While the movie Dead Silence fell short of being a big horror hit, the maze Dead Silence: The Curse of Mary Shaw at the Halloween Horror Nights Orlando 2007’s Carnival of Carnage ended up being our favorite and still one of the most memorable mazes we’ve been in.
The two story sets, great lighting effects, eerie soundtrack, and sneaky Scareactors all combined to offer one of the most suspenseful and scariest mazes of the 2007 season. It even featured a maze-wide scare where every 5 minutes music fade out and then, after several moments “Dead Silence”, lightning would flash and every scareactor would simultaneously attack the guests! If we were to rate it today this definitely earn 5 skulls!
Now take virtual walk-through of this extremely creepy maze, courtesy of The Halloween Horror Nights Wiki.
Guests would be immediately hit with a blast of cold air as they entered the cemetary where Mary Shaw was buried. Detective Lipton is on the other side of a wrought iron fence with a flashlight and shovel, asking if the guests knew about Mary Shaw.
From there they would enter Henry’s funeral home. Mary Shaw’s coffin is on the ground, her corpse spilled out on the ground. The smell of formaldehyde is strong. Suddenly, Mary Shaw bursts from behind a curtain, chasing guests into an attic. Several of Mary’s victims, their tongues ripped out and jaws broken, burst from the shadows, gurgling and murmuring cries for help.
Guests then moved on to the theatre, passing by endless rows of Mary Shaw’s dolls that turned their heads to stare at guests. The next hallway used mirrors to make it appear that guests were on a catwalk high above the stage. Mary Shaw stood below, hands raised in an angry posture. Suddenly, the catwalk begins to shake and shudder, and guests run into the next room, which is Jamie’s home. Jamie’s father sits still in his wheelchair, apparently dead…..before he suddenly stomps his feet on the ground as people pass by. Guests pass by a mirror, Mary’s face occasionally flashing in it.
Guests would go down a short hallway of portraits that, through holograms, transformed to reveal the victims dead by Mary Shaw’s hand. One of the portraits was a fake, and the person in the portrait would lean out and grab at the guests.
The next hallway was long, with portraits along the right wall and windows with blowing curtains on the left. Mary Shaw glided past the window, leering at guests. They would then enter the theatre again, with Mary Shaw hiding in the shadows of the rafters.
The next room in the theatre had a massive red curtain above the doorway. Every so often the sound of a jack-in-the-box would play, and a clown puppet would burst out with the sound of a clown nose honking.
After one final hallway of sheer curtains, guests would enter the final room: Mary Shaw’s dressing room. Mary appeared to be standing at the other end of the room. As she began to lunge at the guests, they would find her directly next to them, holding Billy and screaming, as they were looking at her reflection in a mirror.
Don’t be scared and try not to scream out loud while you check out this flashback video of Dead Silence.
