15 Favorite Universal Halloween Horror Nights Houses in Hollywood & Orlando

Halloween Horror Nights is, without question, my favorite theme park event of the year. This year, Universal Studios in Orlando and Hollywood both knocked it out of the park, making terrifying, funny, absolutely entertaining events. I’ve been to both events a few times each this season and loved the houses more each time I went through.

My 15 Favorite Halloween Horror Nights Houses for 2022

But my favorites? Well, there’s a lot that goes into deciding what I liked best — scare factor is definitely important, but so is visual appeal, creativity, and the general atmosphere of the space. Here’s my totally unofficial, unscientific ranking of this year’s HHN houses at Universal Studios in Orlando and Hollywood. 

#15 – Descendants of Destruction, Universal Orlando

The concept for this house sounded promising: having destroyed the earth, humans take refuge in subway tunnels, eventually becoming monstrous creatures. In execution, it was lacking. The scenes that were really cool, like the walk-through subway car and the bioluminescent cave, went by too quickly to fully appreciate — and the scares weren’t plentiful in the rest. (There was, though, an extremely cool callback to the Vikings Undead scare zone from 2019 in the form of a “blood eagle” corpse.)

#14 – Hellblock Horror, Universal Orlando

A prison full of monsters and human guards? What could go wrong? Unexpectedly, the thing that did go wrong wasn’t the escaping monsters — it was the fact that they weren’t terribly scary and there wasn’t a lot of plot otherwise. A friend said she went through on another night and it was much scarier, so maybe this one just took a minute to get its groove. 

#13 – Spirits of the Coven, Universal Orlando

I really, really wanted to love this speakeasy full of witches, but that part was over too soon. For me, the rest of the storyline didn’t make a lot of sense. Human sacrifices to make the witches’ youth elixir? Totally tracks. A mutilated pig carcass stuffed with wine bottles? I just can’t make heads or tails of that one. 

#12 – Fiesta de Chupacabras, Universal Orlando

This concept is so inventive: the locals in a remote Mexican village host a “Festival de Sangre” in which tourists come to the town, and they are sacrificed to the chupacabra, in exchange for the protection of the townsfolk by said monster. Some people I know really loved this one, and Universal gets major points for the storyline, but the goat sucker himself was a little silly looking in the big reveal. 

#11 – Universal Monsters: Legends Collide, Universal Studios Hollywood

This year, Universal took its classic monsters and made a first-ever two-part story, with one in Florida and one in LA. The storyline involves the Wolfman and Dracula vying for an amulet that will harness the power of the sun and moon, while stealing it from the Mummy. The Hollywood one is set in Victorian London and Orlando’s set in Egypt. While the LA one is definitely cool — there are a lot of surprises including a horde of attacking lady vampires and an extremely creepy cemetery scene — it suffers by comparison to the Orlando version, which has gorgeous aesthetics and the benefit of being set in a pyramid. 

#10 – The Horrors of Blumhouse, Universal Orlando & Hollywood

It’s a double feature based on two Blumhouse Productions films: Freaky, a horror comedy in which a serial killer and a teenage girl switch bodies; and The Black Phone, where a serial killer abducts teenage boys in the ‘70s. The Hollywood house leaned more into Freaky, so while there were some truly grotesque scenes, it leaned a little more into humor than scary. 

In the Orlando one, there’s more of The Black Phone, and it is straight terrifying. The Grabber is absolutely out to get you, and there is more than one unsettling basement scene. I thought overall this house was scarier and therefore more enjoyable, and I liked The Black Phone as a movie more than Freaky, but if you like the movies equally, they’re about the same. 

#9 – Bugs: Eaten Alive, Universal Orlando

You either love the campy kitsch of this house, or you hate the visceral bugginess of it — there is no in-between. In this house, a 1950s “marvel of modern technology” goes horribly wrong and the pest control system of the future ends up mutating the bugs. It’s definitely fun, but if you have an aversion to watching bugs burrow into human flesh, it’s not for you.

#8 – Killer Klowns from Outer Space, Universal Hollywood

I thought I was over my childhood fear of clowns, but this house brought it roaring back. I hated this house so much that I had no choice but to love it. This neon extravaganza combines the campy humor of the movie with a nightmare carnival atmosphere (complete with a circus tent entrance and the smell of popcorn inside). The clowns start as a little silly and a little scary, and progress to absolutely horrifying, with a human marionette in between. 

