Today we’re gonna take a look at Stranger Things from HHN 2019, this was the second maze we created for the Netflix series and like the previous one it was housed inside Stage 29. The original idea was to do a maze based solely on season 2 but it ended up with a tease of Season 3
The maze began where season 1 ended, with Will in his bathroom vomiting up that strange parasite that would eventually become the Demo Dogs. This scene utilised our “disappearing room” effect, changing from a normal bathroom to a Upside Down version...
From there we took you back through the Byers house that we visited in 2018, only now you’re doing it in reverse and the walls are covered with Will’s tunnel maps that he drew after encountering The Mind Flayer. All of these drawings (and there were a ton) were created by hand...
I know some of you wondered why there weren’t any scares in these early scenes. Well, I beg to differ. Obviously these tunnel drawings were scary or these girls wouldn’t look so terrified!
You followed the tunnel drawings into the living room. Through the front windows you see a massive projection of The Mind Flayer, this was a piece we got from the visual effects team from the show. There was a big room behind the set to house the projector and the giant screen.
The last thing you see before you exit the Byers house is Will standing at the open front door...
And then you step out on to the front porch and meet The Mind Flayer...a giant figure with a performer behind the set operating his...is it an arm? A tentacle? An appendage? I’m not sure what to call it.
You wind up in a pumpkin patch where all the pumpkins have rotted because of something growing under the ground. The Hawkins Power and Light guys are there investigating this strange phenomenon...and then you head into the tunnels...
The tunnels under Hawkins were a major section of the maze...a whole lotta spray foam was shot to create these sets...always a messy affair when that’s taking place. When you enter the tunnel you find Joyce looking for Hopper with the spores flying around...a projection effect.
Next you run into Hopper...but he’s a little tied up. There was a plexiglas barrier over the opening so guests wouldn’t turn Hopper’s vignette into a trash receptacle. Hopper was already dealing with all those vines, I didn’t want him to be buried by piles of half-eaten churros
The next section of the tunnel we nicknamed “The Car Wash” because it was full of these “spore emitters” which blasted you with compressed air and water...and there were a lot of them! Our prop team made all of these. I always walked fast through this scene!
And then you run into these hazmat suit guys who have walked into a trap! I always find guys in yellow hazmat suits particularly scary...and these girls who were afraid of the tunnel drawings obviously agree!
And then...the Demo Dogs start showing up...and there were a ton of them in this maze. They worked similar to our puppets from An American Werewolf in London with a performer operating them from behind the set with a camera/monitor so they could see the guests approaching
Here’s an sculpt of the Demo Dog in process, a foam pull from the mold and a close up of the figure getting final paint and details.
Eventually you escape the tunnels and find yourself back inside the secret government facility...where the scientists are having a particularly bad day!
If you’re scared by drawings of a tunnel and guys in yellow hazmat suits, then retro 1980’s era control panels are freakin’ terrifying!
To be fair, the girls were screaming because the Demo Dogs have broken into the facility and are killing everyone...
Including poor Bob...
The final section of the maze was meant to be a little tease for Season 3, kind of like how the maze begins with the end of Season 1. You entered Hopper’s cabin in the woods right as the monster from season 3 (which we called The Big Bad) is attacking!
These tentacles were puppets worked by four different performers behind the set in the scene. Here’s one of the sculpts.
One of the tentacles was designed with an extension to make it super long. The performers got really good at having it come out a little way and then extending it all the way down to the guests!
The final scare in the maze was a face to face encounter with the Big Bad...or at least his giant head!
This was a crazy creature effect done by Magee FX. Here’s a pic of the sculpt in progress...
And here’s the final product
Stranger Things 2.0 trivia - these mazes happened because the show creators The Duffer Brothers are huge fans of HHN. Their show nails every detail of the 80’s, in fact most of the songs from season 2 were the soundtrack of my high school years.
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