It’s that time of the year again, ladies and gentleman. Our greatest fears are realized as Universal Studios Florida becomes the flagship of fear at Halloween Horror Nights! Last night, the Universal Orlando Resort unveiled a small taste of what was in store for folks next week as Universal Halloween Horror Nights kicks off its 25th year of fear. Today we deliver you a chance to hear a bit about the houses, streets, and shows. As a special added bonus we got to preview the Insidious house and we let you know if it’s a must-see or if it should be left in The Further.

On Display was a steampunk prop from Scarytales Screampunk.

Once inside a soundstage, we took a look at the streets first.

Streets

Scary Tales Screampunk

Scary Tales Screampunk is full of former Scarytales characters, including this suit of armor. It was stressed multiple times throughout the evening that there would be more scare actors in these streets than ever before.

 

Evil’s Roots

Evil’s Roots promises to be full of bats, fairies, and beasts. Jack ‘o’ Lanterns will fill up the Central Park area of the park and bring the horror to life.

 

All Night DIE In

The San Francisco Wharf becomes the home of the All Night DIE In. This scare zone is actually a double feature, with one part of it being all in greyscale with classic monsters, and then a second portion that is in color with all contemporary horror icons. You’ll even see Chucky there!

The Icons of Halloween Horror Nights

The Icons of Halloween Horror Nights will be taking over the Hollywood section of the park. Old friends like the Caretaker, Director, and others will be there. The whole idea behind this scare zone is that the characters will be showing you how they became Icons. In graphic fashion.

Psychoscareapy

Lastly for the streets, we have Psychoscareapy. This is the first time that Psychoscareapy has taken place on a street instead of a house, and Universal promises that it will be the bloodiest street yet. It takes place in the New York section of the park, but the story takes place at the Halloween block party in Shadybrook. Judging by the props they had on display, not only will this one be bloody, but just downright creepy as well.

Shows

Bill and Ted’s Excellent Halloween Adventure

Moving into the shows of HHN25, there are two. The first is the ever popular and always in demand Bill and Ted’s Excellent Halloween Adventure. Details were kept very tight about this one, but we did see $100 bills with Kanye West’s face on them and a drawing of the set for this year. One can probably expect a few jokes pointed toward the theme park establishment down the road as well.

 

The Carnage Returns

The second show is The Carnage Returns, and it is all about the host of our event, Jack. Jack is back and edgier than ever before. Jack will be assisted by his companion Chance here, and the stage is massive. It is located right across the street from Mel’s Dine-In in the Hollywood section of the park. Details were also relatively tight about this as well, but we were told to expect many surprises that only Jack could provide.

HAUNTED HOUSES

Time for the bread and butter of Halloween Horror Nights, the houses!

Jack Presents 25 Years of Monsters and Mayhem

First up is Jack Presents 25 Years of Monsters and Mayhem. In this house, each room is a room from a past HHN and contains characters from the past 25 years. Expect lots of Easter Eggs in this house, as well as many Icons. Since this is presented by our Clown host, expect plenty of Jack here as well. We’ve been told to expect to see all three different versions of Jack.

 

The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead returns to Horror Nights for its 4th appearance. The team was challenged with how to make this house bigger than it was in its previous iterations. This house follows season 5 of the acclaimed AMC show, all the way from Terminus to the Church yard. This house is said to be ‘huge’, with multi story scenes, and for the first time ever, scare actors in waist high water waiting to frighten those brave enough to walk amongst the dead.

RUN – Blood, Sweat, and Fears

Next up is RUN – Blood, Sweat, and Fears. This house takes place in the HellGate Prison of a previous HHN. Except this time, they’re mashing the setting with the RUN concept where it is basically a twisted version of American Gladiators, even down to the 1987 theme. Except take all the gladiators and nerf balls and replace them with psycho killers and their tools. Can you survive the gauntlet?

 

 

 

The Purge

Last year, the Purge was a huge hit as a street. This year, it moves into a house. And we’ve been promised that everything from the street has been crammed into a house. Expect a ton of scare actors and lots of speed metal. We were told this house also has a ton of fog and strobes, so it may be tough to see those doing the Purging as they look for their targets, AKA you.

 

Insidious

Insidious was popular enough to stretch out into three movies. Because of that, we get to experience characters from all three of them, including the Breathing Man, Lipstick Demon, and the Bride in Black herself. There was a lot of work done here to create a very supernatural feel here, but more on this maze in just a bit.

 

An American Werewolf in London

 

For the first time ever, Universal is replicating a former house almost in its entirety with An American Werewolf in London. This was the most popular house of 2013, and will be almost identical to that year’s version. There will be a few tweaks, including a new puppet that was not featured in the 2013 version. I cannot wait to visit the London Underground again!

Asylum in Wonderland 3D

Next, we fall down the rabbit hole in Asylum in Wonderland 3D. You heard that right, a 3D house! For this one, we get to go back to the Scary Tales motif, and then story is all about Alice. We get to question is Alice crazy, or is all of this actually happening. Expect creepy versions of the Mad Hatter, Alice herself, and Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. There is a ton of UV lighting in this house, and it is very in your face.

Body Collectors Recollections

In Body Collectors Recollections, many of the favorites from the past 25 years will be smashed together in the Shadybrook Asylum. There is a big snowstorm, and the Body Collectors come in and wreak havoc. But, what’s really cool about this house is that it is a prequel. We get to find out where the Body Collectors come from!

Freddy vs. Jason

Lastly, we have Freddy vs. Jason. This house was described to take place in basically three parts. There will be a section dedicated to Freddy, then a section dedicated to Jason. After you see both of those and get stalked and haunted by them individually, you get to witness them duke it out in epic fashion. Who will win the fight, and who will will you as their prize?

 

The Presentation

Michael Aiello took the stage and explained some things about this year’s event. He said off stage that one of the difficult things about trying to go all out for the 25th anniversary is that they already have plans for HHN 26, 27, and 28, and it is difficult to not use all of that on just one year. He said to expect a lot of carnage from Jack’s show and that there are quite a few other performers in addition to Jack and Chance, including some maniacs and some aerialists. He seemed most excited about the Freddy vs. Jason and 25 Years of Monsters and Mayhem houses. He is also awesome.

Throughout our time in the soundstage, we got to see how much work gets put into having just one scare actor get their makeup. It took almost 45 minutes for this to happen, and is a testament to the work that Universal puts into this event to make it one of the top in the country.

Before concluding, Jack surprised us on stage and got us all ready to unleash the beast that is Halloween Horror Nights. He made it very clear that Halloween isn’t supposed to be about Pumpkin Spice Lattes, and then told us we were all welcome.

Preview thoughts on Insidious

WOW. It is crazy to think that the depth that they have created and the sense of immersion is there in something that takes place in a tent. There are scare actors around every corner, and some really spectacular effects that toy with your senses. There is one scene in particular with a hallway and some slight human contact that creeped us out for sure. The maze had us jumping out of our skin. Great stuff.

 

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We’ll be covering the first night of the event, which is next Friday, so make sure to keep an eye out for that coverage as well.

Universal Orlando Resort

Tickets and vacation packages for Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Orlando are on sale now at HalloweenHorrorNights.com\Orlando. Updates on Universal Orlando’s Halloween Horror Nights are available on Facebook at Halloween Horror Nights – Universal Orlando and on Instagram at @HorrorNightsORL. Plus, fans can get exclusive updates from Director of Entertainment Creative Development, Mike Aiello, on Twitter at @HorrorNightsORL. Join the conversation using #HHN25.

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