For years, I’ve followed Halloween Horror Nights from home. As is probably evident from this blog by now, I love spooky media, theme parks, and themed artistic installations. Horror Nights definitely fits within the crossover of all those interests. However, circumstances always aligned where I couldn’t participate in person (and I will forever kick myself for missing certain years, like the time they had Crimson Peak as a theme…). FINALLY, however, things worked out where I just couldn’t pass up actually going.
I’d been planning a trip to ride Hollywood Drift for months, which kept getting delayed when the ride was delayed. When it finally did get a date where it’d be consistently open to the public (as opposed to non-guaranteed soft openings), it was during Horror Nights. And this year, there were two themes I really wanted: Sinners and Ozzy Osbourne. Yeah, I couldn't pass up one of the greatest movies I've ever seen, and some excellent spooky rock music. When I saw there was a day-to-night HHN ticket that was only slightly more expensive than a regular day ticket, I knew what I needed to do.
That said, given how expensive any ticket was, I couldn’t also afford the Express Pass. So, I already knew this was going to be a challenge, even when going on a random Thursday in September (The 17th to be exact; the day after Hollywood Drift's official public debut). I didn’t get to do everything I wanted, but when writing out my final stats, I got to do most things at least once. So, it’s not the worst. It took a LOT of hustling and planning to get to that though. I also took very few pictures, since I was trying to focus on enjoying the night in what limited time I had. No time for lining up the perfect frame!
Right away, when I was allowed entry at 2pm, I went straight to Hollywood Drift. Posted wait was 90 minutes; it ended up closer to 60 (yay!). It uses the Velocicoaster style locker system, which is nice. You put your stuff in one side of the locker, ride the ride, and get to retrieve it on the other side. Locker size is pretty generous too: it was able to fit a small backpack, a purse, and drink cups/water bottles. Also nice is that they had an attendant handing out locker tickets so you didn’t have to try and secure your phone on the ride—a convenience that sadly none of the other thrill rides at Universal Hollywood really have.
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| The coaster goes right over the queue. |
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| This shows more of how the cars rotate into the curve over the escalators. |
I was disappointed to be assigned the Nissan Skyline car. Each car has its own controlled-rotation routine to symbolize different handling, and I’d heard the Skyline was one of the tamer routines. Sure enough it was. It doesn’t rotate on any of the inversions. The result was a smooth but moderate ride that had me debating whether Cosmic Rewind was more intense. Rewind lacks inversions, of course, but the themeing and onboard music really boost the thrill factor and overall quality. Hollywood Drift is themed to filming car stunts on the backlot and, um. Well. The gravel, bare concrete, and bland walls are accurate to the theme (special effects would fill in anything else in the actual movie...), but the theme is just not that fun to look at regardless of accuracy. I couldn't help but notice the themeing similarities to West Coast Racers at Six Flags Magic Mountain, which is a budget presentation. Hollywood Drift's onboard audio only plays engine noises—ones unique to each car, yes, but engine noises nonetheless. It feels a waste to have an audio system and NOT have onboard music. Why go through all that extra budget and engineering for that?
Still, it was good enough that immediately afterwards I got in line for another round (posted wait 90, actual wait 45!) and this time politely asked for “anything but the Skyline” when getting assigned a seat. This time I got the Toyota Supra. Now THIS is a thrill coaster! Not only does it benefit from the whip of being in the back of the train, it has a wonderfully intense spin routine. You FLY out of your seat and STAY there, getting flung around in the best way. Floater air, ejector air, hangtime, laterals…it’s all there. THIS is the X2 successor/Velocicoaster equivalent California needs. Unfortunately, it’s on the same train as “worse Cosmic Rewind.” I’m still figuring out where to rank this coaster, because the experience is SO different, and so much better or worse, depending on which of the four cars you get. With an intense car, it’s elite. With a mild car…it’s good for introducing kids to bigger coasters, maybe? But if you’re going for a milder drifting coaster, Cosmic Rewind absolutely kicks its ass. A coaster with variable intensity for different guest tolerances could potentially be good, but not with assigned seating where a coaster enthusiast could get a mild seat and a scared kid could get an intense one. I think it should include a system like the Disney California Adventure Ferris Wheel (whatever new name they’ve changed it to now…), where guests can select the level of intensity they want.
