Dozens of flesh-hungry walkers descended upon Universal Studios Hollywood on Tuesday morning to greet local media as well as current and former cast members from the Emmy Award-winning AMC television series, “The Walking Dead” and a few celebrity super fans who stopped by to check out the all-new permanent walk through attraction.
Created by Universal Studios Hollywood creative director John Murdy, who heads up the annual Halloween Horror Nights, and Greg Nicotero, executive producer, director and head of special effects and makeup for “The Walking Dead,” this attraction offers such an authentic, multisensory and scare-filled experience. Even cast members of the TV show were fighting back the survival instincts ingrained in them from being on set.
“I did notice, a few times, my reflex was to kind of tense up and go for my knife, but there’s no knife,” said Ross Marquand, who plays current cast member, Aaron, after his first walk through the attraction. “I loved it. It stayed true to what they actually have in the show, kind of going through season one all the way up to where we are now.”
Set to open to the public on the Fourth of July, the attraction features familiar scenes, props and animatronics created from the exact molds used on the show. As guests enter the Harrison Memorial Hospital, where audiences first met lead character Rick Grimes, there’s an immediate call to action via an ominous voice over a walkie talkie and everyone must get from the hospital to the prison in order to survive.
“It’s so fun, scares at every turn,” Michael Traynor, who played Nicholas on the show, said as he struggled to find the right words after leaving the attraction. “Waiting in line was scary. We were going down the corridor and I was like ‘Oh, this is awesome!’ And they were like, ‘Michael, this is the line.’ I was like, ‘I’m already good, guys!’ It’s really fun and there’s so many elements that you see. They have a Dumpster, for you Nicholas fans, I’m not going to tell you where, but there is a Dumpster and Glenn maybe is under it, or maybe not depending on Steven Yeun’s availability.”
The most common comment, from all who attended, including “Community” actress and “The Talking Dead” regular Yvette Nicole Brown and Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian, was how lifelike everything inside the attraction appeared.
“On the show, often times I’m knocked out of doing my job of being an actor because I’m looking at all of the artistry that goes into the walkers,” Traynor said. “It’s six hours sometimes in the makeup chair, layer by layer to create these disembodied death machines. Then when you get to come here and see this, experience it and also have them leaping out at you and seeing these grotesque scenes of walker apocalyptic horror, it’s fantastic and fun for all ages.”
Actress Kyla Kenedy, who is now 13 and played Mika Samuels on “The Walking Dead,” agreed that it’s fun to be scared.
“I love the idea of getting scared,” she said while on the red carpet, anxious about finally getting inside the attraction. Though she was really young when she filmed her scenes on the show, she said she was never really freaked out by the gory walkers while on set.
“I walked into the wrong trailer one day and they were smothering people in blood and I was like, ‘Cool, OK, nice to know’,” she said with a laugh. “And you’re sitting there in the lunch room and you’re sitting next to a walker eating a piece of pizza so (it’s like) ‘Yeah, OK, you’re not going to eat me, yet, so we’re good’.”
Scott Wilson, who played beloved character Hershel Greene, said he liked coming to these types of “Walking Dead” events since the show, which has become such a huge it, has given him an extended family. Like Wilson, Marquand, whose character is still alive in the series as it heads into the seventh season after a major cliffhanger, said that he’s grateful just to be part of it all.
“I think we’re all just so lucky to be part of this phenomenon because it’s taken over the world, you know, people around the globe love the show,” he said, also noting that having a permanent attraction for fans to go to year round to see what he does on set, is “kind of a stunning experience.”
Contact the writer: 714-796-3570 or kfadroski@ocregister.com
