The big-handed baddie Vecna terrorized the citizens of Hawkins, Indiana in the latest season of Stranger Things, so it should be no surprise to hear that the villain is now lurking inside the Stranger Things haunted house at Halloween Horror Nights 2023. IGN toured the maze to see the horrors within and chatted with Unviersal’s Senior Show Director, Matt Flood to hear how they brought this new terror to life.
Much like in the show, the haunted house has you witness a horrifying death via extreme chiropractic contortion before discovering a spooky grandfather clock and then Vecna’s Upside Down lair in all its gross glory.
“Stranger Things 4 has such a strong story; we put a lot of focus on understanding how the story was told,” Flood told IGN. “The audio effects, score, props, costumes and epic scenes all create the dread of Vecna’s curse, which was so engaging throughout the season. It was important for the Halloween Horror Nights creative teams to understand how those elements were used and then apply them to our haunted house design.”
The scene where Max breaks from Vecna’s curse with some help from her favorite song, Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill, went viral across the internet, so, naturally, it made its way into the experience.
“Going into our creative development of Stranger Things 4, we understood how important music has always been with Stranger Things. With all our scenes, we selected the most impactful music that either tells the story of the scene or makes our guests feel like they are living inside the show. There are always layers of sound inside of an HHN haunted house that help support the story. Running Up That Hill is intentionally layered into the background in moments that we felt were appropriate while still maintaining the sense of horror that our fans have come to expect in one of our haunted houses,” Flood explained.
Vecna’s lich-like appearance features a gaunt monster face, an oversized claw, and a seemingly endless number of fleshy tentacles, all of which gave the HHN designers plenty of terrifying material to work with.
“The fourth season introduces so much horror through the character of Vecna, that he just seemed to belong at HHN,” Flood said. “Our costume designers and make-up artists who brought the character to life are the best in the business, in my opinion. Our collaboration with Netflix was also a wonderful opportunity to get the type of input we needed to make the character feel completely faithful to the show.”
There are numerous memorable scenes recreated in the Stranger Things haunted house, from Dustin and Eddie’s clash with the flying monster hoard to the horrifying end to a certain high school bully, but Flood is especially proud of one moment in particular.
“While the haunted house is full of iconic moments from the fourth season, the scene that will always make me particularly happy is we’re able to show guests the moment when Dustin throws the sheet rope down to the Upside Down from the real world. So, make sure to look up!”
For more from Halloween Horror Nights 2023, check out how The Last of Us was brought to Halloween Horror Nights 2023.
source https://www.ign.com/articles/vecna-and-kate-bush-headline-stranger-things-maze-at-halloween-horror-nights-2023