Halloween Horror Nights is an annual event that takes place at both Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal Studios Orlando. This event is seasonal and turns the park into a place full of horror and terrified screams. For 2025, the event runs from September 4th until November 2nd from 7 PM to 2 AM.
Halloween Horror Nights has many activities including haunted houses, the terror tram, scare zones, live entertainment, and many new food and drink options.
This year at the Hollywood version of the park, there were eight thrilling houses that guests could walk through. The two houses that were the most anticipated were “Five Nights at Freddy’s” and “Terrifier”. The “Five Nights at Freddy’s” house brings you into the abandoned pizzeria where Freddy Fazbear and his crew terrorize guests who dare walk through and disrupt the animatronics. The “Terrifier” house puts you face to face with Art the Clown as you walk through his funhouse trying to avoid becoming his next victim.
Other notable houses include “Fallout” where you go through post-apocalyptic LA from the vaults and confront the ghouls. “Jason Universe”, considered as one of the most terrifying houses this year, puts you into his shack all the way to the summer camp where it all began. “Poltergeist” brings you into the TV to be menaced by Beasts. WWE presented their “The Horrors Of The Wyatt Sicks” which brings you into the realm of The Wyatt Sicks. “Scarecrow: Music by Slash” turned these usually static figures into spirits who take revenge on those who ravaged their farm. Finally, “Monstruos 3: The Ghosts Of Latin America” brings you the urban legends of La Llorona, La Muelona, and La Siguanaba.
This year’s terror tram was presented by Blumhouse and included characters from films such as “M3GAN”, “The Purge”, and “The Black Phone 2” among others. In this year’s tram, 15 years of entities that were brought to us by Blumhouse were able to be seen, something which was sure to bring a fright to those who got on.
This year in Hollywood there were 4 scare zones. Each scare zone presented many different characters and stories. Carnival of carnage was one scare zone that guests were able to walk through. These clowns terrorized the guests with their chainsaws, even chasing some of them or causing guests to fall. Similarly, Chainsaw Clownz was first seen at the front gates of the park, which has a similar theme to Carnival of Carnage. Noche De Brujas was on french street and let spirits of witches roam the area. Murder of Crowz is the final scarezone, found all the way in the back of the upper lot near Simpsons Land. It possesses large crows that follow and jumpscare you as you walk.
The two live shows of the event were “The Purge: Dangerous Waters” and “Chainsaw Man The Chaos”. The Purge show takes you to the same world where all crime is legal for one night, and here you can see amazing stunts and scares. Chainsaw Man brings you into the world of anime where characters battle the Halloween Horror Nights Devil.
A lot of new food and drinks came to the park. One of these includes the cupcake from Five Nights at Freddy’s, which is a very fun dessert for fans of the games and movie to try. Another fun and notable item was the Sunflower Glasses seen worn by Art the Clown, which was actually a lemon raspberry cookie sandwich. Loaded Cram Fries, crispy chili-glazed spam served over pub fries, was also a popular food item presented by Fallout this year, along with Rad Away, a Chipotle pineapple brown sugar lemonade served in a blood bag.
Overall, this year’s event seems very promising for fans and Universal Studios. Although some franchises were met with criticism, there were still many attendees who really seemed to love this year’s lineup.
