • Electrocuted discussed a stormy night in the theater's history. Powerful bolts of lightning repeatedly struck the movie house. A power outage caused the movie being shown to stop, prompting an employee to open an electrical panel in the basement to fix the problem. When an even more powerful bolt struck the theater, the panel sent a shower of sparks onto a balcony, where a theatergoer secretly drinking whiskey was hiding. The electricity killed him and completely destroyed his internal organs, which he had planned on donating in the event of his death. This story is linked to Frankenstein: Creation of the Damned.
  • Bloodless talked about a young bride who did not appear at the chapel on her wedding day. The woman was known as a fan of a particular horror movie, often going to the theater and reciting, line for line, the dialogue from the film. Police investigators discovered her body, dressed in its bridal gown, at the Universal Palace. The girl had been completely drained of her blood, and the roses she held had wilted, yet remained perfectly preserved. It is assumed that Dracula had somehow hypnotized the young woman and summoned her to be his new bride, as is described in Dracula: Legacy in Blood.
  • Savaged was a plain, violent story. After a horribly gruesome murder at the Universal Palace Theater, two young girls revealed that they saw a "beast" running through the screening room, attacking a laughing man who claimed he was unfazed by horror movies and started throwing popcorn at the screen. The beast was a werewolf, tied to The Wolfman.
  • Severed's darkly humorous grotesque tale presumably set in the 1950s revealed that a family of theatergoers ordered meals from the concession stand of the theater. During the movie, the daughter of the family began to scream; she bit into a human finger in her hot dog. The other members of the family had already finished their meals, and fled the theater. Strangely, the consumption of human flesh (as well as a mysterious drug buried within the meals) transformed them into carnivores, unable to eat anything but raw meat. The family's plight is linked to Leave it to Cleaver and the meals are advertised as "Brought to you by Meetz's Meats."
  • Strangled, revealed on August 27th, talked about Julian Browning himself, and how he came to be the guardian of the theater. While a re-release of his favorite horror film, The Phantom of the Opera, was playing in 1940, Browning engaged in a scuffle with a rude theatergoer. During the fight, Browning's flashlight was tossed through the screen, tearing it. As the usher went to retrieve it, he was somehow entangled in a sandbag's rope, causing him to die a slow, painful death of strangulation. It is also revealed that this was the first horrible event of many in the theater's history, meaning that either the Universal Palace itself is evil, or Julian's "revenge" has been to destroy other rulebreaking patrons with classic movie monsters (almost in a same way the Phantom from The Phantom of the Opera would do by causing incidents in the opera house).

On August 27th, the site changed. It now featured a CGI introduction of Julian bringing viewers into the theater, fully restored. Small dolls were positioned throughout the theater, and posters linked to each of the Haunted Houses were featured as hotspots. Viewers could interact with these posters by rotating them, revealing that the images were actually the creatures featured on the screen. Information regarding events and Scarezones was also posted on the 27th.

Event Website Soundtrack[]

Attractions[]

Haunted Houses[]

  • Silver Screams (Parade Warehouse) - The Usher, Julian Browning, welcomed guests into the Universal Palace Theater, where the movie screen is torn away and some of horror's biggest names are brought into the real world.
  • SAW (Jaws Queue) - Inspired by the popular SAW series. You are being tested for your voyeuristic ways. Instead of watching the torture of others, you will be the one causing the pain and torment in grisly traps and games created by Jigsaw and his apprentices.
  • The Wolfman (Soundstage 22) - Based on the upcoming remake of the same name, guests travel through the England countryside and are hunted by The Wolfman himself.
  • Chucky: Friends til the End (Sprung Tent 1) - Guests enter Chucky's world, where the demented doll has been turning harmless toys into pure evil.
  • Dracula: Legacy in Blood (Soundstage 23) - Guests enter Count Dracula's castle on the night of "The Calling", and are given the choice of either becoming an undead servant of Dracula, or suffering a painful demise.
  • Frankenstein: Creation of the Damned (Soundstage 23) – Frankenstein's monster has taken revenge against his creator, and his destructive rampage has visitors caught in the middle.
  • The Spawning (Sprung Tent 2) – Guests are hired to find out who... or what has stopped the water supply in Wyandot County, Ohio by traveling into the town's sewer system and finding out if the creatures the townsfolk call "Sculders" really exist.
  • Leave it to Cleaver (Disaster! Queue) – In this blood-soaked dark comedy, Sam Meetz works as a butcher in Carey, Ohio with a steady supply of homeless and town lawbreakers as his livestock. Mr. Meetz and his staff will preserve their deadly secret at any cost.