One last thing I also have to praise about this coaster is the seats. I need to emphasize that these are the roomiest, most comfortable coaster seats and trains I’ve ever encountered. I was wearing a long, multi-layered gothic gown, and had zero issues whatsoever entering or exiting the train. Not that more cramped trains have ever dissuaded me from going on coasters while in fancy dress before, but I do have to praise this as the most convenient if you also want to do that.
Oh, and what about the noise factor, where neighborhoods around Universal tried to complain? This is the most disconcertingly whisper-quiet roller coaster I have ever encountered. It flies above you in the queue and you don’t hear it. It was made to be compatible with an actual filming lot and it SHOWS. It’s actually disappointingly quiet; I didn’t really consider how much sound factored into finding outdoor coasters intense before. This doesn’t have the intimidating roar on the track, or the click of a lift hill, or the screams of riders that can help build anticipation. It sounds like nothing. You can’t tell it exists without looking at it. Those neighborhood complaints are baseless.
Hollywood Drift:
Overall Rating: 8/10, my enjoyment really depends on the car. It’s 10/10 in a thrill car.
Thrill Level: 6/10 for the Skyline, 10/10 for the Supra
Recommendation: MUST DO. Also I NEED to ride the other two cars to see how their routines compare.
I knew from my research that early access to the houses was going to be vital to seeing some that I really wanted, so after that I had to forego a trip on the Studio Tour (first sacrifice of the day) to line up for a house. I went with Sinners first, since it opened slightly earlier (early open times are staggered) and was also on the upper lot where I already was. There was already a fairly long line waiting for it to open. Still, we were all let in slightly before the posted opening time.
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| Sinners marquee. The last time I was at Universal Hollywood, this was the year-round The Walking Dead house. |
Sinners is a work of ART. It truly brings the movie to life and feels like stepping on to the set. The glowing eye effect is very impressive and effective in person. It's amazing that the makeup and effects team figured out how to make that practical for live theater, given the contacts used for that effect in the film blinded the actors while they were in. This year, HHN on both coasts seems to be using scents to enhance the houses, and Sinners in Hollywood smells like fresh-cut wood, fitting the construction of Club Juke. Casting was incredibly spot-on for character appearances.
The only downside of Sinners is the way you get somewhat rushed through the house. I know they have to keep things moving, but several scenes are storytelling theatrical pieces and it was easy to get rushed past seeing all or part of them. The scene where Vampire-Mary threatens the guests and Smoke rushes in to fight her off and discover his brother’s body was a major victim of this. I had to purposely slow down to avoid being rushed entirely past this room without seeing any of the scene, as I entered during a reset. The big two-story battle scene is also easy to get rushed past while missing many characters, but at least in this case I think it might be intentional for repeat guests to see different characters each time. At least I did get to see the “flying Remmick” (the one that lifts up to the ceiling)—the wires are of course very easy to see in person, but it is impressive to see stunts incorporated into a house.
It was also here that I first noticed that I have surprisingly little jumpscare reaction in-person. For this house, though, I initially wrote it off because of which characters there are to jumpscare you. Oh nooo, Michael B. Jordan and Hailee Steinfeld rushing at you? As vampires? What a terrible fate. Some of the Remmicks I saw were better looking than the one in the film too! Indeed, between the prestigious source material and the good looking vampires, I’d rate this house as not very scary (but in a good way!). Then again, as a horror fan I have a different definition of scary than the average person, and the vampires were not the true horror in Sinners anyways.
Sinners:
Overall Rating: 10/10, a beautiful work of art, I loved it
Scariness Level: 1/10 (Hot vampires, mild jumpscares)
Signature Scent: freshly cut wood (like for construction)
Recommendation: YES
Next I had to haul ass down to the Lower Lot—not an easy feat, and definitely a design challenge for anyone attempting Hollywood HHN—in order to get to Ozzy Osbourne: Prince of Darkness. It ALREADY had a massive line. I’d say “oh at least waiting isn’t too bad, they’re playing music I like” (as of course the queue plays Ozzy’s albums) but the speakers weren’t synced properly, so different speakers were playing different tracks at the same time to rather unpleasant effect. One of the tracks in the playlist is “Hellraiser,” a collaboration between Ozzy and Lemmy from Motorhead for the third Hellraiser film. That film also is represented at this HHN, in the house on the upper lot! Despite waiting an hour for it at early entry, I still got a shorter wait than most people for this. It gets some of the most extreme waits, and I can see why. It is an absolutely beautiful tribute to the life and musical output of Ozzy Osbourne and therefore has pretty wide appeal. “Haunted House” and “tasteful memorial” might not seem like they’d go together, but in this case they absolutely do.
