Last month I finally did something that most haunt and or Universal fans would die for. I paid a visit to both Universal Hollywood’s and Orlando’s annual frightfest Halloween Horror Nights. Now while this was my first year for the Hollywood event that’s not the case with the Orlando event. I don’t consider myself by any means to be a master of HHN but maybe a veteran to a degree. My wife and I have been visiting the event every year in Orlando for over a decade. We have never missed a house or a scare zone. In total that’s right at 77 houses and 57 scarezones just from Halloween Horror Nights. I give you those stats to help you the reader understand my background for the event and what I have come to expect. But enough about me lets talk haunt.
The two events while similar to a degree since yes there both from Universal and there both Halloween Horror Nights are surprisingly different. Some of the differences were quite obvious while others were very surprising and welcomed. I felt like the two events could really learn from one another in the end.
The Hollywood event focuses on more of the movie, real character, or true stories if you will to tell there haunted stories. Not surprising considering it is in fact a real movie studio. The park takes full advantage of there movie studio background and pulls it off perfectly. They even have a very unique take on a highly themed scarezone using there backlot, but more on that later. Two things that really surprised us was cost and alcohol, or lack there of. Thats right Orlando haunt fans the Hollywood event DOES NOT SERVE ALCOHOL within the park! Now I understand why they can’t, but it was still really nice in my opinion to not have to deal with the drunks. As for the cost we really thought it was a bargain. For $60 bucks a person we got admission into the event, a souvenier lanyard, AND front of the line passes to all houses and rides. Yeah all that for sixty bucks and on a Friday night mind you. Also we really enjoyed the front of the line passes here. The park was packed and we never waited more than 5 minutes. We found the park layout to be great except for the lower lot. Holy crap thats a change in elevation. In order to get from the upper and lower lot you have to take a ride on 4 escalators, and were not talking mall escalators here folks. It takes the better part of 15 minutes to travel down to the lower lot. The last and probably biggest difference was the house locations. There are no soundstage haunts here so you can kiss those incredible facades good bye. The Hollywood event utilizes make shift structures and queue house locations and while its not a huge deal the loss of the large facades does take away from the overall feel of the houses theme especially after seeing some of the facades that come from the Orlando event.
The Orlando event sticks to original content for most of its haunts and zones. Year after year there creative team focuses on all new themes and stories for there haunts to tell. And year after year were blown away with there creativity and imagination in regards to scaring you the guest. Some of the major differences you will see in the Orlando event is overall budget. Its obvious this event has a larger one. The houses here are more elaborate, the event itself is larger, and offers more to do. This year proved the house theory as well. Now while the event is lucky enough to use sound stages for some of the haunts, every house no matter what location was beyond realistic. As for some of the negatives, the event itself is more expensive. Even with heavy discounts for roughly $100 bucks a head on your average night you get admission and front of the line express use for all major attractions within the event. This is $40 dollars more than the Hollywood event and while the ticket says express its anything but now a days. They oversell the “limited” pass causing lines in some cases to exceed over 30 minutes. In all my years the longest I ever waited in an “express” line in Orlando was 40 minutes. I went to the Hollywood event on a Friday night and the longest I waited was 3-5 minutes and that included walking time. But on the positive side of admission prices are the large amount of frequent fear options. These passes allow you up to 20+ nights of admission for less than $1oo bucks. Another negative for the Orlando event is the sheer amount of alcohol thats present. Now I’m not saying take it away as I usually have a few beers over the course of the event. What I am saying is if you make alcohol so easily accessible there is consequences. While security is decent it doesn’t stop the idiots from showing themselves.
As far as the ride offerings are concerned ehh its almost a draw. The Simpsons are identical so that’s a draw. The Mummy in Orlando is so superior to the Hollywood version its sad. Upon the fog and pitch black ending of the Hollywood version my wife and I looked at each other and said WTF was that?! I will say that the queue in the Hollywood version was nice and there steered away from the lousy story told in Orlando. And the backwards section in HW was pretty cool. But again the Orlando version while not perfect in anyway dominates Hollywood. Now the final ride in each parks corner is Jaws in Orlando and Jurassic Park at Hollywood. Jaws at night is a very cool experience and I highly recommend you try it if your at the park after dark. But the Hollywood version of Jurassic Park river adventure is clearly the winner here. The ride has more dinos than the IOA version and feels much more complete. The contents of the ride building alone embarrasses the Orlando version. So while each park offers a superior version to one another in the end it comes to a draw.
