Fright Nights (previously Halloween Family Fun Nights and Halloween Fright Nights) is a seasonal Halloween event held at Warner Bros. Movie World on the

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

, Australia. The event began in 2006 as Halloween Family Fun Night as a single night event and has since evolved into a major park event across a month. It features themed

mazes A maze is a path or collection of paths, typically from an entrance to a goal. The word is used to refer both to branching tour puzzles through which the solver must find a route, and to simpler non-branching ("unicursal") patterns that le ...

, shows and rides. Fright Nights (formerly Fright Nites) also refers to the Halloween special event at

Thorpe Park Thorpe Park Resort, commonly known as Thorpe Park, is an amusement park located in the village of Thorpe between the towns of Chertsey and Staines-upon-Thames in Surrey, England, southwest of Central London. It is operated by Merlin Entertai ...

Chertsey Chertsey is a town in the Borough of Runnymede, Surrey, England, south-west of central London. It grew up round Chertsey Abbey, founded in 666 CE, and gained a market charter from Henry I. A bridge across the River Thames first appeared in t ...

, Surrey, England, which opened in 2002.

History

Fellow Gold Coast theme park, Dreamworld was the first to hold a Halloween themed night event. This event occurred once in April 2004, rather than October when Halloween actually takes place. This event has never been held since. In 2006, Warner Bros. Movie World picked up on the idea and decided to run a single Halloween Family Fun Night held on 31 October with a

Scooby-Doo ''Scooby-Doo'' is an American animated media franchise based on an animated television series launched in 1969 and continued through several derivative media. Writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears created the original series, ''Scooby-Doo, Where Are ...

theme. Due to the event being sold out, the park extended the event to become a 3-night event. This format remained until 2009 when Movie World decided to re-theme the event to target an older audience. The park advertised "extreme experiences at this event not suitable for children". In 2010, Warner Bros. Movie World worked with Sudden Impact Entertainment and

Lynton V. Harris The ''Sudden Impact! Entertainment Company'' is an entertainment company based in New York City, United States. The company has created temporary and permanent scare attractions for amusement parks and traveling carnivals across the globe. Histor ...

to produce mazes based upon the

Nightmare on Elm Street ''A Nightmare on Elm Street'' is a 1984 American supernatural slasher film written and directed by Wes Craven and produced by Robert Shaye. It is the first installment in the ''A Nightmare on Elm Street'' franchise and stars Heather Langenk ...

and

Saw A saw is a tool consisting of a tough blade, wire, or chain with a hard toothed edge. It is used to cut through material, very often wood, though sometimes metal or stone. The cut is made by placing the toothed edge against the material and mov ...

franchises. Sudden Impact also created the Psycho maze. On 20 September 2010, it was announced that "Freddy's Nightmare Maze will be in Show Stage, the Saw Maze will be in a custom built area behind the Wild West Falls area and the Psycho 3D Maze will be in the Scooby-Doo Spooky Coaster foyer/entrance".Alt URL
/ref> The SAW maze was originally due to be built in a sound stage, however, this was booked and a custom built space was built as a replacement. Just after the conclusion of the 2010 event, it was announced that the event would return in 2011. In the middle of August 2011, Warner Bros. Movie World began to announce mazes for the 2011 event. On 1 September 2011, full details for the 2011 event were released with the event's name changing to ''Fright Nights''. The ''Saw'' and ''Psycho 3D'' mazes from 2010 will return alongside the new ''Zombie Apocalypse Maze'' (to be located in the adjacent Studio complex) and the new ''Arkham Asylum Maze'' (to be located in the show stage). In 2012, the event returned with new mazes and a collection of live shows. The Psycho 3D Maze, the Les Damned de Burlesque show, and the Club Blood

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

all returned. New mazes included The Film Vault, The Walking Dead Maze, and Hillbilly Slasher. New shows included the Creatures of Rock, Death Derby, and Thriller Dance. Fright Nights will return in 2013. It is scheduled to run on seven nights in October. An attraction list has been announced with a new slew of mazes and shows. Returning is Club Blood but everything else is new with two new shows, Carnevil, and Space Cowboy being the two shows for this year. Four mazes, Hillbilly Slasher 2, The Darkness, a completely revisioned The Walking Dead maze, and Evil Dead maze. All rides were open on the night except for Justice League: Alien Invasion. One of the most popular additions to the Fright Nights line up was the Ultimate Terror Tour, a VIP behind the scenes experience / tour which occurred at an additional cost during each night of the event season. Each year, a new array of Terror Hosts would escort guests, with crowd favorite original characters such as Toxic, Seymour Graves, and Legendary Lee often returning.

Attraction history

The following table contains a list of the scare zones and shows since the event was established in 2006.

Gallery

File:Halloween Fright Nights Warner Bros. Movie World.jpg, The fountain in Main Street looking towards Superman Escape. File:Halloween Fright Nights 2010 - Saw Maze.jpg, The Saw Maze in 2010 when it was housed in a temporary tent near Wild West Falls. File:Bloody Freestyle MotoX, Halloween Fright Nights - Movie World.jpg, The Bloody Freestyle MotoX show in the Hollywood Stunt Driver arena in 2009.

Notes

References

External links

* {{Halloween events Halloween events Recurring events established in 2006 Warner Bros. Global Brands and Experiences entertainment