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Halloween Horror Nights: All the haunted houses at a glance

Universal Orlando has released its entire haunted house lineup for the 2024 edition of Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Florida theme park. It’s been a drip-drip-drip announcement process, with the news popping up in different online locations, pretty much one by one.

More details were revealed in the ensuing weeks, sometimes via Universal’s official podcast, sometimes presented as the back stories of the event’s original houses.

We’ll know more, probably, before HHN begins Aug. 30. For now, here are clues about what to expect in all 10 houses in one place.

• A Quiet Place – In a location where screams are standard fare, a shhhhhhh theme stands out. This house will be based on two “A Quiet Place” movies, which feature minimal dialogue and invisible creatures with super-hearing. How might that work?

“We haven’t seen how the guests interact with the house yet. So, really it’s kind of this contract with the guests as they go through. It’s like, ‘OK, if you make a noise, they will get you,” Charles Gray, senior show director, said in a Discover Universal podcast.

“I think it’ll be almost like a role-playing game,” Gray said. “Like, if you’re in it, if you’re really buying into this idea, you’re going to have a lot of fun.”

• Major Sweets Candy Factory – Sweets already hit the streets in an HHN scare zone in 2022. The house, set in October 1955, seems to feature the Major, who is suspected of murder, his business partner Miss Treats and a new character named Taffy. A Universal podcast, styled as a radio show with laugh track, throws in children on a field trip (school bus alert), secret ingredients, the missing McGrew family and weapons such as a “blood-soaked machete” and a baseball bat with steel spikes.

• Monstruos: The Monsters of Latin America – It’s got campfire lore (or is it campfire fact?) in the form of La Lechuza, the whistling El Silbon and the fanged, clawed, Tlabuelpuchi plus an ill-advised round of escondite. There’s a barn, a big bird, bosque, bloodiness and cowboy boots and, according to the podcast backstory, a cemetery, innards and the “horrid smell of death.” (Universal Studios Hollywood had a Monstruos house at its HHN last year)

• Universal Monsters: Eternal Bloodlines — It’s like ladies night, HHN style, with a story of Dracula’s daughter seeking revenge on the Van Helsing family plus She-Wolf, the Bride of Frankenstein and a mummified Egyptian princess.

• Goblin’s Feast – This house appears to be populated by orcs, trolls, elves, hobgoblins and a witch with pointy teeth and cracked black lips. A goblin family prepares for a holiday feast, but there are detours through a pub and a burial forest.

• Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire – Scenes are inspired by the 2024 film of the same name, running from the ‘Busters’ containment facility to the New York City sewers.

• Insidious: the Further – Meet the Red-Faced Demon, the Bride in Black, KeyFace and the Man Who Can’t Breathe from the “Insidious” film series, which dates back to 2010. Also planned: multiple red doors.

• Triplets of Terror – Details are scarce for this house, but the “Barmy triplets birthday bash” involves re-creating their family’s murders, according to Universal social media.

• The Museum: Deadly Exhibits – “A folklore museum’s newest exhibit, the Rotting Stone, has released an evil spirit that decays everything,” according to the official HHN website.

• Slaughter Sinema 2 – The first house announcement was back in May during a Horror Nights panel at a Spooky Empire event. It’s a sequel to a 2018 house, and it will feature eight new (yet fictional) films, including “Heavy Metal Hell 3-D.” Six years ago, the Sentinel called the Sinema house “cheesy by design” in a good, popcorn-scented way.

More HHN notes

• Among the five scare zones will be Demon Queens, Swamp of the Undead and Torture Faire.

• The stage show is title “Nightmare Fuel: Nocturnal Circus,” and it will feature pyro, aerialists and “pulse-pounding rock rhythms,” Universal says.

• For the first time, Universal is offering a preview to the general public. Tickets for Premium Scream Night, set for Aug. 29, are selling for $350 for the limited capacity event, which includes food and non-alcoholic beverages plus access to all 10 haunted houses with shorter wait times and staggered entry.

• Among the HHN merchandise: Lil’ Boo travel tumbler (and plush pillow), T-shirts for each house and a redesigned Chucky popcorn bucket.

• Halloween Horror Nights runs on 48 select evenings Aug. 30-Nov. 3. For tickets and more information, go to halloweenhorrornights.com/orlando.

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