It’s not the Halloween Season until a scare actor in a ghillie suit leaps from nowhere and almost makes me spill my White Claw—one of the many dangers of Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights, which we thrill-seekers face willingly. I returned to Hollywood for another year of haunted houses, themed cocktails, and festive celebrations cooked up by Universal Hollywood’s HHN Creative Director and Executive Producer, John Murdy.
Ah, to be soothed by the screams of patrons running from chainsaw maniacs. This is the life.
This year was another rousing success. Perhaps as successful as last year, which I regarded as my favorite Hollywood iteration of Horror Nights since I moved to Los Angeles in 2019. The Killer Klowns returned; Evil Dead got another edition; Art the Clown was prowling once again. And yet, Murdy’s team did a fantastic job making everything feel like a fresh new nightmare. It wasn’t just Pinhead with sights to show us in the Hellraiser haunt. From Ozzy Osbourne to bloated morgue corpses, the yearly Stranger Things allotment to the Avengers of Latin American folklore, Hollywood’s Halloween Horror Nights 2026 was a blast from start to finish.
Luckily, not the kind of blast that Art’s dynamite-holding minions tried to ignite.
Let’s get to the meat and potatoes, shall we? I’ll rank the houses as per my enjoyment, but again, I want to stress that the floor this year is still higher than most. The “worst” is still passable in comparison, when a house or two felt like last-minute rush jobs.
But before examining the meat of Hollywood’s Horror Nights, a quick take on the potatoes!
Scare Zones, Drinks, Atmosphere
Soaking in Horror Nights is about sights, sounds, and tastes. My first stop this year was Art’s Tinsel Bar (sponsored by Cutwater), where I snagged a tequila-based “Mistletoe Massacre,” a strawberries-and-cream cocktail complete with a charcoal-sugar rim (that stained my hands black as it melted). Then I entered the main park area and the Fortnitemares scare zone, where video game avatars from Epic’s massively popular multiplayer shooter emoted and grooved to sinister techno by a full-scale replica of the Battle Bus.
As per Fun-O-Meter readings, it was a wonderful start. I didn’t spy as many chainsaw-revving “Hackerz” or fan-favorite “Murder of Crows” on stilts, in favor of the cleaner Fortnite brand. But my biggest scare zone fright came from a “Blood Bog” actor who got me damn good. We love when a scare zone scores a bonus howl, but also appreciate the showmanship of something like “El Circo de la Muerte,” where you can hang out with all the deranged sideshow acts until the park closes—which we did. After another cocktail from Ozzy’s Bar, complete with a cute chocolate bat as a garnish.
We didn’t sample any of the special food, opting for the quick-eats Surfer Boy Pizza rebrand for the down-lot concessions. But of the specialty drinks I sampled, I was a fan! They’re sweet as heck, as per typical Horror Nights libations, but both were refreshing and hit the spot.
Now, to the houses!
Stranger Things 5
Disclaimer: I’m not a big Stranger Things guy (anymore). I haven’t even watched Stranger Things 5 yet because when you release seasons that are basically mini-movies with years in between, my hype and excitement wane.
The maze was my speedrun of the final season. It’s Demogorgon-heavy, which I don’t mind since that meant we got full-costume actors getting up and real close a few times. The house’s sound stage location means plenty of room to reimagine the waxy military base assault and Vecna showdowns with the main cast. But this one is for the fans who still adore Hawkins’ gang of unlikely heroes. It’s got a clip show feel, like previous Horror Nights takes on Fallout or The Walking Dead. The rubbery Upside Down tendrils you walk through always have that goofy ick factor, and the sets are impressive, but it’s a basic example of a Horror Nights house that feels like good-enough product placement.
Evil Dead Burn
It’s a bummer that Evil Dead Burn is low on my list, but it’s a “meh” of a house. I like the smoke distorting our view, and the smaller-sized house still highlights key moments from the film, but everything wraps up without a show-stopping moment. Maybe that’s because all the Deadite scare actors wear masks instead of cosmetic effects, and they look like big babies with oversized heads? You’ll get wet as “blood” (water squirts) shoot from the bathroom lawn-edger kill sequence, and I love being drenched in red lighting to represent fire and rage, yet nothing ever feels overwhelmingly terrifying. There’s enough to like as you saunter through Evil Dead Burn’s grossest scenes—the dishwasher, a decapitated head, grandma on the stair mover—yet nothing more to blow our minds.
