Damien Leone and Phil Falcone walk us through what fans can expect.
Art the Clown has taken over Halloween Horror Nights Hollywood and Orlando. The killer clown is getting his very own house this haunt season, but he won't be confined to within those walls. In fact,Art won't even be contained to a scarezone. HHN is trying something new this year by completely unleashing horror's new it boy into the park, which includes what some might consider “safe zones.” Longtime HHN fans are familiar with scare zones; these are the areas of the park guests walk through on their way to score their next themed snack or to hit up the next house. Scare zones are specially designated areas where scare actors torment and chase visitors, to the delight of all involved.
Now, usually there are areas in the park where fans can typically take a breath and rest assured they won't be hunted by any masked maniacs — inside stores, restaurants, walking through non-designated scare zones, etc. But this year, HHN creators are flipping the script for Art the Clown. “We want to break down those barriers and have them encounter Art say in a store or maybe while you're grabbing a bite to eat,” explains Murdy. “Just the places you would never expect to encounter one of our characters in Halloween Horror Nights. On both coasts, we have a separate troop of actors, all done with prosthetic makeup, so they can do all of the mime stuff and the facial expressions.”
It sounds like this year, there is no breathing room, so keep your eyes peeled for a maniacal killer clown stalking the park grounds. No matter where you are.
As for the official HHN Terrifier house, fans of the franchise will recognize the funhouse facade from the movies. Art has staked his claim and turned the funhouse into his very own killhouse. Guests will notice a distinctly Art the Clown twist on the general facade, and once inside… well, you'll have a chance to be a part of your favorite Terrifier scenes. That means your favorite kills from the franchise will be on gory display, and trust me when I say they are not holding back on this one.
Terrifier 2 won the FANGORIA Chainsaw Award for Best Kill in 2024. Each entry into the Terrifier franchise features a hallmark kill, and those will be faithfully represented within the house. Grab your bleach and your chainsaws.
We sat down with Terrifier creator and mastermind Damien Leone and producer Phil after they experienced the house for the first time. And as Leone puts it, “All the greatest hits from the movies are represented… and elaborated on.”
This collaboration was a long time coming, HHN's John Murdy and Michael Aiello noted Terrifier first came on their radar thanks to the fans of the franchise. “What we noticed right away, even with the first film, was the T-shirts people were wearing to horror nights. It kind of piqued our curiosity. By the second movie, it was a lot of T-shirts. You go into Halloween shops during the season, you're seeing all this Art the Clown stuff and we're like, ‘Something's happening here.' By the third movie, it crossed over into the mainstream. We were already working on this house before the third movie came out, we'd already met Damien and Phil and had made the deal.”
As for the ultimate physical manifestation of the Terrifier house now coming to fruition, Leone has high praise for the Universal team. “They were giving me so much control, but what they presented to us out of the gate just exceeded what I would have even wanted or come up with. They've included all the best bits from the franchise, all the best characters, really, almost all the characters are represented.”
The Terrifier franchise is three movies deep with a fourth in the works. Seeing it come to life in the form of an HHN maze is understandably an indescribable experience for Leone, but he does liken it to a time machine. “A lot of these things we built over the course of the franchise. I should say Phil built, and I handed him tools. But to see it all now, all of our hard work over the course of the three movies just condensed into one house. It reminds you of lots of memories, how much fun we had, how much hard work it was, how we started there, and now we're here. It's very rewarding, very surreal. But it's kind of like going through a time machine because their attention to detail is absurd.”
When Falcone speaks about Leone, it very much has the dynamic of a proud papa. Case in point, “Coming to the park today, I actually told Damien, ‘I don't get excited about a lot of things,' but I was excited for him because I know that he created this. He's about to go and see his creation built on the friggin' Universal Studios lot. I knew how big it is. I tried to think about what's got to be going through his head.”
And for his part, Leone is always quick to praise the fans who have made Art the Clown a bona fide horror icon. “We put so much hard work into this. It started from nothing, such a low-budget movie, which is legit blood, sweat, and tears. I know people say that a lot, but that is the truth. To see how it's been embraced, our little fan base has gotten so much bigger. They're just so supportive. Honestly, our fans are the reason this exists, because from what I heard, all the fans were wearing Terrifier shirts and going to Horror Nights.”
An especially interesting Easter egg inside the house that may not be immediately apparent is the specific props. Art's spiked club for one. Beyond that, the prop design harkens back to the earliest days of the franchise, when Leone and Falcone didn't have a huge prop budget, so they had to work with what they had access to. In many instances, that was Falcone's toolbox.
“There were old tools that we used, Damien told me he wanted rusty tools, and my father kept everything. When we needed to make them, we made them ourselves. But even the wooden mallet in Terrifier 3 is my grandfather's. That wooden mallet is from 1905.”
Another specific prop nod fans can find inside the house is a replica of a wooden toolbox Falcone made in honor of his father. “It's shaped as an ‘A,' I wanted it on the screen, and they even have that in the house. Details like that. Little things that you don't realize, like the food monster.”
Before I enter the Terrifier house for my own lights on tour, Falcone assures me, “There's a lot of gore in there.”
And Leone points out a recent realization: “At some point, it's not about us getting joy out of it. I'm just built to make these movies. I'm designed to make these movies. But to see the joy that everybody else gets from it, that brings me joy. Vicariously seeing the smiles on little kids' faces and them dressed up… That's the coolest thing.”
Even as a work in progress with the lights on and no actors to deliver the scares, the Terrifier house is impressive. That attention to detail Leone and Falcone mentioned is everywhere.
Damien Leone, Angel Melanson, and Phil Falcone
There is an astounding amount of fecal matter in a bathroom scene that Murdy assures us will feature a smell (nay, stench) to match the visuals. The kills are gruesome, and that's only based on the few dummies that were dressed and placed. There are plenty more to come in addition to live scare actors. This house has the highest body count to date, and it's already very easy to see how.
Other fan favorite moments on display within the house include the Clown Cafe and Terrifier 3's Christmas mall scene. Yes, that means we do get to see Santa Art. We don't want to spoil anything for you, so you can take a peek at some select moments from our recent lights on tour with HHN's John Murdy and Michael Aiello or save yourself for your own visit to Art's house of terror.
Meet The Food Monster
Those mashed potatoes are killer!
This clown will be sawed in half right before your very eyes.
TERRIFIER 2's Chainsaw Award Winning Bleach Kill
And of course, the one that started it all… the TERRIFIER hacksaw kill
We'll have more coming your way with HHN's Murdy and Aiello diving into how this is by all accounts the bloodiest (and wettest) house HHN has ever done, a fact that has everyone involved absolutely giddy with glee. In the meantime, enjoy the sneak peek below (or save it for opening night!) We'll see you in the park. Halloween Horror Nights Hollywood runs select nights September4 – November 2. Horror Nights Orlando runs select nights August 29 – November 2.
