Tag:

Halloween

This Spooky Season’s Must-Have Halloween Gifts

by admin October 2, 2025

It’s officially October, which can only mean one thing: Halloween season is finally here! At least for normies, because some of us outcasts live it every day, anyway.

Pop culture purveyors such as Spirit Halloween, BoxLunch, and the Disney Store have rolled out their spooky bag of tricks and treats. Fans of KPop Demon Hunters, Wicked, Star Wars, Stranger Things, and Terrifier will be happy to discover there’s new gear aplenty to celebrate the season. So, if you’re on the hunt for boo basket goods, or in need of costume ideas, frightfully fun fashion, and Halloween decor, you’re in the right place, as we’re running down the best of the season so far!

Fashion and accesories

‘One Piece’ x Dr. Squatch (Prices vary)

Clean up like a pirate before or after Halloween festivities with this One Piece bath collection from Dr. Squatch.

‘One Piece’ Straw Hat ($29)

Be the king of the pirates with this official Monkey D. Luffy replica Straw Hat available online and in stores at BoxLunch. The online and in store retailer also features more One Piece fashions to look ready to join the Straw Hat crew.

Buy the Straw Hat See more ‘One Piece’

Girls Crew Marvel villain studs ($45)

Glimmer like a Marvel villain with earrings from Girls Crew that represent comic book baddies—the perfect accessory for your badass costume.

Girls Crew ‘Star Wars’ earrings ($45)

Get in the galactic spirit of the season this Halloween with earrings shaped like Star Wars treats from Girls Crew.

Loungefly x Marvel Studios ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ ($120)

Add a Fantastic Four cosplay backpack look from Loungefly if you’re dressing up as a member of Marvel’s first family.

Disney Store ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ Oogie Boogie bottle ($60)

Keep hydrated with an Oogie Boogie steel water bottle from the Disney Store online. This is a good size for theme park hopping or long trick or treat walks.

Posh Peanut x Haunted Mansion (Prices vary)

Grim grinning looks for the whole family inspired by Disney’s Haunted Mansion are simply too chillingly cute. There are looks to haunt your home halls and also for a day out at Disney World, whose Haunted Mansion still runs during Halloween, or to make a pro-Halloweentime statement at Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion Holiday.

Unique Vintage x Disney Halloween Bat Hoodie ($64)

This Cakeworthy Minnie Mouse bat hoodie is perfect for Halloweentime at Disney Parks. It’s low-key but a statement to flap around in from park to park.

Unique Vintage x Pixar ‘Coco’ ($42)

Seize your moment, Mama. This Unique Vintage x Pixar Coco shirt tells the family who’s in charge especially at the theme parks.

BoxLunch x ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s’ Sweater ($60)

Throw this Freddy Fazbear pizza delivery fit on in 30 minutes or less. Find this and more Five Nights at Freddy’s gear online or in stores at BoxLunch.

Unique Vintage x Elvira Dagger Dress ($110)

Become the Mistress of the Dark with this official Elvira x Unique Vintage dress inspired by the horror hostess’ iconic look. It’s Cassandra Peterson approved!

Netflix ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ (Prices vary)

Get the squad together to become Huntr/x with Netflix’s official KPop Demon Hunters collection. The online Netflix shop features fashion that can work in Halloween group cosplay or cozy movie night in capacity. The Huntr/x pajamas are perfect for streaming KPDH on the couch, couch, couch.

RSVLTS Spooky season collection (Prices vary)

From Star Wars to the Universal Monsters, RSVLTS trademark short sleeves are getting the Halloween treatment. Find designs such as “Dismembers Only” a delightful spin on the grim limb losses in the Star Wars universe.

Buy RSVLTS Spooky season… Buy ‘Star Wars’ Dismembers Only…

BoxLunch x ‘Kpop Demon Hunters’ (Prices vary)

Dress up as a Huntr/x or Saja boys fan this Halloween with band shirt options from BoxLunch. The online and mall retailer is working hard to get that KPop Demon Hunters merch in stores and into the hands of the fans.

Decor and more

Spirit Halloween x ‘Ghostbusters’ Slimer ($70)

Hang out with this unhinged hanging Slimer replica from Spirit Halloween’s Ghostbusters selection of decor and accessories. The details really get the gross green ghost’s whole vibe and sassy shapely figure.

Spirit Halloween x ‘Halloween’ neon sign ($50)

Michael Myers gets the neon sign treatment; it looks good on him and good on your wall. This product also features other slasher baddies including Chucky, Art the Clown, and more!

See at Spirit Halloween More horror neon signs

Home Depot ‘Gremlins’ Stripe animatronic ($179)

Party after midight with Stripe from Gremlins, this Home Depot animatronic can stay up from Halloween to Christmas. We love a dynamic holiday lawn greeter, especially one that mashes up the holidays. The collection just needs an adorable Gizmo addition.

