Hanging with the Ghouls at Warner Brothers Studio’s Horror Made Here Tour

Updated: Aug 9

Our Abby McRae and Sami Speiss with Georgie at Warner Bros. Studio Hollywood’s Horror Made Here Tour.

Hanging with the Ghouls at Warner Brothers Studio’s Horror Made Here Tour

Recently, we were brave enough to visit Warner Bros Studios for their annual “Horror Made Here” Halloween event. The theme of the experience this year was $324 million dollar hit movie IT so we knew we were in for something special.

After we received our passes, we hopped on a tram into the lot in where hundreds of famous scenes have been filmed, and continue to be, weekly. Taking place a little outside of the heart of Los Angeles, lush grass with a gazebo and hanging lights made us feel like we were in a quaint little town- or should I say, a haunted little town.

In the town, The Conjuring, IT, and Freddy Krueger haunted the different houses, set up in a maze-like fashion, which tour guides lead us to in small groups. Before we headed off to be scared, we stopped for a quick bite at the food truck (fried burritos are now one of our favorite foods) and made sure to include some fabulous ice cream with our meal!

After our meal, we chose to go through The Conjuring house, which is where we received our first scare of the night. With creepy things lurking around every corner, we slowly crept through the house, which was chock full of props from the movie itself. The best part of the maze came when the shadow of a nun on the wall became real and ran towards us. It felt as though we were in the movie, hoping to make it out alive. Thankfully, we escaped and were ready for the next maze.

On our way over to the Neibolt House from IT, we got a few pictures with the ill-fated Georgie, who was wandering around the streets. We also got a look at Pennywise the Dancing Clown, who was tucked in a storm drain by the curb – just like in the movie. We arrived at the IT-themed attraction and waited in line for a few minutes before snapping a picture with another Georgie in front of the house. Then we entered up a spider web covered twirling metal staircase.

Though we had little flashlights and a guide, the creaky old house was still very creepy. Walking (sometimes running) into the different rooms, we got scared by odd little characters. Everywhere we turned, there was something hiding, ready to pop out at us. As we came to the end, we watched a little film before it was time to go. Exiting through a fog-filled tunnel, we couldn’t see very far in front of us, continuing the scare a little longer.

We then exited and headed to the building labeled Rosewood High, where Pretty Little Liars was filmed. Once we entered we did not feel like we were in picturesque Rosewood High anymore as Freddy Krueger was lurking the halls. There was more than one Krueger guiding us around the school (which only heightened our hesitation to continue walking the halls) who were in full costume waiting to pop out of lockers and blood-spattered desks.

Walking through one classroom, we thought we were safe when we saw mannequins on the floor, only to realize they were real people when they popped up out of nowhere. Though this was a shorter maze, it felt like a millennium with all of the Freddys right and left. For good measure, we ended with a photo with (a) Freddy before we left.

Lastly, we headed over to the spooky backlot tour. This was one of our favorite attractions of the night. And no, it was not because we were sitting. We loved getting to see the backlot at night, which isn’t the typical backlot tour offered all year. Even less typical, the town was alive with haunted actors scaring the riders any chance they could get. Sometimes we were warned with screams in the distance, other times we only realized what was coming when the character was running towards us.

Throughout the ride, we drove by the sets for scenes such as Dexter’s Cabin, the home of Allison DiLaurentis, the Radley Sanitarium, a spooky cemetery, and the staircase alley where many super-hero scenes are filmed. We enjoyed visiting many cities across the country at lightning speed; Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and other fictional towns home to characters we know and love from our favorite films.

When our ride was over, we ended this tour went on a walk through. We got to see the set of Central Perk from Friends, a street lined with all the props from IT, and a set with a green screen set up to make riders look like they were playing Quidditch in Harry Potter, and many behind the scenes displays.

If you loved being scared and learning more about the Hollywood scene, this is definitely something for you. “Horror Made Here” is only offered six nights, so make sure to start planning for your excursion next year (or if you can’t wait, head over now, the Studio is haunted all year long). There is no better place to experience Halloween than in the biggest movie mecca in the world. See you next year!

Abby McRae

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