Halloween Horror Nights, the after-hours scarcest at Universal Studios Florida, returned Friday with 10 new haunted houses and five scare zones.
For the 33rd season of the event, Universal delves deeper into the HHN lore, offering more original concept houses and introducing two new icons named SINIST3R and SURR3AL.
Six of the houses featured this year come from original ideas and include nods to past HHN houses and characters.
Slaughter Sinema 2, a sequel to 2018’s Slaughter Sinema, takes visitors back to the Carey Drive-In for a terrifying trek through a new lineup of B-movies—from evil elves that eat naughty children to pole-dancing mummies.
The Major Sweets Candy Factory house featured this year is a prequel to the 2022 scare zone. This time around, visitors are chaperones on a school field trip to the factory and the candy turns the children into blood-thirsty killers. This house also features a red button that triggers a gross effect.
Universal Orlando also borrowed an idea from Universal Studios Hollywood’s HHN for its Monstruos: The Monsters of Latin America house. It’s heavy on the blood and gory and features three creatures from Latin folklore that appear larger-than-life.
Other original houses include Goblin’s Feast (the main item on the menu is people), Triplets of Terror (murderous siblings who celebrate their birthday by recreating the massacre of their parents) and The Museum: Deadly Exhibit (a new exhibit of an ancient artifact wreaks havoc).
This year’s event also includes four houses based on intellectual property: A Quiet Place, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, Universal Monsters: Eternal Bloodlines and Insidious: The Further.
With A Quiet Place, Universal does something it’s never done before in a haunted house—include American Sign Language. The house follows the events of “A Quiet Place” and “A Quiet Place Part II” and uses some chilling sound effects. It also has some of the largest monsters used in any house this year.
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire includes scenes from the 2024 movie including “frozen” rooms, Slimer and plenty of mini Stay Pufts.
The title of most intense house, at least that was the consensus opening night, goes to Insidious: The Further with its back-to-back scares from the creepy creatures lurking around every corner.
There are also five scare zones, including one featuring Blumhouse characters like M3GAN and another with the new icons.
Halloween Horror Nights is held on select nights through Nov. 3. For more information, visit halloweenhorrornights.com.
