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The Director will see you now

Welcome to the world of The Director. Get a behind-the-scenes look at The Director's latest work and take a look inside his dark mind through his "on the set" interview. Is it time for an Oscar nomination or just a room in an asylum?"

-Website description

The Director, also known by his real name Paulo Ravinski, was the main event icon at Halloween Horror Nights 13.

He would later appear as a co-icon with other returning charactersThe Caretaker, Jack the Clown, and The Storyteller for Halloween Horror Nights: Sweet 16, and (a different version) was the first icon for Halloween Horror Nights Hollywood at Halloween Horror Nights 2006. Yet another version was used at Halloween Horror Nights in Universal Studios Singapore when it started in October 2011.

The Director also has 3 other names: Paolo Ravinski (his original name for 2003, before 2006 changed it to Paulo), Pavel Pranevsky (for Hollywood's revival event), and Billy Skorrski (for Singapore's first event). This made the Director and Jack the only icons to have appeared in some form at all three Universal Studios parks that have featured icons.

Backstory[]

All versions prior to actual story[]

Paulo/Pavel/Billy was born in Eastern Europe. Aspiring to be a filmmaker, he initially started out as a snuff film director, capturing actual human suffering, torture, and death on his movie camera. His first project was a controversial feature known as The Widow's Eye. The film shocked so many of his country population that Paulo/Pavel/Billy was forced out, which is when he came to America. Law enforcement agencies and film critics call his work snuff cinema. The Director prefers his work to be referred to as "art". Some people found tamer examples of his work, such as The Blood Letting and Death Procession.

Halloween Horror Nights Orlando Storyline[]

Paolo was hired by Universal Orlando to film his newest horror film at their Islands of Adventure park. Here, he turned each area of the park into a living horror movie as part of his dream project. The Director himself would appear in All Nite Die-In at the event. He also hosted his own torture show, where he would subject victims from the audience to horrors on stage, and film their reactions.

The Director would return three years later (renamed to Paulo instead of Paolo), with the other icons, for Halloween Horror Nights: Sweet 16 with his own house All Nite Die-In: Take 2. He also took part in the ensemble show featuring each of the four icons performing a kill in their signature styles, where he electrocuted his victim in a bathtub.

For a time in 2010, The Director was bound by magic to the Sumerian Demon known as "Fear", and dubbed the representation of "Sacrifice" due to his willingness to sacrifice anything and everything in the name of film.

In 2012, The Director was revealed to be a member of the Legions of Horror; a Strengoit along with Lady Luck.

In 2015, Bloody Mary and Jack broke him and his fellow icons for Halloween Horror Nights 25th anniversary.

In 2021, The Director would appear alongside his fellow icons and have his own section within Fear's Lantern in the HHN Icons: Captured haunted house.

Halloween Horror Nights Hollywood Storyline[]

Pavel Pranevsky was hired by Universal Studios Hollywood to create the ultimate horror movie. Before they allowed production to begin, Universal requested that Pavel submit a short film detailing his project to preview it for executives. However, when Universal viewed the graphic short film which contained real torture and death, they claimed Pavel’s sick vision was too graphic for movie audiences. They then had the project cancelled for good, and banned Paulo from ever stepping foot into Universal Studios again. But Pavel did, in fact, take up residence in an abandoned backlot set at the park, vowing to get revenge on Universal. Aware that Pavel was hiding on the backlot, Universal still allowed their annual Halloween event to run in 2006, but warned visitors that Pavel was incredibly dangerous.

The Director appeared at the event in Terror Tram: The Director's Cut, where he would take over the backlot tram tour and subject the riders to horrifying, deadly situations within the various movie sets they toured.

Screen shot 2012-05-25 at 6.38

The Director for Halloween Horror Nights Singapore

Singapore Storyline[]

Billy Skorski fled to South Asia and came to Universal Studios Singapore and approached them for a new horror movie on their park. Billy wasn’t well known (for his atrocities) at Singapore so they saw no problem with this and gave him permission to make his movie in 2011.

Appearances[]

Marketing[]

Dean Karr directed the commercials for 2003, which had him electrocute a man in a bathtub and force fish hooks into a Jester's cheek to make him smile against his own will. There were also some recordings which interspersed the two with clips of the Director talking about his vision. He appeared pretty much in all of the print campaign posters, and like the previous icon, he also appeared in a newspaper interview where he had the idea to break Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez up.

2006 featured him in pretty much all of the marketing alongside his fellow icons. That was also the year where he was the icon for 2006’s event in the Hollywood park. He was the first of the 6 icons in Hollywood’s history (the successors being Jack, both Freddys, Billy, and Ghostface). The marketing used promotional marketing from 2003 alongside some shots of the 2002 campaign. As a nod to 2003 and a reference to their own event opening on Friday the 13th, a little 13 logo was situated in the event Logo as an Easter egg.

Singapore had him in the print campaign for 2011 and a new commercial.

