Original Mazes Rule At Universal Studios Hollywood's Halloween Horror Nights 2022
As the sun set on a scorcher of a southern California, September evening, Universal Studios Hollywood transformed into a land of nightmares as Halloween Horror Nights took over the park. We were in the thick of the ghouls, ghosts, goblins and The Weeknd. Yep, everything was primed and ready for a grand evening of scares and frights.
As we walked into the park, it felt like home. Flames 10ft high or more shot into the nights sky on either side of two large pillars welcoming you to HHN 2022. Scare-actors with all forms of weapons swarmed the screaming hordes of guests as they entered this nightmare realm.
Descending to the lower lot to start our journey into this years haunted houses. we heard two familiar voices over the “star-way” escalator p.a. system, that of Chucky and Tiffany arguing about who was going to die on said escalator and why. They also were hyping up season 2 of the hit Syfy and USA show so that made total sense.
Instead of detailing each house for you as we have years past, we will simply give our rating of the houses in order of when we experienced them. There were a total of eight houses this year. Four originals and four movie based properties.
We will state the name of the maze and give our rating out of 5. 5 being the best house and 1 being not worth anyone’s time.
KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE - 2 Out Of 5
Photo by Tony Ace
Killer Klowns was the same thing we got last year. There was really no new additions or changes to the maze and although the scare actors did their best, the house just didn’t provide any real scary moments or anything of note for us besides the smell of cotton candy and popcorn that lingered in our nostrils after we exited.
Photo by Tony Ace
THE WEEKND: AFTER HOURS NIGHTMARE - 3.5 Out Of 5
Photo by Tony Ace
Surpsingly, The Weeknd’s house was done very well as you entered the club “After Hours” and heard his music blaring over the speakers. Did we dance through most of this maze instead of being scared to death…yes but we had a fun time either way. The kills were pretty gruesome and we must say the mirror room that was seen during his Superbowl Half Time show makes an appearance and was the best portion of the house in our opinion.
UNIVERSAL MONSTERS: LEGENDS COLLIDE - 3.5 Out Of 5
The monsters were in full force when Dracula and The Wolf-Man find out that the Amulet of Ra can potentially break their curses. Only problem is, The Mummy might have a few things to say about it. This house was done very well considering there was no precedent for it in regards to a film featuring all three characters as the past Universal Monster haunted houses had. You can check out our full recap on this maze here.
TERROR TRAM - 2.5 Out of 5
Halloween Harry aka Coodles The Clown took over a portion of the backlot this year and boy did he party it up! If you recall, he was an ex child tv show clown who had his own show and the mysteriously disappeared into the Universal Back Lot hills in 2014. Then re-appeared in 2016 by showcasing two tour guides who went missing but it was okay since he was taking good care of them. Now he’s back and brought a few fiends with him to take over the backlot once more. From Pimps walking around with knives sticking out of them at the Bates Motel to creepy corpses skinning various victims, this portion of the Terror Tram did a great job in bringing the spooky factor.
Photo by Tony Ace
Photo by Tony Ace
Oh, and of course Norman was there in front of his house just waiting to say hello to passerby’s as usual. Mother was watching ever vigilant from her bedroom window.
Photo by Tony Ace
The Terror Tram also featured the new town of “Jupiter’s Claim” from Jordan Peele’s ‘NOPE’ but we didn’t get any shots of that since we want you to experience the terror it brings in full force as you walk through the town and make your way back to the park. This years efforts for the Terror Tram were good, but we’ve seen much better in years past.
SCARECROW: THE REAPNG - 4.5 Out Of 5
Photo by Tony Ace
This house was downright amazing. The original story and scenes could have been pulled from both Children of The Corn and TCM. The scares were non stop and the ending scare was bone chilling to say the least. John Murdy and co really brought out all the goodies for this maze. The smell alone in this one was hard to bare but we powered through the corn stalks and farm animals till the end.
HALLOWEEN (1978) - 3.5 Out Of 5
Photo by Tony Ace
We’re HUGE Halloween fans here at MacabreDaily and were stoked to see Mikey back on the backlot during HHN. Creative director of HHN, John Murdy is a big Halloween fan as well so we knew this house was going to be legit and it was! From the moment you enter you’re greeted by six year old Michael Myers in his clown mask and costume from the beginning of the film. The scare actors throughout the house really embodied the films characters and whoever they got to play Dr. Loomis was a spitting image of Donald Pleasance. We will admit that even though this is the 3rd time Halloween has been done at HHN, we were surprised at how much more this maze brought to the table. A solid haunted house and reminded us that the boogey man is real.
LA LLORNA: THE WEEPING WOMAN - 4.5 Out of 5
Photo by Tony Ace
We don’t have children ourselves but damn, the weeping woman, aka La Llorna has some serious child abandonment issues and it shows in spades for this house. From kids floating face down in rivers of dark colored liquid to a monstrous demon La Llorna eating up children who misbehave, this house brought all your childhood fears to the forefront and made those scary stories your abuela told you seem more real than ever. We do have to add that the lightning and location for this house were perfect. The house was located directly behind the Dia de Los Muertos plaza and fit in with its surroundings perfectly. After this house, we had to grab a drink just to calm our nerves.
UNIVERSAL HORROR HOTEL - 4 Out Of 5
Imagine a hotel that has a long and luxurious history of decadence and depravity. Now mix that with death and murder and you have Universal’s Horror Hotel. From the moment you enter this house you can smell the mildew and decay of rotting corpses. Considering the location for this house is what used to be The Walking Dead attraction, that makes total sense. This was another original haunted house for HHN this year and again, it delivered! The house gave off ‘The Shining’ vibes big time and even through in some Stephen King’s ‘1408’ for good measure. Scares were good and spaced out very well. We really didn’t find too much fault with this one either and because it wasn’t based on a specific property or movie, we didn’t know what to expect so the frights were genuine and real.
HORROR OF BLUMHOUSE: FREAKY & THE BLACK PHONE - 3 Out Of 5
In keeping with transparency, we never saw Blumhouse’s ‘FREAKY’ so we really can’t judge too much on whether or not it hit the mark when duplicating the films feel. The Black Phone portion of the house did a great job of making you feel the dread of “The Grabber” around every corner coming for you. You can check out some behind the scenes photos from this maze HERE.
The Harry Potter land being open was a nice addition this year. The Hogwarts castle was dawned in dark “Death Eater” lighting and even a few “Death Eaters”, Voldermorts closest followers, were roaming around Hogsmead looking for muggles to capture. The streets were dark and dreary and you could sense the dread in the air as you walked the lonely streets of Hogsmead Village leading to Hogrwarts castle.
Photo by Tony Ace
Photo by Tony Ace
Photo by Tony Ace
Photo by Tony Ace
A few tips for you if you plan on going to HHN this year:
GET THE EXPRESS PASS! (There is no possible way to see all the houses if you don’t get this pass)
HIT THE LOWER LOT FIRST
DON’T WASTE TIME WITH RIDES UNTIL AFTER YOU GO TO THE HOUSES YOU REALLY WANT TO. (Most rides had little to no lines whatsoever so they were a breeze to get on)
HIT THE MERCH STORE ON YOUR WAY OUT (Go to the one INSIDE the park as the one outside in City Walk closes around 10pm so if you want to get your mitts on some of that HHN merch, stay in the park for it.
Tickets for Halloween Horror Nights are now available but WILL sell out for select nights so we recommend getting them early.
Universal Orlando tickets can be found HERE! And the event runs in Orlando from September 2nd to October 31st.
Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood begins on September 8th and run thru Halloween night on October 31st.
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