Event Report: Warner Bros. Studio Tour Horror Made Here a Festival of Frights
Sean Decker
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With the Warner Bros. Studio Tour expanding this Halloween season with an all new immersive experience designed just for horror fans, we hit the WB lot in Burbank, CA, yesterday to check out what lay in wait for us at Horror Made Here (running six nights from 10/19 to 10/21 and 10/26 to 10/28), and brought back a slew of photos. Read on.
After a tour of Stage 48: Script to Screen where we took a look at original costumes, props and set pieces from the feature films IT, The Conjuring 2 and Annabelle: Creation, just to name a few, it was off to the backlot, where Warner Bros. has relocated (from its Hollywood Blvd. run earlier this year) the haunted walk-through The Neibolt House from IT (check out our previous review here).
Guided through the attraction by an engaging guide portraying the character of “Georgie,” we were thoroughly impressed by some of the recreations of moments from the film, as well as some of the visual gags employed to deliver them. The Neibolt House, as an attraction, is a unique animal, and while shorter in length than the mazes it’s down the street competitor offers (Halloween Horror Nights), its two-story and guided tour design, coupled with some astounding visuals and a particularly unsettling Pennywise animatronic, raises the bar. There’s a new addition within the attraction as well, so guests who visited during its earlier run should be pleased.
Following that, it was off to the town square, which contains another similarly guided attraction, The Conjuring, which also delivered (particularly in a final, jaw-dropping gag of which I’m still attempting to assess the mechanics), and A Nightmare on Elm Street (a convincing, albeit rather short, walk-through recreation of the bloody halls of Springwood High School), which culminates with an opportunity to get your photo snapped with the character of Freddy Krueger. To bad Warner Bros. charges for those photos if you’d like them; you’d think paying the ticket price to attend Horror Made Here would suffice.
In addition to these attractions, the evening offered up Halloween-themed activities, music (spun by a DJ in the town square’s gazebo, although I’m not sure what 50 Cent has to do with the holiday), food trucks, exclusive nighttime studio tours, a Pennywise who leered at guests from within a storm drain (wonderful touch, that), and a chance to “float” in the IT VR experience, located in the Pennywise bus that’s been making the rounds of Los Angeles haunt conventions since earlier this summer. Overall, a fun experience, and we enjoyed the Smalltown, USA vibe which the Warner Bros. backlot lent the attraction. It’s a great space, and we’re eager to see what they (hopefully) come up with for 2018.
Tickets are on sale now starting from $69 per person at wbstudiotour.com. The Horror Made Here experience is designed for guests 18 years of age and over. Valid ID will be required upon entry to the tour.
For tix and more information, visit Horror Made Here at Warner Bros.’ official site here , “like” them on Facebook here, and follow them on Twitter and on Instagram.
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