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| Facade for Ozzy Osbourne: Prince of Darkness |
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| Projected logo on the wall; photo taken later in the night while queuing for Revenge of the Mummy. |
The house borrows heavily from Ozzy’s music video and album cover imagery. Of special note is Bark at the Moon, whose mad scientist AND wolf man (well, I think he looks more like a sloth, but the title clearly establishes him as a wolf) characters both feature prominently here. Of course there’s also two prominent train scenes, to go with Crazy Train. The goofy dragon from Ozzy’s shoulder tattoo (easily seen on the Speak of the Devil album cover) also gets an animatronic jumpscare from under Bat-Demon-Ozzy’s throne, which is designed after the one from his final concert. The real show piece though, which Orlando’s version only got in projection form, is the massive bat animatronic that presents the wolf man’s decapitated head as a trophy! The rest of the wolf man’s corpse is at the giant bat's feet beneath the railing, a detail you can see in person but that isn’t readily visible in most video footage I’ve seen so far. Obviously, this is an inversion of the infamous bat-biting incident.
The overall design and imagery of the house is beautiful old-school metal and gothic. It’s not scary, per se, despite the piles of skulls. It’s Frankenstein/Dracula/Wolf Man type stuff (indeed according to a video of a backstage tour, at least one prop from Van Helsing made it into the house), classic Halloween and pretty family-friendly. In general it would fit right in with Darkmoor at Epic Universe, so of course I love it. (Too bad this is the closest we currently have to Darkmoor on the West Coast…) This house also had a noticeable scent throughout: spicy men’s cologne, which was very pleasant. The soundtrack is an awesome medley of music from throughout Ozzy’s solo career. The jumpscare monsters tend towards the goofy in both design and “scares.” Many will put up the “metal horns” hand gesture during scares—it’s deliberately fun and silly. Although, I have to give props to the bat cultist actors in the throne room scene, they got me one after the other!
Oddly I didn’t seem to get any of the intended finale jumpscares after the throne room; not sure if I just had bad timing or if they were short staffed. I only barely got a glimpse of the wolf man in the Bark at the Moon scene too, when he finished scaring the group in front of me. Much like with Sinners, it kind of felt like I was being rushed through the house by the staff; if I hadn’t deliberately slowed down in some places, I would’ve missed intentional theatrical elements like the front of the Crazy Train appearing and ramming a barrier, or the dragon appearing under the throne.
Also, speaking of jumpscares… once again I didn’t really have much reaction, just freezing in place and going “oh!” at most. In this case, I initially wrote it off as the fact that this is a fun house, not a scary one.
Ozzy Osbourne: Prince of Darkness
Overall Rating: 10/10 More memorials should involve being tastefully jumpscared by effigies of the deceased
Scariness Level: 2/10 (I have to give SOME props to how relentless the bats were)
Signature Scent: Spicy men’s cologne (maybe patchouli based?)
Recommendation: Competing with Sinners for "best house of the year" for me, so YES
The Ozzy house spits you out right at the entrance to Transformers the Ride, which was a complete walk-on, so I took that for a spin. Although the screens are getting a bit fuzzy and the glasses are annoying to wear, it’s still a solid ride. It’s not new, so I won’t rate it here. After that I wanted to see if Revenge of the Mummy was open, since I love that coaster, but alas it was having technical difficulties. Due to being right near it on the lower lot, I therefore went to the next house: Dead Deader Deadest.
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| Queue signage for Dead Deader Deadest (it reuses the Jurassic World queue). |
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| Dead Deader Deadest facade. |
This was my first original house concept of the night. The plot, from what I could discern, was that a funeral home already known for malpractice (given the news radio clips playing at the entrance) has things go even more awry when their embalming fluid (that’s radioactive? Magical?) causes the bodies to reanimate.
This one had a VERY strong scent of roses in the funeral home chapel. I assume this is supposed to be from all the flower displays one generally sees in a funeral home. Although it was a bit overpowering and sickly-sweet, I’m quite thankful for this choice compared with what they could’ve gone with for a house filled with cadavers. With fans in Orlando complaining about the rotten smells the East Coast chose for their houses… yeah, I’ll take the overpowering roses over corpse smell.
