ORLANDO, Fla. – With a little more than a week from the opening of Universal Orlando's signature event, Halloween Horror Nights, producers are promising more chills and thrills than in years past with the theme, "There's no way out once you're inside."
Local 6 got a sneak peek into the event's 22nd year and was walked through seven houses, four based on popular entertainment brands, including TV show "The Walking Dead" and the video game "Silent Hill."
Penn and Teller also collaborated on the "Newk Las Vegas" house, which shows what happens when a magic trick goes wrong. And guests will also be taken through musician Alice Cooper's "Nightmare."
Event producers tell Local 6 they work on HHN year round, and the key, says show producer and director Patrick Braillard, is finding what you're afraid of and delivering it in an unexpected way.
"The Dead End house, for example," Braillard said. "Everyone has that one house on their street that isn't quite right. People dare each other to go up to it, to touch the door and run back."
Braillard also says he thinks guests will love The House of Horrors, where classic monsters and recreated and reanimated in "lighting flash technology style."
While Universal as a policy does not discuss financial specifics, they do say they expect "hundreds and hundreds of thousands of guests" from all over the world
The event opens to the public Sept. 21 and runs for one month. To add to the spirit of the season, Universal announced today a "scary phone app" where you can place Halloween themed phone calls to friends.