PHOTO CREDIT: Paul Liotta
Watching iconic slasher movies on a stormy night while eating pizza with peppers and anchovies is never a good choice. Therefore, an evening of Halloween, The Walking Dead, and Alien filling your head while spicy jalapeños do what they do best in your stomach is a recipe for horror. Add a crash of thunder and flickering lights and things just went from bad to worse. That feeling that someone is watching you, the hair on your neck stands on end, and even though the noise outside demands attention, you know all too well that the "innocent" should never go outside to investigate. Instead, you grab your flashlight anyway and run out into the night.
The whole neighborhood is transformed into television and movie badlands. The scariest scenes ever seem to materialize from the mist. You walk down the road you take to work every day formerly known as Main Street and end up in Haddonfield, Illinois, home of the dearly depraved Michael Myers. It's that night again -- Halloween -- and he is wreaking his bloody terror on all who cross his path.
You quickly run the other direction, only to end up in the largest maze you have ever seen. The dreary outlines of the West Georgia Correctional Facility from The Walking Dead surround you and you hear the unmistakable sounds of zombies stalking their prey. You finally make your way to Terminus, thinking you are safe, until in a flash you are transported into a scene straight out of Alien, where you are front row to the now iconic battle between Alien and Predator.
Perhaps a drink will help? So you head into a local bar. It seems welcoming enough until you realize this is the otherworldly biker bar in From Dusk Till Dawn and you notice more than a few blood-thirsty vampires ready to make you their main course.
The pizza in your stomach churns and you silently curse the anchovies as more horror unfolds from Dracula: Untold, Dollhouse of the Damned, and a Cannibal Colony. Back to the streets you go only to be challenged by characters from Face Off - In The Flesh and The Purge: Anarchy.
You awake relieved with a greasy pizza box on your chest realizing that it was all a dream. You were reliving your adventures at Halloween Horror Nights 24. The premier interactive Halloween event that plays through November 1 at Universal Orlando. Relief washes over you just before the lights flicker and go out...
NOTE: In the spirit of full disclosure I have no connection to any of the brands named in this article nor was I paid or compensated in any way to write it. In truth, I am simply a huge fan of Halloween Horror Nights and attend each year.