A triple digit heat wave baking Southern California turned the haunted houses at Halloween Horror Nights into saunas and left the “scareactors” working the mazes dripping with sweat on opening night at Universal Studios Hollywood.
Horror Nights 2024 kicked off on Thursday, Sept. 6 and will run on select nights through Nov. 3 at the Hollywood movie theme park.
The good news for haunt fans is that Horror Nights continues to set the bar for haunted attractions in Southern California and this year’s collection of mazes lives up to Universal’s own high standards.
Universal is the first to market in 2024 and Knott’s Scary Farm, Six Flags Fright Fest and SeaWorld’s Howl-O-Scream will have a hard time catching the industry leader.
Let’s take a closer look at each of the eight haunted houses at Universal’s Horror Nights and rank them from best to worst.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Legacy of Leatherface maze during Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood. (Photo by Brady MacDonald, Orange County Register/SCNG)
1) Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Legacy of Leatherface
This year’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre maze celebrates the 50th anniversary of the original 1974 slasher film by taking visitors inside an abandoned slaughterhouse where they meet 10 versions of Leatherface from all nine films in the horror franchise.
This year’s fully loaded Chainsaw maze ups the ante from past versions with a little bit of every movie in the franchise.
ALSO SEE: 10 Leatherfaces from 50 years of Texas Chainsaw Massacre at Universal’s Horror Nights
There’s never a pause in the action or a chance to catch your breath. Leatherface is coming for you around every corner with his chainsaw.
Walking through the skinned bodies of Leatherface’s victims in the slaughterhouse is absolutely gross — and a highlight of the maze.
A Quiet Place haunted maze during Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood. (Photo by Brady MacDonald, Orange County Register/SCNG)
2) A Quiet Place
The snarls of blind aliens follow Horror Nights visitors as they try to navigate the Quiet Place maze without making a noise.
What stands out is the fact that you know the alien puppets are coming and yet they’re still startling.
Equally good are the townspeople scareactors desperately trying to warn visitors of the impending danger using only sign language and silent hand gestures.
The use of sound is amazing — with growls coming from above, below and both sides.
The Quiet Place maze will go down in Horror Nights lore as a worthy successor to the Alien Vs. Predators puppeted mazes from 2014 and 2015.
The Weeknd: Nightmare Trilogy haunted maze during Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood. (Photo by Brady MacDonald,Orange County Register/SCNG)
3) The Weeknd: Nightmare Trilogy
Horror Nights teams up again with Grammy Award winner The Weeknd on a new haunted maze that takes visitors inside the twisted fantasies and fever dream hellscape of the pop superstar all set to a soundtrack of his greatest hits.
This year’s Weeknd maze is better than his After Hours Nightmare — which was one of the top mazes of 2022.
The Nightmare Trilogy maze serves as a commentary on the music industry — from the couch made of money to the hall of mirrors to the plastic surgery gone horribly wrong.
Swirling spotlights throughout the haunted house work as chapter breaks in the story and clever callbacks to The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights.”
Dead Exposure: Death Valley maze during Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood. (Photo by Brady MacDonald, Orange County Register/SCNG)
4) Dead Exposure: Death Valley
The Dead Exposure maze steps inside a secret military lab where a disastrous attempt to build a super soldier has created an army of radioactive zombies.
Dead Exposure is by far the best of the original themed mazes at this year’s Horror Nights — and one of the best of all time.
The zombie apocalypse maze is the full package — from concept to creativity to execution.
The scares starti right away and don’t let up throughout.
The humorous highlight: A giant ape ripping the entrails out of a helpless human victim in an animal testing lab.
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire maze during Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood. (Photo by Brady MacDonald, Orange County Register/SCNG)
5) Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire
The Ghostbusters answer the call in this new maze that travels to New York City where a vengeful spirit threatens to freeze everyone to death.
The Frozen Empire maze stood out on opening night as more of a sweatbox than an icebox — despite many attempts to create a frosty environment.
Many of the hard-working Ghostbusters could be seen wiping sweat from their brows as temperatures hovered in the mid-90s after dark.
The best parts of the maze are the nods to all the ghosts from earlier movies.
The highlight: The stilt-walking Garraka apocalyptic deity from the movie that towered over visitors.
The Nightmares of Latin America haunted maze during Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood. (Photo by Brady MacDonald, Orange County Register/SCNG)
6) Monstruos 2: The Nightmares of Latin America
This year’s Monstruos maze based on Latin American folklore brings Horror Nights visitors face to face with the soul-stealing rider El Charro, devil dog El Cadejo and boogeyman El Cucuy.
The sequel nature of the Monstruos maze naturally invites comparisons to the 2023 version — which was far better.
This year’s entry does a good job of establishing each of the monsters, but they just aren’t as scary as last year’s lineup.
The best of the bunch: El Cucuy the boogeyman who delivers scare after scare to shocking effect.
Insidious: The Further haunted maze during Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood. (Photo by Brady MacDonald, Orange County Register/SCNG)
7) Insidious: The Further
Tortured paranormal creatures and vengeful spirits are waiting behind a series of blood-red doors in the Insidious maze that takes visitors inside an ethereal supernatural realm known as The Further.
The smorgasbord Insidious maze offers a little bit of everything from all the movies for fans of the franchise.
ALSO SEE: Universal’s Insidious maze ain’t over until the final-final-final-final-final scare
The worst of the intellectual property mazes is still pretty respectable and sets a good bar to judge all the other haunted houses.
The costumes look great, the scares are good and the monsters do their job after a slow start.
You feel bad for the maze monitor in the vomit-stinking bathroom that’s putrid enough to make you retch. At least she has a mask to wear.
Universal Monsters: Eternal Bloodlines maze during Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood. (Photo by Brady MacDonald, Orange County Register/SCNG)
8) Universal Monsters: Eternal Bloodlines
The Bride of Frankenstein, Dracula’s daughter and She-Wolf face off in the all-female version of this year’s Universal Monsters haunted house.
The Eternal Bloodlines maze plays like a history lesson on Universal monster movies of the past.
Introducing all of the characters requires constant resets that involve transition rooms where nothing really happens.
When the monsters do get down to business, the scenes are often staged like mini theatrical plays.
As a result, there’s plenty to look at, but no real scares.
An original soundtrack by Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash adds to the vibe and atmosphere.
The coolest part is walking inside Sound Stage 12 on the studio backlot where “Dracula” (1931), “Frankenstein” (1931) and “The Bride of Frankenstein” (1935) were originally filmed.
Luchadores Monstruosos scare zone during Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood. (Photo by Brady MacDonald, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Horror Nights has plenty to see and do beyond the haunted mazes.
The Blumhouse movie studio takes over the Terror Tram with appearances along the route by characters from “The Purge,” “M3GAN,” “Happy Death Day,” “The Black Phone” and “Freaky.”
The two big shows — “Late Night with Chucky” and “The Purge: Dangerous Waters” — pack in crowds for laughs and stunts, respectively.
The Luchadores Monstruosos masked wrestlers brings a Lucha Libre horror film to life in the best of the four scare zones.
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