Last-minute costumes

Bums and Roses x ‘Power Rangers’ family matching collection (Prices vary)

It’s morphin’ time with this extensive retro Power Rangers drop from Bums and Roses that’s got the whole family covered.

Bums and Roses x ‘Scooby-Doo’ (Prices vary)

Dress the whole squad up as Mystery Inc. with Bums and Roses’ cozy costume collection inspired by Scooby and friends. There are costume onesies and groovy yet spooky lounge wear that’s perfect for the season.

‘Wicked: For Good’ costumes (Prices vary)

Find the Glinda to your Elphaba and take flight this Halloween. You can now find looks from Wicked: Part One and Wicked: For Good in adult and kids sizes just in time for the sequel’s release.

Buy Glinda… Buy Elphaba…

Spirit Halloween x Damien Leone’s ‘Terrifier’ (Prices vary)

If you’ve been looking for Art the Clown costumes for the whole (and I mean whole including the pets) family, Spirit Halloween has you covered. The store also has a massive selection of Terrifier merch for anyone who wants to get their hands on awesome goods for the cult killer clown slasher. We love the inclusion of the daisy sunglasses and Sienna’s superpowered dagger.

See more Terrifier at Spirit Halloween

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

Source link

October 2, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Zenless Zone Zero 2.3 takes full advantage of the new Spook Shack faction for its Halloween season

by admin September 29, 2025

If you’ve been enjoying the politics-filled 2.2 update for Zenless Zone Zero, which came out earlier this month, you’re probably on your way to finishing the new content. Which means, of course, it’s time for the next update to reveal itself.

Version 2.3, Memories of Dreams Bygone, was officially unveiled today, and it’s going to arrive on October 15 – so in about two weeks from now.

Zenless Zone Zero’s Version 2.3 immediately addresses one of the criticisms players had with earlier installments of Version 2, which revolved around the lack of the lack of Rupture characters in its banner events. 2.3 is adding three new Agents to the roster: Lucia, Yidhari, and Komano Manato.

Lucia is an S-Rank Ether Support Agent, who’s very much into the Ethereal. Her kit reflects that, too, because she can recreate Ethereals in combat. She calls on Dream Points to enter a Dream state and unleash Ether Veil: Wellspring, which boosts the max HP of all allies, and increases the team’s Sheer Force and Aftershock frequency.

Yidhari is another S-Rank Agent, only she’s the Rupture one fans have been missing. Her Ice attacks always deal Sheer damage, and she gains Sheer Force based on her max HP. Interestingly, however, Yidhari deals more damage the lower her HP is, which adds an element of risk/reward to her kit.

Komano Manato is the only A-Rank addition, joining as a Fire Rupture Agent. Likewise, his Sheer damage scales with his max HP. As far as returning favourites, Version 2.3 will bring back Vivian (S-Rank, Ether – Anomaly), as well as Ju Fufu (S-Rank, Fire – Stun) as part of its banners.

Watch on YouTube

In this chapter, you’ll get to visit Timesworn Hills, and team up with Spook Shack. The new region – and the update itself – very much share the spooky theme of abandoned research facilities where tales of experiments going awry are buried.

The narrative kicks off like a few good Halloween mysteries: a missing person’s case. Some miners and Porcelumex employees have gone missing, and you’re being sent in to investigate. Timesworn Hills is also rich in Lumite ore.

Memories of Dreams Bygone is bringing some gameplay changes to Soldier 0 – Anby, who’s getting a buff alongside some tweaks to her combat. You can also look forward to Threshold Simulation as a new challenge activity that tests your stamina by throwing you in back-to-back battles.

Zenless Zone Zero is getting a hint of turn-based combat in this update, too, with the arrival of the When Dreams Remain Unfinished event. In it, you’ll get to play as monsters with unique abilities. You’d want to play it, too, because completing the event guarantees getting Agent Komano Manato.

Image credit: MiHoYo.

Photography event SNAP! Shining Strike returns as well, and it now offers more camera controls, filters, and frames.

As part of today’s news, we also got a glimpse at future Agents Banyue, Dialyn, Zhao, and Ye Shunguang, who HoYoverse said will be joining the game in “the near future.” Finally, if you log in during 2.3, you’ll get 600 Polychromes alongside 10 Encrypted Master Tapes, and 10 Boopons.

Before you go, it’s always a good idea to catch up on our updated Zenless Zone Zero codes. If you’re in a fighting mode, you may also jump into the comments of our Zenless Zone Zero character tier list and argue your case.

