It's Horror Nights at a Universal theme park. But California event has different vibe.

LOS ANGELES — It's Universal Studios. It's Halloween Horror Nights. But there's a different vibe at the theme park in Southern California that is wedged into the legendary movie studio and stocked with horror genre talent from the global entertainment capital.

"This is the studio where the American horror movie was invented going back to the very beginning of cinema in the 1920s," said John Murdy, creative director for Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood. "That started this whole thing."

But it's more than just the history, including the "Terror Tram" tour that takes visitors on a walking path by the house where Alfred Hitchcock filmed "Psycho" and the airline crash scene from the 2005 remake of "War of the Worlds" with Tom Cruise.

The nearly two-month run of Halloween Horror Nights in Southern California taps the immediate access to Hollywood's talent in the horror genre, from the directors to the extras to the makeup artists.

"We know everybody in horror. We've been at this so long we know every filmmaker," said Murdy, moments after John Carpenter — originator of the "Halloween" franchise and its long-lived villain, Michael Myers — passed by. "It's those connections to the movie industry that are so valuable to us."

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Actors walk through their movies, producers get to promote their work at Horror Nights

The Hollywood and Orlando parks often share the same themed-haunts, but in California there are special touches like musician Slash's score for this year's Universal Monsters house.

Actors in movies chosen for Horror Nights house mazes say they enjoy the experience as much as their fans do.

"I have no idea what they've done or what it looks like, although I probably have some ideas if they want them," said Lin Shaye, who portrays protagonist Elise Rainier in the "Insidious" movie series, of this year's house based on the films. "But I am looking forward to walking through the house and seeing how they tell the story."

For producers, the event is an opportunity to give fans an immersive experience, and to promote their IPs, short for intellectual properties — namely their most popular franchises.

At this year's HHN, the Terror Tram ride and walk-through experience features Blumhouse Productions' franchises ahead of a major release year in which the studio will roll out seven films including "The Black Phone 2," "M3gan 2.0," "Five Nights at Freddy's 2" and "The Woman in the Yard."

"We have a big year next year," said Jason Blum.

Director and screenwriter Eli Roth noted his past work on "Hostel" houses and a Terror Tram, and would particularly enjoy creating a house based off his 2023 horror movie "Thanksgiving."

"Growing up I always wanted Halloween on Thanksgiving, " he said. "So I would love that and they know I'm always up for it."

Horror Nights taps into make-up, music talent in Hollywood movie empire

Special effects and makeup guru Greg Nicotero, who worked on the "The Green Mile" and "Vanilla Sky," said all haunted house attractions have a common challenge in designing masks, costumes and makeup — they must endure constant repetition without showing signs of wear. Nicotero said in designing the look, makeup artists have to consider everything that could go wrong throughout its use through one shift, let alone two months of constant performances.

"You have to think about all that stuff. It's really more scientific to create something that is more repeatable," he said. "It's very challenging."

The advantage, he said, is that haunted house designers in Hollywood can directly access the people who filmed the movie and created the special effects for assistance. He said that was the case after he worked on "The Walking Dead."

"With 'Walking Dead,' we consulted on all those mazes," he said. "It made a big difference because I could give them access to stuff that we had on the show."

Even when parks on both coasts present the same themes for a house, the ambience is very different. An example is this year's Universal monsters house in which Hollywood and Orlando offer "Eternal Bloodlines" featuring a superhero-like battle pitting Dracula's daughter against the Bride of Frankenstein and Saskia Van Helsing.

The Hollywood house is set against a musical score written and performed by Slash of Guns N' Roses fame.

"I actually did this one different," said Slash. "I always do a moody kind of thing. But this one is all female, so I tried to do a little bit more upbeat. It starts off creepy through the beginning and then at a certain point it starts to pick up. It's put together very differently."

Differences between Hollywood and Orlando Horror Night features

Beyond the features, the parks offer a different menu of houses. This year, Orlando is presenting 10 houses and five scare zones. Hollywood, which is a smaller park in size, lists eight houses plus the tram attraction, and three scare zones.

But the parks overlap on just five of the houses this fall — "A Quiet Place," "Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire," "Insidious: The Further," Universal Monsters Eternal Bloodlines and a house based on Latin American ghouls and nightmare legends.

One of the big differences is that Universal Hollywood opted for a "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" house this year to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the landmark film.

Bill Moseley, who starred in the film's 1986 sequel, said the Texas Chainsaw's iconic status is driven more by the machinery than the iconic characters.

"It comes down to the power tool, you know, the chainsaw," said Moseley, who added he was looking forward to the 2024 selection of houses. "I'm ready for anything."

Actors Kathy Baker and Emilie Bierre from the new "Teacup" series on the Peacock channel said they were looking forward to being on the other side of a jump scare.

"I'm excited for that moment that everyone comes out and they're all like coming for you," Bierre said. "That's the most exciting and scary part for me."

Baker, whose son has worked as a scare actor at Horror Nights in Universal Hollywood, said she was somewhat prepared for fright although it was her first time attending Horror Nights.

"I heard about it and I knew that it existed but I wasn't sure I'd be able to take it," said Baker. "That would be me, grandma, jumping out at you. That would be very scary."

Horror Nights popularity mirrors growth of holiday, too

It's not just the industry that is interwoven into Halloween Horror Nights, but the general population as well.

This month, Backyard Oasis, a patio and yard furniture and accessories company, analyzed online search data on all things Halloween, from costumes to candy, and found California is the "most Halloween-obsessed" U.S. state. Its 14.7 million costume searches and 55 haunted houses was followed by Texas and Florida.

Murdy, Universal Hollywood's creative director, noted that, overall, Halloween's popularity has exploded.

"I built haunted houses in my parents' garage and you couldn't go to the store to buy a fake rubber knife," Murdy recalled. "It didn't exist."

When the first Halloween Horror Nights debuted at the California park in the 1980s, he noted it was compressed to seven nights overlapping just two weekends. Now the attraction launches after Labor Day and concludes on Halloween night.

And it includes similar attractions not only in Florida but also at Universal Studios' parks in Singapore and Japan.

"It's awesome to me how Halloween as an event, as a holiday has grown over the years," he said. "And our horror community, which is well represented here, also has grown and is so passionate about Halloween and horror movies, in general, it's getting bigger and bigger every year. And if you noticed, the season is extending and that just shows you the strength of Halloween as an event."

Antonio Fins is a politics and business editor at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at [email protected]. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.