In general this house had a bit of a sensory theme going on, first with the rose scent, then with the AC cranked up in the cold storage sections, and then the heater turned up in the crematory area.
This one really didn’t capture much of my interest; the whole zombie concept felt a bit generic and an easy way to probably reuse a bunch of other effects or props the team had lying around. My mom (yes, my mom went along to Horror Nights--and she's a roller coaster enthusiast too) did praise the realism of one effect where a fresh corpse starts to sit up, at least. Apparently the characters in this backstory connect to an ongoing storyline from past Horror Nights original houses, so perhaps I would’ve found this more interesting if I had attended previous events.
This did have noticeably more jumpscares, and more intense ones, than either Sinners or Ozzy, however. And I still didn’t have much of a reaction. It was here that it started to dawn on me that I don’t have much of a jumpscare reaction in person. Maybe the popularity of screamer pranks on the internet for a while trained me to not react, or to temper my reaction to avoid “feeding the trolls.” I actually felt kind of bad, because the actors were clearly giving their all, and I’d just sort of freeze in place!
Dead Deader Deadest
Overall Rating: 6/10, objectively a solid house but subjectively not as interesting to me
Scariness Level: 5/10 I don’t personally find corpses all that scary, but this is noticeably more graphic/gory and with more intense and frequent jumpscares than the previous houses
Signature Scent: Roses
Recommendation: If you have time or the wait is short, or if you’re a fan of the established ongoing backstory and want the next installment
By this point I was getting really hungry, and disappointed that The Mummy was STILL not back up from its technical difficulties. Based on prior research it seemed like Toadstool Café was one of the few decent options available on the Lower Lot, so I headed over to Hollywood’s sadly abridged Super Nintendo Land. I saw Mario Kart was a walk-on, so I gave that a spin before picking up food. I have to say, although the rest of the land was obviously inferior, I think I might’ve liked Hollywood’s Mario Kart itself a little better than the Orlando version. Both versions need a MUCH better explanation for how to play the game, though. I still don’t know quite what you’re supposed to do with the VR during the ride.
And a fair warning for those eating at Toadstool Café: when they say it’s “Fire Plant Spaghetti,” it’s not just themed in appearance. It is SPICY. Which, thankfully, I like spicy foods, but the menu didn’t specify that it was actually spicy and not just called that for themeing. I did have heartburn the rest of the night, which is a feat for how often I pile on hot sauce. So, also I guess take the rest of my report/review with the grain of salt that it was experienced by someone having some nasty heartburn the whole time. The spaghetti itself also wasn’t all that great outside of the spice, so I think in the future I’m either finding a way to bring food from home or trekking out to CityWalk. Even then, though, Universal Hollywood is sorely lacking in dining options compared to just about every other theme park I’ve been to. Not only does it have few quick service or affordable food locations, but the food at those locations are worse than equivalent limited selections elsewhere. You know it’s bad when Six Flags parks absolutely kick Universal’s ass in the food department.
Revenge of The Mummy FINALLY came back from its downtime, so of course I couldn’t pass up a ride on USH’s established roller coaster. Old as it is, this thing is still a great theme-thrill combination. Although Orlando’s version has the better dark ride portion and queue, I think the coaster section is smoother and punchier here. Still an A+ ride after all these years, and I’m glad I took the time out to ride it again.
At that point, I figured I should get up to the Upper Lot and see more of what was going on up there. Stranger Things 5 was always a “priority to skip” for me, as I never watched that series. I tried multiple times, but it just never clicked with me. I HAVE seen Killer Klowns from Outer Space, but somehow that maze was competing with Ozzy for “longest lines of the night” by a lot. Trying to budget my time, I also had to skip it. I enjoyed the movie, but I’m not exactly the biggest fan of clowns…or klowns, for that matter.
Time and “franchise I don’t like” was also the reason I skipped Terror Tram upon reaching the Upper Lot. Not only did it have a long wait, but the tour itself is known to be a time sink. This year it’s themed to Terrifier III, with Art the Clown celebrating Christmas in his murder-y way. I don’t like the Terrifier series, and also really don’t like celebrating Christmas before November. Blame Haunted Mansion Holiday for burning me out re: Christmas/horror crossovers that start WAY too early in the year. (When I heard what the concept was, I went “not you too, Universal!”) As much as I wanted to do Terror Tram to see the Psycho set up close… nope, had to make the call that seeing the rest of the Upper Lot houses was a higher priority.
