- Hello.
Season's greetings, if you will.
Welcome to this maze.
- This is a back lot...
Where are we?
- We are at Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios
about to do a haunted maze.
- The Trick 'R Treat Maze.
It's a very creepy maze,
and I am very excited to take Devin and Kristin through it.
- Do you think you're gonna get through the whole maze?
- Yeah, absolutely.
- Do you think I'm gonna get through the whole maze?
- Yeah, I'm gonna make you get through the whole maze.
- Oh, no!
- You're not leavin.
- What if we just go ride The Simpsons ride instead?
I'm so scared. (laughing)
I have a confession to make. - Yes.
- I tried to cheat on this
and look at the little walkthroughs of all the mazes online,
- Kristin! - but I got too scared!
- I have a little secret.
Instead of them being scared
by the normal Universal scare actors...
- Surprise! - Hi.
- [Chantel] I'm having some of their friends come in
and do the spookin'.
Ryan, Mya, Joyce, Elena, and Selorm.
- We're here to make Kristin and Devin
poop their pants, right?
- I just hope I don't poop my pants.
- Did you poop before this?
- No, and I drank some juice.
- Maybe you'll be scaring them.
- Exactly. (laughing)
That's what I'm saying.
- I love being scared.
He likes being scared. - It's the best.
- I don't mess with that stuff.
Don't come at me. - I don't touch it.
I don't even watch scary movies.
- People creeping up behind me and being startled.
- Okay, well, this is not the place for you.
- And having no control over my surroundings.
So, got some real fun cognitive behavioral therapy
comin' up for me.
- I think it would be terrifying if
Steve Buscemi was watching you sleep.
- I'm doin this 'cause I love LadyLike.
I'll do anything for them.
- Really? - Aw!
- This was the opposite of loving LadyLike.
- I just wanna see people be scared and petrified of me
because I'm powerful.
- I wanna see what I naturally do when I'm terrified.
- This is gonna ruin houses for me forever.
- Creative director of Halloween Horror Nights John Murdy
is also going to be here to tell us the inspiration
behind creep-olas such as her as well as a scare boot camp.
- My job as creative director and executive producer
at Halloween Horror Nights is to think up all of the ideas
that are gonna go into, ultimately,
the mazes that our guests experience.
Every prop, everything the lighting is doing,
the audio, the decor, the costumes.
A big part of my job is working with filmmakers
who wanna participate in what we do.
In the case of Trick 'R Treat,
I had lunch with the director 10 years ago
when his movie was first coming out,
and now 10 years later we're finally doing it as a maze
in Halloween Horror Nights.
And my job is to make guests feel
as if they got up out of their seats,
stepped through the movie screen,
and now they're living Trick 'R Treat.
It's real, and it's coming for them.
- A dream come true for me.
I've dreamed of this day.
I've wanted to audition for Halloween Horror Nights
my whole life, and now today,
I'm going to make that dream a reality, and bonus,
Kristin's gonna poop in her pants while I do so.
- The poop, the poop jokes are a lot.
- Right now we're about to walk through the maze
with the man, John Murdy.
I've followed him and his whole career
and I'm gonna try not to freak out when I see his face.
- Don't poop your pants.
- Welcome, Buzzfeeders, to Trick 'R Treat.
The main thing you need to know
if you're gonna be a scare actor
is that it's a new show every 10 seconds.
That's about the length of time it would take
for one of our guests to walk through a scene like this one.
So, every 10 seconds you've gotta be firing, right?
The other thing you need to know
is it's all about playing the angles.
If I'm trying to scare you and I come for you like this,
you can see me coming a mile away,
but if I come from your peripheral vision, you don't see me.
Can you see my hand?
- I can a little bit.
- Yeah, can you see it now?
- Yeah, I can, yeah. - Yeah.
It's right on top of you, right?
- It's right there. - That's why it's scary.
So, when you come out to scare somebody, it's fast,
and then you go back with that same energy
so they don't quite know what hit 'em.
I might plant a foot so that my body's going forward,
but I'm in complete control of it, alright?
Are you in control?
I don't know about that.
- I'm feel pretty out of control most of the time, but okay.
- You gotta be in control now. - I'm gonna get my
- Let's see it. - full spook.
Ready? (laughs)
- That's inertia. - That was beautiful.
