Halloween Horror Nights Celebrates Another Year of Terror

Ozzy Osbourne at the 2013 Eyegore Awards
Ozzy Osbourne at the 2013 Eyegore Awards (Photo © Richard Chavez)

Showbiz Junkies was at Universal Studios to kick off the 2013 Halloween Horror Nights (HHN) for both Florida and California. Customary each year on the first day of HHN is the infamous Eyegore Awards hosted by McKenzie Westmore. This year’s show paid tribute to Insidious, The Walking Dead, Bruce Campbell (Evil Dead), Danny Trejo (El Cucuy), and Black Sabbath, with all new mazes and plenty of accolades.


Introduced by Sharon Osbourne, Geezer Butler and Ozzy Osbourne stormed the stage to accept an award paying tribute to Black Sabbath’s 43-year history. Ozzy said, “It has been an amazing year for us with a number #1 record, a #1 world tour, and now this (award), what more can I say.”

The crowd went crazy with a standing ovation, giving Black Sabbath an endorsement not necessarily shared when the band was playing in the early years of their career. This year, Universal introduced the new maze called “Black Sabbath 13 3D,” inspired by the lyrics of the band. On opening night, the Black Sabbath maze in California had the longest lines, at one point over two hours to get in, showing the huge popularity of the legendary band and the new maze.

Bruce Campbell honored at the 2013 Eyegore Awards
Bruce Campbell (Photo © Richard Chavez)

My favorite speech of the show was from legendary genre actor Bruce Campbell who accepted an award for his extensive horror film career. Looking very svelte in a white suit, Bruce amusingly discussed his reaction to receiving an Eyegore Award.

“What’s that?” I asked. They said, “You never heard of the Eyegore Awards?” I said, “No! I don’t know what an award is!” There was huge laughter from the crowd in approval of the self-deprecating actor. Bruce also said, “My last award was from Little League, and that was for being the most improved player. You know what that means – I sucked at the beginning of the season!”

Everyone cheered for the actor who is best known by horror fans as Ash from the Evil Dead films.



Other highlights of the show included an award for The Walking Dead, with cast member Melissa McBride accepting the statuette. Insidious film producer Jason Blum and writer Leigh Whannell each accepted an award. Danny Trejo accepted an honorary award for his career in the genre, during which he made a funny remark when he claimed he had a face for doing these kinds of movies.

After the Eyegore Awards ended, they let the press loose to enjoy HHN. 

The mazes this year were all very good. Creative director John Murdy talked to the press two weeks prior to the opening and discussed in great depth the amount of detail that goes into HHN, including replicating sets, using the correct make-up from the films, and having a team in both Florida and California that can take on such a huge event.

Universal puts a lot of resources into licensing horror franchises and that gives the fans a chance to experience the films in a very unique way. My recommendation is to get to the park early and try to get to the more popular mazes first to beat the crowd. Halloween Horror Nights is always a lot of fun…but are you brave enough?

– By Fred Godlash