In celebration of the Halloween Horror Nights grand opening, Universal Studios hosted the Eyegore Awards on Sept. 24 honoring celebrities of the horror movie genre.
Some of this year’s recipients were Eli Roth, who directed the two “Hostel” movies and starred in “Inglorious Basterds”; Betsy Russell from the “Saw” franchise; Sid Haig, who played Captain Haulding in “House of 1,000 Corpses”; and Christopher Lloyd, who played Doc in the “Back to the Future” trilogy.
WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
Slideshow Media Credit: Louis Roche.
Corey Feldman, who played Edgar Frog in “The Lost Boys” was the host of the event. Afterward, his advice to students on how to be successful in life was “stay positive.”
Attendees started showing up on the carpet before the event, which started at 6:30 p.m. An actress dressed up as the featured villain of the event, La Llorona complete with fangs and an undead baby walked the carpet.
La Llorona, the weeping woman, is the Mexican urban legend of a woman who drowned her children to be with a man she loved. The actress said it took about 45 minutes to apply all the realistic vampire prosthetics she was wearing.
A short skit honoring Feldman featured two boys dressed in vampire hunter garb coming out on stage. It led to them becoming involved in a dance number with a troop of dancers dressed in gothic vampire outfits. The number used Muse’s song “Supermassive Black Hole,” which was featured in the sound track to the hit movie adaptation of “Twilight.”
Once the ceremony began, another honor was given to Elizabeth Scheiffer, an amateur filmmaker, for her entry into the short horror movie competition, “Jasper.” The film started off with an old lady searching for her cat named Jasper. Things went wrong when the lady was attacked by a pair of purse snatchers. ?The competition was judged by Rob Zombie, who directed “The Devil’s Rejects.” The actual voting of the winner was conducted online at the event’s main website.
Haig’s acceptance of his award for lifetime achievement was one of the most moving of the night. He thanked everyone, especially Zombie who presented the award to him for “getting this far.” Haig also thanked Zombie for helping him to put food on the table.
The honorees also gave advice to students. Roth, who accepted his award for acting and directing, said film school is the best place to experiment without worry of failure and that it was the place where someone could try out new things and learn from their mistakes. Lloyd said, “Never quit.”
Upon the conclusion of the ceremony, people entered and explored the park where five horror-themed mazes were set up. Zombie’s film “House of 1,000 Corpses” had its own maze this year. It featured music from Alice Cooper, who also won an Eyegore award in the past.
“Friday the 13th: Kill, Jason, Kill” was another maze that was set up in the park. Derek Mears, the actor who portrayed Jason Voorhees in the movie reboot, walked the red carpet at the event. Mears said that his scariest experience had been when he was a kid at summer camp. The other kids told him that the camp they were at was the one where the original movies had been filmed.
The maze called Vampyre was the official maze of the year because it had a comic produced exclusively for the event, explaining the backstory of the maze. To honor the vampire theme, actress Mariana Klaveno, who plays Lorena from the popular “True Blood” television series, showed up on the red carpet. To aid her in getting into the vampire spirit, Klaveno said she read the classic “Dracula” written by Bram Stocker.
Halloween Horror Nights will continue at Universal Studios until Halloween night and tickets vary in price. They can be purchased online at http://www.halloweenhorrornights.com/hollywood/2010 for a discounted rate, and at the park, though they are at a higher price.