Dark Torment

Halloween Horror Nights Orlando attraction
Image from the Halloween Horror Nights: Sweet 16 website page.
Dark Torment
Attraction type	Haunted House
Event	Halloween Horror Nights X
Park	Universal Studios Florida
Area	San Francisco
Year	2000
Housed in	Earthquake Queue
Based on	Original
Preceded By	Doomsday (1999)

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Dark Torment was one of the five haunted houses that were featured during Halloween Horror Nights X. The house was located in the Earthquake Queue along with Universal Classic Monster Mania. It featured the seven levels of hell.

History and Location

For the past six years, Universal held haunted houses in the large extended queue for the Earthquake attraction. Used sparingly since 1992, Universal also had "haunted attractions", day-time rides turned horrifying, usually by adding scareactors in the queue. Never before or since 2000, has Universal ever combined the idea of both a haunted house and a haunted attraction.

Dark Torment would be located in the Earthquake Queue along with Universal Classic Monster Mania. This house would be one of the most unique haunted houses in the event's history, as it combined both the day-time attraction and a haunted house. To enter the house, guests actually had to ride the Earthquake attraction. After the ride (and after a little appearance by Jack the Clown on a TV), guests would be led into the actual house through a backstage door. The house would be themed to hell itself.

Description

After riding Earthquake, you'll descend into the labyrinths of a nightmarish underworld where hordes of evil demons torment you at every turn.

Concept (from this: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fxf497PWYAEfu1h?format=jpg&name=large)

EARTHQUAKE

We incorporate the Earthquake ride attraction as a prequel to our Haunted experience Darkness. As the loaded guests enter the Subway Car from the opposite side(the exit side of the ride vehicle), they experience the fury of an 8.5 Earthquake As the Earthquake ends, and the water from the Los Angeles reservoir clears, an ominous figure steps out onto the Show platform. It is Death. He points his finger at all of us and cackles "I see dead people!" Suddenly we are hurled backwards into the darkness. When we finally come to rest, we exit the Subway vehicle(entrance side of the ride vehicle) and enter a dark and ominous holding area. We journey farther into the barely illuminated area, not knowing where we are headed. Whispers segue into screams as tortured souls beg for mercy, their cries a warning of what's to come. As we exit the holding area, we move through two open doorways. A long, covered, tunnel of dead trees and vines filled with the assaulting flash of strobe lights. Is this the end of our experience? No, it's just the awful beginning as You realize, where you are, the clutches of purgatory.. We've died, and there is only

one way to escape death. We continue forward, deeper into the darkness.

DARKNESS LOCATION:

EARTHQUAKE EXTENDED QUEUE After witnessing the destructive power of an 8.5 earthquake, we continue the experience as you find yourself entering into the darkness of a nightmarish underworld. Through a dank and decrepit graveyard lies the passageway to the underworld. To escape death's sentence, you must keep moving forward, through desecrated graves and deeper into the bowels of the earth. Incredible bursts of heat seem to scorch your face.. Do you dare journey where no mortal has ever returned and face your worst fears.

Grotto Labyrinths of torture wind into a seemingly endless maze as hordes of Minions attack at every opportunity. They reach out at you, their eyeballs completely obscured by white retinas, their mouth sewn shut with ghastly precision. You cower in fear, but still manage to move forward, through the fog and heat coming face to face with the Supreme Evil of Darkness - a ten-foot tall Warlord with one intent-to keep you from escaping his world.

Experience

Queue and Facade

The entrance consisted of a large banner bearing the house's logo, underneath it was a large skull. Guests would enter the queue of this ride through the entrance to the Earthquake ride.

Haunted House

This house was unique, as the guests actually had to ride the Earthquake ride to enter. According to this, the Earthquake ride may have been shakier than normal. Allegedly, Jack would appear during the ride in costume. After riding the Earthquake ride, Jack would appear on a screen saying that the guests had died and that they were now going to hell. He may have also made references to pop culture. They would then go through another door into the house.

Guests allegedly entered the house through a graveyard, symbolizing their descent into their graves.

One room in the house was a chamber the guests entered by twisting themselves through some askew, eight-foot-tall iron gates. Inside this chamber was a large number of dummies portraying tortured souls, strobe lights giving the illusion that the bodies were moving. Among the dummies were two scareactors, also portraying tortured souls, with milky-white eyes and sewn-shut mouths. They carried their ripped-out tongues in their hands. As the guests passed through the room, these two broke free from their restraints and shook the tongues at the guests.

A later chamber contained seven tall, robed figures with the names of the seven deadly sins written over their faces standing on a platform. The figure representing envy would attack the guests and swipe at them with a ceremonial dagger. After this, guests would enter seven rooms (each representing a deadly sin) which contain people being tortured in ways representing their sins.

Scareactors

• Masked Sins
• Jack the Clown

Pictures

Image from the now defunct hauntfreaks.com.

Fact about the original concept of Dark Torment.

Picture of the finale of the original concept of Dark Torment.

Jack in the attraction.

Website Pictures

All images from the Halloween Horror Nights: Sweet 16 website page until otherwise noted.

Image from the Halloween Horror Nights: Twenty Years of Fear website.

Dark Torment logo

Trivia

• Allegedly, this house was originally going to be called Darkness, and would feature the Lord of Darkness in the finale. However, this concept was later changed due to them apparently not being able to fit the giant Lord of Darkness character into the area. Information from this.
• Also, the original concept of the house was said to have a silhouette of Jar-Jar Binks in the finale. It is unknown whether this made it into the final house.
• Interestingly, this house seems to begin with the last scene of the Doomsday house from the previous year, in which guests entered their graves. That and the fact that both houses had the same hooded demon scareactors could justify the point that Dark Torment was a sequel to Doomsday.