I picked up a ride on Harry Potter and the Nonexistent Clearance Envelope on the way to the Hellraiser and Evil Dead Burn houses, since it was a walk-on wait. Geez, somehow this has even LESS of a clearance envelope between the ride vehicles and the show elements than the Orlando version. They must have all clearances dialed in to the centimeter to avoid everything getting kicked. The animatronics, especially the dragon, seem to be in a bit better shape than Orlando, but the screens are in slightly worse shape. It’s desperately in need of a better locker system; you need your phone for the free locker, but there’s no safe place to stow your phone on the ride. Unlike Florida’s version, there was no team member at the lockers to distribute locker tickets to avert this issue.
I also saw the Death Eaters on the way through here, which was unfortunately pretty much the only independent scare zone I got to experience due to having to spend so much time queueing for houses. I’m not really into Harry Potter, but at least the costumes were cool and it was interesting to see them occasionally firing firework spell effects off. I like that there was at least an effort to reconcile the theme of a land with Horror Nights, given HHN’s apparently fraught history with IP holders (look up what happened when Orlando attempted to host HHN at the IP-heavy Islands of Adventure!).
Nobody warned me how FAR the two Upper Lot houses are past Hogsmeade! Even YouTube guides specifically about Horror Nights barely gave it a passing mention, at best! It is a trek, and I’d already done quite a bit of walking already! Also frustrating was how much longer the waits here were than the posted time. Evil Dead Burn was supposed to be around 30, Hellraiser 60, and both took MUCH longer than that. If any Express Pass folks showed up, the entire standby line got halted, rather than trying to stagger them at all. It horribly dragged out the wait times, in exhausting, boring parking lot areas too.
Since it had a shorter wait, I picked Evil Dead Burn first. I’d made the effort to see the film before attending HHN, but mom hadn’t, which meant I at least got to use that wait time to give her a description of the movie. That turned out to be a good call, since she told me afterwards that she wouldn't have understood the house without knowing the plot.
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| Evil Dead Burn facade. |
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| The rather impressive animatronic decapitated head at the start of Evil Dead Burn. |
Evil Dead Burn is a RELENTLESS house. Out of all the ones I experienced on my trip, this had the most jumpscares, in the closest quarters, at the fastest pace. It and Hellraiser feel noticeably smaller scale than the other houses I tried that night (possibly because they’re in tents in the parking lot?) and this one used those close quarters to up the ante on the relentlessness. I didn’t get many direct scares, but it was a pretty constant stream of either the ladies in front of me, or my mom behind me, getting absolutely got the whole time. Jumpscare of the night definitely goes to the Joseph in the kitchen scene, who not only got my mom completely unexpectedly, but had some sort of water effect that sprayed on top of it!
This house yet again had a signature scent, a sort of warm campfire smell. Think woodlands candle.
Besides the noticeably small scale (especially compared to footage of Florida’s version), once again the downside of this house was the rushed pace of the line through the house, urged on by the non-scare actor team members. Once again I either missed or nearly missed many theatrical scenes; I almost missed the dog puppet, and only saw Alice in the bathroom scene and the jackhammer scene, where she cannot be missed (in other words, I missed ALL of her jumpscares).
Evil Dead Burn
Overall Rating: 9/10 Relentless house with close-quarters design and actors giving their all, but incomprehensible to non-movie fans
Scariness Level: 7/10 I may be mostly immune to jumpscares but I cannot stress enough how many there are back to back to back. Fairly gory scenes too, although less so than the film
Signature Scent: Campfire/woodlands candle
Recommendation: If you’ve seen the movie and/or want a crap ton of jumpscares
Since Hellraiser was right there, I did that one next. I actually watched Hellraiser for the first time in preparation for this, and of course had the “what do you mean the first film is a dark romance bodice ripper and the Cenobites barely show up” realization. The line for the house, meanwhile, took so long that I could’ve waited to watch the film and part of the sequels on my phone while I waited.
