September 6, 2024, 4:44 AM ·
It was the hottest day of the year in Southern California Thursday, with temperatures remaining near 100 degrees for the kick-off of this year’s Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood.
So let me start this report with appreciation for all the Universal scareactors who did not let the heat deter them from delivering engaging performances on their opening night. I did notice some empty spots in several houses tonight, which I hope was due to Universal rotating more actors through the remaining positions to provide extra relief in this heat. Still, the crew brought energy and intensity throughout the event tonight, making this yet another winner of a year for Halloween Horror Nights. Now, onto the eight house this year in Hollywood. The Weeknd: Nightmare Trilogy impressed me the most in this year’s line-up. While each house offers a unique theme, The Weeknd’s house offered a distinctive style, as well. There’s glam with the gore, creating a mix of memorable visuals in throughout the house. That’s a welcome changeup from the jump scares and boo holes in blackout hallways that so often drive haunt events.Universal Monsters: Eternal Bloodlines plays in the same soundstage where Universal shot Bride of Frankenstein 90 years ago. The Bride is back, along with a cast of sister monsters in this year’s all-female Universal classic monsters house. But Universal just built another tent maze within the soundstage, failing to take advantage of the available height that could have allowed more expansive production design. Nevertheless, I loved this house in Orlando, and I like it here. Both houses employed media to good effect, and while this house felt more intimate in its scale, that just served to amplify the individual character interactions.Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire hits the same beats here as in Orlando. These are the two most similar houses from coast to coast this year. Again, I love houses that rely on visual storytelling and placemaking, and GFE delivers plenty of fan service that calls back to multiple films in the Ghostbusters franchise.A Quiet Place leans here into ASL more than in Orlando, with a deaf actress presenting a video preshow to set up the events of the first two “A Quiet Place” films, depicted in the house. Still, it’s not obvious what kills the monsters unless you have seen the films, which undercuts the stakes of the battle here. I do love the production design, however, as well as the scareactor performances, which are consistently excellent across all the houses in California.Dead Exposure: Death Valley is a quirky, fun house with a retro vibe. It’s by far the brightest haunted house of the year, glowing with the neon green of whatever it is that has infected the inhabitants of this government research facility. This is the one completely original house in Hollywood this year, with no direct antecedent from other media or folklore. But it definitely lives in the spirit of mid-century “B” movies, offering a classic line-up of haunted house tricks.Monstruos 2: The Nightmares of Latin America suffers in comparison with last year’s Monstruos: The Monsters of Latin America, which was one of my favorite houses of the year. That house inspired an installation in Orlando this year, which also was a winner in my book. But I did not feel that this sequel lived up to the standards of those houses, with a second act (El Cadejo) that just repeated the exact beat over and over again. The house also lacked the scale of last year’s, even though the production design of the first (El Charro) and third (El Cucuy) acts still impressed.The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Legacy of Leatherface is yet another TCM house, based on yet another reboot of an OG horror franchise. It hits all its marks, from gut-wrenching gore to gut-spilling smells. But all these beats have been hit countless times before, making it difficult for this house to stand out from its predecessors, much less the other houses of the year.Insidious: The Further shows us what happens when your prayer that the Lord takes your soul “if you die before you wake” does not get answered. There’s plenty of fan service here, but not enough distinctive visuals or unique scares for those who haven’t seen these films to move it higher on my list this year. There are a lot of blackout hallways here, so much so that I had to feel my way out of a few scenes. If you’re into that style of house, this is going to scare the screams out of you. But as I wrote above, it’s not the style that connects with me.The heat, coupled with my desire to get home and get all these videos posted before dawn, pushed me to skip this year’s Terror Tram: Enter the Blumhouse, as well as the The Purge: Dangerous Waters and Late Night with Chucky shows. But I did make time to check off one missed item from my Orlando to-do list.Yes, I finally got my Mini Puft S’more, which is available at the Lower Lot Scoop Shop for $6.99 each. This Puft might be Mini, but he is thicc, with a hefty marshmallow laying atop a bed of milk chocolate and graham cracker, It’s not served warm and gooey like a campfire s’more, but the texture is close enough to make it a fun treat on a hot evening. Ultimately, neither of us melted, which I will take as a win. Just like Halloween Horror Nights.For tickets to this year’s Halloween Horror Nights, please see our partner’s Universal Studios Hollywood tickets page.And to keep up to date with more theme park news, please sign up for Theme Park Insider’s weekly newsletter.
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