THIS IS SLASH'S FAVORITE HAUNT

The Guns N' Roses guitarist and theme park enthusiast is immortalized as a Halloween Horror Nights lurker at Universal

- By TODD MARTENS

SAUL HUDSON, a.k.a. Slash of Guns N' Roses fame, is now a character at Universal Studios Hollywood after scoring music for its horrific mazes for over a decade.

Guitar ace Slash rose to prominence with an unmistakable look as the anchor of Guns N' Roses. A true rock 'n' roll persona, the artist was once rarely seen without a drooping cigarette and a top hat, the latter of which could barely contain his face-engulfing curly hair.

Now he's a theme park character at Universal Studios Hollywood.

Slash, or, rather, a skeletal facsimile of him played by an actor, will be available for photo opportunities and meet and greets at Universal's Halloween Horror Nights, which runs most evenings through Nov. 2. For the musician, born Saul Hudson, it's a dream fulfilled. A lifelong devotee of theme parks and coasters, Slash has been closely aligned with Halloween Horror Nights since 2014, when he first began scoring music for its haunted houses.

And the character, he says, was partly his idea.

"I went to them and said, 'Hey, can we have one of those stilt walkers?'" says Slash, referring to the larger-than-life lurkers who haunt guests during the festivities. "That would be really cool. So they came up with one and he looks pretty menacing."

Slash enjoys the idea of being a towering, sometimes intimidating presence. That's clear when he's on stage as the attention-demanding cornerstone of numerous bands. And he likes to scare, as evidenced by his own horror-focused film production company, BerserkerGang. But get Slash one-on-one, and he really just wants to geek out on his favorite theme park rides.