“He’s been lurking in the shadows… twisted… mutilated… waiting to
unleash the rage that’s tearing him apart.”
Terror with a Chainsaw: Eddie Featuring an interview with James-Michael Roddy
Article by dR.fReAK
October
11,
2005
Halloween Horror Nights XI went down in horror nights history as the
year that was “toned-down.” It was due to the events of September 11th
that the Horror Nights team had to cut the gore and violence down to a
minimum. The country was in shock after the disaster, and the last thing
people wanted on their minds was death. The event saw changes from
names, descriptions, and the overall execution of houses and scarezones.
“The Festival of the Dead Parade” became “Nightmares on Parade,”
“Slasher Alley” changed to “Nightmare Alley,” “Bloodbath Underground”
became the “Ooze Zone,” and many other name changes were involved (you
can view the Pre-9/11 Flyer, which shows you the original titles and
descriptions here.) But the most prominent change would be none other
than the icon of the event itself.
Eddie is a lesser known icon of horror nights due to the fact that he
essentially never made it. After the events of September 11th, Universal
began to downplay the maniacal chainsaw wielding horror movie buff.
Trying to water it down, they made Eddie Sawyer become Eddie Schmidt -
Jack the clowns younger brother, putting clown make-up on his face
hoping that would dismiss the brutal back story of young Edgar. Come the
middle of the event, “I.C.U.” shirts bearing Eddie’s picture slowly
disappeared, and were replaced with “new” 2001 Jack shirts stating
“Jack’s Back.”
But now, several years after the event, we’ve decided to unearth the
original story of Edgar Sawyer. Unlocking the vault once again, I bring
you the entire back story of the terror with a chainsaw… Eddie.
"We find ourselves in a dark room, perhaps a basement somewhere. We
can barely see the form standing in front of us. A flash illuminates the
figure. We see a glint of steel. Was it the blade of a chainsaw?
Another flash, we see a silver muzzle, screwed into the flesh of this
person's face.
Another flash of light blinds us, becoming more disorienting. We see a
pale white eye staring at us with no emotion.
Suddenly we hear the loud roar of a chainsaw, feeling the intensity as
it cuts through the air. One last blinding flash of light allows us to
see an image of pure terror.
Young Edgar Sawyer was a fanatic about horror movies and television
shows, growing up on a steady diet of schlock theatre and Classic
Universal horror. His family life was a real nightmare and as he grew
up, he took solace in his friends in the dark. Living in a broken down
trailer park, Edgar would create wonderful escapes in his mind and
through the movies.
The slasher films of the eighties played a huge role in shaping Edgar's
fragile mind. He began to admire the screen icons of horror, memorizing
every word, knowing every body count.
At the age of eighteen, Edgar decided to turn his trailer park into a
haunted house for locals to experience the fun and thrills that he so
adored. A group of local teens with mischief on their minds decided to
destroy Edgar's work.
They set a small fire in the park, not knowing that the obsessed teen
was home. The trailer park was engulfed in flames, trapping Edgar
inside. He was terribly disfigured, forever scarred by the severe burns
on his face and hands. He regressed even further into his obsession,
donning a mask and becoming EDGAR DICE SLAY .
This year Edgar has grown bored with the normal Halloween offerings and
has decided to take over Universal Studios, creating the most terrifying
place on earth to share his love of the darker side of life.
His new chill rides will give you the opportunity to scream and scream
again. He's also brought a few friends along to guarantee that you will
have the time of your life.
But be careful of this young man, he will spare no expense to create the
perfect scare. This year, there's no more clowning around!"
Eddie had, no doubt, an amazing back story. The icon never saw the light
of day until “Horror Nights Nightmares” in Halloween Horror Nights 14.
However, we were able to dig deeper into the vault to uncover several
official press photos of Eddie that were never released.
Also found in the vault, the never-aired radio ad advertising Eddie’s
mutilation, and promising “More gore than ever before!”
The Flash 8
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I recently had the honor to meet with a former Horror Nights designer,
and pal of mine. James-Michael Roddy, the manager of show
concepts and scripts at Universal Orlando (from 1993-2002) was more than
happy to sit down with the dR. for an interesting interview about the
character, and how Eddie would have impacted the 2001 event.
DR.FREAK: How long did you work with Universal, and what did you
do? JAMES-MICHAEL RODDY: I worked for Universal
Studios Florida just about ten years. I started as a Performer and then
moved into Show Quality as a Performance Coach. During this time I began
writing and Directing special Events including work on Halloween Horror
Nights. In 1998 I became the Manager of Show Concepts and Scripts, with
that position I was responsible for developing and managing the creative
content for the parks, particularly events such as Halloween.
