I will be taking off the next couple of weeks. See you later in September.
This is the 35th year that Universal Orlando has invited guests to descend into the darkness and marvel at the macabre (and about the 25th year that I’ve attended). While virtually all major theme parks (and many minor ones) now get in on the seasonal hijinks, the Florida resort’s Halloween Horror Nights (presented most evenings through November 1) has evolved into parkdom’s foremost haunted happening (along with HHN at sister property, Universal Studios Hollywood). With its incredible production value, incorporation of renowned intellectual properties, and massive crowds, the Florida event is the granddaddy of gore.
“We bring the biggest names in horror pop culture, combined with creations and designs of our own making, and create a park that becomes a living horror film,” says Mike Aiello, senior director for entertainment creative development at Universal Orlando and longtime HHN honcho.
For the 35th anniversary, Aiello and his team have crafted an impressive collection of ten haunted houses filled with elaborate sets, wild special effects, and “scareactors” dying to shock the snot out of you. The overarching theme is the “Infernal Carnival of Nightmares,” presided over by the event’s flagship icon, Jack the Clown, and his rival, Dr. Oddfellow. They greet guests at the front of the park, are featured in their own house, and figure prominently in many of the scare zones.
But the real draws of HHN are the brand-name films, series, and celebrities it presents. For me, the most anticipated house was the one dedicated to the late heavy metal pioneer, Ozzy Osbourne. And it didn’t dissapoint.
The rocker’s son, Jack Osbourne, approached Universal about creating a posthumous Ozzy house and worked alongside his mother, Sharon Osbourne, with the HHN team to develop Ozzy Osbourne: Prince of Darkness. (Actually, to develop two of them; Hollywood’s HHN tribute is different.) With the rocker’s anthem, “Straight to Hell,” blasting at the entrance, the premise of the house is established. Assorted disciples of the satanic superstar, including Gothic gargoyles that come to life, threaten to attack guests. They are not especially frightening, however. This is a house that is designed more as a stylish, adoring ode to Ozzy than a white-knuckle experience.
“Sure, the Ozzy house has scares,” Aiello says, “but it’s beautiful. We’re real proud of it.”
Of course, the Prince of Darkness’ music plays throughout the house. For his most famous solo hit, “Crazy Train,” guests enter a car that seems to be careening off the rails and witness passengers who have met a gruesome fate. In the final scene, a top-hatted Ozzy keeled over from a high and almost fell on me as he uttered his famous line, “I love you all.” Despite the chaos, it nearly brought me to tears.
In terms of scares and overall design production, the Evil Dead Burn house is my pick for this year’s HHN winner (although Aiello is right, the Ozzy house is stunning). It is based on the recently released film, which takes a more serious tone than its campy, Bruce Campbell-starring predecessors. The scares are abundant in the claustrophobic setting, and the tone is quite creepy. There are some notable effects, including projections and some rabid dogs that might be animatronics or might be puppets; regardless, they are convincing. One particularly gory scene makes, er, creative use of a huge pneumatic drill.
A close runner-up for best house this year is Jack & Oddfellow: Chaos & Control, which reveals the origin story of HHN’s iconic clown. It turns out that Jack Schmidt joined Dr. Oddfellow’s circus and proved to be a lousy clown and an even worse murderer. The doctor tried to dispose of his errant employee in an horrific, if amusing way, but Jack somehow survived and became immortal as a conniving clown. The archenemies eventually formed a tentative truce when they realized, as Universal puts it, “fear divided is fear diluted.” United, they unleash their assault on visitors to their carnival (which, unfortunately, includes hapless HHN guests). There are two spinning vortex tunnels in the house, one of which incorporates a tilted floor to make it even more disorienting. This is another house that is more fun to look at than be freaked out by. There are big, colorful sets, some of which feature black light paint that are quite well done.
Rounding out my picks for the top houses at Florida’s 2026 HHN is Hellraiser, based on the classic horror series. Adorned with his trademark nails and perpetual smirk, the disturbing Pinhead makes multiple appearances as do his demonic acolytes, the Cenobites. Like the movies, the house pours on the gore. The evocative sets, including a candlelit one with victims on gurneys, are immersive and richly detailed. The scares are abundant in the especially long house. A victim who appeared to be dead but suddenly sprang to life really got me.
Stranger Things 5 recaps the final season of the Netflix series. The actors dressed as Demogorgons, the monsters with the flowering faces, look less like menacing marauders and more like dudes dressed in silly suits. Still, the scenes, which includes one set in a hospital, are well crafted. The final intellectual property house is Sinners, which retells the story depicted in the Academy Award-winning film. Guests enter the Prohibition-era Club Juke to the sounds of blues musicians. This is yet another HHN house which leans more into its impressive look and feel than its yen to scare the crap out of you.
Likewise, H.R. Bloodengutz Presents: A Halloween Fright-Tacular! goes more for the funny bone than the jugular. Universal typically has at least one house that embraces comedy, and this one, which brings back a character from a previous HHN, serves that purpose. Set in the 1980s, H.R. Bloodengutz (whose name is a horror-ific take on Sid and Marty Krofft’s classic character) is a Dracula-esque host of a midnight horror show that presents B movies. The maze offers a series of scenes from the show’s fictitious films, which are increasingly absurd–and some of which are laugh-out-loud hilarious. The titles include “Skoolhouse Resurrection,” “Monsters Night Out” (which H.R. informs us via a vintage CRT TV is a “tale of tiki terror,” “Conjure the Funk,” and–wait for it–“The Madness of Dr. Pumpkinspyce." (Indeed, this time of year the world does seem to have come under the spell of the mad doctor of caffeinated beverages.)
HHN’s other original houses didn’t quite do it for me. In Cybergoria, humans who have been cryogenically preserved awaken some 1,500 years later to discover that the AI overlords have taken matters into their own hands (no surprise there) and are harvesting their flesh. It’s fairly intense, given its sci-fi premise. INVASION: Alien Abduction shows little gray ETs and their taller, more gangly counterparts that have landed on a farm and are snatching the humans as well as the livestock. There are some amusing (in an HHN kind of way) scenes of animals in mid-abduction. The weirdest house, MADLANDS: Caged Cannibals, takes place at an abandoned, post-apocalyptic zoo, where folks dressed as various animals are…well, you know what they’re doing.
Inspired by Jack the Clown, one of the scare zones is Downtown Clowntown (great name!). It is filled with a variety of ill-tempered clowns, including the Killer Klowns from Outer Space, and, returning from last year, Art the Clown. Dressed as Santa, the silent, perverted, and depraved Art delights in tormenting volunteers from the crowd. The rousing Stranger Things: Return to Hawkins lagoon show, which uses fountains, water screens, a killer sound system, lasers, projections, and lights, does a much better job of capturing the essence of the popular series than this year’s Stranger Things house.
Everyone can comment. Are you planning to visit HHN on either coast? How about other theme park Halloween events?