At the Event[]

2003 first showed him on a television screen in the Port of Evil scarezone which had unused shots from the Dean Karr commercials. He technically had his own house that year, but it mostly featured Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, Leatherface, and Michael Myers, although he did appear on the projectors screen in the facade. He also hosted Infestation which was a Fear Factor type show. In 2004 he has a segment in the Horror Nights Nightmares house.

During Halloween Horror Nights: Sweet 16, he introduced the Opening Scaremonies with the other icons on the Arrival stage. In that show he repeated his bathtub kill from the 2003 commercial. He also appeared in segments for the Sweet 16: The Director's Cut show and once again held an icon house that year, this time mostly featuring villains from Scream, The Ring, Hellraiser, and Silence of the Lambs.

2006 in Hollywood only had him appear in the park at the end of Terror Tram: The Director’s Cut, where he killed a person just before the Tram entered the Mummy’s Tomb.

2010 had him appear in the Main Gate’s video (which was a slightly edited version of the Warehouse eXXperience video). He also appeared in the Fear Revealed scarezone, where his set displayed the bathtub reels interspersed with shots of the new Director actor (the one in the commercials- not this- was Gianni Garofalo).

He only appeared in a photo op at Singapore’s 2011 event.

He once again repeated his bathtub kill in ICONS: HHN for 2015, and appeared in the HHN Icons: Captured haunted house in 2021.

The Director's Poem[]

Paulo Ravinski

Is a man foreign born

But his work as a filmmaker

Left most viewers torn


Some were disgusted,

Others just sickened

He soon was cast out,

And here the plot thickened

He came to America

Where all dreams come true

But his dreams

Were all nightmares

Starring people like you


Camera in hand, he crafts

The worst of all scenes

And records the action

To a soundtrack of screams

All of it real because the

Actors know not,

That the Director's "Art"

Is pure evil rot

Design[]

He wears a suit similar to that of The Caretaker, but without the top hat. He has pale-blue to pure-white eyes.

Appearances at Halloween Horror Nights Orlando[]

Appearance at Halloween Horror Nights Hollywood[]

Notable Quotes[]

  • Pain is temporary, but film is forever.
  • They say that film is art. FILM IS NOT JUST ART! Film is power. Film is magic. But most of all, film is a weapon. - In the queue video for All Nite Die-In: Take 2.
  • You know, you are perfect for this part. See how sharp the blade is? You won't even feel it. Now put your head on the block. That's it. Look at the camera. Annnnd.... action. - On one of the Halloween Horror Nights 13 radio ads while about to decapitate a nervous actor with a guillotine.
  • You'll never sleep again. - Taunting a park guest during Infestation.
  • Welcome to Halloween Horror Nights... THIRTEEN! - During the opening night "scaremony" of Halloween Horror Nights 13.
  • Nothing compares to real blood on film. It's the only way to really capture the emotion and fear of reality, in what the victim is feeling. It tells the story truthfully. This motivation is the key. My actors only get one take. It's a short take. - On an interview-like commercial for Halloween Horror Nights 13.
  • Death is a sacrifice I'm willing to risk in the name of film! For this scene, you'll realize your death is near. So stand by, and get ready to show me your fear. And... ACTION! - Getting ready to electrocute his victim in a bathtub during The Arrival.
  • I don't need any money. All I need is you. You and your cooperation.
  • You oughtta be in pictures... Hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm.
  • Well you might say that FEAR has given me budget for my latest film, aptly entitled "FEAR", and we are beginning a casting call beginning tonight throughout the month of October. Why don't you come on down? It's the ultimate dare to face YOUR fear! - news interview for Halloween Horror Nights: Twenty Years of Fear
  • Who came up with reality TV? There's nothing real about it. It's all staged. It's all fake. Designed to appeal to a person's darker side. People say they want to watch real horror, real suffering, and they want to be terrified. But when you give it to them, they don't have the stomach for it. While I'll show them my reality. This October, Universal Studios Hollywood will get a taste of reality they won't soon forget. - advertisement for Halloween Horror Nights 2006 (Hollywood)
  • "Film is a weapon!" - HHN Icons: Captured
  • "AND CUT!" - HHN Icons: Captured

Pictures[]

Theme for The Director[]

Videos[]

Trivia[]

