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Universal Orlando's Horror Make-Up Show (previously titled The Phantom of the Opera Horror Make-Up Show and The Gory, Gruesome and Grotesque Horror Make-Up Show) is a live show located at
Universal Studios Florida Universal Studios Florida (also known as Universal Studios or USF) is a theme park located in Orlando, Florida. Primarily themed to movies, television and other aspects of the entertainment industry, the park opened to the public on June 7, 199 ...
that opened on June 7, 1990, along with the theme park. It is a live demonstration of
Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...
' legacy of horror movies, with particular emphasis on
prosthetic makeup Prosthetic makeup also called special make-up effects and FX prosthesis) is the process of using prosthetic sculpting, molding and casting techniques to create advanced cosmetic effects. Prosthetic makeup goes back to the beginning of film maki ...
. It was inspired by the former ''The Land of a Thousand Faces'' show (1975–1980) at
Universal Studios Hollywood Universal Studios Hollywood is a film studio and theme park in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles County, California. About 70% of the studio lies within the unincorporated county island known as Universal City while the rest lies wi ...
. It is also notable for being one of two original opening-day attractions still in operation at Universal Studios Florida, the other being ''
E.T. Adventure E.T. Adventure is a dark ride located at Universal Studios Florida in Orlando, Florida, United States. Primarily designed in-house by Universal Creative in collaboration with Steven Spielberg, the ride first opened to the public at Universal S ...
''.


Show summary


Waiting area

The show is housed within a recreation of the Pantages Theatre. The lobby/waiting area includes multiple displays on Universal horror films including '' Hellboy II: The Golden Army'', ''
Psycho Psycho may refer to: Mind * Psychopath * Sociopath * Someone with a personality disorder * Someone with a psychological disorder People with the nickname * Karl Amoussou or Psycho, mixed martial artist * Peter Ebdon or Psycho, English snook ...
'', ''
Jaws Jaws or Jaw may refer to: Anatomy * Jaw, an opposable articulated structure at the entrance of the mouth ** Mandible, the lower jaw Arts, entertainment, and media * Jaws (James Bond), a character in ''The Spy Who Loved Me'' and ''Moonraker'' * ...
'', '' The Thing'', ''
Bride of Chucky ''Bride of Chucky'' is a 1998 American black comedy slasher film written by Don Mancini and directed by Ronny Yu. The fourth installment in the ''Child's Play'' franchise, it stars Jennifer Tilly, Brad Dourif, John Ritter, Katherine Heigl, and ...
'' and '' An American Werewolf in London''. The lobby also includes displays on the
Universal Monsters Universal Classic Monsters (also known as Universal Monsters and Universal Studios Monsters) is a media franchise based on a series of horror films primarily produced by Universal Pictures from the 1930s to the 1950s. Although not initially concei ...
, ''
The Munsters ''The Munsters'' is an American sitcom depicting the home life of a family of benign monsters. The series starred Fred Gwynne as Frankenstein's monsterEpisodes referring to the fact that Herman is Frankenstein's monster include #55, "Just Anothe ...
'', and '' Universal's Halloween Horror Nights''. Since 2004, the lobby has also included prop displays and clips from recent Universal horror films such as ''
Van Helsing A van is a type of road vehicle used for transporting goods or people. Depending on the type of van, it can be bigger or smaller than a pickup truck and SUV, and bigger than a common car. There is some varying in the scope of the word across ...
'' (2004), ''
King Kong King Kong is a fictional giant monster resembling a gorilla, who has appeared in various media since 1933. He has been dubbed The Eighth Wonder of the World, a phrase commonly used within the franchise. His first appearance was in the novelizat ...
'' (2005), ''Hellboy II: The Golden Army'' (2008), ''
The Wolfman In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (; ; uk, Вовкулака, Vovkulaka), is an individual that can shapeshift into a wolf (or, especially in modern film, a therianthropic hybrid wolf-like creature), either purposely o ...
'' (2010) and ''
The Mummy A mummy is an unusually well preserved corpse. Mummy or The Mummy may also refer to: Places *Mummy Range, a mountain range in the Rocky Mountains of northern Colorado in the United States * Mummy Cave, a rock shelter and archeological site in Pa ...
'' (since 2017).


