Theme Park Rangers Radar 36: Horror Nights with The Weeknd, bugs and Carey, Ohio

Dewayne Bevil, Orlando Sentinel
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Not to startle you, but this week’s Theme Park Rangers Radar is focused solely on Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights, which is now underway at Universal Studios. On opening day, HHN creators Lora Sauls and Charles Gray were made available to chat about the making of this year’s event, which includes a haunted house inspired by (and influenced by) The Weeknd.

Radar is a weekly roundup of news and nuggets from Central Florida’s attractions. It appears on OrlandoSentinel.com on Wednesdays.

Bugs and kisses

Some of the buzz leading up to the 2022 edition of Horror Nights was with the Bugs: Eaten Alive house, the very name of which had a big ick factor with some people before even knew its was giant, scifi-scale bugs.

But there also was talk that Bugs was this year’s “humor” house. Hmm. It’s not the Bugs Bunny house.

“I wouldn’t say that we have infused it with comedy at the beginning,” Gray said. “It’s the style of horror is broken up with some comedic bits inside, but it’s also super gory. … It’s a lot of that Peter Jackson type of horror, you know, where it’s super gory, but at the same time, it has those tongue-in-cheek moments. … We do a lot of fun jokes, just actually making fun of the culture of the ‘50s a little bit.”

The house begins with a retro-feeling advertisement for ExterminAir, which doesn’t really work as advertised. (Also, check out the insect-inspired wallpaper as you enter.)

Weeknd update

Universal officials worked with singer-songwriter The Weeknd (birth name: Abel Tesfaye) and his Canadian record label XO to produce The Weeknd After Hours Nightmare this year.

“John Murdy from [Universal Studios] Hollywood and myself, we collaborated with Abel. And we would have weekly conversations with John and I and also in presenting to XO, that group. And so they were with us the whole way,” Gray said.

“He’s a huge fan of Halloween Horror Nights. And so it was fun to talk him through our creative — and he loves it — and to use his music in an interesting way,” he said.

“Was it a challenge? That’s not a bad word. … It was a fun challenge. Because how do you transfer dance beats and pop and horrific moments? But again, his influences in creating his videos, his music videos, he relayed that to us. There’s a lot of stuff that he loves that we also love. So we really clicked on certain ways to present it,” Gray said.

“I think having 10 houses that allowed us to create something like this, and people are loving it.”

Carey away

Carey has left the building. If you’re looking for an appearance by the town of Carey in this year’s HHN, you can stop, Sauls said.

“There is no Carey this year. We’re going to give Carey a little break. She had her own house last year. She had her own experience, all those different experiences throughout the last 30 years that we put in that teeny, tiny, fictional town — fictional town, mind you,” she said.

Sauls hails from Carey in real life, but years ago the name of the town was slipped into Horror Nights with small references, building up to last year, when Welcome to SCarey: Horror in the Heartland was a full-blown maze.

Carey has a population of about 3,300 people.

“What I love is that there are still horror fans going to visit Carey,” Sauls said. “I got a picture from one of our senior leadership’s administrative assistants that her son was going to Cedar Point and he took a pitstop to Carey, Ohio. That is not on the way to Cedar Point, mind you. … I was like, that’s amazing. … Tourism in Carey, Ohio.”

Weekend outlook

  • At Orange County Regional History Center, the “Figurehead: Music & Mayhem in Orlando’s Underground” exhibit opens Saturday.

  • Orlando Science Center’s $12 Day is set for Sunday.

  • Halloween Horror Nights picks up Wednesday through Sunday before taking another break.

  • SeaWorld Orlando breaks out its second-ever edition of Howl-O-Scream on Friday, then starts its more family-friendly Spooktacular on Saturday.

  • Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party event at Magic Kingdom will be held Friday and Sunday.

  • Epcot International Food & Wine Festival continues. Performers for the Eat to the Beat concert series include Hoobastank on Friday and Saturday, followed by Jimmie Allen on Sunday and Monday.

What’s on your radar? Email me at dbevil@orlandosentinel.com