I Survived All 10 Houses Of Halloween Horror Nights 35!

You read that right: this year, I went through all ten houses of Halloween Horror Nights 2026 – and even traversed one alone. (Ish.)

I have documented my slow descent into the madness of HHN before, but here’s the short version: I went from downright refusing to go through a haunted house to going through one with my eyes half closed to tentatively walking through one eyes open. Then I attended Universal Studio’s Halloween Horror Nights with friends and managed four houses. Just with those four, I was so proud of myself! Last year I doubled that for eight, and this year I managed to knock out the whole roster. I’m a big girl now!

The event is over as of November 1, so I suppose there’s technically no real reason for me to provide any sort of review or recap. On the other hand, I’m absolutely spilling with latent excitement over the houses, so I’d really appreciate it if you’d let me chat with you about it all the same. Besides, I find a lot of the time people who don’t want to actually attend a haunted event are still quite interested to hear about it. Far be it for me to quell your curiosity.

Thus, in the spirit of Halloween today, I ask you to indulge me in a quick little ranking of the Horror Nights houses. I had a helluva good time, and I hope you have a helluva good time reading about it!

MY HALLOWEEN HORROR NIGHTS 35 HOUSE RANKINGS

I will say that after #1 and #2 and maaaaybe #3, it got darn tough to rank each house definitively. Come back tomorrow and I might have a slightly different order. All the houses were good, as they generally are. This ranking is very much of subjective opinion, and I’ll be the first to say that if someone walked up with a complete reversal of my preferences, they would be just as correct.

Now, without further adieu, let’s jump in with…

#10 INVASION: ALIEN ABDUCTION

By infernal providence, we started with the house I was most nervous about – Invasion: Alien Abduction. While I love horror, I am NOT a body horror girl, and alien stories often involve icky experimentation. Thankfully, none of that showed up in the house. Instead, we traveled through the active abduction of a farmhouse family, including some impressive light and vibration effects. The most interesting plot points involved said family fighting back, but I just didn’t get enough of that. It was mostly aliens popping out at you. Maybe I got the timing wrong? So much of these houses can come down to timing.

#9 STRANGER THINGS 5

My Stranger Things opinions follow a curiously similar trajectory to my Harry Potter opinions. I adored the first one – and yet my affections dwindled with each passing installment until I fell out of love with the series in its entirety. Thus, despite the proliferation of demogorgons, Vecna jump scares, and recognizable characters, I was largely a neutral observer. Although I was happy I saw Steve; I love a good redemption arc. A huge Stranger Things fan who has watched season 5 repeatedly and knows all the story beats would likely be more enamored of this house.

#8 MADLANDS: CAGED CANNIBALS

The conceit behind Madlands is that all animals are dead, so human beings have turned into cannibals AND ALSO taken over a zoo while joining different factions representing the former inhabitants. Got that? For example, you had your bird people, your elephant people, your rhinoceros people, etc. The latter was my favorite; that room featured a giant metal rhinoceros statue with an auger bit for a horn. As for the scare actors, their getups reminded me of nothing more than Mad Max, as each costume was a sort of industrial/leather daddy animal interpretation. I did very much appreciate the variety of each room, but as the story didn’t go much deeper than “crazy animal people will eat you” I have to place it toward the back of my rankings. Seriously, all the houses were so good!

#7 CYBERGORIA

I did Cybergoria all by myself!!! Okay, when I say “all by myself” I really mean “separated from my own group but in the usual long conga line of a million other HHN guests.” Still, a big step for me! Honestly the experience wasn’t all that different, although I did kinda miss watching Pat or our friend Kyle reacting to each room in front of me.

Regardless, what boosted this house for me was a comparatively clear layout of the storyline. While still in the queue, a video played explaining that you were entering a cryogenic freeze while robots tried to solve the pesky problem of human mortality. As soon as they conquered death they promised to wake you up. Unfortunately once you got into the house they were more about dismemberment and carnage, but what can ya do. The only reason I didn’t rank Cybergoria higher was that, unlike Madlands, there wasn’t as much variety from room to room and scare to scare.

#6 EVIL DEAD BURN

I don’t know if you’ve watched the newest Evil Dead movies, but they are INTENSE. I didn’t feel that the Evil Dead Burn house quite captured the violence of the films; whether that’s a pro or a con is up for debate. The introduction of the Naturom Demento book on screens and the accompanying Latin recitation was a neat effect and my favorite part. As for the rest of the house, I found I only recognized about 50% of the scenes even though I just watched Evil Dead Burn a few weeks ago. Not sure if that’s on me for not paying closer attention or if Universal was a bit muddy on the plot points. Plus ten for fire anyway.

#5 OZZY OSBOURNE: PRINCE OF DARKNESS

I fear I am not well versed in the Ozzy Osbourne catalog, and that no doubt has a profound effect on how you rank this house. As an agnostic, however, I did find the Ozzy house to be a lot of fun. As others have noted, the Crazy Train scene was the standout (and I suspect repurposed from Hatchet & Chains). The final scene with Ozzy on his throne was also a highlight. In retrospect, I should’ve mainlined some Ozzy music videos in preparation for the full experience.

