Given he’s a Universal horror character, it’s no surprise that Chucky has been a part of Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood many times through the years. Previously, Chucky let the public know what he really thinks of them at the aptly named show Chucky’s Insult Emporium (which ran multiple times) and, via pre-recorded video, he hosted the annual Terror Tram more than once, plus he was the focus of one of the outdoor scarezones a decade ago.
All that being said, it is odd though that during all this time, there’s never been a true Chucky-based Horror Nights haunted house. Sure, in 2009, there was Chucky’s Funhouse, but that was an overlay – taking the then year-round Universal’s House of Horrors attraction and temporarily adding some Chucky aspects to it. And that’s just not enough for the legendary Lakeshore Strangler! He needs something built from the ground up just for him.
Now, finally, Chucky is getting the Halloween Horror Nights haunted house he’s long been due at Universal Studios Hollywood with Chucky: Ultimate Kill Count. But as it turns out, he’s pretty pissed that it took this long to happen and will deal with that slight the only way he knows how… via murder, naturally.
META MURDER
If you’ve followed the Child’s Play / Chucky franchise through the years, you know what a delightfully bizarre path it’s taken. At this point in the series and its ongoing, 35 year old continuity, Chucky, the onscreen killer doll, has had a movie made about him and his murder spree (well, one of them at least…) and Jennifer Tilly, who plays Tiffany in the series, is also playing Jennifer Tilly, the actress… who is in fact possessed by Tiffany. All of which is to say, anything goes here, which has continued on the Chucky TV series and is the approach that has now helped inspire Chucky: Ultimate Kill Count.
As HHN’s Creative Director and Executive Producer, John Murdy, explained, during a press preview at Ultimate Kill Count on the Universal backlot, Chucky’s creator, Don Mancini, loved the idea of the house not just being based on the current TV show but also the entire franchise. And in turn, Murdy said, that got them thinking about how they could play up the idea that characters like Michael Myers, Freddy Krueger, and Jason Voorhees have had multiple haunted houses at this point, but “Chucky got overlooked. And he’s so pissed that he’s raised an army of Good Guy dolls in order to create the ultimate kill count by killing all of you.” That’s right, Chucky knows he’s part of a Horror Nights house, and he’s going to use that to kill all the ready and willing people lining up to see him.
We toured the house as finishing touches were being done on it before next week’s opening night, seeing for ourselves that as you travel through the Chucky house, though you will see occasional moments depicting specific familiar characters from the TV series meeting their end – including Devon Sawa’s Lucas Wheeler — you’ll mainly see Chucky (or Chuckys, that is, given his ability to put his soul into multiple dolls) killing people left and right who are specifically meant to be other guests who have come to his Halloween Horror Nights house.
While we saw some of the dummies set up beforehand, Murdy noted that in addition, once the full cast is in place, “Every performer that’s in this house is [playing] a guest. So they’re either wearing Horror Nights licensed merch or they’re wearing Chucky licensed merch.”
For those who are immersed in theme park culture, there are extra levels to the dark humor in the house as well. An Express Pass holder who gets to skip most of the line? Chucky kills him. A theme park live-streamer who likes to boast that he gets all the Halloween Horror Nights scoops first? Chucky kills him. Murdy informed us this latter character is amusingly named “Lord Spookula HHN Lover.” RIP to the Lord and his scoops!
Chucky’s infamous penchant for cursing has also been accounted for, with the doll cursing up a storm several times as we see him in the house (and yes, the beloved Brad Dourif recorded dialogue as Chucky for the HHN house) – but being bleeped, which he realizes is being done by Universal, adding to his murderous fury.
BUILDING A CULT
An obvious obstacle to doing a Chucky house in the past has been Chucky himself. As a diminutive doll, it makes it much more difficult to rely on the kind of scares a typical HHN house does where multiple performers playing, say, Jason Voorhees, can burst out through various rooms to scare guests.
Instead, for Chucky: Ultimate Kill Count, many times, the people doing those type of physical scares are the aforementioned scareactors playing the murder victims. But beyond that, Chucky obviously needs to be very much present and prominent throughout the house, leading the HHN team to really stretch themselves this year.
As Murdy explained, “This is the most ambitious house we’ve ever tried to do in the history of Horror Nights in terms of its animation. Normally, we don’t get into animatronics, that’s not what we do… Until now. We have, I think, 17 animated Chucky figures in this house.”
So yes, you will see Chucky all over the place, whether in a corner of a room stabbing away at a victim, or sometimes latched onto one of those poor flailing victims as they meet their end – including using a “backpack Chucky” as Murdy described it. Some of these Chucky figures are fully articulated, which is something Murdy himself noted he didn’t envision could be possible within HHN’s resources initially. However, within Universal’s Technical Services department is a mechanical engineering group, who work on things like Jurassic World: The Ride or Super Nintendo Land, and they let it be known a couple of years ago they’d love to contribute to Halloween Horror Nights. With their participation, and impressive level of expertise, much more was possible for the Chucky figures in terms of animatronics, with work on this house having been developed for over a year.
THE KILLS
As mentioned, the Chucky TV series does figure into what’s occurring more directly at times, with some specific pulls from it – including the final rooms of the house having a Christmas setting, in which the bloody chainsaw mayhem from Chucky Season 2’s finale plays out in front of you, including depicting what occurred when Chucky encountered Lexy Cross (complete with her Christmas PJs on) and her ill-fated mother, Michelle.
However, throughout the house you’ll find deaths that are meant to reference and pay homage to moments from throughout the franchise without being exact recreations. The first victim in the house is that aforementioned Express Pass holder, and Murdy noted they refer to him as “Doll Eye Kill,” because his death is based off of something similar in Child’s Play 2, where a Play Pals factory worker had their eyes replaced with those of a Good Guy doll.
Another death, involving Chucky using a yo-yo to strangle someone, is based off of Play Pals CEO Haskell Sullivan’s demise at the beginning of Child’s Play 3, and another room includes a bathtub victim and involves Tiffany showing up, referencing her own death, as a human, in Bride of Chucky – complete with Bride of Frankenstein playing on a TV set turned murder weapon.
Indeed, Chucky’s entire family plays a role here, as we also see Chucky and Tiffany’s child, Glen / Glenda, or should we say GG, appear as you continue through the house.
It all culminates in a scene set in the woods, in which there are various plastic body parts strewn about and hanging from above belonging to Chucky himself, thanks to all of his own various deaths throughout the franchise. And one more member of the cult of Chucky appears in the form of the one and only Mega-Chucky, who looked very impressive during our tour, even before he was moving and attacking.
Halloween Horror Nights 2023 begins Thursday, September 7 at Universal Studios Hollywood. There will also be a version of Chucky: Ultimate Kill Count at Halloween Horror Nights Orlando as well, beginning Friday, September 1. Check back at Fandom for more Horror Nights coverage in the days to come.