Main show

The show is mostly scripted, with some parts improvised between the actors and/or the audience. Sometimes, the actors may improvise quips about celebrities or about a single or all members of the audience. It is hosted by Alex Ross (played by a male or female actor) and Universal Studios' creature creator and visual effects artist Mark James (also played by a male or female actor, in which case, if the latter, the character is instead named Marty James). While Ross is looking around the stage for James, the latter enters the theater with a large knife dug into their heart and briefly interacts with audience members before "dying", and revealing to the audience that it is a fake. A montage of clips from gory scenes of Universal horror films is then shown on screens on both sides of the stage, showcasing the many films that Universal Pictures has released, becoming the creator and pioneer of horror as a film genre. Once the montage has ended, Ross and James pick out a volunteer from the audience to explain and demonstrate how a bloody limb cut is achieved by using a fake knife. Unbeknownst to the volunteer and the audience, the knife is a prop and the blood is fake, giving the appearance that it is cutting into the skin. Afterward, a short clip montage about
Lon Chaney Leonidas Frank "Lon" Chaney (April 1, 1883 – August 26, 1930) was an American actor. He is regarded as one of the most versatile and powerful actors of cinema, renowned for his characterizations of tortured, often grotesque and affli ...
is shown on the screens, with James describing that Chaney kept his prosthetic makeup secrets to himself until he died. The montage goes on to describe Universal's make-up artist Jack Pierce, who was responsible for creating the designs for Universal's Classic Monsters including
Dracula ''Dracula'' is a novel by Bram Stoker, published in 1897. As an epistolary novel, the narrative is related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist, but opens with solicitor Jonathan Harker taki ...
,
Frankenstein's monster Frankenstein's monster or Frankenstein's creature, often referred to as simply "Frankenstein", is a fictional character who first appeared in Mary Shelley's 1818 novel '' Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus''. Shelley's title thus compare ...
, The Wolf Man,
The Mummy A mummy is an unusually well preserved corpse. Mummy or The Mummy may also refer to: Places *Mummy Range, a mountain range in the Rocky Mountains of northern Colorado in the United States * Mummy Cave, a rock shelter and archeological site in Pa ...
and
Bride of Frankenstein ''Bride of Frankenstein'' is a 1935 American science fiction horror film, and the first sequel to Universal Pictures' 1931 film ''Frankenstein''. As with the first film, ''Bride of Frankenstein'' was directed by James Whale starring Boris Karl ...
. After this, Ross peeks behind the curtain, and a
car alarm A car alarm is an electronic device installed in a vehicle in an attempt to discourage theft of the vehicle itself, its contents, or both. Car alarms work by emitting high-volume sound (often a vehicle-mounted siren, klaxon, pre-recorded verbal ...
goes off. James turns it off and questions Alex on the reasons for peeking on their secret project, which the latter usually blames on a child from the audience. Afterward, a clip of the creation of the make-up design for the title character in 1941's ''The Wolf Man'' is shown on the screens. While a clip from '' An American Werewolf in London'' is shown, James adds that it was
Rick Baker Richard A. Baker (born December 8, 1950), known professionally as Rick Baker, is an American retired special make-up effects creator and actor. He is mostly known for his creature designs and effects. Baker won the Academy Award for Best Mak ...
who further expanded and fully developed the art of prosthetic makeup in many blockbuster films, for which he was recognized as the inaugural recipient of the
Academy Award for Best Makeup and Hairstyling The Academy Award for Best Makeup and Hairstyling is the Academy Award given to the best achievement in makeup and hairstyling for film. Traditionally, three films have been nominated each year with exceptions in the early 1980s and 2002 when the ...
in 1981; James also lists
Ve Neill Ve Neill (born Mary Flores; 1951) is an American makeup artist. She has won three Academy Awards, for the films ''Beetlejuice'', ''Mrs. Doubtfire'' and ''Ed Wood''. She has been nominated for eight Oscars in total. Early life Neill recounts th ...
as another renowned makeup artist to follow suit. A final clip is shown from the 2010 remake of ''The Wolf Man'', in which
Benicio del Toro Benicio Monserrate Rafael del Toro Sánchez (born February 19, 1967) is a Puerto Rican actor and producer. He has garnered critical acclaim and numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, two Screen A ...
transforms into the title character, while James presents on-stage how practical effects achieved the initial stages of the transformation before
computer-generated imagery Computer-generated imagery (CGI) is the use of computer graphics to create or contribute to images in art, printed media, video games, simulators, and visual effects in films, television programs, shorts, commercials, and videos. The image ...
was utilized to fully complete it. For the finale, James reveals their secret project: a
motion capture Motion capture (sometimes referred as mo-cap or mocap, for short) is the process of recording the movement of objects or people. It is used in military, entertainment, sports, medical applications, and for validation of computer vision and robo ...
vest which controls the movements of an "animatronic" werewolf named Eddie. Ross and James call on their volunteer from earlier to come back onstage to help demonstrate this effect (before taking a picture altogether). However, after the volunteer returns to their seat, Eddie comes alive and chases James backstage, before the latter ends the chase by seemingly killing Eddie offstage and returning to the stage bloody and bruised. Guests leave through a hall featuring multiple posters of Universal horror films on the walls such as '' The Birds'', ''
Jurassic Park ''Jurassic Park'', later also referred to as ''Jurassic World'', is an American science fiction media franchise created by Michael Crichton and centered on a disastrous attempt to create a theme park of cloned dinosaurs. It began in 1990 whe ...
'', and ''Psycho'' before exiting into the shared gift shop with ''The Bourne Stuntacular''.


