Halloween Horror Nights' Historic Female-Led Eternal Bloodlines Haunted House
Halloween Horror Nights' newest haunted house leans on the ladies of the Universal Monster catalog.
Halloween Horror Nights is in full swing at Universal Orlando Resort and Universal Studios Hollywood, and there is a plethora of terrifying haunted houses to choose from. From a Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire-themed house to an entire Scare Zone devoted to the Blumhouse fan-favorite films, this year’s frightening festivities will be one for the books.
One brand-new edition making its HHN debut at Halloween Horror Nights 2024 in both parks is "Universal Monsters: Eternal Bloodlines." The spooky house will feature an all-female array of characters, which makes it the first of its kind. From the Bride of Frankenstein to She-Wolf, it's a showcase that you don’t want to miss.
NBC Insider spoke with Universal Studios’ own Lora Sauls, the Senior Manager of the Creative Development Group and Show Direction, about making history with the Eternal Bloodlines both in front of and behind the scenes.
Who came up with HHN 2024's Universal Monsters: Eternal Bloodlines?
“For the first time in a very long time, we had a female show director leading some of the concepts for the haunted houses,” Sauls explained. “We told [Orlando Show Director] Kelly Malik that we wanted to do something with Universal Monsters. Think outside the box. That’s what we usually get to do with our Universal Monsters. And she came to me, and she was like 'We want to do an all-female Monster haunted house.' And I’m like 'Wow, we haven’t - -. We haven’t touched on all the female monsters.”
Halloween Horror Nights' Eternal Bloodlines had a unique composer
“We had eight submittals and within five minutes the team and I chose our favorites. And we all chose the same person and that was Sara Barone. So, Sara was our composer for this Universal Orlando haunted house,” Sauls told NBC Insider. “She did such an incredible job of scoring this amazing story. And then we just found out just recently she was nominated for an Emmy.”
Who brings the Halloween Horror Nights haunted houses to life?
Sauls noted that all the planning in the world can't help bring these stories to life like the people who work inside of them each night who she affectionately calls "scare-actors" (pronounced sounding like "characters")
“It’s true that we have great scenic designers, décor specialists, show directors, that create these stories. Technical designers. But really, it’s the scare-actors that bring it to life. Right? It’s those scare-actors that really bring those characters that our character creation team creates. They bring it to life and make it what it is.”
“I started my career as a singing and dancing Bride of Frankenstein,” Sauls adds. “So, it’s very special for our team to be able to create new stories with these Universal Monsters that we absolutely love so much.”
To find out more about what the 2024 Halloween Horror Nights has to offer and purchase tickets, check out the website.
