Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights has evolved over more than three decades into one of the most influential and innovative seasonal events in the global themed entertainment industry.
Launched in Orlando in 1991, the event has become a cultural phenomenon, blending theatrical design, storytelling, and blockbuster properties into immersive horror experiences. Now at Universal Studios parks in Orlando, Hollywood, Japan, and Singapore, with permanent installations set to launch in Las Vegas and Chicago, Halloween Horror Nights continues to push creative boundaries.
From themed haunted houses to live shows, scare zones, and limited-time food and merchandise, HHN has redefined seasonal programming in theme parks.
Lora Sauls, Universal Orlando’s assistant director of creative development and show direction for art, design and entertainment, tells blooloop what visitors can expect from this year’s HHN in Orlando, as well as reflecting on the annual event’s influence across the sector.
The 34th Halloween Horror Nights
This year marks 34 years of Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Orlando. Sauls says it is the biggest yet. While the houses are incredibly immersive, she adds that the horror feel will extend all around the park:
“You’re never going to feel like you’re outside of that Horror Nights vibe. There’s more theming, more lighting, different audio, more textures—maybe more characters.”
Several houses have been announced so far, including IP from franchises like Friday the 13th, Fallout, and Terrifier.
Working with Horror Inc., the team is bringing all the classic Friday the 13th films to life for the Jason Universe house at Universal Orlando and Universal Studios Hollywood. However, they’ve also created a brand-new Jason look.
“It’s the same team that did Insidious. I just walked it recently, and it’s intense. There are going to be Jasons around every corner. Multiple Jasons in one scene. It ends with a gauntlet of Jason. So, we have high hopes for the intensity.”
Guests will find themselves at the summer camp where the machete-wielding killer originated, experiencing Jason’s creaking cabin, the decaying lodge, and the eerie forest.
Jasons around every corner and squished Radroaches
Inspired by the post-apocalyptic TV show and Bethesda game franchise, the Fallout experience features iconic scenes and characters. It begins in Vault 33 with Lucy MacLean escaping a massacre. Guests then head to the surface, dodging attacks from scavengers and raiders, as well as mutated cockroaches known as Radroaches.
“You’re going to go into the vault, see the wasteland, follow Lucy’s story, go to the Super Duper Mart, see the gulper—the big creature that comes out of the water. There’s the T-60 power armour, Radroaches—and there’s a moment where Lucy steps on one and it squishes all over you.”
The scenery, adds Sauls, is beautiful:
“It’s everything fans want to see. You’ll get the vast wasteland when you come out of the vault.”
“One of the goriest yet”
Art the Clown from Terrifier will also appear at this year’s Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Orlando and Universal Studios Hollywood. Inspired by the slasher film franchise created, written, and directed by Damien Leone, the new haunted house is described as a ‘twisted funhouse.’
“These films are gore fests. This house might be the wettest, goriest house we’ve ever done in Horror Nights history. We’re supercharging all our water effects, which, obviously, is not real blood, but it’s going to look like it. It’s Art the Clown’s most disgusting kills in a funhouse environment. He’s everywhere.”
“What’s great is that he’s a mime. Doesn’t speak. Just a bag full of tricks. One of my favourite scenes is the Tunnel of Love—he’s decapitated everyone and put them on the little floats. And at the end, there’s his Symphony of Blood. You get to choose whether you want the wet path or the dry path.”
Original HHN content
There is also Universal’s original content. For example, El Artista: A Spanish Haunting, which is set in an 1800s Spanish manor in the woods.
“Artists who’ve lost their inspiration are drawn there, and the ghosts and demons take over their minds and drive them mad—they become part of the manor,” says Sauls. “That house actually inspired our overarching theme this year. There’s a conservatory in that manor, and we thought, what if these statues from the conservatory are breaking out and taking over everything?”
“We’ve also got Dollhouse: Let’s Play Dead. You’re shrunk to the size of dolls. As soon as you walk in, you see a giant plug beside you. Lighting is made of oversized Christmas lights. It’s super bright and colourful. Lila, the demented little girl, tortures her dolls, melts them, rips them apart—and then she starts torturing rats.
“You only see her in the video, peering through the dollhouse windows, so it forces that perspective.”
Hatchet & Chains, and more
Another original house, Hatchet & Chains: Demon Bounty Hunters, spun out of Slaughter Cinema.
“This one is set in a cow town with Western vibes, and demons. But these demons don’t just kill people, they pull people apart and climb inside them. One of our masks features a human face ripped open, with a demon emerging from the mouth.
“At the end, you’ll see a moving train as Hatchet and Chains try to stop these demons from spreading across the country. It’s wild.”
Meanwhile, in Gölkin: Monsters of the North, visitors enter a Norse village where a shaman summons creatures from Norse fairy tales to attack the community.
“It’s a very bloody house. You’re going to see a three-headed troll, attacking wolves, and of course, the shaman herself. As the house progresses, you’ll witness her bringing these creatures to life—she’s essentially collecting them. And in the finale, she morphs into a massive beast, and she consumes you.