Source link

September 29, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

KPop Demon Hunters Are You Next Rumored Guests For Fortnite’s Halloween Party

by admin September 27, 2025

Last year’s Fortnitemares was extremely packed with microtransactions, with the Fortnite item shop averaging a new collab skin every other day over the course of October. And it may be that Fortnitemares 2025 will be even more crowded, with long-rumored collabs with Scream, Friday the 13th, and Scooby-Doo expected to appear in the Fortnite shop during spooky season. But now there’s a new rumor about yet another Fortnitemares collab–KPop Demon Hunters.

The exact nature of the Fortnite x KPOP Demon Hunters collab isn’t clear at all right now, since the entire leak is just HypeX saying that it’s “the main Halloween collab” and that it’s “not just skins.” If true, this would presumably mean that there will be some new KPop Demon Hunters-related gameplay mechanic, like a new weapon or other item. Though since Fortnitemares is also rumored to have a Jason Voorhees medallion and Ghostface’s mythic knife, the KPop Demon Hunters collab would have to be even more involved with that.

The new season of Fortnite Festival begins on October 9, and so it’s possible that HUNTR/X will be the new season headliners. Epic previously promised the upcoming Festival season would be focused on Fortnite-original stuff, but that just means they had a plan that would have been very easy to pivot away from if they had the chance to swap in a collab with the biggest Netflix movie ever.

Fortnitemares 2025 is expected to start in early October, but we don’t know for sure when it will be just yet. Even so, there have been plenty of leaks about what we can expect to see from this year’s spooky festivities, and you can read all about them here.

Source link

September 27, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

Netflix Is Rushing Out ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Costumes in Time for Halloween

by admin September 22, 2025

Netflix has listened to the fans and parents of fans eager to dress up as KPop Demon Hunters‘ Mira, Rumi, or Zoey this spooky season by hastening a collab with Spirit Halloween. In a release, Spirit Halloween, which already works closely with the streamer on official Stranger Things and Squid Game character looks and decor, has announced that it will have KPop Demon Hunters adult and kid costumes come October.

Kids’ costumes will hit stores early October, while grown-ups will have to wait until mid-month, which is hitting it real close to party weekends. But hey, at the very least these fits can come in handy for screenings and fan get-togethers.

The cosplay-style costumes and wigs depict Huntr/x’s looks from the film’s iconic opening number, “Takedown.” Here’s a look at the details:

The costumes start at $59.99 for the kids’ sizes and $69.99 for adults, but it’s interesting to note that only the Rumi wig is getting released as a separate piece from the costume (at $26.99); Mira and Zoey can be styled with wigs already part of Spirit’s selection or for you to DIY on your own hair.

There’s no word yet on Saja Boys band costumes or a Derpy onesie (which we hope comes with a little magnetic bird), but with the phenomenon just getting started, there’s got to be more on the way for the fans as Netflix seeks to capitalize on the huge success of the film with plans that go beyond merch into sequels, spinoffs, and more.

Source link

September 22, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

Pop Mart Unleashes Its Blind Box ‘Chucky’ Collection Just in Time for Halloween

by admin September 11, 2025

Pop Mart, purveyor of Labubu, is branching out in the world of creepy pop culture collectibles with a little help from Chucky. The blind box drop arrives September 12, timed to coincide with Halloween season and aiming to bolster the company’s roster of animation-influenced characters. At the recent San Diego Comic-Con, Pop Mart made a splash with the Monsters series Big Into Energy, Skullpanda, and Peach Riot, as well as its latest Star Wars line.

During io9’s preview at SDCC, Emily Brough, Pop Mart’s head of IP licensing in the Americas, talked about the company’s plans leading into Halloween. “We have this amazing product and these amazing characters and then we’re just extending the excitement and innovation to every touchpoint with our fans. We just love doing that and we love just continuing to bring the creativity of our characters,” she said of creating experiences around specific seasons, including the spooky Chucky release.

The Chucky collab is such a natural choice for horror fans. It will feature toy box-style packaging for various incarnations of the character throughout Don Mancini’s franchise legacy. “We like to lean in, especially in the U.S. Halloween is such a meaningful holiday, so we had a lot of fun here really leaning into that with product development,” Brough said of the Universal Pictures terror toy going mini and all in on the blind-box craze.

As someone scared of owning a 1:1 Chucky, I’m more comfortable with a miniature threat or pulling a Glen or Tiffany. “We made them kind of cute because that’s what we do. There will be more and more coming out around Halloween and some other key holidays for us,” Brough said.

We’re hoping for a second series of Chucky blind boxes because, as fans know, there are so many variants from the movies and the TV show we’d love to get our hands on—give us Phantom Chucky, the Colonel, or even more of Tiffany and Glen(da).

