Halloween Horror Nightsis reminding us to never go alone.
In its third year post-COVID, the 32nd annual Halloween spooktacular at Universal Orlando Resort has found both new and old footing, tapping into what it has arguably always done best with its theme-park events — original creative content — while leveraging several intellectual properties (IPs) that have managed to be lifted to an impossibly fresh level.
Aside fromfive Scare Zones— all designed to tell the twisting story of this year’s icon, Dr. Oddfellow —10 haunted houses, a death-defying live show, tons of themed food and drink and more are scattered throughout the specially ticketed evening event at Universal Studios Florida, running on close to 50 select nights from now through Nov. 4.
As for the featured IPs, horror fans will rejoice over titles likeThe Exorcist: Believer, Chucky: Ultimate Kill Count, returning favoriteStranger Things(this time focusing on its fourth season) and, of course,The Last of Us.
Halloween Horror Nights 2023 at Universal Studios Florida.Universal Orlando Resort/Jen Juneau
Universal Orlando Resort/Jen Juneau
And scare wise, there’s something for everyone. As Lora Sauls, Universal Orlando Resort’s Senior Manager of The Creative Development Group and Show Direction, tells PEOPLE, “Of course every year we want to just go bigger, go better, gomore horrific with our intellectual properties, but also we just want to write amazing original-content stories.”
She also notes how a focus on Dr. Oddfellow — who made his first appearance at HHN more than two decades ago — is “something setting this year apart so much” from the ones that came before it.
“He’s truly controlling the entire Scare Zone program with his journey of becoming immortal and he’s inviting all of you who love fear and just soak up fear to follow his journey,” she says. “He’s a man of deceit; he likes to tell lies, so he may offering you immortality, but he really is just going to ultimately make you part [of an exchange] for your soul.”
Below, you’ll find a list of this year’s 10 haunted houses ranked from least to most scary in the opinion of this writer, who hasattended Halloween Horror Nightsmost years since 2002 and is familiar with the IPs, the lore of the event and Universal Orlando itself.
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10.Dueling Dragons: Choose Thy Fate
“There are some graphic things in nature, but it’s just a fun story of two competing warlocks fighting over Merlin’s spell book,” Sauls tells PEOPLE.
If you want to be transported into a fantasy world that maybe isn’t what you quite expected as the main character — with a bit of a choose-your-own-adventure vibe, featuring a Fire vs. Ice callback to the original attraction queue — this maze is perfect for you. If you’re looking for screams and don’t have a nostalgic attachment to the original Dueling Dragons coaster, you might not get as much out of it.
Mike Aiello and Neil Druckmann discussThe Last of Usduring Halloween Horror Nights 2023 at Universal Studios Florida.Universal Orlando Resort/Jen Juneau
9.The Last of Us
AndThe Last of Usis a popular IP for a great, and unique, reason: It goes beyond horror in the type of humanizing way that the zombie genre arguably hasn’t quite mastered before.
Chucky: Ultimate Kill Counthaunted-house queue inside Halloween Horror Nights 2023 at Universal Studios Florida.Universal Orlando Resort/Jen Juneau
8.Chucky: Ultimate Kill Count
Admittedly, I may have put this house at No. 9 or 10 if I’d only seen some of the later movies in theChild’s Playfranchise, but it (expertly) recreates some of the scenes from the original films that I watched (probably way too early) in my childhood that are still seared into my memory, so it gets a bump. Keep your eyes peeled for a particularly iconicJennifer Tillyscene from (the very underrated) 1998 comedy-horror classicBride of Chucky!
My main complaint for this house is that the first half transports you right into the movies, but the second half feels very random. I was hoping to see something substantial from themost recent season of the show— or even from theupcoming White House-focused season! But no such luck. (I still want to do it again.)
