Ghoul-icious Halloween Games For Grown Ups

Looking to add some fun to your Halloween party? Try one of these Hallow’s Eve games that are made especially for grown ups . . . who aren’t that too grown up!

Spin the Stake

A nod to the cult classic of Twilight, this game begins by creating cards that will reveal your identity in the game. All the cards will read MORTAL, except for one. That card will read VAMPIRE.

Take turns spinning the stake. Whoever lands on the vampire kisses them and becomes the new undead. The last person standing wins. If you have been the vampire . . . you CANNOT win. You must be the only one to escape the kiss of death!

*Bite-worthy hint: Playing this game with romantically committed people could result in REAL cases of the undead – so if dating or married couples are involved, an alternative is to hand the new vampire to be “kissed” a Hershey’s Kiss chocolate instead.

Hide ‘n Go Die

Not for the faint of heart, this reverse hide and go seek game involves scary monsters and a monster hunter who is sent to seek out monsters waiting to scare the holy crap out of him.

Everyone dons a scary mask or costume of their choice. After this, choose whoever is “it” as the hunter. This person must close their eyes and wait for everyone to hide. Then, the hunter is (presumably) off to meet their fate like those dumb people in horror movies who run UP the stairs.

As the hunter draws near, monsters must jump out and scare them to the best of their ability. Everybody is allowed to move around. If the hunter catches and scares a monster instead by tapping him on the back, he must fall down and “die”. That monster is now “it” and the hunter at the start of the game is now a monster.

After that, any monster that “dies” is out of the game, so everybody but one takes turns being a monster. This process continues until all are “dead” but one. The last round has the hunter looking for the monster, and the monster looking for the hunter. Whoever scares first is the ultimate winner! Will the hunter slay the monster? Or will the monster win in the end?

Christmas in October

Gifts gone creepy, of course! This game is a simple gift swap with a twist. It’s a really easy concept but the fun is in the imagination it takes to make your assigned gift “work” to relate to the card you draw. A week or so before the Halloween party, print out these cards and assign a “theme” to each party goer. They then must bring a gift that is in line with the “theme” of their card. (The theme is of course open to interpretation which makes the game much more fun.) Here are some creative ideas:

• Evil chicken
• Dangerous people
• Zombies from the zoo
• Witchy woman
• Ghostly garden
• Haunted hair
• Hag-wear
• “Break in case of killer”
• Psycho-possum
• Revenge of the pumpkin
• Vampire lovin’
• Monster explosion
• Poison time
• Werewolf wax

Remember to bring a few extra items just in case someone forgets or can’t afford a gift. This way everyone gets in on the fun. When all the presents are wrapped, the game is played just like Dirty Santa – pick numbers, the first person picks a gift, the second person picks a gift or steals the first person’s, etc.

When it comes to Halloween fun, don’t get left out of the Monster Mash. Remember, you are only as old as you act. And it’s Halloween after all . . . so we vote for acting your shoe size.

Photo by mookielove/Flickr

On Friday September 29th, Universal Studios Hollywood celebrated the opening of Halloween Horror Nights with the Eyegore Awards, which honored Scream stars David Arquette and Jamie Kennedy; Rainn Wilson, star of Rob Zombie’s House of 1000 Corpses; Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark star Bailee Madison; Final Destination 5 actress Emma Bell and legendary rocker Alice Cooper!

Corey Feldman reprised his hosting duties, and presenters included former Eyegore Award recipient Rob Zombie and Calico Cooper.

This year’s Halloween Horror Nights boasts six mazes, bringing together unprecedented star power to create the definitive Hollywood horror “dream team” and craft the ultimate “live” Halloween nightmare. Mazes include “Rob Zombie’s House of 1000 Corpses: In 3D ZombieVision,” “Alice Cooper: Welcome To My Nightmare,” “Eli Roth’s Hostel: Hunting Season,” “La Llorona: Villa De Almas Perdidas” (“The Weeping Woman: Village of Lost Souls”) Imagined by Diego Luna, “The Thing: Assimilation,” based on the upcoming Universal Pictures thriller, “The Wolfman: The Curse of Talbot Hall,” inspired by the Academy Award®-winning film, and the “Terror Tram: Scream 4 Your Life,” new backlot experience.

Extreme Hollywood Horror Make-Up and Gruesome Special Effects
Take Center Stage in Workshop Demonstrations as Universal Studios Hollywood
Slathers on the Gore in Preparation for “Halloween Horror Nights,”
Taking Place Select Nights from September 23 to October 31

Universal City, California, September 7, 2011—To resurrect the carnage and chaos, breathe new life into severed heads, oozing wounds and slashed throats, Universal Studios HollywoodSM hosted an extreme Hollywood horror makeup demonstration today in preparation for the theme park’s much anticipated “Halloween Horror Nights®” event, taking place on select nights from September 23 to October 31.

Collaborating with “Halloween Horror Nights’” Creative Director, John Murdy, Hollywood horror make-up artist Larry Bones and his innovative special effects team revealed how many highly dramatic, morbidly disturbing monsters will come to life during “Halloween Horror Nights” to complement the elaborate movie production quality mazes.

