Hollywood

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.

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.

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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.