September's barely just begun, but spooky season is already in full swing at Universal Orlando Resort, where the theme park recently kicked off its annual Halloween Horror Nights event. Now in its 32nd year, the spine-tingling celebration invites guests to an evening stacked with enough scream-eliciting encounters to fuel a lifetime of nightmares.
Running select nights through Nov. 4, the destination event has everything from live entertainment and outdoor "scare zones" to themed merchandise and frighteningly good food options. But the biggest draw by far is its haunted houses — elaborate, indoor attractions based on both popular intellectual properties and totally original concepts.
Much more than cornfield mazes populated by college kids in scary masks, these houses are Hollywood-rivaling productions packed with slick special effects, live costumed actors, immersive audio work and carefully crafted stories. Toss in enough fake blood and guts to turn the stomachs of even the most seasoned horror enthusiasts, and the walk-through attractions are as gory as they are gripping.
We recently braved each of the 10 houses in a single evening — and survived to share all the grisly, gruesome details with you. So whether you're a scaredy-cat craving a vicarious thrill or a hardcore horror fan wondering which houses are worth waiting in line for, read on for our goosebumps-raising report on what to expect from this year's slate of spooky homesteads.
The Darkest Deal
NBC Universal
Our terrifying tour doesn't begin with a fright but, rather, a familiar tale. Dubbed "The Darkest Deal," the first house we enter tells the story of Pinestraw Spruce, a struggling Mississippi Delta blues musician willing to sell his soul for success and stardom. While this fable has been spun countless times in various mediums, we promise you've never seen it adapted quite like this.
Universal's horror-fueled take on the material is a refreshingly story-led, character-driven affair that complements the expected exchange between Spruce and "The Collector" with plenty of effective frights and unsettling scenes. From following Spruce's doomed, demon-filled career to the exact moment his soul's sucked from his body, the attraction is brimming with nightmare-conjuring imagery. And that's before guests literally descend into the fiery depths of hell, where poor Pinestraw has become a permanent resident.
Dr. Oddfellow's Twisted Origins
NBC Universal
While we survive the first house with our soul intact, that doesn't stop the next abode's titular foe from taking a swipe at it. An original Halloween Horror Nights "icon," Dr. Oddfellow runs a Dust Bowl-era traveling circus filled with creepy clowns, sadistic carnies and a handful of especially disturbing man-beast hybrids.
Another "collector" of sorts, Oddfellow draws you into his brightly colored big top with calliope music and the promise of showing you "striking acts of distortion." But it's all a ruse, as unsuspecting patrons spend the next few minutes having the wits scared out of them by the aforementioned assortment of freaks. As guests compose themselves and approach the tent's exit, the evil doctor makes one final appearance to inform them of their ultimate fate: "Your souls have been distorted, and you are mine."
Universal Monsters: Unmasked
NBC Universal
With our souls apparently sacrificed to Oddfellow's sinister circus, it seems Halloween Horror Nights is hellbent on finishing off our mortal husks with Universal Monsters: Unmasked. Based on the studio's classic creatures, this one begins on the streets of Paris, where lantern-lit streets and a light fog almost fool you into thinking you're about to enjoy a quiet European getaway.
That is until the Phantom of the Opera, the Hunchback of Notre Dame, the Invisible Man, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde break the illusion like a crusty baguette. Complemented by incredible makeup and costume design, the fearsome quartet come to monstrous life, relentlessly hunting guests throughout the attraction. Toss in some fantastic/horrifying set pieces — such as Hyde literally ripping the spine from a victim's back and Quasimodo nearly leaping on visitors from his bell tower — and this one easily delivers some of the evening's best frights.
The Last of Us
NBC Universal
Next on our tour is one of the event's most-hyped haunted houses: The Last of Us. Based on the original 2013 PlayStation game — rather than the acclaimed HBO Max series—the attraction meticulously re-creates Joel and Ellie's harrowing journey through the source material's Pittsburgh quarantine zone.
As fans of both the game and show (which swaps Pittsburgh for Kansas City) will recall, the post-apocalyptic pair take on human hunters, as well as the full gamut of fungally-infected freaks — from Runners and Stalkers to Clickers and Bloaters. The latter makes an especially gruesome appearance, greeting guests with the detached head of its last victim. Beyond the blood and gore, this one's packed with cool Easter eggs — including original voice actors Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson reprising the roles of Joel and Ellie — that make it a must-do for enthusiasts of both the game and series.