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| Hellraiser facade showing the Labyrinth and Lament Configuration. Pinhead periodically appeared on the video screen to welcome guests. |
Unfortunately, I think this extremely long, under-posted wait negatively impacted my impression of the subsequent house. I found the design of it underwhelming and a bit annoying; it felt like a lot of dark generic hallways between the more impressive re-creations of sets from the films, and throughout most of the house there were dangling chains from the ceiling that you had to push out of the way. Clearly the designers were going for a tactile aspect (there is also a room where you have to push your way through hanging mannequin “bodies”), but given that you constantly have people in front of you, those chains are flopping off of them to smack back at you. It ends up less a “tactile” house and more a “constantly being swatted with chains” house. I get that the Cenobites are about pain as pleasure, but this was more of a nuisance.
One thing that was NOT underwhelming was the actors, and their makeup and costuming. The Cenobites and Skinless Frank and Skinless Julia all looked very impressive and screen accurate. Skinless Frank got one of the few genuine jumpscares out of me; I was so distracted by the elaborate “Frank’s Hell” set that I didn’t notice him basically behind me. And by jumpscare, I mean “I actually yelped a little,” which, hey! That’s significant for me, as it turns out! Also there were nearly as many back-to-back scares as Evil Dead Burn. They primarily got the people in front of me, so timing is a part of it.
I really do wish this house had gotten a better set to go along with the great makeup, costuming, and performances. Also, yet again, the fast pace you’re forced to take through the house makes it easy to miss theatrical set pieces, like Cenobite Channard and The Engineer’s animatronic/puppet based jumpscares.
Hellraiser
Overall Rating: 6/10 Good makeup, costumes, acting, and scares, but the set design kinda sucked
Scariness Level: 6/10 Not quite as relentless as Evil Dead Burn, but pretty close
Signature Scent: none? The entry area smelled like warm electronics, probably because of the screen/projections animating the Lament Configuration/Labyrinth façade entry, rather than any intentional smell.
Recommendation: If you have time. Or maybe if you’re a diehard fan of the franchise. My least favorite house of the night.
That awful wait for Hellraiser meant that I’d totally missed my opportunity for Terror Tram and there was barely time to ensure I’d get one more house in. I forced my extremely sore feet to trek over to Killcañera, zipping my way through the Fortnitemares scare zone on the way. I didn’t really get to enjoy or experience the scare zone, as not only was I in a rush, but also it was EXTREMELY CROWDED. It’s clearly meant to be a dance floor/dance club but it was so horrifically packed that there was barely room to walk through! I ended up half-bypassing it in an attempt to get to my intended house faster.
I guess this is as good a time as any to bring up another repeated problem from throughout the night: inadequate signage and directions for non-express pass or RIP Tour guests. The express/RIP entrance for every house was very clearly marked everywhere, but the general admission entrance was a lot harder to spot. In the case where there were houses with entrances near each other, things got even messier. Killcañera and Sinners were essentially next door to each other, and by now had very long queues that were both spilling out into the street. Even after asking team members, I initially ended up in the Sinners queue again by accident before figuring out how to switch to the Killcañera side. Even the team members were getting confused about which queue was which! At least finally, for possibly the only time of the night, the wait time for a house was shorter than posted!
Killcañera combines two apparent traditions for HHN Hollywood: a house based on Latin American folklore, and a house with music by the musician Slash. Much like Dead Deader Deadest, this house also apparently has ties to previous houses, but in this case it was perfectly understandable as a standalone. Lola was disfigured in the same fire that killed her parents, leading to ruthless bullying in school. For her quinceñera, she’s invited all her bullies…and summoned a bunch of monsters from Latin American folklore to kill them. This house is also unique in that it has a portion outdoors.
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| Killcañera facade with Lola performing her theme song from the balcony. |
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| Killcañera facade earlier in the day, before it opened. |
I got great timing on this one, since I got to see Lola performing her theme song on the façade of the house as I walked in. It’s a good theme song; I guess Slash did his job well. Lola herself is a recurring “monster” in the house, although her backstory is sad enough and her design pretty/not exactly monstrous enough that your mileage may vary on finding her scary. Like, she’s a bullied teenage girl…who can summon monsters. I guess that second bit is the intimidating part. The house has a variety of elaborate monster designs for the jumpscares, which led me to realize how few Latin American monsters I apparently know. I did recognize La Llorona, who gets a cleverly designed outdoor courtyard! I like the touch that her traditional drownings were adapted for the party theme, with one guest drowned in the fountain, one in a bowl of food, and one decapitated body whose head can be found semi-hidden in the agua fresca dispenser! The scene where El Silbón (I looked up who this was) rips the spine out of a body Predator-style was a really cool effect.