DF: What were some of your achievements with the event? JMR: I was part of a very talented design
team, which inherited the Halloween event and developed it into its most
successful period. I also helped create some of the "Icon" characters
for the events, including JACK, EDDIE, and THE CARETAKER.
DF: Why exactly was Eddie never unleashed? JMR: Eddie was originally a depraved
individual with a real love of horror films. His love of the genre mixed
with his lunacy would give him a real edge to designing horror mazes.
Then we were attacked by terrorists and the Halloween event changed;
Eddie became Jack's brother.
Eddie was originally going to be a real threat to
Jack. He would have carried a decapitated clown head and the slogan for
the event would have been HALLOWEEN HORROR NIGHTS - NO MORE CLOWNING
AROUND. But then all gore and blood references were removed due to
sensitivity. Red Blood became green goop...
DF: Do you feel that keeping him from public eye was necessarily
the right thing to do? JMR: In a way - yes. The discussions were
certainly relevant. I mean we owe it to be sensitive to people's
feelings. Unfortunately, there are always extremes when dealing with
political and world events. Some people begin to second-guess the
second-guessing, and then it almost defeats the validity of what you are
protecting the audience from. In my opinion, the audience needed a
release, and Halloween became that for them. They could still be safely
scared as opposed to what was happening in front of the televisions
every night.
DF: Tell us more about the character, what set him apart from
other mascots? JMR: He was more of a real threat. Based a
little more in the human world as opposed to the supernatural elements
that layered Jack and the Caretaker's stories. He also used real
instruments - a chainsaw.
DF: How was Eddie going to fit into the event itself? Was
anything special planned for his appearances? JMR: Each Halloween, it was always our plan
to have one of the mazes reflect the back-story of the icon - Jack was a
part of THE FEARHOUSE - The Caretaker was part of SCREAMHOUSE. Eddie was
going to star in RUN. He was also going to be part of the Chainsaw Drill
team.
It's funny, because early on, we were going to
revisit JACK and his relatives were going to join him. BLACK JACK, LOW
JACK and HIGH-JACK. All a family of carnie/clowns with different
specialties.
DF: What kind of advertisements were we looking at before the
decision to leave Eddie out the picture? More corrupt than ‘Jack’s
Back,’ I assume? JMR: Well, NO MORE CLOWNING AROUND was the
front-runner, with Eddie and his permanent goalie mask. Chainsaws were
going to play a big part of the campaign, as well as the destruction of
Jack by this new kid in town.
DF: Out of all the icons you helped create, which one was your
favorite, and why? JMR: I have a real favorite spot for JACK.
Jack was just so much fun to write for, and he seemed to be such a rock
star. I felt like these guys were my Freddy Krueger’s or Michael Myers.
I still remember unveiling JACK to a crowd of horror fans at the
Fangoria Weekend of Horrors on my birthday of that year - what a great
memory.
DF: Well thank you for your time! But more importantly, thanks
for making horror nights what it is. You are truly a master of scares. JMR: Thank you for the interest. Everyone
is entitled to one good scare…
The impact Eddie would have made on Halloween Horror Nights XI still
remains a mystery. Leaving nothing behind but a shadow, Eddie has come
and gone from Horror Nights history. Much like his relatives, Jack the
clown, Albert Caine the Caretaker, and Paolo Ravinski the Director,
Eddie’s time to shine has past.
Will we see him in the future? That much is unknown, and will remain as
much of a mystery as the icon himself until if and when it happens.
But
until then, Eddie’s dark and maniacal ways will remain unleashed to the
entire world - forever in the Halloween Horror Nights Vault.
Halloween Horror Nights XI went down in horror nights history as the
year that was “toned-down.” It was due to the events of September 11th
that the Horror Nights team had to cut the gore and violence down to a
minimum. The country was in shock after the disaster, and the last thing
people wanted on their minds was death. The event saw changes from
names, descriptions, and the overall execution of houses and scarezones.
“The Festival of the Dead Parade” became “Nightmares on Parade,”
“Slasher Alley” changed to “Nightmare Alley,” “Bloodbath Underground”
became the “Ooze Zone,” and many other name changes were involved (you
can view the Pre-9/11 Flyer, which shows you the original titles and
descriptions here.) But the most prominent change would be none other
than the icon of the event itself.