Brough continued, “We’re excited to bring [top IP] collaborations from beloved studios all over the world, and we’re also continuing to build out our artist roster and have the roster of artists that we work with reflect the diversity of the markets that we’re in. So we’re really, really excited to continue to bring in new artists and new IP and then extend those stories into the Pop Mart universe as well.”

As far as extending excitement for their existing licenses and their original IP drops, Brough elaborated on how the new toy titan aims to engage its audience.

“There’s so much great storytelling within all of the characters. At the core we are a pop culture entertainment company and we work with these amazing independent artists from all over the world to bring their characters to life and really bring the storytelling to life through collectible design, [but] we’re looking for ways to continue to extend their stories,” she said of the potential for their properties, such as Kasing Lung’s Labubu, to find life in other entertainment mediums.

“We’ve been doing it kind of [through] short animation for the social media channels to share a little bit more about the story of the series or the stories of the characters and every series is really building out either the story or the personality for each person. That is something that we are doing now and we’re looking forward to continuing to build out the storytelling in new and innovative ways.”

When we asked if that involves U.S. versions of the overseas pop-up and theme park offerings to meet Labubu, Brough doesn’t deny that could be in the works.

“Later this year we’ll be looking at some pop-up shop experiences, and we’ll continue to extend those out throughout not only later this year but also into next year,” she said.

As for getting immersive experiences such as Popland in the states, she added, “It’s a format that we have globally and that we’ve seen a lot of success with so we’re looking forward to bringing that to the US as well as some of those offline experiences. Popland is expanding right now, so over there in Beijing, as the offline experience, [and] we’re constantly looking for ways to extend that.”

Check out the Chucky drop in the gallery below. Buy online here or at your local Pop Mart location beginning September 12.

Source link

September 11, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

‘Terrifier’ Makes an Undeniable Mark on Halloween Horror Nights Hollywood

by admin September 9, 2025

The gates of Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights Hollywood have opened, and this year’s event has some of the theme park’s biggest debuts. Between Terrifier and Five Nights at Freddy’s, the headliner haunted houses really pack a punch, with the terror titan-led Jason Universe house, based on the Friday the 13th franchise, also helping to power a killer season start.

But that’s not to say there were some lows; surprisingly, HHN’s anticipated Fallout offering fell short of expectations. Some repeat houses managed to hold enough excitement, but the West Coast event—which is smaller than the version mounted by Halloween Horror Nights Orlando—might prove to create uneven experiences for park guests who can’t shell out the extra dough for express passes.

Express tickets were provided by Universal for media to be able to review all the houses, and that’s a key takeaway from the start: as theme park insiders, it was clear to us that it might be near impossible to visit all the houses if you do general event admission. If you’re locked in to that price point, always be sure to prioritize 3-4 houses and one entertainment offering—between the Blumhouse-themed Terror Tram, the stunt show The Purge: Dangerous Waters, or the Chainsaw Man short film screening. If you really want to do everything in one night, upgrading to express may be your best bet.

I do have one pro tip from attending in past years: the express pass will sometimes be offered at 50% off near the end of the night and you can buy in to race through all the houses in the last few hours of the event. I’ve done it myself. You can only take advantage if you’re already in the park when the signs go up at the ticket upgrade stations, so keep an eye out for that.

As an LA local, I’ve also simply spread it out by buying a multi-night ticket (such as the “Frequent Fear” pass) and going once a week to hang out for vibes and scope out shorter lines for houses I’ve missed or want to do again.

Here’s what we thought of Halloween Horror Nights Hollywood for 2025:

The Good

Terrifier: Art the Clown has unofficially solidified his place as a Horror Nights icon. From the moment you arrive at the event, the roaming silent clown killer chillingly charms with his bag of demented tricks. Personally, and like most going to the event, this was my first exposure to the character and the world of Terrifier, having been deterred by some of the divisive discourse surrounding the gratuitous violence of the franchise. However, the Terrifier house cleared up some of my concerns and I think the films fall more into an absurdist gore vibe versus the gritty gore genre (think more Raimi than Roth).

There are more horrific things, I think, in the Monstruos house with a child being eaten by La Llorona than anything in the Terrifier house. Don’t let that lull you into a false sense of security. Art is still very hardcore but in a hilarious way. We very much enjoyed the Looney Tunes or rather Itchy & Scratchy aura on a very sick cartoony clown’s mission of demonic mayhem. The full display of depravity was such a rollicking good time I went home and watched Damien Leone’s Terrifier 2 immediately. Art the Clown will get new fans (myself included) and this house will please longtime fanatics. Get down to the Clown Cafe as soon as you can because this one will have a long queue. And the water splash warnings? They’re for real; bring a poncho.