“The final scene is just incredibly visceral. It’s what we call ‘SIF- stuff in your face’, gooey, messy, just full-on chaos, because you’re literally inside the belly of the beast.”
Technology with impact
While there are more video elements this year, it isn’t about having more screens, says Sauls: “It’s about how we’re using them. The technology is now more advanced. We’ve always had an amazing video team, but this year we’ve welcomed some new additions who are pushing the boundaries of what we can do with screens.
“It’s not that there are more screens — they’re just used differently. The placement, the integration, the quality; it’s all more sophisticated.”
One of her favourite uses of that tech is in Grave of Flesh:
“In our brainstorm meeting, we asked ourselves: “What happens to us after we die?” And of course, the Halloween Horror Nights version of that is not going to be pretty. In this house, you’re attending your own funeral. You go to the cemetery, get buried, and above you, you see your gravestone, you feel the dirt falling on you, and you smell it. It’s that visceral.”
Then, once you’re buried, you find out what happens next. “These flesh-eaters come and rip the dead from their graves, dissecting them, tearing their flesh off. The further you go, the deeper underground you get, and they’re just everywhere. It’s intense.”
The inspiration behind HHN
Every year, the team holds a large brainstorming session to generate original content.
“That happens over one week in April, so by that time we’re already deep into planning for the following year’s event. We bring in the whole team: scenic designers, show directors, costume and character creators. We believe that it takes a group effort to make these stories as rich and detailed as they are.”
This is where ideas for places, characters, and story beats are shared. “When the whole table gets excited about a particular theme or story and everyone starts contributing ideas, that’s when we know we’ve hit on something strong.”
“By the end of that week, we aim to develop eight to ten original content concepts. They’re not fully fleshed out yet, but they’ve got a clear direction. We usually only need four or five, but having extra gives us flexibility.
“That’s especially helpful since, at that point in the year, we may not have all of our intellectual property (IP) selections finalised. If one of our original concepts ends up being too similar to an IP house, we can quickly pivot to one of the backups.”
Unused ideas don’t go to waste either. “We put them back on the board for the following year. There is an ongoing evolution to it.”
Keeping everyone in mind
The goal is to make sure there is something for everyone, says Sauls.
“You can’t have a whole lineup of slashers. One person might like that a lot because they like slashers, but another person who doesn’t might not enjoy it. We ensure that our storylines and characters are diverse, and then we round out the slate with our intellectual properties.
“We’re careful not to overlap. For instance, we don’t want zombies if we’re doing Fallout. We want to make sure there are clear differences so that there’s truly something for everyone.”
They also think about different ages and abilities, she adds:
“First, we want to make sure each house looks uniquely different. We want that wow factor, but the scare factor comes first. And how we scare, there are a multitude of ways. We use the senses. There’s smell (Terrifier has lots of fun smells), water effects, and air effects. The audioscape in every house is so thoughtfully crafted, right from scene to scene, building that intensity.
“So, when you walk through the house without any characters in it, you’re already feeling that tension. And then we add the characters, and they do what they do really well. They bring that final human touch.
“However, throughout the entire design, we continually keep everyone in mind — every ability, every accessibility need — so that everyone can enjoy it, regardless of who you are.”
Halloween Horror Nights: a multisensory experience
Expanding on the multisensory elements, Sauls says that every year, the teams devise new ways to utilise audio to affect guests differently.
“We’ve done noise-cancelling walls. Last year, when we had A Quiet Place, we used sound baffling to make sure that we were as quiet as possible.
“I love our audio team, and every one of our designers who work on these houses: we have audio designers, effects designers, lighting designers, scenic designers, décor specialists — every one of them is a master at what they do.”
“Our audio team knows exactly where to hide the speakers, where to hang them, where to focus them, so that you don’t get a lot of bleed from one scene to the next. We can focus the sound where we need it.
“A Quiet Place was a huge audio design project last year. From the show direction side, we had to figure out how to give you a sound bed that wasn’t just score. We listened to that film and realised it was mostly environmental sounds that created the tension.”
Catering to the fans
There’s a huge fan base surrounding Halloween Horror Nights, meaning there’s plenty of scope to design in hidden extras that will delight long-time visitors.
“We constantly think about the fans,” says Sauls. “Even something like Hatchet & Cleaver — that is a fan house. On social media, once we announced it, those who knew it was in Slaughter Cinema got really excited.”
There are lots of tiny Easter eggs, too.
“Like, our décor team always places a picture of a dog — it’s a little Chihuahua — and it floats around to one house every year. Every year, one house has the Chihuahua. I will find it. It’s there somewhere.
“One year, there were crows in every single house. One year, there were frogs in every single house. They did that because I’m afraid of frogs!