- That's inertia right there.
- You scared me. - I got very close.
- You're playing Vampire Wilkins.
(evil laughing)
- I'm getting into character.
- Okay, let's talk about vocalization.
I can see we're gonna need to focus on that as well.
What you don't wanna do is scream, right?
Because you can only do that for, what,
a few times and then you'll lose your voice.
So, you wanna use your diaphragm, which is down here.
It's like singing, right?
So, when you come out you can always go (grunts).
Oop, spit gum out of your mouth.
- Oh my God, that scared the (bleep) out of me.
- Reset, let's do it again. - I still got scared.
- Yeah, me too.
(grunting) Like that, yeah.
Try it again.
- Oh, she did it. - But deeper down.
(yelling)
- Alright, there you go, there you go.
- That was kinda scary. - I used to do opera.
(grunting) - There you go, there you go.
We're gonna try everybody together.
You take one step forward, aggressive, and use your voice.
One, two, three.
(grunting)
Not too bad.
- We got this!
- I'm ready to go.
Fire me up, John.
I'm the mayor of Spooky Town, let's get it.
- Our scare actors are gonna get the same treatment
that the Universal scare actors get.
That way they can look as creepy as this guy.
- I think one of the things
that people don't realize about Halloween Horror Nights
is just how many people are involved.
In the case of the cast,
it's about 1,000 performers that have to get into makeup
and costumes every night.
So, it's really like an assembly line of gore.
It's called scare base.
And starting around 2:00,
we start bringing in out scharacters,
which is what we call our talent,
and they start getting ready for the event.
- I think I put it on backwards.
- You have to get everybody into makeup and costume.
We can't spend more than maybe 40 minutes in a makeup chair
for any one makeup.
So, it's all designed so that it's like an assembly line.
As soon as people come in, they go to their makeup stations,
they go to wardrobe, they get into costume,
they come outside,
they get into vans where drivers drive them
all over the back lot and all over the movie studio
so they're all in place when we're ready to up by 7:00 pm.
I always tell our performers or our scharacters
that trying to be part of Halloween Horror Nights
is really like training for a marathon
'cause anything I'm gonna direct them to do in our event,
they're gonna do it about every 10 seconds.
And when you add that up over the course of the event,
that's like 60 to 80,000 times they're gonna do
whatever scare I designed for them to do.
- Are you guys ready to scare?
(cheering)
Y'all ready to spook?
- Ryan, stop with that face!
- I'm gonna be the spookiest bitch you know.
- Ryan reminds me of that scary son you have
that you don't talk to...
- He's that kid in the back of the class at school
that you need to worry about and you need to watch out for.
- Kristin and Devin won't have any idea
that it's their friends doing the scaring
'til the very very end of the shoot,
and I can not wait to see their faces.
Do you think they would get mad at me?
I think they're gonna have fun, right?
- We do this then we do our arms up
that way no one can come in our vicinity.
We'll just do the whole maze like this.
- That's good, that's good.
It's a good strategy.
I feel safer already. - I do too.
I'm just gonna hold my arms up
like a goalpost the whole time
so that nobody can come in my personal space bubble.
Going they a haunted maze with two people is always folly.
You gotta go with at least four
and stick yourself in the middle
and then let everyone else deal with it.
- But Jen's on vacation, Fred's unavailable,
Chantel's directing the shoot,
so it's just you and me, babe.
(laughing)
- I preemptively apologize
for hitting you in the face accidentally.
- I preemptively apologize for grabbing a boob.
I'm gonna be like (scream).
- What if I just run through
and just yell shut up the whole time?
- No, no, shut up, shut up. - Shut up, shut up, shut up.
(laughing)
- We got this.
If we can handle the patriarchy,
we sure as hell can handle this.
- I can barely handle the patriarchy.
- It's true.
Kristin's still trying to assess the situation.
- I know that there's something in here
that I'm not seeing.
I'm not gonna be tricked today.
- Listen. - Only treats.
- We have a GoPro on our DP,
and so I'm gonna be watchin this from the wings.
- Get hyped, get hyped.
It's time to get spooky.
Are you ready? - No!
- You can do it.
She's so nervous.
You got this.
We should've had a drink before we got here.
- Well, I took my anti-anxiety medication
and it just kicked in.