Tickets to this year’s event are available for purchase at www.UniversalStudiosHollywood.com/hhn, including a Front of Line ticket option that enables guests to enjoy priority entry at each maze and theme park attraction. Advance purchase is recommended as event nights will sell out.

John Murdy said: “We’re really excited about this year’s event. The caliber of filmmakers and artists working with us adds to the event’s authenticity. The limited amount of Front of Line tickets we make available to our guests is really a great opportunity, and we hope they take advantage of this exclusive benefit.”

This year’s terrifying event features a noteworthy six mazes bringing together unprecedented star power to create the definitive Hollywood horror “dream team” and craft the ultimate “live” Halloween nightmare. The team includes an encore performance by multi-platinum recording artist and filmmaker, Rob Zombie, whose nightmarish 3D world of pandemonium returns due to popular demand in “Rob Zombie’s House of 1000 Corpses: In 3D ZombieVision.” Legendary rocker Alice Cooper, who single-handedly masterminded the rock-horror genre, will spin a new collection of disturbing horror imagery in the outrageous new “Halloween Horror Nights” maze, “Alice Cooper: Welcome To My Nightmare.”

Director, writer, producer and actor Eli Roth will bring his twisted movie to life in the spine-chilling new maze, “Eli Roth’s Hostel: Hunting Season,” which will feature props cast from Eli Roth’s personal collection of original “Hostel” movie props. In the new maze, “La Llorona: Villa De Almas Perdidas” (“The Weeping Woman: Village of Lost Souls”), actor and director Diego Luna, will help re-imagine the fearful legend of melancholy and murder that he was told as a child and has terrified Mexican and Latin American children for generations.

Working in collaboration with the filmmakers and featuring props cast from the original molds used in Universal Pictures’ upcoming thriller, “The Thing: Assimilation” maze will offer “Halloween Horror Nights” guests an unprecedented virtual three-dimensional sneak peek of the movie in advance of its release on October 14. “The Wolfman: The Curse of Talbot Hall,” inspired by the Academy Award®-winning Universal Pictures film, will round out the six new “Halloween Horror Nights” horror mazes.

A frightening new backlot experience, “Terror Tram: Scream 4 Your Life,” based on the latest installment of Wes Craven’s “Scream” film series, will unleash the iconic “Ghostface Killer” on Universal’s famed backlot, the heart of the world’s most famous horror moviemaking studio.

Terror- filled “Scare Zones” and the ever-popular “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Halloween Adventure,” will add to the nightmare. The theme park’s favorite thrill-ride attractions will also remain open for “Halloween Horror Nights,” including “Jurassic Park® In the Dark,” “The Simpsons RideTM” and “Revenge of the MummySM – The Ride.”

Updates on “Halloween Horror Nights” are available at Halloween Horror Nights.com and also on Twitter and Facebook, as Creative Director John Murdy reveals a running chronicle of exclusive information. Fans are invited to follow John Murdy on Twitter at: Twitter.com/HorrorNights or via Facebook at: “Halloween Horror Nights – Hollywood (Official).”

Everyone loves dry ice, particularly this time of year. It makes tailgates cooler, camping easier and (of course) Halloween spookier. This year, Penguin Brand Dry Ice is encouraging dry ice fans to get out their cameras and snap a photo of their coolest, spookiest, most innovative uses for dry ice for a chance to win $1,000!

The contest is being run off of the Facebook page at http://facebook.com/dryiceideas and puts the fans in charge of selecting the finalists. Once we receive all the photos (and optional videos for that matter) on November 1st, we’ll turn on the voting and the 10 photos with the most votes will move on to the final round. In addition to the grand prize of $1,000, we also have first and second runner up prizes of $500 and $250, respectively.

Throughout the campaign, we’ll be featuring some of the best entries on our blog at http://dryiceideas.com where users can also find safe handling guides and plenty of ideas throughout the month!

Rock-Horror Icon Alice Cooper, Rainn Wilson, David Arquette and Jamie
Kennedy

Alongside Rising Stars Bailee Madison and Emma Bell to Receive “Eyegore”
Awards

at Universal Studios Hollywood as Theme Park Celebrates Opening Night of

“Halloween Horror Nights” on September 23

Universal City, CA- “Scream” stars David Arquette and Jamie Kennedy will
join Rainn Wilson, star of Rob Zombie’s “House of 1000 Corpses,” “Don’t
Be Afraid of the Dark” star Bailee Madison, “Final Destination 5”
actress Emma Bell and legendary rocker Alice Cooper as honorees at the
2011 “Eyegore” Awards, the opening night ceremony for “Halloween Horror
Nights” at Universal Studios Hollywood.

Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood is only a few days away! This year, the spooktacular event has more mazes than ever – created by the sickest minds in horror.

Alice Cooper: Welcome to My Nightmare – This outrageous new maze will take guests through the twisted mind of shock rock legend, Alice Cooper. From razor-sharp guillotines to electric chairs where you can still smell the burning flesh of its victims, this new addition to Halloween Horror Nights is sure to shock you!

Below are renderings used in the development of this maze entitled SICK THINGS and FEARMASTER ALICE.

“Halloween Horror Nights” will take place on select nights beginning September 23 and continue on September 24, 30; October 1,7, 8,9, 14, 15, 16, 20, 21, 22, 23, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31.

To order tickets click here.