  • In 2012, it's revealed that The Director is a member of the Legions of Horror; a member of the The Strengoit Legion, most likely because of his hunger for “real blood”
  • As noted by TvTropes; His character appears to be strongly inspired by Mark Lewis from Peeping Tom, who just like The Director is a serial killer obsessed with the art of film. This could make the Director the unofficial counterpart (coincidence or direct inspiration) to Mark Lewis.
  • The Director was portrayed by Gianni Garofalo in both print media and the Dean Karr/2006 Hollywood ads.
  • Gianni's interview with the Scarezone podcast revealed that Hollywood had a difficult time with the marketing with the Director thanks to an real-life commercial director who was stubborn with his (cartoonish) vision of the character and eventually Gianni had to do some viral marketing himself.
  • Paulo has two rats, one named Mike and the other named Gianni.
Halloween Horror Nights 13
Characters: The Director (Event Icon)  • Incubus  • Succubus  • The Sentinel  • The Fire King  • The Ice Queen  • The Caretaker  • The Inmates of Shadybrook Asylum
Haunted Houses: All Nite Die-In  • Funhouse of Fear  • Jungle of Doom  • Psycho Scareapy  • Screamhouse: Revisited  • Ship of Screams
Scarezones: Boo-Ville  • Hide & Shrieeek!  • Immortal Island  • Night Prey  • Port of Evil  • Toxic City
Shows: Bill & Ted's Excellent Halloween Adventure  • Infestation
Halloween Horror Nights XIV
Characters: The Asylum Patient (Event Icon)  • Eddie Schmidt  • Jack the Clown  • The Caretaker  • The Director  • Gunter Karl Dietze  • Jeffrey Dietze  • Robert L. Strickland
Haunted Houses: Castle Vampyr  • Deadtropolis  • Disorientorium  • Ghost Town  • Horror Nights Nightmares  • Hellgate Prison  • Horror in Wax
Scarezones: Field of Screams  • Fright Yard  • Midway of the Bizarre  • Point of Evil
Shows: Bill & Ted's Excellent Halloween Adventure  • Festival of the Dead Parade
Halloween Horror Nights: Sweet 16
Characters: Jack the Clown  • The Caretaker  • The Director  • The Storyteller (Event Icons)  • The Projectionist  • The Inmates of Shadybrook Asylum  • Eddie Schmidt  • Cindy Caine  • Norman Bates
Haunted Houses: All Nite Die-In: Take 2  • Dungeon of Terror: Retold  • People Under the Stairs: Under Construction  • PsychoScareapy: Maximum Madness  • Psycho Path: The Return of Norman Bates  • Run: Hostile Territory  • Screamhouse: The Resurrection
Scarezones: Blood Masquerade  • Deadtropolis: Zombie Siege  • Harvest of the Souls
Unofficial Scarezone: Horror Comes Home
Shows: The Arrival  • Bill & Ted's Excellent Halloween Adventure  • Robosaurus  • Sweet 16: The Director's Cut
Halloween Horror Nights 2006
Characters: The Director (Event Icon)
Haunted Mazes: The Asylum  • Universal's House of Horrors
Terror Tram: Terror Tram: The Director’s Cut
Scarezones: The Black Death  • Dawn of the Dead  • Deadwood • Old London • Studio Center
Shows: Carnival of Carnage • Chucky's Insult Emporium • Fear Factor Live: Dead Celebrity Edition • The Mutaytor • SlaughterWorld
Halloween Horror Nights: Twenty Years of Fear
Characters: Fear (Event Icon)  • Jack the Clown  • The Caretaker  • The Director  • The Storyteller  • The Usher  • Cindy Caine  • Eddie Schmidt  • Chance  • The Inmates of Shadybrook Asylum
Haunted Houses: Legendary Truth: The Wyandot Estate  • PsychoScareapy: Echoes of Shadybrook  • Hades: The Gates of Ruin  • ZombieGeddon  • The Orfanage: Ashes to Ashes  • Havoc: Dogs of War  • Catacombs: Black Death Rising  • Horror Nights: The Hallow'd Past
Scarezones: Esqueleto Muerte  • The Coven  • Saws N' Steam  • Zombie Gras  • Fear Revealed  • HHN: 20 Years of Fear
Shows: Brian Brushwood: Menace and Malice  • Bill & Ted's Excellent Halloween Adventure
Halloween Horror Nights I
Character: The Director (Event Icon)
Haunted Houses: Vengeance of the Matriarch  • Pestilence
Scarezones: Carn-EVIL  • Post-Apocalyptic Rage  • The Void  • The Edge of Darkness
Show: 44 Sins
Halloween Horror Nights 30
Characters: Jack the Clown (Event Icon)  • Beetlejuice  • Bent-Neck Lady  • The Bride of Frankenstein  • Leatherface  • The Caretaker  • The Director  • The Storyteller  • The Usher  • Lady Luck  • Chance  • Fear  • Tooth Fairies  • Pumpkin Lord  • Boris Shuster  • Eddie Schmidt  • Terra Queen  • The Controller
Haunted Houses: Beetlejuice • The Haunting of Hill House  • Universal Monsters: The Bride of Frankenstein Lives  • The Texas Chainsaw Massacre  • HHN Icons: Captured  • Welcome to SCarey: Horror in the Heartland  • Case Files Unearthed: Legendary Truth  • Puppet Theatre: Captive Audience  • The Wicked Growth: Realm of the Pumpkin  • Revenge of the Tooth Fairy
Scarezones: 30 Years 30 Fears  • Seek and Destroy  • Crypt TV  • Gorewood Forest  • Lights Camera Hacktion: Eddie's Revenge
Shows: Halloween Nightmare Fuel  • Marathon of Mayhem: Carnage Factory
Other Experiences: Jack'd Up Experience  • Halloween Horror Nights Tribute Store  • Chucky's Good Guys Toy Box Photo Op
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