I thought this was a much stronger non-IP house than Dead Deader Deadest. A more original, but still easily understandable concept, with cool monster designs, and good music? Definitely a win. I think giving the house a prominent “icon” with Lola also helps establish its unique identity and prevents the “generic” feel that plagued Dead Deader Deadest. Once again, I know DDD has a backstory tie-in, but it is not NEARLY as apparent or readily established as Killcañera’s. I think DDD also has an associated character, but they didn't seem to be recurring throughout the house in the same way. The amount of jumpscares were about the same frequency and intensity as DDD.
Killcañera: Music by Slash
Overall Rating: 10/10 Solid house, no complaints here!
Scariness Level: 4/10; nothing that bothers me, but there is some moderate gore (especially the spine scene) and quite a few jumpscares
Signature Scent: none, which feels like a missed opportunity (note: I found out later the scent is supposed to be roses/flowers, but I didn't smell it at the time)
Recommendation: Definitely!
Killcañera ends with a bonus mini-house that’s technically counted as a scare zone. El Circo de la Muerte and its side show are a nice epilogue. Even though it was super late into the night and the park was nearly closed, the actors were still giving their all, and the side show mini-house was delightfully un-crowded, meaning that I had a chance to go through with a decent gap between the people in front of me and myself. There were few actors in there, but they all got a chance to shine. It really is a great experience to get to go through a house without a continuous conga line, although I do wonder how El Circo was so un-crowded given that basically everyone from Killcañera should’ve been going through there.
By that point, there was like 10 minutes before park closing. I wanted to get at least one more house, and the only one I could get to before the line cutoff was Sinners, right next door. Thnakfully, that was one of my favorites anyway, so I was happy to get a second run of it. Surprisingly for the end of the night, I got a MUCH more intense and, for lack of a better term, “populated” run than I had at early entry! There seemed to be FAR more scare actors, and I saw more scares than in my first run. Bert in the forest, Vampire Stack shaking the door, Remmick in the window (who did get a good yelp out of me, since there had been no scare in the window my first run), Smoke fighting Remmick in the dawn forest, and the final Remmick who rushes forward at the end (and has a mist spray effect) were all “new to me” scares for this. I also got a much clearer look at Pearline and Joan’s scares in the bar scene. It was an INCREDIBLE final run of the night.
It did make me wonder, however, if there is a tradeoff in experience for early entry vs. the longer lines further into the night. Since I got the day to night ticket, I got to start entering houses at 5, and the lines were MUCH more manageable…but given how noticeably fewer actors there were between my start-of-the-night run and the intense final run, I wonder if more actors are scheduled for later in the night. I suppose makeup-heavy roles would also take longer to be ready and thus only appear later. I did notice that Sinners (for the first run) and Ozzy had seemed noticeably sparser-staffed…and those were the houses I did at early entry. Sinners at end-of-night seemed as packed with scare actors as Evil Dead and Hellraiser had been.
Regardless of the number in each house/run, I have to compliment ALL of the actors that I saw that night. Every single one was excellent. I felt kinda bad by the end about my lack of reaction, so I made an effort to scream a little when possible. I’m probably not the best actress around, but I know it’s meant as a compliment to them!
Overall, I did enjoy Horror Nights. I was very let down by the handling of Express Pass and the poor quality of food, but it was still great to see this celebration of a genre I enjoy. It was really cool to experience this different form of themed installation—you get so close to the set pieces compared to a ride! I knew I needed to go again, especially this year where there are themes I enjoy. I’m not so sure I’d be as thrilled about another year where it was movies I was less enthusiastic about. And I needed to get those other two cars on Hollywood Drift… Keep your eyes peeled for an update!
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| At least I got to see the animatronic baby crow on the way out, even though I didn't get to see Murder of Crowz! |
Final Stats for my first HHN:
Hollywood Drift x2 (Skyline, then Supra)
Sinners x2 (once here, once at end of the night)
Ozzy Osbourne: Prince of Darkness x1
Transformers the Ride x1
Dead Deader Deadest x1
Mario Kart Bowser’s Challenge x1
Spaghetti Dinner at Toadstool Café
Revenge of the Mummy x1
Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey x1
Evil Dead Burn x1
Hellraiser x1
Killcañera x1
Missed (Daytime):
Studio Tour
Secret Life of Pets
Missed (HHN Specific):
Stranger Things 5
Killer Klowns from Outer Space
Terror Tram