Alright for what everyone is actually reading for, house and scarezone reviews. I will grade each house using three categories and then award points from 1 being the lowest to 5 being the highest. The three categories are atmosphere, scares, and creativity. Now remember these are my reviews and yours could and probably would be very different. At the end I will rank in order from bottom to top my favorite houses and zones from both events combined. So lets get started shall we.
In no particular order!
Eli Roths Hostel: Hunting Season (Hollywood House)
This haunt might have been one of the most gory houses ever at HHN. The sheer amount of gore involved in torture scenes and remnants of disemboweled bodies was staggering. The houses themeing of being in a house of torture was excellent and felt like a scene in the movie. The scares however were lacking and we felt the gore to be repetitive and to a point overused. During our visit we were able to go through twice.
Atmosphere: 4
Scares: 2
Creativity: 3
Alice Cooper: Welcome to my Nightmare (Hollywood House)
This was quite the surprise as we were not expecting much. I mean come on Alice Cooper, really? We were met with great visuals, awesome puppets, and great scares. The house was quite long as well which was something a few of the Hollywood houses shared. The house was the total package and makes you wonder what the hell happened to Alice to give him Nightmares like this. Keep having them though as they provide great haunts.
Atmosphere: 4
Scares: 4
Creativity: 4
Saws and Steam into the Machine (Orlando House)
Finally the Jaws queue has a house to be proud of, when it comes to theming. The small facade seen here is a lot like what you will see at each Hollywood haunt for those who want and idea of facade size in Hollywood. While the theming on the inside is awesome and it tells a great demented tale of torture and death. It lacks largely in scares but shared a creative side of special effects that hasn’t been seen before. Major props to the water wall suit guy thing. Visited this house 4 times during the event.
Atmosphere: 4
Scares: 1
Creativity: 4
The Thing (Orlando House)
Wow talk about a letdown. The house had a nice facade which really allowed your mind to wander into the set of the movie. It also had some great special effects with the large alien in the roof being a nice touch. But the entire house really lacked the wow factor and overall feeling that some of us older Horror Nights fans expected from a Thing sequel or prequel. The first house was amazing and is to this day in my top 3 favorites of all time. It did have some good scares but how many people did you need walking around with the thing prosthetic on there face? Again not a bad house but the first Thing was much better and the Hollywood version, well we will get to that later. 4 runs through this house.
Atmosphere: 4
Scares: 2
Creativity: 2
Scream (Hollywood SZ)
Upon entry into the park you are greeted with the parks first and worst scarezone Scream. I know its an entry area and your kind of limited but it was weak. There was some pretty nice eye candy dancing on poles but thats besides the point. Were not here to stare at women in seductive clothing. They have children you know. Alright my wife walked away, SO HOT like I just wanted to grab a beer and watch!
Atmosphere: me 5 my wife 1
Scares: 1
Creativity: 1
Klownz (Hollywood SZ)
This was a great SZ that incorporated some pretty demonic clowns. The ringmaster was awesome and the overall feeling to the zone was chaotic and very very energetic. I give major props to the scareactors here as they took it to another level as far as being interactive and ganging up on groups of people. I noticed during my visit they made it there mission to scare everyone and not just the teens.
Atmosphere: 5
Scares: 3
Creativity: 2
Reapers (Hollywood SZ)
Well this one better be good. After your long escalator ride from the upper lot the Reaper SZ greets people upon entering the lower lot. This is a very busy area considering its size. The actors had the energy but where was the environment? It was thrown together literally inbetween the entrance of JPRA, Mummy, and two haunts. These guys had to rely on each other for scares so props to the actors but you were doomed before I got on the escalators.
Atmosphere: 1
Scares: 2
Creativity: 1
Your luck has run out (Orlando SZ)
What the hell was this? Its not about quantity Universal its about quality. You really lose the authenticity when the same character is viewable in 12 areas from one viewpoint. This was the problem with Carnival of Carnage and its houses. It was kind of dumb to see Freddy times 3 in one room. Kind of sad that this was the icons only representation.