Jason Universe: This is hands down the scariest house in a traditional sense. Jason stalks you alongside memorable Camp Crystal Lake deaths and with the iconic soundtrack, there are jump scares aplenty. If you’re hard to “get,” you’ll appreciate the attention to detail in making a house that encompasses the Friday the 13th legacy. Even with an express pass, this line was long.

Pro tip: The Jason Universe-themed foods are low-key the HHN snack war winners. We recommend the gouda fondue bread bowl (we paid out of pocket for it); it’s steeped in Angry Orchard cider and comes with green apple slices. It’s available at the same booth as the Jason mask-shaped s’mores. It might be the best food of the horror fest.

Five Nights at Freddy’s: The sheer artistry of Jim Henson’s Creature Shop’s puppetry and HHN performer work makes this one an all-ages all-timer with aplomb. The haunted “animatronics” charging at you or springing to life really works and there are even unexpected jump scares with dead kids creeping up on you as you hover awestruck around Chica or Foxy. Our only complaint is that the stage show centerpiece at the start only featured Freddy; Orlando’s HHN got the whole ensemble.

Chainsaw Man: This import from Universal Studios Japan was an unexpected surprise. Anime fans will delight in a special HHN Japan theater short, which brings the beloved characters (minus Pochita, sadly) into a meta immersive experience where they have to fight demons while attending HHN themselves. The mix of cute, spooky 2D animation and fourth-wall-breaking CG action with a brief adventure featuring the Chainsaw Man gang impresses and I hope we get more overseas fun making its way stateside.

The So-So

Scarecrow featuring Slash: The HHN Hollywood Scarecrow lore grows with Slash providing a new score. The scares and creature work always make this a standout. However, we were a little underwhelmed by the music; we loved the riff composed by the rock legend but the boom-clap beat made us feel like we were comically in a corn whiskey commercial. It threw the spooky energy off. Hit the bar after.

Monstruos 3: Celebrating the horrors of Latin American folklore has been a fantastic staple of HHN and really there’s no one scarier than La Llorona (IYKYK) and her penchant for kidnapping children and feasting on their souls. Alongside another killer vengeful cryptid, La Siguanaba, this house makes for a solid scare-filled experience; it just felt a little on the shorter side or perhaps we caught it while there was a cast change, which happens sometimes.

WWE Presents: The Horrors of The Wyatt Sicks: As an homage to the late wrestler who came up with the entertainment wrestling’s campy horror lore, this house is a sentimental and solid send-off. However, as someone whose horror WWE storylines were Undertaker and Kane, I felt so lost and wasn’t sure how to connect the storyline in the house to the personas in the ring. Could have had a bit more cohesion but the set and costuming were on point; we’ll give it that. Pro-tip: This one has a series of gross-smelling rooms, and you’ll also get sprayed.

Terror Tram: Blumhouse taking over the backlot could have been great but it ends up being more like an elaborate meet-and-greet area than a haunt. Unless you particularly want to meet Blumhouse figures of fright and get more steps in, it’s probably best to skip. But if you’re a horror movie fan and want to explore where the movies are made, this is a good spot. The photos are always great so that’s an upside. Be warned: this experience takes up nearly an hour of your time so plan accordingly.

The Bad

The Purge: Dangerous Waters: This is tired and while we appreciate the effort in the stunts, there hasn’t been a new Purge movie in ages. This space could have been better utilized, perhaps by Fallout, and we’ll explain why in a bit.

Poltergeist: Retire this one.

Fallout: As a fan of Walton Goggins’ Ghoul, there was not enough sassy and scary outlaw Ghoulussy put into this. The Vault scenes were short and focused too much on Lucy’s linear journey rather than giving us a greatest hits of the horrific moments from the Prime Video show. It also wasn’t scary at all and used up so much space in the former Walking Dead year-long house attraction area with few set pieces that it felt over sooner than we would have liked. For a property that’s going to invite long queues, it’s not worth it. A show on the Waterworld stage starring the Ghoul and Lucy squaring off against figures in the wasteland and the Gulper might have been better.

Pro-tip: The Fallout food is a more fun experience; we recommend the Roasted Radroach Legs but also had a particular affinity for the Roasted Stingwing. There’s also RadAway in pouches for you, in-universe-specific item fans.

Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights Hollywood is open now through November 2. Get tickets here.

Source link

September 9, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

If You’re Not Already Planning Your Halloween Costume, You’re Falling Behind

by admin September 4, 2025

There’s no reason to delay getting in the spirit of Halloween as popular costume retailers begin to release this year’s slate of pop culture-inspired looks. From Spirit Halloween to BoxLunch to PetSmart, there are a ton of fandom fits across stores and online for the while family.

