Everything Is Historically Accurate

One of the biggest challenges, according to Murdy, was that the series is a period piece. It's set in the '80s, but the idea is the Byers family has been living in this home for a while now, so a lot of the furniture and decor of the maze includes '70s paraphernalia. To get started on staging a maze like this, the Horror Nights crew first checked their catalogs, which help keep track of all the props they have available from prior mazes. They also sifted through flea markets and garage sales, since the goal was to replicate the image they'd been given from the show.

Will Byers's Room

Walking into Will's room, you'll notice touches like his drawings and a cassette player.

More Drawings

Details

There are tons of details throughout the maze, which you might miss due to the dim lighting, like this trophy with Will's name.

A Special Message and Your First Interaction With the Demogorgon

The iconic lights and letter wall will be part of the experience, of course. Each strand of lights is operated separately, and they lead you through to the next room. If you spend enough time in the room — and chances are, you won't — you'll notice the wall spells out "RUN."

You'll hear Will's voice speaking to his mother over the phone, which will spark, just like in the series. This is the first room where you'll encounter the Demogorgon, whose appearance utilizes a fun scare tactic from a previous Freddy Krueger maze.

Castle Byers

Speaking of the Demogorgon, you'll come into contact with it several times. Horror Nights is bringing the character into the real world by using practical effects. Murdy said they sculpted the character based on a pull from Spectral Motion [4], one of the leading makeup and creature effects studios in the industry, and the people responsible for the Demogorgon [5] in the series. We weren't able to capture a photo of it during the tour, but trust us — it's horrifying.

Playing With Height

This is the first Halloween [6] Horror Nights maze utilizing a legitimate soundstage, which allowed the crew to work with height. "It's easier to scare in confined spaces," Murdy said, but ultimately, they wanted to play with the expanse the stage had to offer. You can see how high the roof is here.

Prior to this, Family Feud shot on this stage.

Castle Byers Photo References

The crew working on this maze referenced 30,000-40,000 images of the series to get each scene as authentic as possible, which is typical for any maze at the haunt.

Caught in the Webbing

They eventually landed on webbing, similar to this. However, it's messy to apply, so it will be a finishing touch within the maze. The webbing will be used in conjunction with fiber optic lights and a digital print of the Upside Down and will house a full-size Demogorgon.

The Upside Down

The Upside Down in the series is CGI, but Murdy was intent on bringing it to life. The crew spent a day performing "science experiments" to see what would work best: they tested snow effects, projections, and lasers. Ultimately, all fell short.

Barb Returns

Throughout the maze, you'll encounter character actors for Joyce, Nancy, Will, Chief Hopper, and Dr. Brenner. In Barb's case, though, she's an Upside Down-ridden figure; Eleven will also be a figure. Murdy said they discussed the idea of hiring actors to portray Eleven, who would have to shave their heads. This usually isn't an issue, he said, but ultimately they decided against it. This maze has a total of about 40 actors, with 25 on-set performers any given night. In the event the scare actor playing Eleven fell ill or were unable to make it to work one night, that would mean someone else in the cast would have to shave their head on a whim. The Eleven figurine solves this issue.

Because the core kids are a huge part of the series, they're definitely included, but per Murdy, it's difficult to make adults look like children — and children were not cast for Halloween [7] Horror Nights. Therefore, you'll hear select pieces of dialogue from each kid. The Horror Nights team pulled several hundred SOTs from the movie in order to narrow down what would make the cut for the actual maze.

Sad to report there's no Steve. We doubt you'll be missing him while running for your life . . .

Don't Let Your Guard Down

One of the final elements of the maze is the science classroom with Eleven. But note that the maze isn't over once you leave this scene. What happens next? You'll have to find out for yourself.

The Science Classroom

You can visit Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights [8] select nights beginning Sept. 14-Nov. 3.