Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights kicked off this week’s announcements at Awaken the Spirits, a special Halloween event hosted by Midsummer Scream, to reveal the Terror Tram would make its return! News of that was followed by confirmation that Michael Myers will come back to stalk Horror Nights guests as will the Frequent Fear season pass!
Additionally, ticket sales for the R.I.P. Tour and multi-night visits are now available. Halloween Horror Nights kicks off on Thursday, September 9, and runs select nights through Sunday, October 31.
HHN fans have long been hoping for a triumphant Universal backlot return, and that’s what they’re getting. The Terror Tram: The Ultimate Purge takes guests on a nightmarish journey into the world of The Purge as they try to survive the night. The Purge is a one-night event when all crime is legal; however, like in the latest film, The Forever Purge, members of an underground movement think that The Purge should be every day and plan to overtake society into their nightmarish hellscape on the world-famous studio tour after dark!
And just in time for Halloween Kills, Michael Myers returns in a Halloween 4 maze. Many hoped, due to a viral image of a Silver Shamrock facade visible behind Waterworld, that we’d be getting a Halloween 3: Season of the Witch house. It has since seemingly changed to Halloween 4, which begs the question: was Season of the Witch scrapped for not featuring Myers? Or will it continue to live on as an easter egg in Halloween mazes? In The Return of Michael Myers maze, we follow the shape as he tracks down his niece while growing his body count in Haddonfield.
The Bride of Frankenstein is set to lead monster throwback fun with her own house and a Silver Scream Queenz scare zone. At Awaken the spirits we were able to get a look at The Bride of Frankenstein LIVES, a maze that pits the surviving Bride against Dracula’s brides in a race to revive The Monster by any means necessary. Creative director John Murdy shared with ComingSoon at , “We had to hit the ground running. It wasn’t necessarily planned to be a female dominant event. But all of a sudden we went, ‘Well we’re bringing back the Exorcist, bringing in Hill House, The Bride.’ Wow, women are really front and center. It’s cool. It’s exciting, looking forward to it.”
It was revealed during the Awaken the Spirits panel that legendary guitarist Slash of Guns and Roses would return to score the Universal Monster maze and its scare zone. The scare zone will feature The Silver Scream Queenz and introduce mass audiences to more obscure female figures of horror like Ancksunamun from the original Karloff Mummy, Dracula’s Daughter, and the She-Wolf. We were treated to a quick black and white sizzle of trailers that will be a part of the atmosphere of the zone.
“We were trying to figure out how to visually, very simply communicate who these characters are because people won’t necessarily know these fairly obscure movies we plucked them from like Dracula’s Daughter from 1936.” Murdy explained, “So I came up with the idea to do trailers, and originally we thought of taking the old trailers. But if you look at the old trailers like Dracula’s Daughter it’s a woman with a black wig and not going to be what we were doing so we decided we needed to create our own. It was fun. I got to write a bunch of trailers.”
While we’re majorly stoked for the amazing additions to Hollywood Horror Night’s classic icons, we had to ask about Gill-Man who hasn’t yet debuted at a Monster Maze officially. Though he did make a brief shocking cameo in last year’s Bride of Frankenstein Lives house at HHN Orlando. Murdy says don’t count Gill-Man out just yet. “Creature hasn’t had his day yet. Cause he was originally going to be in 2018 but it ended up not being part of that maze. So one day, we definitely need to do something with creature cause he’s one of my favorites too.”
Performers Jabbawockeez are back with nightly performances of their high-energy show featuring gravity-defying dance moves, elevated by special effects and pulse-pounding music. Scare Zones added include the Chainsaw Rangers, a diabolical gang of chainsaw-wielding maniacs who strike upon those entering HHN. And New York Street becomes Demon City where bloodthirsty demonic-looking clubgoers prowl the night seeking their next victims.
This year’s line-up also features:
- “The Haunting of Hill House,” based on Netflix’s critically-acclaimed supernatural thriller.
- “Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” a chilling maze featuring a demented Leatherface and his unrelenting chainsaw.
- “The Exorcist” maze will possess guests as they live the tormented aberrations experienced by Regan and her determined mother.
- “The Curse of Pandora’s Box” is an original concept maze inspired by the most fearsome creatures in Greek mythology.
- “The Walking Dead,” a fully immersive journey inspired by AMC’s popular television series.
Safety guidance in Los Angeles County currently requires masks to be worn in all indoor public spaces. Additionally beginning August 20th, any “outdoor mega-events” attended by a crowd of over 10,000 people, including “music or food festivals, car shows, large endurance events and marathons, parades, sporting events and concerts” will be required to enforce mask mandates. Officially Universal Studios Hollywood has confirmed that they will follow protocols set in place by the county and state.
For more information and tickets visit Hollywood.