Atmosphere: 2
Scares: 1
Creativity: 1
Acid Assault (Orlando SZ)
The zone was ok, it kind of felt small for the area it was to represent. The projections were a nice touch and added an overall depth to the zone but again it just wasn’t clicking.
Atmosphere: 3
Scares: 2
Creativity: 2
The Wolfman: Curse of Talbot Hall (Hollywood House)
I kind of expected this to be along the lines of the Wolfman house from HHN 19 in Orlando. Which would of been great I mean that house while short was awesome. However it didn’t come close. This house utilizes the House of Horrors haunt that is used the other 11 months of the year. I used to be on the bring a full time haunt to Orlando, I used to be. This house was boring and the theming was obviously for Frankenstein and Dracula. I did like the costumes they used though.
Atmosphere: 2
Scares: 2
Creativity: 1
Rob Zombies House of a 1000 Corpses (Hollywood House)
As a fan of the movie I was stoked to visit this house. I’m glad to say I was not disappointed. The 3-D was very well done and disorienting. Capt Spalding in the first room was casted perfectly and just saying he scared the crap out of me. This was another house that had great length giving it time to depict all the main characters. The house is twisted and up until a certain Orlando house this was the best 3-D house ever done.
Atmosphere: 5
Scares: 3
Creativity: 3
The InBetween (Orlando House)
Without a doubt this was a sleeper hit with many fans including myself. Much like the House of a 1000 corpses in Hollywood the use of 3D effects within here were very impressive. For those who didn’t know this was the spinning tunnel house this year by the way. Anyways though the demon characters mixed with impressive lighting effects and the 3D aspect made for some very intense scares. The entire house was alive with explosive actors and creative design. If you were not a fan of 3D houses before the InBetween probably changed your mind.
Atmosphere: 5
Scares: 5
Creativity: 4
The Forsaken: (Orlando House)
When I heard a pirate themed haunt would be on the way I immediately was excited. I thought to myself well I wonder what took so long for this one to come off the bench. The wait was well worth it. I will admit at first I was undecided on this house. The lack of a facade didn’t bother me as the hurricane scene more than made up for it and is without question one of the best scenes ever at Halloween Horror Nights. I didn’t much care for the green eyes as it did give away the actors posistion in most cases but the actors adapted and made it work. The projection effect and bungy actor at the end were a great touch but the titled walkway on the “ship” was very creative and clearly shows they still have new tricks up there sleeves.
Atmosphere: 5
Scares: 2
Creativity: 5
7 (Orlando SZ)
This was a good scarezone with some amazing scareactors. I thought for sure this zone was going to be a dud. I just couldn’t really understand how it was supposed to be scary or good for that matter. But to my surprise by adding in the seven deadly sins, great scareactors, and a constant Marilyn Manson soundtrack it really just kind of clicked. In a crap year for zones this one wasn’t all that bad.
Atmosphere: 3
Scares: 2
Creativity: 3
Zombieville (Hollywood SZ)
ZOMBIES!!!! This was a great scarezone that had great energy and a lot of fog. So much fog that you really couldn’t see where you were going. The overall feeling of the zone though was chaos and a true feeling of a zombie outbreak. Can’t really give it to much of a creative score as it is a zombie zone thats been done numerous times.
Atmosphere: 4
Scares: 3
Creativity: 2
Freakz (Hollywood SZ)
The stilt walkers were pretty good as were the costumes and overall designs but it just wasn’t scary in my opinion. Not a bad zone but compared to Klownz and Zombies it couldn’t keep up.
Atmosphere: 3
Scares: 1
Creativity: 2
Grown Evil (Orlando SZ)
Giant Bat people on stilts and ghillie suits how can this not be scary? The zone was compact and active and the actors really tried to feed off of it each other. The costumes were pretty cool and the overall atmosphere was probably the best of all the zones this year. But in the end it was too short and lacked on scares.
Atmosphere: 4
Scares: 2
Creativity: 2
Canyon of Dark Souls (Orlando SZ)
Based on memory the Canyon of Dark Souls might be one of the shortest SZ’s ever created. It was only about 40-50 ft long and it was one walkway. I will say they had some great costumes and actors that packed quite a punch in a small area. But I can’t help but feel there was a missed opportunity for this zone. I wish it would of been in a larger format with more routes. For those who remember something very similar to this has actually already been done. At HHN 14 at IOA the rock work in front of the Flying Unicorn actually had actors that blended into that same rock work creating the same scares under a similar setting.
