[HHN23]/Universal Orlando Unveils Cabin in the Woods as First House! [UPDATED!]

It's never too early for Halloween, right? While we're still 85 days away from the start of Halloween Horror Nights 23 at Universal Studios Orlando, tonight they've started to pull back the curtain on the madness they have in store for us!

After a pretty fun campaign throughout the day via Twitter and Facebook on Weds (June 26th) they've finally relented and spilled the beans.

And to no real surprise...it's Cabin in the Woods! From their Facebook page:

You think you know this story. You think you’re in control. THINK AGAIN.

The hit horror film “The Cabin in the Woods” comes to life at Halloween Horror Nights 23.

Can't wait to experience the madness? Well, Universal has updated the Orlando event's website and tickets are now on sale! The event this year will run on select nights (mostly Thurs-Sun) from Sept 20th through Nov 2nd. Starting on October 3rd, every night goes until 2am and prior to that the event is open until midnight each night!

Also, it's interesting to note what Mike Aiello (creative director, long time designer and nightmare fuel master at HHN) and Drew Goddard (the movie's co-writer) had to say about the attraction, in Orlando Sentinel interview:

"I've always felt like of all the possible tie-ins and ancillary avenues for 'Cabin in the Woods,' it couldn't be better suited for a maze," Goddard said Wednesday. "It just feels right. It's a match made in heaven, or hell, as it were."

It isn't that surprising to learn that Goddard is working with Universal on designing the attraction as they typically do bring in folks who worked on the movies that they tend to feature for the event. However, having the co-writer is something I haven't heard of before. Joss Whedon himself is said to have been extremely pleased with how Universal has treated the attraction as well...

They both went on to say:

"The characters are all so ... cool to look at," Aiello said. "The minute I saw it, I wanted to try and translate that into an experience that guests could walk through and be terrified by all these amazing creatures in real life."

Expect gore and creepiness, he said.

"You're going to see merman. You're going to see Hell Lord [and] Fornicus, the god of torture and pain — all the characters you saw in that movie are going to be right there in front of you in living color," Aiello said. What about that bloody unicorn?

"It is represented in the maze," he said.

"The tricky thing about unicorns is that they do actually stab people, so there's a safety issue," Goddard joked.

What else is in store for guests? Well, it's possible that they could run into Goddard, himself, in the maze...all dolled up in make up of course. He's looking forward to scaring some of the guests and fans of the show in person as he told FOX News:

"I wouldn't miss it," exclaimed Goddard. "I'm too excited by it. I can't believe this is happening. I'm just so happy that the film has continued to live on."  He said that Whedon is equally pleased after seeing Universal's concepts for the maze.  "He couldn't be more excited," said Goddard.

Definitely looking forward to just what they do with this one. There's a ton of material that they can use and it seems like they're wanting to do it all...ambitious? Yes, but it's Universal. If anyone can pull it off, it's them and as far as we know, this is basically how the house will shake down:

Mike Aiello describes the flow of the experience as a "chronological retelling of the film from beginning to relative end - minus the gods destroying the Earth."  But rather than approaching the movie from the perspective of the unsuspecting college kids who get roped into unspeakable terrors, the story will give Universal guests the role of new hires to the film's "facility," watching monstrous events unfold around them.

Aiello describes the first scene of the experience as "calm and serene," but after 10-20 seconds, he says, "things start going to hell pretty fast."

Aiello says guests will encounter a familiar family of zombies, then ultimately escape into the secret surveillance facility where an outbreak of crazed creatures occurs causing all-out chaos that will come one step short of complete global annihilation.

Sure, it's only one house out of what is likely at least 7 (I'm banking on 8 or more) but it's a BIG start and from here on out we can start to try and guess how the theme for this year (though it's rumored there won't be a central theme...but somehow I think there will be) is going to shake out. I'm still leaning to them heavily focusing on the events from Cabin in the Woods and Evil Dead with the theme this year as well. I mean why else would they have a logo like this floating around, eh?

UPDATE 9-17-13:

Here's some shots from inside this year's maze. Particularly...the basement...

As always check the Universal Orlando official Halloween Horror Nights website for everything ya need or our very own HHN23 Mega Post for tons of behind the scenes and sneak peeks of everything coming to this year's event!

Of course you can follow me on Twitter @KitsuneHazard and Google+ for all the latest updates as well!