Event Report & Photo Gallery: Universal Studios’ 2016 Halloween Horror Nights in Hollywood

This year marked the ninth time I’ve been fortunate enough to attend Universal Studios’ Halloween Horror Nights here in Hollywood, and this latest iteration of nerve-shredding mazes and haunts delivered some rather unique experiences that I absolutely loved. While not every maze was a home run for me this year, by and large, I had a fantastic time at HHN 2016, and it felt like a great way to kick off every horror fan’s favorite season.

Our night began on the Terror Tram, which was the brainchild of Eli Roth this year. The horror filmmaker designed a cavalcade of demented clowns with various themes (the hooker and firefighter clowns were among my favorites because those folks were really into their roles and endlessly tormented attendees as we walked through), and while it may not be the most original idea these days to just do something with clowns, I was a big fan of how relentless these characters were. I also noticed a lot more performers in the Terror Tram walk-through areas, which meant that you always had to be on your guard. It was certainly a fun way to start the evening.

Next up, we headed downstairs where most of this year’s HHN attractions were staged. The first house we hit up was Krampus, which I had toured earlier this week, and while the lack of live performers in Krampus was a bit disappointing, I loved everything about the production design (and the consistent holiday smells throughout was a clever touch, too), as the attention to detail was amazing.

After Krampus, we headed into the Freddy vs. Jason maze, which ended up being one of my personal favorite mazes of the night. There were an enormous amount of Freddy Kruegers and Jasons running amok, to the point where it was almost hard to stop and take in the beautiful construction in the maze’s several set pieces. But the one moment of the night that may have been the biggest thrill for me (next to some of what we saw in the Halloween II maze, but more on that soon) was seeing how John Murdy, the madman behind HHN, reimagined the giant Freddy worm scene from A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, but this time Freddy was eating a terrified young Jason, complete with his Camp Crystal Lake garb. Just brilliant.

We then went over to the American Horror Story attraction, another maze I previewed earlier this week, and for me, the biggest disappointment of this year’s HHN. As we went through, our group was off in terms of timing, which meant that we hardly had any interaction with live characters, so it mostly ended up being a walk-through of an attraction I’d already seen. The only area where we really did see any actors doing their thing was at the entrance of the Freak Show section, but for the most part, our group just strolled right on through, with very little scares to be had—a huge bummer, as I was looking forward to seeing what Murdy’s live interpretation of certain characters would look like (we did have one run-in with a Rubber Man, but that was really it).

We then headed over to The Exorcist maze, an attraction I was really geeked out over, being a huge fan of the original and knowing just how long Murdy had personally pursued it. For the most part, The Exorcist maze did not disappoint, as an impressive amount of animatronic gags on display truly raised the bar, but towards the end of the maze, we got pushed through a few rooms rather quickly by the staff, so by the last two bedroom scenes, we came in at the tail end of all the action (we did get to see Regan strike her Pazuzu pose, so that was pretty rad).

The two mazes that ended up being the best-staged with the best flow of the entire night were Halloween – Hell Comes to Haddonfield (Murdy’s take on Halloween II) and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre – Blood Brothers (which mashed up parts of the original Chain Saw with its direct sequel). The folks running those mazes were great at not only spacing out groups, but also at giving us time to explore different rooms instead of just herding us through as quickly as possible.

In Halloween – Hell Comes to Haddonfield, Murdy’s take took us through the events of the Halloween sequel in great detail, providing great set pieces like a dead Mr. Garrett at his command station, Dr. Mixter with a needle in his eye, poor Jimmy the EMT laid out in a puddle of blood, and flirty nurse Karen being taught a lesson in why it’s never a good idea to go hot tubbing at work when you’re supposed to be keeping an eye on your patients. We watch Halloween II a lot in my house, and I absolutely loved its live HHN adaptation, especially because at one point, we were transported right into the center of a pumpkin, complete with webbing on the walls reminiscent of the guts you have to scoop out whenever you carve one up each October. The attraction also features an eye-popping homage to Halloween III: Season of the Witch, which is just awesome. I could not have been happier with that maze.

For The Texas Chainsaw Massacre – Blood Brothers maze, Murdy transformed the iconic gas station ran by the Old Man in the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre into a restaurant, where Chop-Top is now home from Vietnam and running amok. While Leatherface was certainly still the star of this maze, I absolutely loved seeing numerous Chop-Top characters popping in and out of scenes, especially considering how much of a cult icon that character has become over the years (the mask work done for Chop-Top was also excellent). The production design on Blood Brothers was another highlight for me, and I highly recommend finishing off your night here (especially since it’s near the exit of the park), because it left a huge smile on my face.

One thing I will say to anyone contemplating going to this year’s Halloween Horror Nights is that you absolutely must get a “Front of Line” pass if you have any hope of getting through all the attractions. And even with the Front of Line perk, expect a wait. At most houses, we waited about 20 minutes to get in with our Front of Line passes, and regular attendees were looking at wait times of around 90 minutes or more for each attraction (at one point, The Exorcist had a 150-minute wait posted, and American Horror Story was around 140 minutes on opening night), which means there’s just no way to do everything if you don’t get the special HHN pass. It seemed like this year there were far more folks in the FOL gates than I had ever experienced before, so it looks like Horror Nights is selling more of those passes than they have in previous years.

Oh, and make sure you start downstairs and work your way back upstairs, as it’s your best chance at beating some of the lengthy wait times once you get there, since most folks get caught up on the upper levels when they enter.

Overall, the 2016 Halloween Horror Nights in Hollywood was a total blast, and I’m hoping that most of the misfires I experienced could be chalked up to trying to get the proper flow down on opening night, which can be tough (especially when you’re doing attractions as ambitious as the ones Murdy and his team put together each and every year). It’s rare that we get to see so many cool horror heavyweights as well as the chance to celebrate some new blood in the genre, and anyone who goes (and gets the Front of Line pass) should have just as much fun as we did.

Here’s a look at photos we brought back from our experience at the 2016 Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights in Hollywood: