Take a Walk in the Mind Behind Horror Nights

Posted on October 17, 2015 by Esmeralda Zambrano in Features

Esmeralda Zambrano

Chronicle Reporter

 

Horror nights has pumped the hearts of many who dare to attend Universal Studios Hollywood. It is a place of realistic fears and horrors chasing down every soul making horrifying creatures come to life. The man behind the experience and creation, John Murdy paid a visit to the Taste of Tomorrow event on Wednesday Oct. 14 to share the secrets behind the horror.

Murdy finds himself standing at the top of his career. He is now creative director for various films, rides, attractions, and special events at Universal Studios. At age 10 he had a clear idea of what he wanted to do with his life, however life is unexpected and he had to explore several turns. From left to right his journey kept him going.

In high school, he thought he would never use any academic subjects in his career, especially math! Now he finds himself using every school subject including social studies and science.

“It’s surprising, the things we might need in life,” he said. Life is full of surprises, “over time [one] can turn left or right and your decisions make the long way, and at that time [one] might not know how important their decisions were!”

Murdy found fascination scaring people! As a boy, he loved horror films like Frankenstein, which he felt a strong bond to and started creating his passion into something tangible. He created his first haunted house in his very own garage. One of the haunted house theme was Star Wars at the time of its popularity in the late 1970s. Every year his haunted house would get bigger and bigger. However, in 1980,  his father saw him holding a real ax and told his son these haunted house creations had to stop for legal purposes. That did not stop him. He earned more experience volunteering at a local charity where he  created another haunted house.

Rock and roll was a big influence. One band, Black Sabbath, opened doors. He loved how his favorite rock and roll bands mixed horror and rock and roll together. He once tried singing rock and roll and decided to work in the performing arts. Yet, he found that acting was not his thing, so he proceeded to different jobs that offered him career opportunities. Not all of his jobs were stable, one of the company’s he was working for closed down and he was left on his one to another path.

All the decisions he took might have had a few quirks, but they took him to where he is now; a director, camera spokesman, production and audio designer, a writer,  producer, etc. “I love what I do, I get to scare people for a living!” he said. The only thing one should always have is “confidence, confidence in yourself will keep you motivated.”

“The reason what I do today is for the purpose of doing what I love because others did not have the opportunity to do so. Most of my friends took turns that were not right, some were in drugs and others were in bad places; I do it for them.” 

Students who attended were awed and inspired. They left with admiration and to always “ do something that makes [them] happy!” Even when they encounter struggles, they should always go for what they truly want to live for, all one needs is ” passion,” that is “true enough.”