Dueling Dragons: Choose Thy Fate
NBC Universal
With the Bloater encounter just about breaking what's left of our fragile psyches, our tour continues to a medieval castle, where two warlocks are engaged in an epic fight. That might sound like a strange theme for a "haunted house," but Dueling Dragons: Choose Thy Fate is actually based on a retired roller coaster from the resort's Islands of Adventure park.
One of the night's more inspired attractions — and a potential favorite for fans of the classic coaster — this one leverages slick fire and ice effects, representing the rival warlocks' deadly powers, to immerse guests in their brutal battle. Supported by an impressive pair of magic-spewing dragons, as well as dual endings leaning into the "Choose Thy Fate" theme, this one's perfect for those who like their horror with a heaping side of dark fantasy.
Yeti: Campground Kills
NBC Universal
Our celebration of all things that go bump in the night continues with Yeti: Campground Kills, a B movie-inspired romp that brilliantly mixes dark humor with gore-soaked encounters involving the titular beasts. Set at the fictional Shadow Creek State Park, the attraction essentially serves up a group of clueless campers to an entire family of hungry yeti.
This setup results in a ton of jump scares, courtesy of the towering creatures emerging from the shadows — with many of the yeti having just separated an unsuspecting tourist from their limbs. But it's the comical reactions of the campers — played by live actors clearly having a ball — that steal the show. From the angry woman threatening a yeti with a cast iron skillet to the bearded old man in a bucket hat pouring every ounce of his talent into his single line of dialog — "What the hell are those things?!" — this house elicits big smiles and loud screams in equal measure.
Stranger Things 4
NBC Universal
Our seventh scary destination begins outside the trailer of fan-favorite Stranger Things' metal-head Eddie Munson. The event previously featured the Netflix hit's first three seasons, so this year's offering is all about highlighting iconic moments and characters from the series' most recent batch of episodes. Which, of course, brings us back to Eddie's modest home. The attraction kicks off with the terrifying "Chrissy, wake up" scene, where Munson watches in horror as the doomed cheerleader's body violently breaks and contorts before his eyes.
But the hits keep on coming, as we also witness Eleven's epic battle with Henry Creel/Vecna, as well as test subject 001's transformation into his final, tentacle-tangled form. Subtler touches — such as the foreboding chiming of grandfather clocks and the sparse yet highly effective use of Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill" — also do their part to fully immerse fans in the show's most horrifying season.
Bloodmoon: Dark Offerings
NBC Universal
Our favorite Halloween Horror Nights houses are often the original concepts spilled from the minds of Universal's creative team. The next stop on our tour, Bloodmoon: Dark Offerings, totally fits that bill and then some. Its inspired setup transports guests to a rustic, colonial-era village that wouldn't look out of place as part of a natural history exhibit — save for all the blade-bearing, sun-worshiping cultists threatening to turn us into a sacrificial totem.
The attraction's quaint, colonial environments clash perfectly with the graphically violent actions of the robed, chanting believers who seemingly stop at nothing to pay proper tribute to their lunar god. While we don't catch the specifics of what carrying out this primitive ritual entails, it apparently involves lots of severed limbs, a few decapitated heads and enough exposed entrails to ensure we skip dinner after the event.
The Exorcist: Believer
NBC Universal
Having barely survived Bloodmoon's maniacal cultists, we catch our breath and brace ourselves for The Exorcist: Believer. Serving as a sort of living trailer for the upcoming sequel to the 1973 horror classic, this house begins with a simple-enough, if unsettling, premise: Two girls seem to have gone missing on a camping trip, leading their concerned parents and the police to desperately search for them in the woods.
Fast forward to the girls' "safe" return home, and they've apparently awakened on the wrong side of a demonic possession. The walkthrough attraction features its fair share of jump scare-prompting horned foes, but it's the two girls — whether wielding a sharp pair of scissors or violently writhing in restraints during an exorcism scene — that effectively sow the seeds of our future nightmares.
Chucky: Ultimate Kill Count
NBC Universal
Our final house of the night features a self-aware concept that sees the titular demented doll crashing his own haunted house to guarantee its guests aren't actually escaping with their lives. This imaginative meta approach results in not just a ballooning body count but also some of the most creative kills of the evening.
Chucky's victims die in a variety of obscenely over-the-top ways, from a man who's met the business end of a dozen or so hypodermic needles to a woman who was apparently pushed onto the pointiest objects in her dishwasher. But those grisly deaths are only the beginning, as the possessed plaything is just getting warmed up. Following a false ending, the death and destruction continue with a blood-soaked Christmas scene you won't see on any holiday card; a stained glass window that's, well, stained with chunky bits of viscera; and an actual tally board totaling Chucky's skyrocketing kill count.