Killceañera: Music by SLASH
The last few Horror Nights at Hollywood have been dominated by Latin American-themed houses based on “Monstruos” like La Llorona, El Cucuy, Tlahuelpuchi, and many more. This year, they come together at Killceañera, where a vengeful, disfigured birthday girl summons the baddies to punish her school bullies.
It still has that addictive design of past Monstruos mazes, using cultural imagery like a skeleton mariachi band scene and Lola—the birthday girl—who is scarred by burns but also sports a sugar skull look complete with neon paint. As we make our way through, all the Monstruous celebrities appear: El Cucuy, La Lechuza, El Charro Negro. But the storytelling is stronger in past houses that walk us through backstories; this time resembles a revolving door of cameos.
Slash’s scoring is on point as always, starting with somber Spanish guitar plucks before the rocker jolts us with electric shreds. It’s all in Lola’s house, with the body parts of her enemies stuck in desserts like decorations, so the vibes are dark yet inviting. And then, on the way out, we get a staple Horror Nights experience of a long hallway with nothing but scare actor hideouts as each monster lunges for one last scream. For these reasons, I praise Killceañera.
Killer Klowns from Outer Space
This is my third Killer Klowns house at Hollywood’s Horror Nights—previously appeared in 2019 and 2022—and you’ll hear no complaints from my mouth.
Every time I see the yellow-and-red big top tent (well, big enough), and hear The Dickies’ theme song, I get excited all over again. No Killer Klowns house has ever scared me, but it’s the house I’d pick to live inside if I ever had to. The colors are so vibrant as you walk through spaceship corridors that pop with neon-hot circus vomit designs (complementary). As a practical effects nerd, it’s a dream come true to be standing in front of fully-costumed Bibbo, Jumbo, Rudy, and the rest. The popping of popcorn ammo, glow of luminescent cotton candy sacks, menace of shadow puppets—it recreates the property like a fever dream.
The nostalgia is rich, particularly after entering Crescent Cove. Debbie’s house is utilized best—her cries for help while trapped in a balloon, Shorty’s jack-in-a-pizza-box attack where he squirts you with a ray (water) gun, the bathroom Popcorn Klowns—but there’s more past the cove’s police station. The funhouse exit section features more standees, a popcorn-bazooka gag, and a final Klownzilla encounter that is a testament to the practical props Horror Nights adore.
Bring back the Killer Klowns as many times as you want; it’s always a standout haunt.
Dead, Deader, Deadest
Welcome to the Deville Family Funeral Home, where the dead don’t stay that way. I was immediately brought back to 2024’s Dead Exposure: Death Valley house, which was my second favorite that year. The concept is campy; a Deville descendant invented a bright green drug dubbed “Ambrotox” that could bring lifelike features back to cold, rotting corpses. Instead, the Re-Animator green serum dripping throughout the house reanimates the unliving. That explains the bloated, blobby fatso that we encounter early on; our introduction to the grotesque abominations that hunt us throughout our Deville walkthrough.
It feels like being stuck in a Return of the Living Dead zombie-era flick, from the cozy funeral parlor introduction to the frigid freezers stacked with the angry undead. Zomboids all have a liquid dripping from their mouths that glows under blacklights, much like the entire house itself. Then you reach the embalming rooms, crematorium, and beyond, filled with mangled and repugnant experiments popping from every opening. It’s such an energetic experience, with scares hidden fairly well, with even better production design that nails the blistering heat of ovens and such.
This might actually be my favorite exit of all the houses, as you leave through the cemetery. Seasoned haunt-goers will spy where scare actors might pop from, but I hit a point where at least four jumped at me at once, and I didn’t know where to look. It was the perfect jolt, and a wonderful antidote to the expected one-at-a-time model we usually encounter.
Sinners
Usually, I’m here complaining about how Hollywood is the little sibling event to Orlando. But this year, Hollywood’s Sinners outshines its Florida iteration; a rare occurrence.
I won’t claim Sinners is particularly frightening, but what wins here is production design. The queue recreates Miles Caton’s spellbinding musical number that blazes through Black influences through generations, setting the mood before entering Smoke and Stack’s juke joint. It’s a vibe, but then we meet our first vampires, and you see it: the glowing eyes. As per entertainment journalist Eric Goldman, only Hollywood boasts these effects, which Murdy described as “tricky,” but they figured out a way to “have tiny lights (safely) floating in front of the scare actors’ actual eyes that are held by a hidden wire masked by their eyebrows and hairpieces.” And let me tell you, it’s a game-changer.