#4 SINNERS

Vampires aren’t a favorite subgenre of mine. I very much enjoyed Sinners the movie all the same, and the corresponding house was toward the top of my shortlist. While I liked it a lot (it’s in my top half after all), I don’t think it quite delivered on its promise.

The casting was excellent; indeed, in the first scene one of the twins looked so much like Michael B. Jordan that if you told me the man himself was bored that night and showed up to work I would believe you. Club Juke was of course a fantastic recreation. One of the Irish vampire scare actors gave me such a delightful jump scare that when I laughed I swear he smiled back at me. But it all felt very Cliff Notes as opposed to a robust retelling. And I was disappointed we didn’t get more of the rocky road to Dublin one two three four five – that’s my favorite part.

#3 JACK & ODDFELLOW: CHAOS & CONTROL

I’m not gonna lie – I came to this house woefully underprepared. Who’s Jack? Who’s Oddfellow? Reading up on it after the fact, their house apparently told the story of how these two evil (literal) clowns fought it out and then joined forces over the course of the rooms. Somehow I got none of that, which should have knocked the experience down my rankings quite a few pegs. You know how I like to yammer on about clearly communicated story.

And yet this house was so much fun I couldn’t help but put it in the top three. Heck, it was basically a funhouse! There were all sorts of nifty effects, including a spinning tunnel room and a part where you had to navigate a tilted floor. It was wild and colorful and just a good time overall, and isn’t that what Halloween Horror Nights is all about?

#2 H.R. BLOODENGUTZ PRESENTS: A HALLOWEEN FRIGHT-TACULAR

As alluded to above, many of my Halloween Horror Nights house rankings could be changeable, and the margins are razor thin. H.R. Bloodengutz, however, is a definitive #2 that would’ve been an unequivocal #1 in other years.

I LOVED this house. The outline was so simple: H.R. Bloodengutz is a sort of Elvira/Crypt Keeper/’70s Horror Movie Host character who is guiding you through a Halloween movie marathon. Every room was a different movie, with retro televisions between each one setting up the title and theme. And those themes were ridiculous – cheesy B movie schlock for sure. My personal favorite was Conjure the Funk, where I danced it out with some Saturday Night Phantoms (rim shot!). For clarity, simplicity, silliness, and variety, H.R. Bloodengutz was an early favorite.

Until…

#1 HELLRAISER

I watched the first two Hellraiser movies so as to come into this house informed, and I found them curiously… charming? I mean, yes, the are brutally violent and perverse, but in such an over-the-top ’80s FX way that it becomes oddly endearing. The second one in particular smacks of horror fantasy, what with the labyrinth and haunted mattresses and final girls x 2.

Anyway, if you like Hellraiser – and maybe even if you don’t – this house did NOT disappoint. Unlike the Sinners house, I exited satisfied: I read that it was the longest house of the year, and I believe it. We got everybody: multiple Pinheads (he told me he had such sights to show me!), Butterballs (“BUTTERBALL!!!!!” Kyle shouted with every appearance), Chatterers, and [sigh] Female Cenobites, plus the Engineer, a glimpse of the labyrinth (with that’d been longer tbh), Frank, the body coming out of that mattress – it had everything! Truly the Hellraiser house felt like a walk through the film. 10/10, would Hellraise again.

OTHER HALLOWEEN HORROR NIGHTS EXPERIENCES

I’m not entirely sure I saw all the scare zones, so I’ll decline to rate them this year – but we did spend a bit of time of Downtown Clown Town, which was a great time as long as you’re not coulrophobic! Art from Terrifier was there, as were some of the Killer Klowns from Outer Space, plus I think an assortment of originals? It was all very bright and colorful and whimsi-creepy rather than sinister. One very tall clown came up behind me and squeaked a rubber chicken over my head, so I left sated.

Let’s see, what else? We wandered through Diagon Alley and rode Escape from Gringotts, I drank a sour beer that I’m pretty sure was the exact same as last year with a swapped Oddfellow label, and I bought the t-shirt because everything was 50%+ off. I wish Disney would start doing that.

HALLOWEEN HORROR NIGHTS IS ONE OF MY NEW FAVORITE TRADITIONS

This was my fourth Halloween Horror Nights overall, and by now I’d say it’s cemented as a tradition. I’ve become steadily braver over the years, so who knows. In another four years or so, I may be wandering casually through the houses, just daring the scare actors to make my day.

… But not just yet. For now I am disproportionately proud of myself for braving all ten houses, and very much hope to do the same next year and in perpetuity. My Kitty Ears of Courage demand it!

Don’t forget, you can follow FRoA on Threads @fairestrunofall and on Instagram @fairestrunofall. If you have any questions or thoughts, leave a comment or email fairestrunofall@gmail.com. See ya real soon!