“We listen to our fans. What they felt was missing in our street program last year, we heard them. That’s why this year, we’re expanding that street program to be more immersive, never to let you feel like you’ve exited Horror Nights, and to give you all those things— the audio scape, the lighting, the look, the feel, the tone.
“We want to make sure that anywhere you walk in Universal Studios, you feel like you’ve never left Horror Nights.”
Spooky food, drink, and merch
This extends to the food, beverage and retail too:
“We collaborate with our visual merch partners and our food and beverage partners early on. This year, we took a holistic look at how all those partners need to come together to create a unified feel and tone for the event.”
Additionally, all Universal hotels will feature moments in their lobbies where visitors can take unique photo opportunities.
“And we’re bringing back Dead Coconuts at CityWalk this year with a whole new story and a whole new vibe. Every Halloween, they create a whole new overlay.
“It’s aimed at anyone who likes to be in a fun horror environment. It’s where our fans can come and have a pregame drink. It’s where, if people don’t want to stay until two in the morning, they can come to the event early and leave a little early, enjoying a drink and a show before they go.
“Our Annual Passholders love it. Our super fans get so excited for it. But I think it’s for anybody — even someone that’s like, “I’m not going to Halloween Horror Nights tonight, but I want that vibe.” It’s spooky season from August to November.”
Permanent horror
With Vegas opening next month and Chicago coming, could the houses at this year’s HHN potentially end up at one of the permanent locations?
“Orlando is very much a testing ground,” says Sauls. “I think you’ll see some of the houses from Orlando appearing in these locations.”
“For instance, we had a monster house a couple of years ago that was just hands down a favourite. Everyone loved it because it featured every single Universal Monster. And we’re doing that in Vegas. They’re also adding some big, huge moments that we in Orlando couldn’t do.
“Vegas is going to be very different, but if you’ve been to the event and you’re a fan, you’re going to get all the Horror Nights feelings you want in Horror Unleashed.”
The wider HHN team
The Universal Orlando team also collaborates closely with Hollywood, Singapore, and Japan.
“We have meetings with Hollywood every week. We share all of our intellectual properties, although we’ve found over the last few years that we prefer not to do them one-for-one. People travel to both coasts and enjoy seeing the subtle differences. There are times when a one-for-one is necessary, depending on the IP or the partners, but we strive to offer guests something unique on each coast.
“For Singapore, Beijing and Japan, we have monthly global meetings with all of those entertainment teams. Halloween Horror Nights is global, and we love to share content because we all know that creative work is better when you’re a community.”
Could we also see Halloween Horror Nights in Darkmoor at Epic Universe?
“I think it would be amazing,” says Sauls.
“Universal, we were the creators of the classic monsters and horror. So having that monster world of Horror Nights, in Epic… It’s Universal. We are horror. We started this, and now it’s global. It’s unleashed.”
Elevating the experience
Horror-themed attractions are one of blooloop’s top trends to watch, spurred in no small part by Universal’s seasonal juggernaut. The event has reshaped live entertainment and immersive experiences, inspiring both competitors and collaborators.
But rather than view this increased competition as a threat, Universal’s creative team embraces it.
“We love it,” says Sauls. “It makes us better. It elevates what we do when people are inspired by us to go create their take on things. We welcome it—it pushes us to innovate even more.”
That creative momentum mirrors a broader shift within Universal Parks & Resorts. Across the company, there’s a sense of growth and future focus, from the upcoming Universal Kids Resort in Frisco, Texas, to permanent Halloween destinations like Horror Unleashed in Las Vegas.
A key part of that drive stems from recent leadership changes.
Since Mark Woodbury became chairman and CEO of Universal Parks & Resorts, along with the introduction of new leadership, the strategic vision has gained momentum. Supported by NBCUniversal’s parent, Comcast, there is also significant investment in parks as a key part of the business.
Horror that launches careers
For young people dreaming of a career in themed entertainment, there may be no better starting point than Halloween Horror Nights, says Sauls.
“It is one of the best places to get your foot in the door. So many of our current creatives started out as scare actors. It’s an amazing way to understand what Universal is all about.”
Many team members, from show directors to scenic designers, began their journey within the fog of Horror Nights.
Take Ramón Paradoa, for example, who started as a scare actor and is now a respected show director. Or Dylan Kollath, the scenic designer behind fan-favourite haunted houses like Dead Man’s Pier: Winter’s Wake and Insidious: The Further. He, too, began as a performer.”
“There’s this idea that you need to love horror to work the event. I always tell people: you’re not getting scared—you’re the one doing the scaring. That’s empowering, and it’s something you carry with you.”
Many HHN alums have moved into technical, creative, and leadership roles across the Universal portfolio. It’s a culture that values internal growth and champions talent from within—many team members today still reminisce fondly about the scare zones and haunted houses where they got their start.
“It’s amazing to see how many of our leaders and designers have roots in Halloween Horror Nights. They’re still here, still creating, and still passionate about bringing horror to life for new generations.”
