SCarowinds returns to Carowinds for select nights from September 11 through November 1, 2026, billing itself as the scariest Halloween event in the Carolinas. This year’s lineup runs a full slate of haunted mazes and roaming scare zones, from a Jason Voorhees-branded slasher maze to a Wonderland-gone-wrong descent and a traveling Conjuring Universe walkthrough — plenty of ground to cover before you go.
We paired all ten of this year’s headline mazes and zones with the horror films that share their DNA, including one direct franchise tie-in.
This list was checked against streaming availability as of today; platforms shift constantly, so if a link goes cold, check JustWatch for the latest.
1. Friday the 13th (1980) — for Jason: Blood Reign
This is about as close to a licensed tie-in as a maze gets without saying so outright — Jason: Blood Reign puts guests directly into Camp Crystal Lake’s body count, which means the original slasher that started it all is required viewing beforehand.
A group of counselors reopening a cursed summer camp gets picked off one by one by an unseen killer — the film that codified the slasher template for the next four decades.
2. Session 9 (2001) — for Paranormal Inc.
Paranormal Inc. sends guests into a crumbling institutional space where something clearly went wrong — the same slow-dread setting that makes Session 9 one of the most underrated haunted-asylum films ever made, shot inside a real abandoned Massachusetts state hospital.
An asbestos-abatement crew working inside a derelict psychiatric hospital starts unraveling right along with the building — a slow burn that trades jump scares for genuine creeping unease.
Watch it: The Roku Channel | Plex
3. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986) — for Slaughterhouse
Slaughterhouse leans into meat-processing horror, and rather than repeat the original 1974 film already paired elsewhere in this batch, we’re going with Tobe Hooper’s gleefully unhinged sequel — same family, dialed up into pitch-black comedy.
A radio DJ and a vengeful Texas Ranger cross paths with Leatherface’s family, now running an award-winning chili business out of an abandoned amusement park — grosser, weirder, and funnier than the original by design.
4. The Cabin in the Woods (2012) — for Silver Scream Studios: Director’s Cut
A maze built around the idea that horror movies are staged for us has one obvious cinematic answer: Drew Goddard’s meta-horror puzzle box, which spends its entire runtime pulling back the curtain on exactly the kind of manufactured scares this attraction is winking at.
Five friends at a remote cabin are unknowingly cast in an elaborate ritual sacrifice being orchestrated from a control room — a film that reassembles nearly every horror trope into something genuinely surprising.
Watch it: Prime Video | Apple TV
5. Darkness Falls (2003) — for The Toothfairy
The name pairing here is as literal as it gets: a maze themed entirely around a monstrous take on the tooth fairy myth has exactly one real cinematic ancestor, and it’s this 2003 supernatural horror film built around the exact same twisted premise.
A small town’s beloved “tooth fairy” legend turns out to hide something far more sinister, and it’s got its sights set on a young man who once doubted her — B-movie creature horror with a genuinely creepy central design.
Watch it: Prime Video | Plex
6. Annabelle (2014) — for The Conjuring: Beyond Fear
Beyond Fear is the same traveling Conjuring Universe walkthrough installed at Cedar Point this year, so to keep things fresh we’re pairing Carowinds’ stop with the franchise’s other cornerstone — the porcelain doll whose origin story kicked off an entire spinoff line.
A young couple’s home is terrorized by a demonic presence attached to a doll gifted before their daughter’s birth — the film that expanded the Warren case files into a full cinematic universe.
7. The Funhouse (1981) — for Carnevil
Carnevil trades on classic carnival-performer dread, which is exactly Tobe Hooper’s territory in this underseen slasher about teenagers who make the mistake of spending the night inside a traveling funhouse after closing time.
Four teens sneak into a carnival funhouse to spend the night, only to witness a murder committed by a disfigured performer who has no intention of letting them leave — grimy, atmospheric carnival horror.
Watch it: Plex | The Roku Channel
8. Midsommar (2019) — for Lost Souls
Lost Souls gathers its victims into a community of the abandoned and forgotten, echoing the slow, sun-drenched dread of Ari Aster’s folk-horror breakout about an insular cult that welcomes outsiders a little too warmly.
A grieving woman joins her boyfriend’s trip to a Swedish midsummer festival that reveals itself, in broad daylight, to be something far darker than a rural retreat — horror that swaps darkness for blinding, unrelenting sun.
Watch it: Tubi | The Roku Channel
9. Tourist Trap (1979) — for Restricted
Restricted keeps its exact contents under wraps, but roadside-attraction dread with a mannequin-filled twist points straight to this cult classic about a remote tourist stop where the wax figures are more animated than they should be.
Stranded travelers take shelter at an isolated roadside museum run by a man with telekinetic control over his mannequin collection — a genuinely strange, unsettling low-budget gem.
Watch it: Tubi | Prime Video
10. Pet Sematary (1989) — for Grave Garden
Grave Garden’s freshly disturbed plots and things that shouldn’t come back are pure Stephen King territory — few stories nail the horror of resurrection-gone-wrong quite like this adaptation about a burial ground with a very bad habit of returning what’s buried in it.
A family moves next to an ancient burial ground that can bring the dead back — just not quite the way they left — a slow escalation from family tragedy into full nightmare.
SCarowinds runs select nights September 11 through November 1, 2026, at Carowinds in Charlotte, North Carolina. Load up your watch list, then get ready to run the Carolinas’ scariest mazes after dark.