#7 – The Weeknd: After Hours Nightmare, Universal Orlando & Hollywood

For the first time ever, HHN has houses based on music videos: from The Weeknd’s critically-acclaimed album After Hours. On the first walkthrough, the scenes felt disjointed to me: the Weeknd gets electrocuted and beheaded, people go through horribly disfiguring plastic surgery, and go to a nightclub full of party monsters. Once I figured out that those are all artistic statements about the awful lengths people go to for fame and beauty, it all made a lot more sense. They’re both excellent, but overall, I thought Orlando was a little bit scarier and a little bit more glittery. 

#6 – Halloween, Universal Orlando & Hollywood

HHN has managed to come up with new iterations of Halloween over the years, and this one is by far my favorite. Especially terrifying in this house: a backyard full of billowing sheets on a laundry line, from which a murderous monster could emerge at any minute. This is a tough call, but ultimately I thought the Orlando version of the mirror room was scarier and more disorienting. (And I’m not just saying that because the second time I went through, I got so scared of Michael Myers that I walked right into a mirror wall. The second time.)

Orlando also gets extra points because as you’re leaving the maze and you finally think you’re safe, Michael Myers is waiting for you outside the door. It’s especially brilliant because it mimics the movies: at the end of each one, you think it’s over, and then it never is. 

#5 – Universal Horror Hotel, Universal Studios Hollywood

Is it bad that I want to live in this glamorous, monster-filled hotel? Hollywood has its fair share of haunted legends and unexplained murders in its oldest hotels, and this house takes a page from that legacy. You walk into a beautiful Art Deco hotel and quickly realize all is not as it seems. First, there are murders and things lurking behind the walls. Then, you descend into the basement where there are horrible monsters and unspeakable sacrifices being made. It would be great on aesthetics alone, but it’s properly scary, and also very fun at the same time. 

#4 – Universal Monsters: Legends Collide, Universal Orlando

Universal’s annual classic monsters house is always reliably excellent, but this year, Orlando’s is just incredible. It has all the benefits of the Hollywood version — Wolfman, Dracula and the Mummy — but is set in Egypt, which means 100% more skeletal remains and reanimated mummies. I knew the house would be incredible as soon as I walked in and saw a 15’ tall carving of Anubis, and it just got better from there.

#3 – Scarecrow: The Reaping, Universal Studios Hollywood

This LA house is the same premise as the Scarecrow: Cursed Soil scare zone in Orlando — people over-farm the land until it becomes blighted, and nature exacts its revenge on those who harmed her. To be honest, I thought homicidal person-sized cornstalks were a little silly in the scare zone. In the house, I was absolutely blown away. Not only was the house terrifying, it was even more delightful because of all the innovative and horrible ways it found to murder people with corn (never mind what happens with the farming tools). If you don’t have the stomach to walk through rooms of hanging entrails, skip this one. It’s gory … and so great. 

#2 – Dead Man’s Pier: Winter’s Wake, Universal Orlando

My absolute favorite house in Orlando this year was, to my surprise, the least scary of all of them. In the story of Dead Man’s Pier, a widow watches for her drowned husband, playing her violin by the water, until she finally drowns herself. What you walk through is the fishing town after she has died: it’s full of monster fishermen, of course, but it’s also a stunning, sad seascape complete with six boats. The most beautiful scene involves the widow playing her violin on the bow of the biggest ship, eerie and iridescent in the moonlight. I loved it so much that I immediately went through it again.

#1 – La Llorona: The Weeping Woman, Universal Studios Hollywood

This house is truly special: terrifying and surprising all at once, not just because of what’s in it, but because of what happens afterward. La Llorona, in Latin American folklore, is a ghoul who walks the waterfront at night, mourning her murdered children and looking for more victims.

This house starts with a terrifying funeral in a church, and only gets worse from there, as you descend through ghoul-filled catacombs. You go outside through a pond with drowned kids, and then into a barn filled with mutilated horse monsters that chase you before entering a house where La Llorona is in her most nightmarish form. As you’re breathing a sigh of relief walking towards the exit, you’re hit with a wall of fog. The exit of the house is in the middle of a scare zone with a complimentary theme, so there’s a whole new element of terror to survive. The combination is brilliant, and left me absolutely in awe of the HHN designers (I like to call them “scare-magineers” in my head) that made such a fantastic experience. 

Let’s Hear From You!

There’s still time to visit Halloween Horror Nights in Orlando and Hollywood as both events run through October 31st. Have you visited one or both of these events? What are your favorite Universal haunted houses this year? I look forward to hearing from you below!

Read more about Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood and Orlando in the articles below.

Death Eaters, Killer Klowns, and Monsters Galore at Universal Studios Hollywood Halloween Horror Nights 2022!

FULL DETAILS: Universal Orlando’s Halloween Horror Nights 2022

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