It seems everyone is talking about Halloween Horror Nights this year, when you’re going, if you’re going, is it good this year, how scary it is.
As you enter into horror nights there’s fog and red lights which does give you a big sense of anticipation. Once you enter, there’s actors blending in with the crowd ready to terrify you, and they do not disappoint. There were many actors, all of their costumes were great, there’s a jump scare at every corner as you walk around.
Special foods for Horror Nights were the fried Oreos (which I loved), surfer boys pizza (nothing special), poutine and Chucky’s popcorn chicken (it was good, if you like spicy foods).
The main event, of course are the haunted houses which I thought the best part was the sets, not the scares.
*SPOILERS AHEAD*
There are a total of ten haunted houses each week and there are four special headliners.
Starting with the Stranger Things Season 4 Haunted House, this was the house I was most excited for. The wait time was about two hours at all times.
You start by entering into Will’s house, then Eddie’s trailer. As you go through the house you see many characters like Eleven and Vecna. The set was extremely impressive. There were so many iconic parts of season 4 of Stranger Things like Max levitating but I didn’t find it very scary.
The scares were almost obvious, and it felt like they had so much material but didn’t meet the scare potential (if you can even call it that). If you are a big Stranger Things fan then getting to see so many cool parts like the Upside Down makes this house a must but if you value the horror aspect more, I’d visit other houses first.
The Last of Us house was also highly anticipated. It had the best set of all the haunted houses, had some good scares and overall was executed extremely well. **
I really appreciated how it was done and went twice simply because artistically it looked incredible.
The one haunted house I didn’t expect much from was actually one of the most impressive, Blood-moon Dark Offerings. It was scary, had a strong story, and it makes you feel like you’re actually in danger.
It takes place in a colonial village where there’s religious followers creeping at every corner whose mission is to hunt you, for a “blood-moon offering”. All the elements felt like they were done to a tee and the wait times are super low because the house was not a headliner.
The ending was the best part because you go into this chapel and there’s about 20 nuns dressed in white, and you don’t know which is going to jump at you and scare you.
Dr.Odd-fellow’s Twisted Origins was the best haunted house overall so if could you go to one, let it be that one. The set, the scares, the actors it’s all performed really well.
Universal Haunted Horror Nights (HHN) is always worth visiting in my opinion. HHN 2023 was no different, the food was worth trying at least once, walking around is absolutely terrifying and the houses are, all things considered, done incredibly well.