The house itself brings to life what transpires within the juke joint in a multi-level spectacle. Vampires bang on the windows as you trudge toward the main area, then once inside, you’re subjected to all the bloodsucking viciousness of Sinners. It’s fully immersive, with action everywhere: shotguns blast on the ground level while Smoke handles things on the catwalk above. There’s no wasted space, capturing the chaos of the juke scene with well-choreographed details … and then you meet the leaping vampire on a harness who jumps down before you exit.
I’ve never seen this acrobatic tactic used at Horror Nights, and it’s a terrifying touch. Respect to the scare actor bouncing with each jump, but it’s beyond memorable. That, and the incredibly fine Michael B. Jordan lookalike who damn well better be up for a body-double role in Jordan’s next production. Good job all around, team!
Terror Tram starring Art the Clown
The Terror Tram went from being a perennial “guess we’ll do it” to a “holy heck, you gotta do it” this year with Art’s Christmas takeover. A Very Scary Artmas, if you will.
For those seasoned Horror Nights devotees, the Terror Tram is a toss-up. It’s rethemed every year (unless Blumhouse has a say), passing through the Bates Motel, past Mother’s house, and by the destroyed remains of the War of the Worlds plane wreck. But Art’s personality is infectious, and his holly-jolly spin had my group giggling with glee the whole time.
You’ll pass through his tree farm, cafe, workshop, and other holiday distortions, all with scare actors dressed as Art either electrocuting themselves with faulty lights or the Little Pale Girl doing her best to decapitate, flay, and murder to Art’s liking. But the fun is how batshit things get, with Art firing a mounted machine gun at one point, or the glow-in-the-dark snowmen guarding a particularly rad section covered in amazingly bright Terrifier graffiti. There’s so much Artiness to the experience beyond Art’s desecration of bodies, on full display with hilarious results.
Honestly, give Art another go at the Terror Tram next year, too. It’s the most fun I’ve had riding those rails since … uh, maybe my entire time in Los Angeles?
Hellraiser
Clive Barker’s sadomasochistic franchise Hellraiser has such sights to show us at Horror Nights this year. By walking through a gigantic Lament Configuration—Doug Bradley’s voiceover as Pinhead can be heard—we endure the sick pleasures of the first three Hellraiser films.
It’s funny, because where Evil Dead Burn suffers due to janky masks, Hellraiser is in the Killer Klowns camp of nailing the looks of its villains. Pinhead, Butterbean, Chatterer, and other leather-clad servants of the Leviathan pop from behind movable wall planks that are well hidden throughout the Cotton’s crumbling home. Then there are the skin-flayed scare actors who pop from even better concealed openings, along with other hellish mutations who’ve haunted the Hellraiser films.
The atmosphere here is aces. Especially when you enter “The Labyrinth” portion, the gothic maze of stone and chains entraps us in Pinhead’s domain. Multiple scares in this portion alone had me yelping with glee, as well as all the stretched-out skin effects you’d expect from Frank Cotton’s fate. All the iconic Hellraiser elements are exploited, and the hedonistic house hits harder than, say, The Exorcist’s generic recreation.
Ozzy Osbourne: Prince of Darkness
A haunted house fit for a king, or in this case, the Prince of Darkness.
Ozzy Osbourne’s tribute house is a love letter to the musical icon’s legacy of dark and ghastly imagery. Hits like “Crazy Train” and “Bark at the Moon” blast as the songs come to life. We enter Osbourne Station (Platform 666), escape an asylum, exit through skull-lined catacombs, and eventually encounter a mannequin of the late Black Sabbath and solo-act wonder who redefined rock n’ roll. The little touches are everything, like a massive bat-creature holding Ozzy’s bitten-off head, or the way lyrics shape the horrors that await.
I applaud the different iterations of Ozzy’s demons, from the on-stilts conductor who emerges to punch our ticket, to the gnarly werewolves who chase us through an outdoor landscape. It’s all Ozzy, all the time, but with such varied presentations. It’s a stark contrast to Orlando’s WAY different take, although their Ozzy on the way out is a scare actor, which adds a lovelier, personal touch. But that’s the only thing Orlando has on Hollywood, as I rather like the almost comic book feel of Hollywood’s Ozzy house, and its off-the-wall interpretation.
I’ll forever be a sucker for any hard-rockin’ Horror Nights maze. Thankfully, Ozzy Osbourne’s posthumous contribution sets a new bar.
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[Photo Credit: Matt Donato]