Scarezones[]

  • Lights Camera Hacktion! (Hollywood) – Hollywood Boulevard is being used as a location for the filming of the next big horror movie to be released in October 2010: The CHAINSAW DRILL TEAM MASSACRE in 3-D. Lights, Camera, Hacktion! Our director, Mas Imair, noted horror film aficionado, is bringing the massacre to life in blood-red terrorcolor. But the actors seem to be taking their direction literally and are "hacking" through the cast and crew. It's a close encounter of the worst kind as the backlot becomes a hacklot and the streets run red with blood. Are you ready for your close-up?
  • Cirque Du Freak (Woody Woodpecker's Kidzone) – Inspired by Universal Pictures' upcoming film Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant, which tells the fantasy-adventure tale of a boy who unknowingly breaks a 200-year-old truce between two warring factions of vampires. Pulled into a fantastic life of misunderstood sideshow freaks and grotesque creatures of the night, one teen will vanish from the safety of a boring existence and fulfill his destiny in a place drawn from nightmares.
  • Horrorwood Die-In (Mel's Drive-In) – The Hollywood Drive-In has been closed for years, and some say the abandoned grounds are haunted, where late at night the dim flickering images of carnage and chaos, monsters and madmen leave the screen and enter the real world looking for fresh victims to star in their latest horrors.
  • Apocalypse: City of Cannibals (New York) – A whole civilization of war-like carnivorous humanoids emerges from the sewers and underground tunnels of New York, looking for fresh food. Half-humanoid, half-beast and ravenous, these tribal cannibals invade the streets of Manhattan. No one is safe!
  • Containment (Plaza of the Stars) – When an experimental bio-nerve gas is accidentally released into the atmosphere, the streets are filled with a toxic green mist that turns anyone that comes in contact with it into an infected, melting glob of flesh and blood.
  • War of the Living Dead (Shrek Alley) – On a remote island in the Pacific during the last days of World War II, the unthinkable was created – a new breed of super-soldier made from the reanimated corpses of the dead. American forces quickly seized the island compound, but not before the reanimate agent was released. The island was quarantined and has remained a secret until now. Fifty years later, the two opposing dead forces are still locked in immortal combat - with you caught in the middle.

Unofficial Scarezone[]

Shows[]

Rides[]

Reviews[]

Press Releases[]

August 27, 2009 MODERN HORROR FILMS COME ALIVE AT UNIVERSAL ORLANDO’S HALLOWEEN HORROR NIGHTS

For the First Time Ever, Universal Orlando Dedicates its Entire Event to Mega-Horror Films

SAW, The Wolfman, Chucky and More Are “Ripped from the Silver Screen” at The Country’s Best Halloween Event

ORLANDO, Fla. (August 27, 2009) – For the first time ever, Universal Orlando is devoting its entire Halloween Horror Nights event to bringing horror films to life.  All eight haunted houses, all six scare-zones and two live shows will be directly inspired by some of today’s most popular horror films.

In another first, guests will experience three powerful mega-horror film concepts live and in-person before seeing them on-screen: “SAW,” the legendary horror series from Lionsgate® and Twisted Pictures, due in theaters with its newest release of “SAW VI” this October; “The Wolfman” from Universal Pictures, in theaters February 2010; and “Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant,” also from Universal Pictures, due in theaters October 2009. There will be two additional houses inspired by cult horror films. 

“Our guests are going to feel as if their favorite horror films have left the screen and surrounded them,” said Jim Timon, senior vice president of entertainment for Universal Orlando Resort. “They will come face to face with many of the most disturbing characters in film history. When they leave Halloween Horror Nights, they’ll wish their experience was just a movie.”

The terrifying world of “SAW” – one of the most profitable horror franchises to date – will be transformed into a haunted house featuring iconic scenes from the films such as Jigsaw’s lair and the tomb-like bathroom.  Guests will come face to face with Jigsaw and also watch as his victims struggle to try and win at his game.

Before guests can see the “The Wolfman” on-screen, they will be able to live its horror.  In this house they will walk through scenes from the film, joining “The Wolfman’s” alter-ego Lawrence Talbot as he discovers a primal side of himself he didn’t know existed.

