On Friday night, Slash appeared at the Eyegore Awards, at Universal Studios Hollywood, where he and singer Myles Kennedy performed the title track to his recent horror film, Nothing Left to Fear. Slash, whose new album World on Fire was released last week, also received one of the awards and provided the soundtrack for one of the new mazes at Halloween Horror Nights, “Clowns 3D Music by Slash.”
McKenzie Westmore (Face Off) emceed the event wherein fimmakers Robert Rodriguez, John Landis, and effects artist Greg Nicotero received awards as well. Universal Studios's Creative Director, John Murdy, was present at the event, which took place on the opening night of the theme park's Halloween Horror Nights. This year, the park features new mazes based on Rodriguez's film / television series From Dusk Till Dawn, Landis's classic horror film An American Werewolf in London, and The Walking Dead, for which Nicotero is the Special Effects Make-Up Supervisor. After the awards ceremony, members of the press were invited to experience the theme park's new haunted mazes.
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Fortunately, the press were granted one-time, front-of-the-line passes, which allowed them to avoid lines which generally lasted in the neighborhood of 75 minutes. However, if attendees wished to pay $160 (instead of $80 for a general admission ticket), they could purchase their own front-of-the-line passes and actually have time to experience all of the park's attractions. Then again, this was opening night.
Slash's soundtrack for the clown maze was an interesting choice. Though the music & film producer / songwriter / Rock and Roll Hall of Fame guitarist is quite versatile, haunted maze soundtracks that feature shocking imagery typically rely on heavier approaches (as in the park's “Face-Off: In the Flesh” maze, which featured a loud, dubstep soundtrack). Slash's soundtrack wasn't quite at the other pole of the musical spectrum for this type of attraction, which would include children's nursery rhymes and music box tines, but it was definitely closer to that end.[
The music was gentle, eerie, and reminiscent of “Nothing Left to Fear.” However, given the imagery of the Clown 3D maze contained a number of twisted eviscerations and vomitous, gross-out scenarios, a heavy-metal soundtrack may have been more appropriate. That being said, perhaps the music that Slash composed is fitting for the general, dreamlike atmosphere of the ultraviolet 3D set design.
As for the other mazes, An American Werewolf in London and From Dusk Till Dawn (as well as Alien vs. Predator and Dracula Untold) were, essentially, walkthroughs of the worlds of their respective inspirations. Additionally, this year, the popular television series The Walking Dead was the inspiration for both a maze and a “scare zone.” The scare zones of Horror Nights were variously themed areas residing in between the mazes and rides, where guests could marvel at the impressive production quality at their own pace, more or less, while numerous costumed and made-up performers molested them at will.
Halloween Horror Nights is available to haunt fans until November 2. Check out their calendar for exact times and for their varying ticket price information.
See also
10 Punk Albums to Listen to Before You Die
10 Goriest Album Covers
10 Most Satanic Metal Bands
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