Universal Studios Hollywood Halloween Horror Nights 2016: Terror Tram

Universal Studios Hollywood

Cheers, folks!  We're back at the Halloween updates today with a second edition of our Halloween Horror Nights coverage.  If you missed our "Mazes Part 1" post yesterday, click here and check it out.  And if you already read it, good for you!  You're a better fan than the person who just clicked that link.  Yeah, I'm looking at you, Larry.

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Log Bunny!! Unofficial mascot of Horror Nights.  Sure, it's a poor man's Spooky Catawampus, but we still appreciate it so.

Anyway, today, we take a look at this year's iteration of the Terror Tram.  Wait, correction--for 2016, it's Eli Roth Presents: Terror Tram.  Yes, the famed horror director has given creative direction regarding this year's overlay, and the result was... clowns.  Sound weird?  Well, there's actually a perfectly reasonable backstory here:

Once upon a time, Harold Kappowitz was beloved as Koodles the Clown, popular carnival figure who rose to host his own children's show filmed at the Universal Studios backlot several decades ago.  However, in the 70s, the sensationalist media's negative portrayal of clowns as disturbed individuals and killers plummeted Kappowitz' career.  Reduced to being an unofficial mascot of the park trying to maintain a connection with his remaining fans, Harold grew increasingly aggravated and unstable as public sentiment shifted against him, until he was eventually kicked out of the park and banned from Universal property.  Shattered, he retreated into the Hollywood Hills, where he was not seen for many, many years. 

In the summer of 2016, he re-emerged, permanently transformed into a psychotic serial killer clown known as Hollywood Harry.  Reports of missing Universal tour guides began to circulate, and visitors caught Harry on video during backlot tours, prompting widespread social media speculation over just who this creepy clown was. 

Now, with the arrival of Halloween Horror Nights, it has been revealed that Hollywood Harry has taken over the backlot itself, allied with a horde of other displaced clowns over the years who feel the same betrayal and abandonment that Harry harbors.  Guests taking the Terror Tram must survive Harry and his carnage-craving, cannibalistic, chainsaw-carrying clown crew.

The plot was enough to pique my interest after initially dismissing the idea of clowns on the Terror Tram.  After all, over the years, the Terror Tram has been repackaged under many overlays, but it has pretty much remained the same routine and layout, just with new lipstick.  But the introduction of an original story suggested that this might be a little more unique.  So with that, lets dive on in!

(Again, there will be some spoilers in this update.  Photos are by myself and Dan Angona.)

Guests coming down the escalator and getting into the Terror Tram line are greeted by roaming clowns as a taste for what's to come.
 

One tram ride later, and here we are upon the Whoville set.  And... oh.  That is one creepy clown.

Nice touch with the crashed tram.  What clowning around. 

Of course, to get to the Bates Motel, guests must first navigate a horde of chainsaw-wielding clowns.  And then they see this.

The clowns have run amuck around the Bates lodging.

It seems they have kidnapped innocent guests and have decided to feast upon them for sustenance. 

Mmmmmm, human food!!

A captive tries to escape, but she meets a grisly demise.

And then the clown comes for the guests!

Why so serious?

Other victims have been strung up along posts for all to see.

Meanwhile, another clown attends to a human barbecue.

Is it well done?  It looks well done.

Around the corner, yielding that now-familiar glimpse of the Psycho House, aka the Bates residence.

Here's Dan's usual awesome close-up of the building.

Looking back toward where we came...

This is the clown gauntlet that we just navigated.

As we proceed, a few clowns prove helpful and point the way.

This clown turned out to be The Flasher.  Exactly what that implies.

Instead of a trek up the dirt path of the hill bordering the neighboring residences, this year, the route turned directly more toward the Psycho House.

Although it was fine for us on Friday night, for others over the weekend, this could be come a large bottleneck, backing up guests for several minutes as they squeezed into a mini-scare zone beyond.

Cool mask, bro. (I did actually like it.)

Once inside, additional victims are revealed.

Some are captives awaiting death.  Others await worse fates like this gnarly experiment.

It's a cornucopia of carnage!

Onto the War of the Worlds scene.

Log bunny!!

It's a log with bunny ears and glasses.  And it is moved to a different part of the Terror Tram each night.

Log Bunny started one year when crews were clearing brush around the backlot area and found a log with a pair of truncated branches sticking out, resembling legs.  It was unique and thus kept.  Later, during Horror Nights, the staff realized that a common fashion accessory lost during the commotion of the Terror Tram was bunny ears, so an employee stuck a pair on the log, and thus, Log Bunny was born.

Onto the last leg of the Terror Tram, where axe-wielding firefighter clowns patrol the premises.

This is an emergency, but these aren't the folks you want treating you.

The area has been strung up with evidence of the clowns' settlement.

The ambiance is a mix of threatening and silly.  Because clowns!

It's a photogenic scene every year, but it does get repetitive after a while.

The carnival embellishments are cute, though.

And what's this, a clown car?

Yes, it's the big finale, and all you have to do is enter the big top.

Clown props greet guests here.

But maybe some are real?

In any case, the clowns are with us...

...always.

More victims are pinned up inside.

But at least they're festive and brightly colored!

More clowns strike out of nowhere here.

They're fun to photograph too.

Horror Nights veterans will recognize this reused theming piece too--a prominent part of several past mazes.

And, well, I guess we'll just leave the clowns to their killing.

All in all, this year's Terror Tram was actually an improvement over previous years.  Perhaps I'm biased in that I love clowns as a haunted attraction theme--because even when they're not scary (they aren't for me), they're at least entertaining.  As such, the clowns here brought a twisted levity to an attraction that usually seems all too serious.

It also helped that the wait for the Terror Tram was much better than some of the mazes we did.  Although the line was 35 minutes long, it moved frequently and speedily.  In addition, television screens above the queue played a solid video loop of short horror films presented by Crypt TV, an Eli Roth (and Jason Blum)-backed online channel dedicated to creating original content geared toward horror fans.  That sort of pace and entertainment in line made for a much more enjoyable wait, and I wouldn't have even minded if I had to wait longer, due to the different approach to the line here.

Now, is the Terror Tram amazing this year?  Unfortunately, no.  But this is the freshest it has been since the first few years when walking around through the backlot was still a novelty.  Again, as with the mazes, those who come here regularly will be getting the same type of presentation with a repackaged aesthetic, and scares will likely be light (unless they happen to have a phobia against clowns).  But it does feel like more effort was put into the storyline this year compared to many past years.  And I honestly found the Terror Tram more enjoy able this year than in many years. 

Those who visit less frequently or have never been to Halloween Horror Nights before will probably greatly enjoy this unique (to them) experience, wandering through an outdoor movie set while dodging chaotic clowns.  If pressed to choose between this and a maze, veterans may opt to skip the Terror Tram.  But if there's time, I do recommend checking it out this year.

That's Horror Nights for today!  Tomorrow, we take a look at the scare zones--all united under The Purge.