'The Walking Dead' lives year-round at Universal Studios Hollywood

Every fall, chainsaw-wielding clowns, maniacal monsters, brand-name baddies, and other assorted no-goodnicks wreak havoc at Universal Studios Hollywood's Halloween Horror Nights. For the past few years, the limited-time event has featured The Walking Dead mazes. On July 4, the decaying zombies got a year-round Southern California home when the park opened a permanent walk-through attraction based on the hit cable TV series.

Those who dare to enter the maze find startlingly, um, lifelike dead characters in scenes culled from the show's six seasons. Instead of passively watching the action, however, visitors are immersed in it. Cast as survivors of a mysterious zombie apocalypse, they try to survive the onslaught of walkers hell-bent on making a feast of their flesh. I have a feeling we're not in Disneyland anymore.

The "fun" begins in the queue as visitors encounter the now-famous hospital doors scrawled with the words, "Don't Open, Dead Inside," from the series' pilot episode. Cue the flailing arms of walkers trying to bust the doors open.

"It's markedly different from Halloween Horror Nights," says John Murdy, the park's creative director, chief architect of the fall event, and lead developer for the new, year-round Walking Dead attraction. Those utterly convincing flailing arms, as well as other props throughout the maze, are animatronics that Universal's mad scientists have conjured. With the permanent attraction's budget and resources, Murdy says that he and his team have been able to design things such as animatronics and larger, more elaborate sets that wouldn't be possible for a temporary maze.

Another one of their diabolical animatronic creations is particularly effective (if especially disturbing). Nicknamed "Bicycle Girl," it is a zombified upper torso that crawls towards guests. Ew!

The sight of "Bicycle Girl," with her bloody, exposed, severed spine dragging along the ground, is surely not something any responsible parent would want their impressionable young children to see. (And would send some adults, responsible or otherwise, running for the Hollywood Hills.) Which begs the question: What in the world is Universal thinking?

The separately ticketed Halloween Horror Nights is held at night after the park closes for the day and is advertised as being for mature audiences. The daytime Walking Dead attraction, however, is open during regular operating hours and is included with general admission. Noting that the park clearly states the PG-13 nature of the maze, Murdy acknowledges the envelope pushing but offers no apologies.

"To have a brand like The Walking Dead be part of a regular theme park is pretty radical," he allows. "But we can't do Walking Dead-lite. We have to deliver an experience that is true to that brand – and we are. It's really intense," Murdy notes with an impish grin.

And how. Another scene is based on an episode from the show entitled "Still." In it, the characters Daryl Dixon and Beth Greene discover an old moonshine cabin and set it ablaze. Universal restages the scene using a technology known as FauxFire. It incorporates steam, lighting, and other effects to realistically mimic flames. The designers goose the multi-sensory presentation with heat, crackling sounds, and the scent of burned wood. Out of the inferno, a staggering walker emerges to confront visitors. Make that a walker with dead looking eyes and disgusting, charred flesh.

To achieve the desired look, Universal enlisted the support of Greg Nicotero, executive producer and director of The Walking Dead. Murdy says that the TV show's helmsman, who is also a special effects maven, has been a full collaborative partner on the attraction. Nicotero developed all of the aesthetics for the animated figures, for example. By using actual molds and other props from the program, he brings a level of authenticity to the attraction.

But the dead eyes and burned flesh that the gore gurus sought proved problematic. For the signature eyes, Nicotero, Murdy, and their teams devised a silicone mask for the walkers that incorporates fake peepers, but allows the actors to see. As for the flesh, after much tinkering they devised a printable fabric that looks like charred skin and adheres to actors' actual skin.

As a bonus, the fabric can be laundered. It turns out that there are some mundane, practical considerations for those in the business of scaring people half to death.