Atmosphere: 3
Scares: 2
Creativity: 2
Nightmaze (Orlando SZ)
Alright who tried to recreate an aspect of Run but cut the budget? I want to say this zone was SAD, I mean I almost felt bad for the actors of this zone as they literally had nothing to work with. I mean nothing to work with, fog, black fences, and white lights thats it. Like I said I wanted to say it was sad BUT the actors saved this zone from being one of the worst created. I got more scares in this zone than all the rest combined. They adapted better to there surroundings than any other zone or house at both events. If there was an award for best cast I almost would have to give it to them based on performance. To the actors GREAT JOB!
Atmosphere: 1
Scares: 4
Creativity: 1
The Terror Tram Scream 4 for your life (Tram Ride Hollywood)
The Terror Tram in reality is really just a glorified scare zone that takes the better part of an hour to complete. You begin by boarding the massive tram section where your host explains to you that there is 4 horror films being filmed on the backlot including a STAB movie based on the Scream franchise. On your way to the Stab-a-thon things begin to go wrong and your dropped off in the backlot next to the Grinch set and greeted by 15 or so chain saw actors. After the Grinch set your journey continues as you pass the bates motel, the psycho house, and you walk the entire war of the worlds plane crash set. In between these you pass through numerous empty areas of bushes and props where actors are hiding. Now while walking the back lot is cool for a noob I can see how this would get old fast. It is a lot of walking and continuing up and down hills and rough terrain. The sets themselves are cool but scary ehhh not really. After your death march you board back onto the tram where your guide is murdered on the way back before your dropped off. My main problem is there is really no tie to Scream aside from a few ghostfaces walking around here and there. It was just a bunch of randomness with no story. The best part aside from experiencing the back lot was the guys in ghillie suits that did a great job of getting a few scares here and there. I just felt like this was supposed to be the main attraction at the event as its unique, based off the main attraction at the park, and due to heavy advertising about how its a MUST SEE. In the end it fell short and never really made us feel immersed or made us Scream.
Atmosphere: 5
Scares: 2
Creativity: 2
The Thing Assimilation (Hollywood House)
Again this house wasn’t as good as the Original Thing house from Orlando of years ago. But this was without a doubt the superior Thing house of both events. Now while it lacked the more elaborate set like in Orlando’s thing house this year it delivered more so on the scare side of things. We really liked the facade and thought it was one of the best ones there. We also really enjoyed the actors and puppeteers that were within the house. While the placement of some of the actors using large prosthetics could of been changed as they all seemed to use the same cut out of the wall tactic there use of there suits was awesome. They really were into there roles and even if you knew it was coming it still scared you. This was my wife’s favorite house at the Hollywood event and second favorite among the two combined. I can’t blame her as our only walk through was extremely good and was very scary. Our favorite scene was the near miss from the semi truck.
Atmosphere: 4
Scares: 5
Creativity: 3
Winters Night the Haunting of Hawthorne Cemetary (Orlando House)
This house instanly gets the award for greatest facade entry this year if not ever. The entire house was amazing in detail and story. You literally felt as if your walking through a cemetary. The large open sets combined with cold tempatures, and great special effects made this house a treat just to walk through numerous times. The only fallback for this house was the scares or lack there of. It just wasn’t all that scary which was a bummer. All in all though this was a prime example as to why Universal are the masters of theming these amazing haunts.
Atmosphere: 5
Scares: 2
Creativity: 5
Nightengales Blood Prey (Orlando House)
This was the house I was looking forward to the most as anything regarding the older wars peaks my interest. The entry and facade were great as you truly felt you had been dropped into a warzone. For me this house started off strong and then just lost its spark as the event went on. It started off as a favorite and then fizzled out towards the back of the pack. The Nightengales were cool but just after a few times through just lost it. I feel like part of it was they didn’t have as many hiding spots as other houses and where were the soldiers at. In a war you need two sides and it just kind of left nightengales hanging for the second half of the house. Also the special effects here were good but easily missed taking away from the house greatly. Of all my visits through this house NOT ONCE i mean NOT ONCE did I witness the soldier being torn in half. Again a good solid house but it could of been great.
