Universal Halloween Horror Nights 2011 - Part I

Halloween is here! Yeah, it's still September, but Universal Studios' Halloween Horror Nights opened for business last Friday, and that means the season is officially upon us. Before I get into my review of this year's offerings, I wanted to do a quick recap of the very cool fx makeup demonstration I was invited to attend at the beginning of September.

After a quick intro by HHN creative director John Murdy, we were ushered into a room filled with costumes, prosthetic devices, wigs, false teeth and several live actors being transformed into hideous ghouls by nimble-fingered makeup artists. It was fun to witness the painstaking process of turning otherwise pleasant and attractive people into terrifying creatures or extraordinarily unfortunate victims. All makeup is custom-created for Universal, which makes the work of the makeup artists absolutely invaluable. Here are a few of my favorite shots from the day (photography credit goes to Mr. Spooky):

Eww! I believe both of these were for the Hostel maze.

Now this dude is definitely from the Hostel maze - a maze which features "props cast from Eli Roth's personal collection of original Hostel movie props."

Dr. Satan on the right, scary horse-faced lady in the middle. She made a couple of appearances in the La Llorona maze. Very creepy!

Everything is custom-made by hand, right down to the false teeth!

Poor Brain Surgery Jerry, getting prepped for the House of 1000 Corpses maze.

La Llorona in progress.

And finally, an actor being transformed into Alice Cooper for his "Welcome to My Nightmare" maze. P.S. I love the makeup artist's hair and glasses!

"But Spoooooky," I hear you pleading, "how were the mazes?!" Okay, seriously. Calm down. I'm getting to that...but not in this post. Horror fans love sequels, right? So stick around for Part II!