For Squid Game fans we’re excited about the official collaboration between Spirit Halloween and the Netflix hit show. Fans can dress up as players, guards, and the Front Man and there’s an update for the Young-hee doll costume, which now comes in the pink and red look. On the accessories front there’s the fateful key from the final season and an inflatable Young-hee, perfect for posing with in your blood-spattered track suit.

There are also options of the more creepy and altogether ooky variety from another Netflix hit, Wednesday, with new costume looks inspired by season two of the show. Alas, there are no KPop Demon Hunters costumes yet but if you get crafty, you can DIY an outfit repping Huntr/x or the Saja Boys with band shirts available at BoxLunch—there’s more Nevermore fun there too.

Spirit Halloween also has a Jurassic Park collection that steps away from the recent franchise and focuses on the characters from the original film. So there are great Alan Grant, Ellie Sattler, and even Dennis Nedry options, but glaringly no Ian Malcolm. The dinosaur choices range from inflatables to cute baby velociraptors.

For a retro family ensemble, Sesame Street has an extensive monster costume collection at Spirit as well as Bums and Roses. The latter offers cozy, wearable, character-inspired outfits that allow for dressing comfortably without resorting to full fuzzy onesies, featuring sweaters and simple short-sleeve casual cosplay options.

As popular Disney Parks Halloween events begin, families can easily embrace the Disney bounding trend with Disney and Pixar outfits available at Posh Peanut. From comfy Mike or Sully Monsters Inc. hoodies to bamboo character outfits inspired by Alice in Wonderland to witchy velvet Hocus Pocus dresses, there are dynamic ways to play dress-up no matter how old you are.

There’s plenty for Disney fans out there, including a wild baby Edward Scissorhands costume and online retailer PatPat’s spooky Disney drops, which include Hundred Acre Wood friend-inspired playful dresses, cool weather Disney Princess looks, and matching Disney Halloween family sweaters.

And let’s not forget the pets! PetSmart has doggie fits to get them in on the group costume action with looks inspired by Pixar and for superhero fans, Superman’s best bud, Krypto.

Source link

September 4, 2025 0 comments

Game Reviews

Mortal Kombat 2 No Longer Coming Out In Time For Easy Halloween Costumes

by admin August 30, 2025

Mortal Kombat 2 was set to hit theaters on October 24, just a week before Halloween. It seemed like good timing for a hyper-violent video game classic about warriors fighting horrors from other dimensions. Apparently Warner Bros. disagreed. The studio has now delayed the sequel by nearly seven months because it thinks the corny fist-fest can make more money in the spring.

That’s according to Deadline, which reported the news late on Friday before the Labor Day holiday weekend. It claims “research screenings have been strong” and that Warner Bros. didn’t want to bury its latest video game adaptation in a “crowded late October frame” between Springsteen Deliver Me From Nowhere and Regretting You.

So instead, Mortal Kombat 2 will now come out on May 15, 2026. Avengers: Doomsday was originally set to open that month but was pushed back to December of next year. The only real competition will be The Mandalorian and Grogu which arrives at the end of next May. So even if Mortal Kombat 2 ends up having a surprisingly long tail, it’ll probably get kicked out of most theaters by Star Wars.

The sequel brings in The Boys‘ Karl Urban as the shade-wearing, split-kicking Johnny Cage and its July trailer looked decent. If it has the budget to double-down on some of the big spectacle fight sequences the 2021 reboot was missing it could be fun. Though I still think its cheesy gore-fest sensibility was a great fit for Halloween. I don’t usually like slasher movies but I’ll make an exception if Scorpion’s the one doing the impaling.

Source link

August 30, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

Peek Inside the ‘Fallout’ Vault at Universal Studios’ Halloween Horror Nights Hollywood

by admin August 30, 2025

Universal Studios is rolling out its houses of horror across the country—opening three major hubs that monster fans can make their Halloween season travel destinations—in this month’s theme park news.

io9 was invited by Universal to experience the very big bag of tricks and treats the theme park creatives are unleashing into the world for fandom fiends seeking thrilling frights. On the West Coast, Universal Studios Hollywood prepares to open the vault with the Fallout house inspired by the Prime Video series and Bethesda video game franchise, alongside its other horror property offerings, come September.

Meanwhile in Las Vegas, AREA15 has opened the gates of Universal Horror Unleashed, a desert warehouse that holds haunted gateways to chilling cinematic experiences. And of course things are already getting started at Halloween Horror Nights Orlando with Terrifier’s Art the Clown being set loose alongside the Five Nights at Freddy’s gang.

