Something wicked is brewing at Universal Studios Hollywood.
Poised to unearth Halloween Horror Nights III, the studio has enlisted the macabre minds of writer-director Stephen Sommers ("The Mummy"), recording artist Rob Zombie and author-filmmaker Clive Barker ("Candyman") to produce the latest in bone-chilling adventures for theme-park lovers.
What worked well on screen adapts neatly into the "Mummy Maze" for Sommers, the man behind one of the summer's surprise box-office hits. His maze design incorporates the look of the Humunaptra tomb, the gruesome mummies in motion, even some of the actual props from the film.
For those who have seen the movie, the disturbing effects will probably be heightened. Take the scarabs, for instance, those tomb-dwelling bugs about the size of a small fist that bother just about everyone in the film except our hero, Brendan Fraser. Just the sight of the wall grooves where the chatty little bugs like to hang can make your skin crawl (hint).
Making People Laugh and Scream
"I was mostly interested in things that make people jump," said Sommers, who's writing a sequel to "The Mummy" for Universal. "I like to add texture, like the crunching [which simulates bugs underfoot], the walls of slime, anything that will make people scream. If we can get people laughing and screaming, that will be great."
Screams are likely in the mummification room. Some of the gruesome touches are obvious nods to the film, such as a tongue that stretches (simulating the scene in which the high priest Imhotep's tongue is ripped out) and red-hot pokers that go up through the nose and--well, we won't spoil it.
Beware too of the treasures embedded in the walls of the maze. In the film, the walls are booby-trapped, and if something is removed, a flesh-dissolving salt acid spits out at the offender--though a water spray substitutes nicely in the maze.
The altar commands center stage in the largest and final "Mummy" room, where the evil Imhotep attempts to bring his love back to life--and to save face, so to speak.
What's most scary in all of the mazes, said production manager Cory Asrilant, is the anticipation. The creatures in the mazes and lurking throughout the park will rarely lay a hand on you, but fear of the unknown has a funny way of inciting terror. And that's what the maze designers are counting on.
