From here.
By ROBERT M. PRESSER Entertainment Editor ;
Imagine this: A theater full of bug-eaters. sword-swallowers. fire-eaters. contortionists and folks that enjoy lighting themselves on fire. These oddballs and other eccentric individuals set the stage at Universal Studios Hollywood. which hosted a final casting call for "Halloween Horror Nights ii ."
This freak show talent search brought folks of all walks of life to the "Beetlejuice" Theater. where scores of people auditioned. trying to market their abnor-malities and be chosen to star In Universal Studios RlrnmMw Cltw Barlcer teeda a live worm to • hungry flUk. Hollywood's interactive haunted encounter. Julieta Rosen. from "The Mask of Zorro: and Clive Barker, filmmaker and creator of "Hellraiser" and candyman helped select the talent. The awards ceremony for the talent sea rch . held Oct. 16. starts off three consecutive weekends of horrific frights for the second annual event.
Until Halloween, the normally family-safe theme park located in Universal City transforms into an active graveyard complete with zombies and mute executioners. You get the impression walking through the park during Horror Nights that this event is the ultimate employee Christmas pre- Clive Barker poses with an ensemble of ghHUy creatures. sent. Park patr.ons subjec1 themselves to hidden work - ers dressed as the living dead, who pick off each customer with surprise attacks for th.3 sole purpose of scaring the sanity from those same customers who normally can do no wrong. Fog from dry-ice machines camouflages zombies hid-den right at your feet, who leap up with chain saws whirring in their hands and chase you to the next hid· den zombie. The calmer ghouls will casually stroll up behind yo u and rest a bloody, fake bod-iless limb on your shoulder. The frightmen are carefu l never to actually touch the customers, probabl y learned from scaring th e wrong person. The park offers other opportunities to turn gray.
Jurassic Park, the park's water ride through a prehistoric jungle filled with oversized lizards, is running with 1he lights off. Customers are provided with plastic ponchos to prevent pneumonia lrom the cold water and night air and the normally 1ypical float ride becomes 1ense with the inability to see what's coming. There are mazes for 'hose really adventurous folks who don't just want to be scared, they want to be iost too.
Old-time heavy metal rockers KISS provide the concert venue while "Chucky's Wedding Chapel" allows customers to interact as guests with the matrimo-nial horrors of the popular horror movie doll. Chucky. This is not a cheap event. Tickets are $34 at the door. but may be purchased beforehand for $24 through Ticketmaster. Halloween Horror Nights ii is totally inappropriate for anyone under the age of 17. The scare potential is high and the images of violence are pervasive. Treat the evening like a A-rated horror movie and nothing will over-whelm you. But if you like your thrills to turn you pale. this event guarantees fear. Halloween Horror Nights II continues Friday. Saturday and Sunday from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. Information: (818) 622-3801 . Mouie /?'~ 1