Universal Studios Hollywood Fallout lights on tour

HHN Hollywood creative director John Murdy walked through the Fallout house with press to explain the story guests would be experiencing nightly during the Halloween event’s run. “Going through the series, my initial reaction was, ‘Wow, this is a huge world,’ and there’s three different kinds of storylines going on with the show. There’s Lucy’s storyline where she’s searching for her father, there’s Maximus’ storyline with the Brotherhood of Steel, and then there’s the Ghoul and his storyline—kind of going from being a TV actor cowboy to his transformation into this bounty hunter character.”

“So what we decided ultimately to do is we would pretty much be following in Lucy’s footsteps,” he shared, as we saw the under-construction vault setting for the wedding leading to her eventual breakout through the vault door.

“So we’re gonna be taking you from the vault to the wasteland, meeting all the characters along the way,” Murdy continued, and elaborated that Hollywood’s version of the house will offer different set pieces than Orlando. One major difference is that the West Coast will get the mutated Yao Guai bear, whereas Florida will get the Gulper.

Murdy knew one thing for certain: “And then for us, when I saw the Super Duper Mart sequence, which is actually the fourth episode of Fallout, I was like, that is tailor-made for a finale to a Halloween horror house because it’s when all the ghouls are breaking out.”

Murdy acknowledged that the Fallout house would also include many Easter eggs for the show and the games, such as a final scare piece to hype up season two of the Prime Video series.

Murdy also discussed the making of the other major horror video game and now movie franchise Five Nights at Freddy’s with press on a more extensive and detailed BTS tour showcasing the Jim Henson’s Creature Shop puppets, which can be found here.

Universal Horror Unleashed at AREA15 Las Vegas

In Las Vegas, Universal’s year-round horror haven is now officially open with houses that feature The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the Universal Monsters, The Exorcist: Believer, and HHN West’s fan-favorite Scarecrow. The Sin City attraction, which io9 attended as a media guest, is the gem of AREA15 Zone 2; it aims to attract immersive-experience fans to a new side of the Strip that elevates experiential entertainment and dining.

Universal Horror Unleashed features spooky sips and eats in addition to live acts, including HHN East’s icons Jack the Clown and Chance—who perfectly suit the chaotic clownery of Vegas.

©Gizmodo io9

Many HHN fans will notice that neither Orlando nor Hollywood features a Universal Monsters house this year and that’s because of Universal Horror Unleashed. And when we say it’s the best one yet, we mean it mostly because it finally debuts the Creature From the Black Lagoon as part of the action.

There’s a whole under-the-sea sequence where you wade past seaweed to come face-to-face with the creature that is swimmingly well executed. On top of that you’ll encounter Frankenstein’s Monster, the Bride, the Phantom of the Opera, Quasimodo, the Wolf Man, and the Mummy—along with the Gill-man—in an all-out mash that you’ll want to go through over and over again. For ticket information visit here.

©Gizmodo io9

Universal Studios Orlando HHN and Epic Universe

While we haven’t yet visited HHN Orlando, the fun officially kicks off this weekend with the annual event’s opening. To celebrate, Art the Clown from Terrifier has taken over the social media account to show he’s taken Jack’s place as the resident clown at Universal Studios in Florida.

And of course, if you’re hoping to see the Universal Monsters while you travel to the East Coast, you can make a day of it at Epic Universe with a visit to Darkmoor and Frankenstein Manor for Monsters Unchained—and then of course go scream your face off at HHN. There’s also no telling what monsters you’ll run into; there could be an Invisible Man or a wild Ygor looking for the Frankenstein creations.

Source link

August 30, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

Meet Freddy Fazbear and Friends at Halloween Horror Nights’ ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s’ House

by admin August 29, 2025

Take a look inside the Five Nights at Freddy’s house at Universal Studios’ Halloween Horror Nights. It looks like a real Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza location right out of the mind of game creator Scott Cawthon and Emma Tammi’s cinematic adaptation.

io9 was invited to a behind-the-scenes walkthrough of the Hollywood attraction based on the video game and Blumhouse film franchise, opening at HHN ahead of December’s Five Nights at Freddy’s 2. Creative director John Murdy took us through to highlight the incredible work done between Horror Nights, Cawthon, and Jim Henson’s Creature Shop.

The latter provided incredible puppets to bring the iconic FNAF characters to haunting life, powered by Universal’s own team of animatronic engineers. “Going back to our Chucky house, we have a group that works for our tech services department that are young mechanical engineers—they just happen to all love Horror Nights and a few years ago they were coming to us and saying, ‘Hey, we’d love to work with you guys and try to do actual animatronics, which we’ve never done.’” Murdy shared. The Chucky animatronics in the HHN attraction inspired by the Syfy series featured pint-sized and giant versions of the terror titan killer doll.