Universal Monsters: Unmaskedhaunted-house queue inside Halloween Horror Nights 2023 at Universal Studios Florida.Universal Orlando Resort/Jen Juneau
7.Universal Monsters: Unmasked
One thing Universal has no shortage of is monsters, and they have leveraged that fact most years, inserting traditional horror icons into their houses like Dracula, the Wolfman, etc.
The fact that they can continue to play on this classic theme and remain fresh — this time with newcomers Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the Invisible Man, the Phantom of the Opera and The Hunchback of Notre Dame — is impressive. And this time, we get to do it all in Paris!
The biggest scare factor in this house is the Invisible Man, from the bandaged face to the creepy voiceover that sounds too sane to actually be sane … not to mention the strobe lights that activate at just the wrong moment, when he’s alittletoo close for comfort.
Stranger Things 4haunted house inside Halloween Horror Nights 2023 at Universal Studios Florida.Universal Orlando Resort/Jen Juneau
6.Stranger Things 4
Any other year, I probably would have rankedHHN’sStranger Thingshousesa bit less scary. But season 4 of the hit Netflix show leaned into traditional horror more than its predecessor installments and, as a result, felt like it lent itself perfectly for a house at this event — and Universal took full advantage in re-creating its most iconic scenes.
The design and layout of the rooms, the casting, the perfect use of music and lighting — everything about this year’s house made you feel transported into 1986 Hawkins, Indiana, in the best (and most bone-chilling) way possible, and was my favoriteStranger Thingshouse at HHNto date.
Slight spoiler: You may see more than one version of Vecna.
Lora Sauls discussesYETI: Campground Killsduring Halloween Horror Nights 2023 at Universal Studios Florida.Universal Orlando Resort/Jen Juneau
5.YETI: Campground Kills
This house has been kind of marketed as the “funny” one for 2023, meaning there is usually at least one of those every year. So I went in expecting to laugh the way I have in the past for horror-comedy-type houses like 2009’sLeave It to Cleaver.
But no laughs were in sight, as this house felt the closest to real life to me in the sense that it involved an entire family in the monster’s path, doing something as innocent as camping.
4.Dr. Oddfellow’s Twisted Origins
The main-attraction accompaniment to the intertwined Oddfellow-story-focused Scare Zones, this maze offers a traditional carnival-istic feel with some oddities (out for blood, naturally) thrown in for good measure.
3.The Darkest Deal
This, admittedly, was the house I was least excited about, as I’m not a huge music person and the storyline synopsis reads, “Blues musician Pinestraw Spruce will have to face the music after meeting with The Collector and trading his soul for musical glory.”
All I can say is … watch your back.
2.Bloodmoon: Dark Offerings
Who doesn’t love a good kill cult? In this Colonial-era house, a blood moon influences a bunch of moon worshippers to turn on anyone who doesn’t follow their beliefs, with no one spared.
I don’t know if it was the old-timey setting that reminded me a bit ofThe Witch(2016) or the chilling sounds of frantic stabbing piercing the air seemingly at every turn, but every second of this house gave me an unsettling feeling that I couldn’t shake for the rest of the night.
“It’s probably not one for the kids,” Sauls tells PEOPLE.
The Exorcist: Believerhaunted house inside Halloween Horror Nights 2023 at Universal Studios Florida.Universal Orlando Resort/Jen Juneau
1.The Exorcist: Believer
Thehaunted house based on the new film— which will markEllen Burstyn’s return to the franchise for the first time since the first movie, 50 years ago — has been marketed as a “trailer” of sorts for the upcoming sequel, so it was hard to go in without knowing what to expect.
I will say there are scenes you might expect, but the scareactors' proximity to guests as they walk through the house paired with a feeling of complete loss of control gives it the No. 1 spot on my list — and that probably would’ve been the case even if itdidn’tinclude the staircase that original fans will recognize and, like me, immediately nope their ways past.
Tickets for Halloween Horror Nights 32 — as well as upgrades like Express Pass, Frequent Fear Pass, Rush of Fear Pass and more — are on sale now atuniversalorlando.com/hhn.
source: people.com
