Halloween Horror Nights Hollywood 2024 Is Certainly An Experience To Remember
While some years may be better than others, there’s still no more festive way to ring in Spooky Season than at Universal Studios Hollywood for their annual Halloween Horror Nights—and that remains true in 2024.
The fact is, no one can beat the Entertainment Capital of LA when it comes to large-scale production value, especially when they take your favorite cinematic nightmares off the screen and put them so close they can touch you. And this year, they finally did.
Touch me, that is.
My Halloween Horror Nights trip started in, quite possibly, the funniest way possible.
While navigating our first maze of the night, A Quiet Place, an extra dark corridor took me face-to-face with one of its monsters, the alien Death Angel (Did you know that’s what they’re called? Because that’s what they’re called.). We were so close we butted heads.
Literally.
The animatronic alien hit me HARD. It wasn’t until I was in the next room that I realized I couldn’t see! The alien headbutt not only broke the skin on my forehead, it knocked my glasses right off my face!
Thank God we found them before someone stepped on them because that would have been a quick end to the night. But it’s not lost on me that this experience turned me into the horror trope of the bumbling nerd who loses his glasses and gets “got” because of it.
I will say, the Universal Studios staff were very attentive. They got me to First Aid, threw in a couple of extra fast passes (more on that later…), and took note of where the blood-thirsty animatronic alien was located so that hopefully no one else would get hurt.
I’d like to say the rest of the night went off without a hitch, but, as I mentioned above, some years at Halloween Horror Nights are better than others. This was not one of those years.
Don’t get me wrong, there are still some great haunted attractions for people to lose their minds over, so here’s the full rundown:
THE PURGE: DARK WATERS
Universal Hollywood’s WATERWORLD stunt spectacular remains my favorite year-round attraction at the park, and I’m still amazed at how Halloween Horror Nights has retrofitted it so perfectly to Blumhouse’s The Purge franchise. The story is smart, the action is packed and the gore is over-the-top. There’s a reason Halloween Horror Nights brought the show back again this year—and, once again, it’s the highlight.
THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: THE LEGACY OF LEATHERFACE
The saw is family! What a terrific walk down memory lane. If you’re a longtime fan of Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and its sequels, this haunt delivers the goods. Featuring different eras of Leatherface designs, along with surprise visits from your favorite members of the Sawyer family, and lots and lots of stinky meat, Leatherface’s chainsaw is still as sharp as ever.
INSIDIOUS: THE FURTHER
Sometimes, when licensing horror titles from studios outside Universal for haunted houses, the results can be mixed. Luckily, Halloween Horror Nights took good care of James Wan and Blumhouse’s Sony-based franchise, Insidious. I was worried going in that the first movie’s fan-favorite Lipstick-face Demon would be the only recurring creature inside the maze, but was delighted to be jump-scared by monsters from throughout the entire franchise. It’s a scary trek through The Further!
THE WEEKND: NIGHTMARE TRILOGY
Pop star The Weeknd is back with a brand new haunted house, and this one is his best yet. With surreal and sometimes stunning imagery, The Weeknd shows us the nightmarish side of fortune and fame. It was, by far, the surprise of the night!
MONSTRUOS 2: THE NIGHTMARES OF LATIN AMERICA
Last year’s best maze was, arguably, Monstruos. While maybe not reaching the same heights, this year’s sequel delivers the goods. Fiercely original and featuring some of the most frightening monster animatronics in the park, it’ll make sure you never forget what’s lurking under the bed…
GHOSTBUSTERS: FROZEN EMPIRE
While the purist in me would’ve preferred a Ghostbusters maze focused on the franchise’s history, Frozen Empire does a great job bringing the visuals of the 2024 hit movie to life. While not as scary (or funny) as one might hope from a Ghostbusters maze, it makes up for that in production value. Iconic franchise monsters and locations are faithfully brought to life. If you’re a super-fan, it’s worth getting slimed.
DEAD EXPOSURE: DEATH VALLEY
This year’s only new original concept, Dead Exposure, is like stepping into the Mick Garris-directed adaptation of Stephen King’s The Stand. As you follow an ominous blood streak along the floor, you’ll quickly realize this haunted laboratory is filled with fun toxic terrors around every corner.
A QUIET PLACE
While I may have suffered a concussion during this haunt, it was still very exciting to see the world my pals Scott Beck & Bryan Woods imagined brought to life. The Death Angel is as frightening as you’d hope in person—especially when it actually bites you. But the maze suffers from the same problem Stranger Things mazes have had in the past: when it’s just the same creature over-and-over, the scares can get a bit repetitive.
UNIVERSAL MONSTERS: ETERNAL BLOODLINES
While the Universal Monsters mazes have been a highlight in recent years with their creative reimagining of the studio’s most beloved creatures, this year’s iteration fell flat. I’m not sure if there were a lot of performers on break due to the heat wave scorching Los Angeles opening weekend, but it felt like there should have been more monsters. For us, The Wolf Man, Mummy and Frankenstein’s Monster didn’t even show up until the very end of the maze! It’s a shame, too, because it had a very cool story with Van Helsing’s ancestor and The Bride of Frankenstein teaming up to fight Dracula.
LATE NIGHT WITH CHUCKY
If you need to rest your feet inside an airconditioned theater, Late Night with Chucky will do just the trick. Featuring the beloved slasher-doll as the host of his own deadly talk-show, it’s an amusing diversion. But if you’re tight for time, this one is an easy skip.
TERROR TRAM: ENTER THE BLUMHOUSE
Halloween Horror Nights perennial time-suck, The Terror Tram, is back. While there’s always a fun novelty to walking the back lot, most years it just eats away at the precious few hours you have at Halloween Horror Nights. Last year’s bug-exterminator-themed Terror Tram was the first time it felt worthwhile in forever. But, this year’s Enter the Blumhouse is a return to pedestrian form for The Terror Tram. Aside from some great costumes and an AWESOME surprise opening with many of your favorite Blumhouse villains, this year it’s a skip.
MARIO KART: BOWSER’S CHALLENGE
A surprise this year: If you have an Express Pass or above, you can enter Super Nintendo World until 10pm and ride Mario Kart! And there was, virtually, no wait! A big win.
SPECIALTY FOOD ITEMS
Here’s where Halloween Horror Nights really took a turn for the worse.
Perhaps the thing I was looking forward to the most was the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man S’more. One might assume this sweet treat would be located by the Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire maze… And you’d be wrong. (They’re located by THE MUMMY ride.)
Once we made this mistake, though, we were doomed. The Mr. Stay Puft treat sold out in ONE HOUR.
The same went for the A QUIET PLACE éclair and the TEXAS CHAIN SAW chili cheese dog.
All sold out.
A major disappointment.
EXPRESS PASS NO MORE
I’ve been lucky enough to do Halloween Horror Nights with an Express Pass several times now, but this year was the first time it almost didn’t feel worthwhile.
While I expect to wait in long lines with a General Admission ticket, the park must have started overselling Express Passes, because, at times, these queue lines could stretch 20 to 40 minutes. In fact, we almost didn’t get everything in by close—we exited our last maze at 1:55 AM! It was so tight, I never even got to use my extra fast passes from the A QUIET PLACE incident!
At nearly four-times the cost of General Admission, the Express Pass should, at the very least, guarantee you can comfortably see and do everything Halloween Horror Nights has to offer. Otherwise, it’s just the long lines that are truly scary.
Universal Studios Hollywood: Halloween Horror Nights runs now through November 2, 2024.
Categorized:Editorials
