As an Orlando resident, there’s only one thing you should do during this time of year: purchase a Halloween Horror Nights frequent fear pass. And that’s exactly what I did. Naturally, my friends and I went almost every week, and let me tell you, it got scarier every time. During my constant trips through these houses, it was easy to establish which ones make your skin crawl and which ones were admirable. Let’s start from the bottom.
- Case Files Unearthed: Legendary Truth
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I’ll be honest, I only went in this house once and knew I would never go back in it again. The concept was interesting, but the spooky execution wasn’t there. It definitely was a cool scene to walk through, but I wouldn’t wait an hour for it.
- BeetleJuice
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The first time I went through this house, I actually hadn’t even seen Beetlejuice. It was super cool to see Beetlejuice himself talking to us at the start of it, but I didn’t understand the scenes in the house. I went back and watched the movie and returned to Universal to go through the house again, and it was super cool to see how they recreated the movie. But honestly, the houses for movies don’t have a scare factor to them, it’s more just to admire the scenery, which is exactly what Beetlejuice did. Awesome rooms, not super scary.
- Halloween Horror Nights Icons: Captured
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This house was supposed to be all the scary characters from every Halloween Horror Nights combined into one house, but I’ll be real; I only knew Jack the Clown. The jump scares were not as good as the other houses I experienced. It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t great.
- Revenge of the Tooth Fairy
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As a pre-dental student, I was excited for this one but wasn’t really sure where this story came from. Did they just make this up? Is this an actual plot? Who knows? The characters that popped out at you didn’t really look like tooth fairies to me, just a bunch of people with messed-up faces. It didn’t really get me that bad every time I went in it.
- Welcome to Scarey: Horror in the Heartland
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I was surprised with this one. A couple of my friends who went in before me said that it was one of the worst houses. I only went through it twice, but both times got me good. It could’ve been all about the timing, but the jump scares were not as predictable as some other ones. The characters themselves weren’t necessarily scary, but where they came out from really shocked me sometimes.
- The Bride of Frankenstein Lives
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I also heard bad things about this house but got scared pretty bad myself. There was one part in the house where someone pops out from your left side, scares you to bits and then someone comes from your right immediately after. A double whammy with no time to recover, and it got me every time, which is the main reason why I ranked this one higher.
- The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
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We all know this movie. It wasn’t necessarily the jump scares that got me, it was the loud noises. I could be fully aware of what was going to come out at me, but the sounds of the chainsaws always startled me. They make it extremely loud, so when you are walking and randomly hear a chainsaw, it’ll get you.
- The Haunting of Hill House
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I have never seen this show, but I know I would appreciate the scenery a lot more if I did. The way they set this house up was super creative and I could tell they paid attention to detail. The jump scares are super unique and I specifically remember the super tall man (apparently his name is William Hill) coming from the darkness and getting me the worst. This is in the top three because of the scenery and scares.
- Puppet Theatre: Captive Audience
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This is in the top two because it gave me the biggest scare of my life. As we were walking through the beginning of the house, there were vanities with mirrors to the left, and I didn’t realize the last one wasn’t actually a mirror. A puppet shoots through the “mirror” and screams right next to you. I vividly remember dropping to the ground and being unable to process what just happened. Looking back on it, it should’ve been pretty obvious, but still one of the best jump scares I have seen.
- The Wicked Growth: Realm of the Pumpkin
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Last but not least, the number one house. This wasn’t necessarily better in terms of scenery or anything but the jump scares in this house were unpredictable and got me every time. Due to COVID-19, the majority of the houses had plexiglass that stood in between you and the scare actors, so you could sometimes tell where they were located. But this house hid it very well, making it the scariest one. The costumes were great and they came at you from all angles.
Going to Halloween Horror Nights this year was very exciting considering they canceled it last year. Although it wasn’t the same with the plexiglass, I still got frightened every time and the houses were amazing. I’m excited to see what houses they do next year, and hopefully, the plexiglass won’t be a thing. I highly recommend getting a frequent fear pass in the future and getting the most of the spooky season at Universal!