Atmosphere: 4
Scares: 3
Creativity: 4
La Llorona: Villa de Almas Perdidas (Hollywood House)
Our final house at the Hollywood event and without a doubt the best one here in my opinion. The facade was awesome and the entry into the church or school house I can’t remember really set the tone. Unlike the other haunts here that relied on tight walkways this haunt had wide open corridors which haunts came from any direction. It really felt like you had been dropped into a Mexican village and at some points you thought you were outside. While this house was the shortest of all the haunts in both parks it packed a mighty punch from the moment you walked in to the moment you ran out. During our two visits to this house we were assaulted with a scare onslaught that nearly brought my wife down several times. It was an amazing house that I wouldn’t mind seeing Orlando taking a stab at.
Atmosphere: 5
Scares: 5
Creativity: 5
Death Drums (Orlando Show)
Holy crap what was this? I watched all of about 5 minutes of this and walked to the nearest scare zone for some entertainment. If your a drummer or really just like a good beat then you probably would be all about this but the other 95% of people were not.
Nevermore the Madness of Poe (Orlando House)
Let me start off by saying I am not a fan of Edgar Allan Poe. I don’t dislike him by any means but again just not a fan so I didn’t know what to expect going into this haunt. After saying that though I kind of wanted to go out and read some of his work after this house. This house was mesmorizing. You were a witness to not only Poe’s stories but the madness that was his life. The house had amazing detail throughout that really made you feel you were in the stories. My favorite room was the fall of the house of Usher. The one guy in on the platform would get me every time. My wife got one of the best scares ever from the Tell Tale Heart room from the dude hanging out of the boo hole. This was my wifes favorite haunt throughout both events and while not my favorite it was in the top three thats for sure. A great house on all levels!
Atmosphere: 5
Scares: 4
Creativity: 5
H.R. Bloodengutz Presents Holidays of Horror
This house which was located in the Disaster extended queue was a house that I was not expecting to be good. I just didn’t see how this was going to work, I mean holidays, haunted house, comedy, theme show? It was all just to much, I didn’t think it would have an identity. Boy was I wrong. This house delivered each and every time I went through. The holidays were well represented by great actors and some fantastic special effects. From the Arbour tree to the nuke at presidents day the whole house delivered for each special day. The atmosphere it created along with its creative use of scares and special effects made this a true winner and one of the best haunts among both events. Oh and HR will you push the red button please?
Atmosphere: 5
Scares: 4
Creativity: 5
Scarezone Ranking
13. Scream
12. Your luck has Run Out
11. Reapers
10. Canyon of Dark Souls
9. Acid Assault
8. Freakz
7. Nightmaze
6. Acid Assault
5. Grown Evil
4. Zombieville
3. Terror Tram
2. 7
1. Klownz
House Rankings
14. The Wolfman: Curse of Talbot Hall
13. Saws and Steam into the Machine
12. The Thing (Orlando)
11. Eli Roths Hostel Hunting Season
10. Nightengales
9. Rob Zombies House of 1000 Corpses
8. Alice Cooper Welcome to my Nightmare
7. Winters Night Haunting of Hawthorne Cemetary
6. Forsaken
5. The Thing Assimilation (Hollywood)
4. The InBetween
3. Nevermore the Madness of Poe
2. La Llorona: Villa de Almas Perdidas
1. H.R. Bloodengutz
Yeah thats right I chose La Llorona as the best in Hollywood and HR the best in Orlando and overall. Both of these houses delivered in all three categories consistently and provided more horror and fun that all of the others. Yeah if you were to tell me these were going to be my favorites in early September I would of laughed and walked away but here we are.
Well thats it for the reviews in closing I want to say how great both of this years events were. All of the hard work the creative teams, actors, and vendors put into this event is not overlooked or underappreciated. Year after year the event grows stronger and stronger with more and more fans being made with each passing October night. Thank you to all of you and I look foward to seeing what you have in store for us next year. Also I want to say the amount of photos I took was pretty light as I did not have a low light lens with me. So excuse the small amount of photos.