A world where toys go bad is brought to life in a haunted house inspired by the “Chucky” films. Guests will experience a funhouse lead by the sadistic doll where favorite children’s toys aren’t what they seem.

This year’s Halloween Horror Nights will also include dramatic new interpretations of Universal Pictures’ famed Frankenstein and Dracula.  Both will be featured in their own houses and both will be more horrifying and intense than ever before.

In the Silver Screams haunted house – based on a demented movie theater run by a supernatural usher – guests will experience “Shaun of the Dead,” Universal Pictures’ “The Phantom of the Opera,” Lionsgate®’s “My Bloody Valentine 3D” and more.

Two live shows inspired by popular films return this year – the entertaining “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Halloween Adventure” and “The Rocky Horror Picture Show: A Tribute.”

Halloween Horror Nights runs September 25-26, October 1-4, 8-11, 15-18, 21-25 and 28-31.

Silver screen totally inspires Horror Nights[]

Coming soon August 27, 2009|By Dewayne Bevil, Sentinel Staff Writer

For the first time in its 19-year history, Halloween Horror Nights will be completely devoted to scary movies, Universal Studios theme park will announce today. All eight haunted houses and each of its six scare zones -- home to terrifying street performers -- are inspired by big-screen thrillers.


"We're turning the front gate into the facade of the Universal Palace Theater. There will be a box office, there will be a movie screen showing trailers," said Michael Roddy, show director for Universal Orlando Entertainment. "And then once you walk in, all these environments, all these movies are ripped from the silver screen and come to life." As announced in June, three contemporary movie characters will be featured. Jigsaw (from the Saw series), Chucky (Child's Play) and the Wolfman (from a film set to open in February) will be set up in their own houses

. Saw producer Oren Koules, who lives in Tampa, said he looks forward to the after-hours event, which runs for 23 select nights beginning Sept. 25. Koules said that having people experience the Saw films live -- "not just on the screen, but to have people walk through it, taste it, touch it and feel it -- is amazing for us." Saw VI debuts Oct. 23. The movies, which each have been released near Halloween, are graphic, violent, mind-game-driven films filled with traps. The Saw house at Horror Nights is designed to be intense, Roddy said. Guests will be the ones being tested, he said. "As they progress farther into the maze, every step they take is causing and affecting the traps to be sprung."

Two houses will be devoted to Dracula and Dr. Frankenstein's monster. Two others are inspired by B movies based on a Midwestern, chainsaw-wielding family and "cannibalistic humanoid underground dwellers," Roddy said. The eighth house will highlight several horror films including Shaun of the Dead and The Phantom of the Opera. The scare zones will spotlight corpses reanimated into super-soldiers, a toxic green mist, a chainsaw drill team, an abandoned drive-in theater and half-human, half-beasts. One zone will be devoted to Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant, a Universal Pictures film also set to open Oct. 23. Two stage shows return: "Bill & Ted's Excellent Halloween Adventure" and "The Rocky Horror Picture Show: A Tribute.

Website Pictures[]

Website Videos[]

Pictures[]

Videos[]

Halloween Horror Nights: Ripped From the Silver Screen Merchandise and Collectables[]

Trivia[]

  • According to this, throughout the park, were clips playing from Nightmare Alley.
  • Also, the Pumpkin Patch lightning was the same effect as the broken mirror from the year before.
  • Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit was originally planned to run during the event, but was cancelled due to lack of nets installed underneath the coaster between the soundstage entrances.

Sources[]

Halloween Horror Nights: Ripped from the Silver Screen
Characters: The Usher (Event Icon)  • Billy  • Chucky  • The Wolfman (Sub Icons)  • Sam Meetz  • Count Dracula • Frankenstein's Monster • Sculders
Haunted Houses: The Wolfman  • Dracula: Legacy in Blood  • Frankenstein: Creation of the Damned  • Leave it to Cleaver  • SAW  • The Spawning  • Chucky: Friends til the End  • Silver Screams
Scarezones: Containment  • War of the Living Dead  • Apocalypse: City of Cannibals  • Cirque Du Freak  • Horrorwood Die-In  • Lights Camera Hacktion!
Unofficial Scarezone: Shadows from the Past
Shows: The Rocky Horror Picture Show: A Tribute  • Bill & Ted's Excellent Halloween Adventure
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