There is something about walking into Universal Studios Florida after dark during Halloween Horror Nights that immediately makes you feel as though the Orlando you know has disappeared. The music changes, the fog begins to roll across the streets, screams can be heard somewhere ahead of you and suddenly you are wondering what, or who, is waiting around the next corner.
My husband Sebastian and I walked into Halloween Horror Nights 35 ready for an adventure together, although we were definitely approaching the evening from two very different perspectives. I enjoy horror movies and everything that comes with them: the suspense, the over-the-top scares, the characters and that feeling of knowing something is about to happen but not knowing exactly when. Sebastian is not a horror-movie fan, which made experiencing the event together even more fun.
This year is especially significant for Halloween Horror Nights. Universal Orlando is celebrating 35 years of its signature fall event, transforming Universal Studios Florida into an enormous nighttime world of horror with 10 haunted houses, scare experiences, entertainment and characters filling the park. For Sebastian and me, however, one of the biggest surprises wasn’t how frightening everything could be. It was how beautiful and incredibly detailed so much of it was. We kept finding ourselves looking at makeup, costumes and sets, sometimes forgetting for a moment that we were supposed to be scared because we were too busy admiring how everything had been created.
That appreciation became part of our night. We would walk into a house knowing something was going to make us jump, come out laughing about our reactions and then immediately start talking about something we had noticed inside. Sebastian may still not want to spend an evening watching horror movies with me, but Halloween Horror Nights gave him something completely different to appreciate about the genre.
Ten Houses, Ten Very Different Nightmares
One of the most exciting parts of HHN 35 is how different the 10 haunted houses feel from one another. Some take stories and characters horror fans already know and surround you with them, while others introduce completely original worlds. This year’s lineup includes Sinners, Hellraiser, Stranger Things 5, Evil Dead Burn and Ozzy Osbourne: Prince of Darkness, along with five experiences exclusive to Universal Orlando: Jack & Oddfellow: Chaos & Control, Cybergoria, INVASION: Alien Abduction, MADLANDS: Caged Cannibals and H.R. Bloodengutz Presents: A Halloween Fright-Tacular!
Sinners brings Ryan Coogler’s film into the world of HHN, transporting guests to the Mississippi Delta of the 1930s and into Club Juke. What begins as the excitement surrounding a juke joint becomes something considerably darker once vampires arrive. Remmick, Bert and Joan are among the characters waiting inside, along with familiar faces including Sammie, Mary, Annie, Pearline and Cornbread. The music, atmosphere and period setting give this house an identity of its own before the bloodthirsty side of the story takes over.
Hellraiser brings a very different kind of horror. Drawing from the first three movies in the franchise, the house takes the mythology surrounding the Lament Configuration and turns it into something guests can physically enter. The Cenobites and Pinhead inhabit a world that has always been disturbing on screen, but walking into it adds another level entirely. Doug Bradley, who famously portrayed Pinhead, even returns to provide the character’s voice for the experience. Then there is Stranger Things 5, which places guests in the middle of the final battle for Hawkins. Inspired by the fifth and final season of the Netflix series, the experience brings recognizable locations and characters into the house while adding the supernatural creatures that have made the series such a perfect fit for Halloween Horror Nights. And yes, Vecna is part of the nightmare.
Evil Dead Burn begins in what should be a peaceful place, a secluded vacation home in the woods belonging to the Price family. Of course, this is Evil Dead, so peace doesn’t last particularly long. As the house progresses, the Deadites take over and the experience becomes increasingly intense. I love when HHN takes a setting that should feel safe and slowly removes every bit of that comfort, and this is exactly the kind of environment where knowing something terrible is ahead becomes half the fun.
One of the year’s most unexpected concepts is Ozzy Osbourne: Prince of Darkness. Rather than simply creating another traditional haunted house, Universal designed the experience as a living horror movie celebrating 45 years of Ozzy’s solo career. Music from albums including Blizzard of Ozz, Diary of a Madman, Bark at the Moon, No More Tears, Scream and Ordinary Man accompanies guests through the experience. It’s part horror, part rock-and-roll tribute and exactly the kind of creative combination that makes Halloween Horror Nights feel different from a typical haunted attraction.
The five Universal Orlando-exclusive houses expand the evening into completely different directions. Jack & Oddfellow: Chaos & Control brings two names deeply connected to Halloween Horror Nights lore together, which feels particularly appropriate during an anniversary year. Cybergoria moves horror into a technological nightmare, while INVASION: Alien Abduction takes the fear beyond our own planet. MADLANDS: Caged Cannibals sounds exactly like the kind of place Sebastian would probably prefer I not lead him into, while H.R. Bloodengutz Presents: A Halloween Fright-Tacular! brings another original personality back into the wonderfully strange history of HHN. Universal has also confirmed all five as Orlando-exclusive experiences for the 35th anniversary.
