Universal Studios Hollywood Universal offers thrill-seeking guests something new and exciting every Halloween season with Halloween Horror Nights. Not only will you find spooky characters, some of them wielding chainsaws, running through the streets, but there are also haunted house mazes to experience throughout the park. These mazes are the biggest draw, as they flesh out the story behind the Universal-owned characters while also exploring some of the most popular horror franchises.
Halloween Horror Nights 2024 features eight terrifying haunted houses: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Legacy of Leatherface, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, Insidious: The Further, The Weeknd: Nightmare Trilogy, Universal Monsters: Eternal Bloodlines, Monsters 2: The Nightmares of Latin America , Dead Exposure: Death Valley and A quiet place Haunted houses. While they’re all filled with incredible imagery and creatures lurking in dark corners, some are better than others. Here are the eight new haunted houses featured at Halloween Horror Nights Hollywood 2024, ranked.
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8 Universal Monsters: Eternal Bloodlines
An incomplete plot puts this in the background
While Universal Monsters: Eternal Bloodlines is considered the weakest haunted house maze of 2024, it’s still a pretty cool experience. As guests walk through, they’re shown the story of Van Helsing’s daughter, Saskia Van Helsing, as she teams up with the Bride of Frankenstein to take down Dracula’s daughter. Each hallway has a voiceover explaining the next part of the story, but with all the screaming and sound effects, it can be a little hard to understand.
There are some great images when it comes to the scenes that play out in front of the guests, however, it doesn’t feel like the story is complete by the end. Without spoilers, there is a build-up to something with no real outcome. However, seeing a house in which only women live is empowering and exciting.
7 Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire
It’s unusually hot for a Frozen story
It should come as no surprise that the Ghostbusters: The Frozen Empire The maze basically regurgitates key events from the movie of the same name. Starting at Ray’s Occult Books and progressing through the plot, there’s plenty that Ghostbusters fans will love to see. This maze has plenty of easter eggs and references to the franchise; of course, Slimer makes an appearance as well.
Other haunted houses use air conditioning, so it’s surprising that this isn’t part of the Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire experience.
This haunted house is more cute and funny than it is scary. Even the ghosts hiding in the dark corners are more silly than scary. Something that is out of Universal’s control, but should be mentioned, is that on a hot night, guests are completely taken out of the “frozen” portion of this tour. The rooms feature ice and frozen characters, but it is stiflingly hot to walk through the maze. Other haunted houses are air conditioned, so it’s surprising that this isn’t part of the Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire experience.
6Monsters 2: The nightmares of Latin America
The popular labyrinth returns for the second year
Following the smash hit Monsters of 2023 haunted house, Universal Studios Hollywood is bringing three new monsters to light in Monsters 2: The Nightmares of Latin America: the soul-stealing horseman, El Charro; the dog-like supernatural spirit, El Cadejo, who roams quiet roads at night in search of prey; and the child-eating horror movie classic, the bogeyman, El Cucuy. The maze is divided into three distinct sections, each prominently featuring one of these mythical monsters.
This haunted house includes a lot of really cool imagery and unique scares, especially in regards to the El Cucuy section. Not only is the creature design impressive, but there are plenty of actors that appear in unexpected places. That being said, the El Cadejo scares, which are in the middle section of the maze, do get repetitive. They become less and less scary as a puppet dog appears in front of you as you go around the corner a few times.
5 A quiet place
Animatronic puppets create the maze
He A quiet place Maze details the events of the first two films in the franchise, with actors in the maze who closely resemble actors from the films, fully immersing visitors in this world. You are urged to remain silent so as not to draw the attention of the creatures, which are designed to look exactly like those in the films. The louder you are, the more you will be punished by the scare actors.
The decorations themselves inside the A quiet place Haunted houses are impressive. You will really feel like you are stepping into a movie set. This house doesn’t necessarily rely on scares, but there are a few. The animatronic creatures are wonderfully done, making this maze memorable.
4 Insidious: The Afterlife
The longest route wins points for originality
Many visitors have said that Insidious: The Further is the scariest house of 2024. As you explore this house, demons seem to lurk around every corner as you are led deeper and deeper into the house. It is certainly the longest tour of all. Every time you think your nightmare is over, you realize that it is not.
The maze itself is full of twists and turns, creating plenty of dark corners that are almost never empty. One of the best effects of all of Halloween Horror Nights 2024 is inside this haunted house: a hallway full of windows where the only thing separating you from the ghouls is a bit of glass. Perhaps the biggest problem with this maze is allowing other guests to overdo it so much that it simply can’t live up to those expectations.
3 Dead Exhibition: Death Valley
Easily the most complete history of labyrinths
For visitors who enjoy a good zombie story, Dead Exposure: Death Valley is ideal. Enter a top-secret government facility where experiments have gone horribly wrong. This maze isn’t just about scares (although there are plenty of those), it tells an interesting story about how these radioactive zombies came to be.
Without a doubt the best true-to-life story to unfold throughout the Halloween Horror Nights 2024 maze, Dead Exposure: Death Valley is surprising and fun.
The props and sets are impressive in this house, as is the look of the zombies. Dead Exposure: Death Valley is easily the best true-to-life story set in a Halloween Horror Nights 2024 maze, and it’s both surprising and fun. It’s easy to get invested in the how and why of the zombie outbreak, which keeps things interesting as you go along.
2 The Weeknd: Nightmare Trilogy
Music creates the labyrinth
The Weeknd returns with a brand new maze this year, The Weeknd: Nightmare Trilogy. Even those who aren’t fans of his music can appreciate all the hard work that has gone into this haunted house. For those who are fans, many iconic moments from his music videos and live performances are referenced.
With a soundtrack that gets your feet tapping, it’s hard not to get lost in it. There’s no doubt about it, The Weeknd: Nightmare Trilogy features the coolest, most unique, and most exciting haunted house visuals of 2024. Not knowing what to expect when you enter a room, you might encounter a friendly dancer or a killer creature. This maze is also the most fun to experience, whether you’re a fan of The Weeknd or not.
1 The Texas Chain Saw Massacre: The Legacy of Leatherface
This one is not for those who are easily scared or grossed out.
Everyone knows who Leatherface is, even if you’re not a fan of horror movies. He’s made chainsaws scary, and now, in this maze, visitors can meet his family, too. Set in a blood-filled slaughterhouse, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Legacy of Leatherface pays tribute to the iconic film’s fiftieth anniversary.
Universal does such a good job with this haunted house that certain scenes may prove too much for some visitors. This is certainly the bloodiest and goriest maze of all, as you are forced to walk through hanging “human flesh.” There are several sudden scares, characters in incredible costumes, and even some chilling moments.
Halloween Horror Nights 2024 at Universal Studios Hollywood will take place on select nights from September 5 through November 3.
Tickets can be purchased here as they are purchased separately from general park admission.