Previous versions

The show and lobby featured numerous other reincarnations in the past. From 1990 until 1997, the lobby featured posters from classic Universal horror films and also had a live introduction from
The Phantom of the Opera ''The Phantom of the Opera'' (french: Le Fantôme de l'Opéra) is a novel by French author Gaston Leroux. It was first published as a serial in from 23 September 1909 to 8 January 1910, and was released in volume form in late March 1910 by Pier ...
. For various film releases from 1997 and forward, the lobby has been changed to feature clips and props from '' The Lost World: Jurassic Park'' (1997), ''
The Mummy Returns ''The Mummy Returns'' is a 2001 American adventure horror film written and directed by Stephen Sommers, starring Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah, Arnold Vosloo, Oded Fehr, Patricia Velásquez, Freddie Boath, Alun Armstrong, ...
'' (2001), ''Van Helsing'' (2004), etc. The main show itself had some minor refurbishments in the past to fit the re-theming of the lobby. From 1990 until 2004, the main show would instead feature clips from Universal horror films such as ''The Thing'' and ''An American Werewolf in London'', and the audience volunteer would have their picture taken with The Phantom of the Opera. For the finale, James would step into a transportation device based on '' The Fly'' and would turn into the title character and then back into themself; James would then walk backstage with Ross, still having fly wings on the first's back. This version of the show was also introduced with a
gunshot A gunshot is a single discharge of a gun, typically a man-portable firearm, producing a visible flash, a powerful and loud shockwave and often chemical gunshot residue. The term can also refer to a ballistic wound caused by such a disch ...
by James. It was slightly re-vamped in 1997 to instead have the audience volunteer get their picture taken with a
dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23  million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...
. In 2001, the audience volunteer and a member from their party would have their picture taken with The Mummy, and a clip about the creation of the make-up effects from ''The Mummy Returns'' was also added. The lobby and the show itself have been revamped various times since 2004 to include prop displays of various Universal horror films, and clips in the show itself, from recent releases such as ''Van Helsing'' (2004), ''
King Kong King Kong is a fictional giant monster resembling a gorilla, who has appeared in various media since 1933. He has been dubbed The Eighth Wonder of the World, a phrase commonly used within the franchise. His first appearance was in the novelizat ...
'' (2005), ''Hellboy II: The Golden Army'' (2008), ''
The Wolfman In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (; ; uk, Вовкулака, Vovkulaka), is an individual that can shapeshift into a wolf (or, especially in modern film, a therianthropic hybrid wolf-like creature), either purposely o ...
'' (2010) and ''
The Mummy A mummy is an unusually well preserved corpse. Mummy or The Mummy may also refer to: Places *Mummy Range, a mountain range in the Rocky Mountains of northern Colorado in the United States * Mummy Cave, a rock shelter and archeological site in Pa ...
'' (since 2017).


Clips of films shown during show

The show originally featured clips from the films ''
Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
'' (1985), '' Hellboy II: The Golden Army'' and ''
Jaws Jaws or Jaw may refer to: Anatomy * Jaw, an opposable articulated structure at the entrance of the mouth ** Mandible, the lower jaw Arts, entertainment, and media * Jaws (James Bond), a character in ''The Spy Who Loved Me'' and ''Moonraker'' * ...
''. Presently clips shown throughout the show include:


2002 incident

In August 2002, a woman was selected from the audience to participate in the show. After being scared by Eddie, the "animatronic" werewolf, during the finale, the frightened woman fell off the stage and landed on the steps, breaking her leg. She was rushed to the hospital and released shortly afterward without any further injuries. Since the incident, the audience volunteer has been asked to return to their seat before the jump-scare happens.


References


External links


Universal's Horror Make-Up Show
at
Universal Orlando Resort Universal Orlando Resort, commonly known as Universal Orlando or simply Universal, formerly Universal Studios Escape, is an American theme park and entertainment resort complex based in Orlando, Florida. The resort is operated by Universal P ...
{{Universal Studios Florida Attractions 1990 establishments in Florida Universal Parks & Resorts attractions by name Universal Studios Florida