One of these is a person.
- One of these is a person. - I know!
I know one of these is a person.
- One of these is definitely a person.
- One of you is a person.
I see you.
- One of these is definitely a person.
- One of these... - There's someone,
there's someone, there's someone right there.
- Or it's behind you.
Oh my God.
- Oh my God, right there.
Okay, right, there's someone right there.
There's someone right there.
(screaming)
- I am predicting that with every scream,
Kristin is also gonna laugh.
- Who's The Principal?
I'm scared. (laughing)
You, okay.
(screaming) (laughing)
- Okay, wow,
it is darker than I expected. - It is so dark!
Is this walls?
- These are walls, there are walls.
(mumbling)
Oh, it's daylight.
- I don't trust (bleep).
- Is anyone in these trash cans?
- This is what I do when I'm trying to kill spiders.
I'm like...
- This is very... - Okay.
(mumbling)
This seems like a transitional space.
- Yeah, I feel like we're outside.
- We're outside, it's daylight.
- We're outside, it's fine.
- We're good. - We're fine.
- Okay. - Okay.
Is there stuff above us? (laughs)
- Oh, (bleep).
- It's so dark.
What are you gonna do?
- Wait.
- Wait, I can't actually see.
- Oh, no, it said surprise.
- I don't like surprises.
- It says surprise. - I don't like surprises.
It's gonna take us forever to get through this maze.
- I know, I know, we are so tentative.
- What is happening?
(laughing)
- It's just very dark. (screaming)
Alright, that's a shadow.
That's a shadow.
That's literally Daysha's shadow.
- What's is... - Alright.
- Oh, that's gross. - Okay, okay.
Alright, a person.
(screaming) (laughing)
Geeze.
- I did not see that coming.
I see you.
Oh, that's...
Uh oh, uh oh.
(screaming)
- Oh my God, oh my God.
(screaming)
I'm sorry.
- Oh, I see.
Yes, we're leaving. - She's wicked.
- We're leaving.
School bus massacre?
You're, no.
- Oh my God, if they are scary little...
(screaming)
- He needs to leave.
(laughing)
- I can't with the - How are we gonna
walk by this? - scary little children.
That's sweet kicks, though.
- These are good...
(screaming)
- Sweet kicks, sweet kicks.
- I don't wanna meet Sam. - Who's Sam?
- Stay up, I don't think Sam is good.
- Lower your center of gravity.
Just lower it in case you need to bolt.
- I see a door and I don't like it.
- Okay. - Oh, oh, hell no.
- Oh, (bleep).
- Absolutely not.
- [Devin] That's not what I'm about.
- [Kristin] That better not be a person.
- Is that Sam?
Oh my God. - I don't like this.
I don't like this.
(yelling)
- Oh my God, they're all there.
All of them are there.
- I see you moving. - Nope, nope.
- Okay, we gotta just do it.
Gotta do it and your taxes.
(screaming)
- Let me have her.
- Dear God, this is not a treat.
(cheering)
Oh, we did it. (laughing)
I see you.
It never ends.
- That was a stress test.
That's what that was.
- I feel like I sent you.
I was just like, and Devin will die in my place, bye.
It was like a Girl Scout merit badge activity.
- Yeah, that was definitely a release.
I get it now.
I really get it now. - Yeah.
- I'm definitely on my toes a little bit.
- Every time I hear that plastic rustle...
- Sure. - Yes!
- [Chantel] Here they come.
- No!
- [Woman] Spooky!
(laughing)
- No!
- Deceased.
- Ryan, drop the character.
Drop the character, Ryan.
I'm gonna cry, you guys.
This was quite the surprise.
This is a betrayal.
- This is a true betrayal.
Did y'all have fun?
(all talking)
Are you still, Ryan.
- Ryan, drop the character, Ryan.
Drop it.
(laughing)
Can you do an impression of what we looked like?
(mumbling)
- It was a lot of (yells)
Grabbing each other.
- Yeah, you were grabbing Kristin and she was like...
- A lot of throwing yourself on the wall.
(screaming)
- Universal Studios Hollywood Halloween Horror Nights.
- Lady tested.
- Ryan. - Ryan, I swear...
- Ryan, stop it. - Ryan, you need to stop.
I swear to god.
(spooky music)