A few days after my visit to Universal Studios Hollywood to see the From Dusk Till Dawn maze coming this year to the hugely popular Halloween Horror Nights, I returned for another press visit devoted to two other mazes coming to this year's event - The Walking Dead and An American Werewolf in London.

The exterior to The Walking Dead maze, complete with tank. There will be additional set dressing by opening night, filling in the section of the gate that has been smashed open.

"Where is my mind?"

Tyreese is gonna be so mad!

Seems legit.

John Murdy and his buddy, who's just hanging out.

The instructions say to insert Moss Walker here.

Matt Damon was here. Well, in there that is.

Murdy and another pal.

The Walking Dead is coming back to Horror Nights for an impressive third year in a row, something that’s never occurred before - A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th and Texas Chainsaw Massacre have been a part of HHN three times each, but not in three consecutive years.Last year's Walking Dead maze was split between sections devoted to the prison and to Woodbury. The new maze again opens at the prison, but it’s a much briefer portion. The exterior to the maze shows the prison after the Governor has attacked - complete with a tank having broken through the gates. Said John Murdy, Halloween Horror Nights' Creative Director, “That meant we needed a full size tank. That is a real tank that has crashed into the prison.”As Murdy noted, the Universal backlot and their bevy of props and vehicles from Hollywood productions is a treasure trove when putting together an event like Horror Nights... tanks included.When guests come to the maze, they’ll see, “The guard tower is on fire. They'll be smoke pouring out of there, smoke pouring out of the tank.”Murdy said he appreciated that they were able to keep things fresh with The Walking Dead in each incarnation, including with the zombies. “What's great about working with Greg Nicotero is every year he has all these really new iconic walkers we get to feature in horror nights, so starting out with the prison, we really liked the look of the infected walkers that are bleeding out of their eyes. So as you're coming into the prison, you're being attacked by the infected walkers before you ever get inside the maze.”While none of the performers or “scareactors” were present during our tour, plenty of body parts were already set up, including body sections that will be merged with the performers to complete the effect.One such example was seen in the prison, where we saw part of one of the first people to become an infected walker in Season 4.Explained Murdy, “We've done this effect many times. It's a real actor's body hidden underneath the bed there and it's his real arms and his real head. And he's the distraction for the scare - the scare's coming from another direction. It's kind of like a magic illusion. That's the type of practical effects we do in Horror Nights all the time.”The remainder of the prison includes the Walker-overrun Cell Block D and a walk past the two burnt corpses left behind by a certain someone in Season 4 who tried to stop the infection. Said Murdy, “They will be smoking and you will smell the scent of burning flesh.”As with the entire maze, reference photos from the series were used to replicate the scene as closely as possible, and Murdy added, “I consulted Greg Nicotero on these bodies specifically and his direction to us was 'It should look like a hot dog that was left on the grill for four hours.’”From there, you’ll leave the prison and venture to many other familiar spots from Season 4 - with plenty of signs for Terminus along the way.These stops include the Big Spot store, where you’ll see the Walkers who have crashed through the ceiling in Season 4's premiere, including the one we saw already dangling, waiting for opening night.Said Murdy, “He's an animated figure, so he's kicking and twitching away. There's also live actors in this scene. There's three different walkers in this scene alone.”You’ll also encounter the “Moss Walker” who, as Murdy put it, had been “reclaimed by nature so that moss is growing all over his head and his chest cavity.”And then there’s the tunnel, complete with a cave in, and a familiar sign nearby.As for the car you’ll see in the tunnel, Murdy revealed, “That's a real Mini and actually, it's quite a famous Mini. That's Matt Damon's car from the first Bourne film - the chase scene at the end.”To show us how the scene will work, Murdy positioned himself inside one of the areas where the scareactors will be, noting there are five performers in the tunnel sequence, mixed in with many static figures.While no decisions had been made on The Walking Dead coming back for a fourth year, Murdy noted, “There's just nothing like the Walking Dead. It transcends the genre of horror itself. It's so popular. I pay really close attention to the ratings on that show. Normally the rating trajectory on a show, you think when it gets to a certain point, it’s gotta peak and it's gotta start to [drop] and it doesn't. It just keeps going up and up and up.”Murdy added that they take a lot of surveys at Halloween Horror Nights and that “When we ask ‘What property brought you here?,’ it's by far The Walking Dead, no question. Both previous mazes were extremely highly rate and last year was more higher rated than the one the year before. My job is to give the fans what they want and they certainly want this property. What's great about it is there's so much to draw from every season. There's so much as a designer to look at and go, "Oh, we can do this and do this."

Continue to Page 2 for our look at the An American Werewolf in London maze.