As a horror fan, the months of September through November are sacred. When Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights starts, most of my time is taken up frequenting the park. My first Halloween Horror Nights was back in 2022 when I fell in love with the event. The intricate houses, well-thought-out scare zones, and incredibly creative costumes pulled me in and refused to let go. During the warmer months, I dreamed of being back in the fog.
Following last year’s houses, my anticipation for this year was nothing if not high. I had my hesitations, but this year’s lineup was incredible. The house I was most excited about was Insidious: The Further. I have been a fan of the movies for so long, and I was curious, if not a bit nervous, to see how the house would fare. Fortunately, the house generously exceeded my expectations.
Most intellectual property (IP) houses rely on the scenery rather than the scares, but Insidious: The Further incorporated both beautifully. Not only did I jump at every corner, but I was in awe of each room, my excitement skyrocketing when I recognized scenes from each movie. It’s safe to say that this house was my favorite of the year. As usual, the rest of the IPs were fantastic. I was most curious to see what they would do with A Quiet Place since the movie is mostly quiet. Unsurprisingly, the silence in the house made it ten times more terrifying, ranking the house much higher on my list than I thought.
Aside from the IPs, the original houses this year, in my opinion, were the real showstoppers. Not only was the return of Slaughter Sinema an incredibly exciting surprise, but the rest of the originals were terrifyingly creative. If the best part about Halloween Horror Nights is the scares, then the set design is a very close second. In almost every house, I was in shock at how well-made the props were, especially the ones with puppet-like mechanics. My personal favorite is one of the last rooms in Monstrous: the Monsters of Latin America. I wish I could have stayed there for hours trying to find each and every detail embedded throughout each room.
This sentiment trickled throughout each house. Although some of them were not as frightening as others, the structuring of the scenes more than made up for its lesser scares. Goblin’s Feast, although not the scariest, ended up being the house I had the best time in. The immersive set design, coupled with the fun music playing throughout the house, made for a horrifyingly fun time.
Last but not least, the scare zones. After going through the chainsaws at the beginning of the park, the first major scare zone is the Torture Faire—a Renaissance fair filled with guests undergoing various medieval torture methods. Walking through the zone, you see sights like the brazen bull and the breaking wheel. This zone is my personal favorite for this year. The costumes, theming, and sets all made for a great experience. Although the Blumhouse scare zone was a bit of a disappointment, the rest of them ended up being a lot of fun. I especially enjoyed Swamp of the Undead, the narrower pathways in the zone making for greater scares.
One thing that I’m a bit disappointed about is the disparity between the overarching theme of this year and the rest of the houses. I was delighted with how last year’s Dr. Oddfellow storyline was a prominent theme throughout each house and scare zone. Although this year’s theme of Sinister and Surreal was compelling, the only places it was present were in one scare zone and the front of the park. I appreciate the meta-like theme of a manifestation of the guests’ fears, but I feel the houses and scare zones could have been tweaked a bit to tie into the theme.
Although this year isn’t my absolute favorite, I would be lying if I said this year wasn’t any fun. I’m excited to continue going for the rest of this year’s season, and I positively cannot wait to see what they end up doing next year in the fog!