Moving between all of these different worlds was where I found myself appreciating HHN beyond the actual scares. Horror can be beautiful in a strange way, especially when you begin noticing how much work goes into creating it. Makeup completely changes the performers we encountered, costumes establish a character instantly and the environments create stories before anything even jumps out at you. Sebastian noticed it too, and that became something we kept talking about as we made our way through the evening.
The Fun Between the Screams
The best part of Halloween Horror Nights is that the experience doesn’t end when you exit a haunted house. You step back onto the streets and you’re still inside the event. There is music around you, characters moving through the crowds, fog making familiar areas of Universal Studios Florida look completely different and that constant feeling that someone may be approaching from behind.
For us, that made simply wandering through the park part of the date night. We’d come out of one experience laughing, catch our breath, look at each other and then head toward whatever was next. Sometimes I was more excited to keep going than Sebastian was, which admittedly made the entire thing even more entertaining for me. There is a particular kind of love involved in following your horror-loving wife willingly into another dark hallway when every instinct is probably telling you otherwise.
What I also loved was being able to slow down occasionally and actually look around. Halloween Horror Nights rewards that. Once you get beyond anticipating the next scare, there is so much artistry happening around you. We noticed faces transformed through makeup, details worked into costumes and environments designed to make us feel as though we’d walked away from Universal Studios Florida and into someplace completely different.
That was probably the biggest surprise of our night together. Sebastian didn’t have to become a horror fan to enjoy Halloween Horror Nights. He could appreciate the production of it, while I could enjoy both the production and the wonderfully ridiculous fun of being scared.
Thirty-Five Years of Fear
There is also something special about experiencing Halloween Horror Nights during its 35th anniversary. An event doesn’t continue for three and a half decades without evolving, and this year’s combination of familiar horror properties and original Universal creations shows why HHN has developed such a devoted following. Universal describes the anniversary as a celebration of its horror legacy while continuing to create new immersive experiences, and walking through the park makes that history feel very much alive.
For longtime fans, characters such as Jack and Oddfellow connect the present event to its past. For guests coming because they love Stranger Things, Sinners, Hellraiser or Evil Dead, recognizable stories provide the invitation. Then there are people like Sebastian and me, who can walk into the same event with completely different relationships to horror and still find ourselves having fun together.
That’s what made the night work for us. As the hours passed, I stopped thinking about whether Sebastian was going to suddenly become someone who wanted to watch horror movies with me. I don’t think that’s happening, and that’s perfectly fine. Instead, I loved watching him notice the artistry behind something he normally wouldn’t choose for himself. I loved that we could walk out of a house laughing, talk about what had just happened and then head right back into the fog together.
Halloween Horror Nights is certainly about fear, but experiencing it together made me realize how much of the evening is also about fun. It’s screaming and then immediately laughing because you screamed. It’s knowing that something is about to jump out at you and still being surprised when it does. It’s grabbing the person beside you, admiring an incredible piece of makeup seconds later and then moving on to another completely different world.
For Sebastian and I, it became one of those Orlando nights that reminded us why we love finding experiences to share, even when they take one of us a little outside his comfort zone. I got the horror, characters and excitement I love, while Sebastian discovered an appreciation for the creativity and craftsmanship that bring all of it to life. By the time we started making our way out of Universal Studios Florida, the fog was still drifting across the streets and screams could still be heard somewhere behind us, but we were laughing and talking about everything we had seen. We went into Halloween Horror Nights as the horror fan and the decidedly non-horror fan, and somewhere along the way those labels stopped mattering quite so much. We were simply Sebastian and me, having a really fun night together.
And perhaps that was my favorite surprise of Halloween Horror Nights 35. Behind all of the monsters, darkness and carefully created nightmares, we found an evening filled with incredible artistry, plenty of laughter and another adventure to add to our story together. Sebastian still doesn’t have to watch horror movies with me, but after surviving 35 years’ worth of Universal’s imagination in one unforgettable night, I think I’ve earned the right to ask him to come back with me next year and I cannot wait
to experience what’s next.
If You Go:
What to Expect: Ten immersive haunted houses, live entertainment, themed food and drinks, and plenty of scares throughout the park.
Good to Know: Halloween Horror Nights is a separately ticketed nighttime event designed for mature audiences. Costumes and costume masks are not permitted. Arrive early to make the most of your evening, and consider adding an Express Pass if you want to experience more of the houses with less time spent waiting in line. Comfortable shoes are a must, you’ll be doing plenty of walking between screams.
Details & Tickets: Universal Orlando’s official Halloween Horror Nights website at https://www.universalorlando.com/hhn/en/us.
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