Murdy continued, “We’ve gotten a lot more technologically advanced with the skillset of this particular group, so they built like 17 animated Chuckys that year we did Chucky, and then last year they built a lot of stuff for A Quiet Place. This year they’re doing the T-60 [from Fallout] for us and they’re also doing the hero Freddy Fazbear [as a] fully electronic character.”

He shared about getting to combine tech with the practical elements of their haunted houses, in particular FNAF, which has been a top-requested property for the event. “A lot of this is simply fan wish fulfillment. It’s like, OK, let’s go for it; let’s give them the houses they’ve been dying to get. And that kind of rolled through the whole development process. This house was developed a little differently than all our other houses up to this point. We always collaborate with our sister park in Orlando, but usually that collaboration is more along the lines of, ‘OK, what’s the main story we want to tell?’ [And] when we made our list of what we wanted from the movie based on the first movie to be in this house, there was nothing we didn’t do. We got every single thing on our list.”

The traditional haunt is, of course primarily scareactors in costumes, but for Five Nights at Freddy’s, the challenges posed really needed safer solutions for performers first and foremost. Reaching out to Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, which worked on the puppets used in the Blumhouse FNAF film and on Universal Fan Fest Nights, was the obvious course of action.

“The other big thing we knew early on was that in order to pull this off, we really needed to work with Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. [They] had to build so many creatures and they had to learn how to do it for us,” Murdy explained. “It’s really different when you’re making a movie. You know, with Five Nights at Freddy’s, [there are] puppeted figures, and there are guys in suits [on a movie set]. Guys in suits are out of the question for us because you can do that in a movie for—typically when the cameras are rolling—it’s like a minute or two until they cut and then [the costume] comes off. The performer can go to their trailer and chill out. That’s not how it works in Halloween Horror Nights. Our performers need to be on set for roughly about 45 minutes and then they’re taking a 45-minute break, and then they’re back on set. So we needed to figure out the ergonomics behind all of this as well as the aesthetics, and so it was a big collaboration with Henson. We’ve been in meetings with them every week for well over a year.”

The set immersing park guests into the environment of a Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza was also very important to the HHN teams and Murdy confirmed Hollywood and Orlando’s houses are virtually alike save for some small differences. Both teams worked hard to include as many Easter eggs from the film, such as kid’s art alluding to the yellow rabbit and the training video, which will play as guests enter a night of security guard watch.

Right off the bat you enter the restaurant parlor area with the stage, where the animatronics come to life with puppeteers supplemented by scareactors. “There’s a lot of puppets, but we wanted that human factor as well, like the classic jump scare that are kind of the bread and butter of haunted houses. So that’s where we’re using the ghost kids and we’re also using all of those guys who broke in and trashed the place,” Murdy said. Foxy is teased with eerie music as you venture throughout as if you’re Mike Schmidt (played by Josh Hutcherson in the movies) on a security shift.

As you go along, you’ll encounter not only Freddy but also come face to face with Chica with Carl the Cupcake, Bonnie, Foxy, and of course Yellow Bonnie. In order to really capture how these set-piece fights will be effective, Murdy described the mechanics of the scare with Freddy Fazbear.

“In the Chucky house, we created this character we called Mega Chucky. How that worked is there’s a track above the performer’s head and what’s called a traveler. The performer is kind of like strapped into this thing. The monitor for the performer to see is inside the figure itself, and then they’ve got shoes that connect to the feet of the character, so they’re actually able to kind of take a few steps.”

“So we did that for [Freddy] he’s right over here on a big traveler track, so he has the ability [to] come out from there [and] take steps [toward guests].”

You don’t have to be a FNAF diehard to enjoy the work that went into this house, but of course there’s plenty for the fandom, including a certain striped cup and foil ball on the security desk (IYKYK). The nostalgia was so real and Murdy revealed that scents will harken to the ’90s era of pizza arcade casinos so many of us grew up with.

“Like there’s something still lingering in this environment because it was a family entertainment center,” is how he described the aromatics of the house. “[A place] where they served a lot of pizza and a lot of popcorn and a lot of that kind of stuff. I think in the showroom, it’s more of a popcorn thing. The pizza’s [scent] in the kitchen, I believe.”

And of course the mood will be set throughout with the music from the franchise, with the iconic theme greeting you when you enter: “It’s particularly in the facade, and then the rest of it is all score music from the film.” As a Henson puppet fan, I’m stoked to see the characters in action and having attended HHN for decades, I can attest that the Five Nights at Freddy’s house takes things to a new level for theme park haunts.

The Five Nights at Freddy’s house will open the doors to Freddy Fazbear’s come September 4 at Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights. For ticket info visit here.

Source link

August 29, 2025 0 comments