Halloween Horror Nights is back for another year in Southern California at Universal Studios Hollywood. This year, they’ve upped the ante with more production, more scares, and the same excellent standard of haunted houses that they normally have. In 2024, they have eight houses, three scare zones, two live attractions, and of course, most of the rides at the event are open as well. My favorite thing to do in these houses is go through with an eye for the story. After all, without a story, there’s no real good reason to be scared. Luckily for us, the houses this year have gone full bore into storytelling.

The eight houses this year are: The Weeknd: Nightmare Trilogy, A Quiet Place, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, Insidious: The Further, Universal Monsters: Eternal Bloodlines, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Legacy Of Leatherface, Monstruos 2: The Nightmares Of Latin America, and Dead Exposure: Death Valley. They also have two live shows in The Purge: Dangerous Waters and Late Night With Chucky.

Halloween Horror Nights runs on select nights from September 5th to November 3rd. That’s 40 whole nights of absolute terror!

Let’s start off with the live shows.

Late Night With Chucky And The Purge: Dangerous Waters Are Fun Enough

Last year was the debut of The Purge: Dangerous Waters and the show is just as good as it was last year. If you’re into seeing stunt performers do insane stunts in close quarters, plus a whole lot of blood, you should check this out. There’s an actual story to the show here as well. It lasts about 20 minutes and they have shows going on through the night up until an hour before closing.

It’s not just some cheapo thing to fill out the Waterworld area. They have some pretty death-defying stunts on display, with people getting lit on fire, falling off incredibly high platforms, and other stunts that’ll make you want to cover your eyes. Overall, this was an excellent addition to the park and one that you really don’t want to miss out on.

Late Night With Chucky is in the Dreamworks Theater and sees a late-night live show with Chucky and the audience. It’s got some fun laughs and jokes about Chucky and other Horror Nights events. The questions come from the audience, so if you have an intelligent audience that asks good questions, this’ll be a better experience. I can’t say that this would be worth waiting in line for, so hopefully, you get lucky and can waltz in. It was scalding for opening night, so this was an excellent way to get out of the heat.

The Houses (And Terror Tram) – A Massive Step Up From Last Year

We’ll go through the houses and rank them from the worst to the best. I went through all of them twice this time around, so any bias from going through with a camera crew and other issues is gone. It’s time to dig in.

9. A Quiet Place – B

This house has the issue of the monsters being gigantic and not humans. So, when you’re walking into a room, you can see the scares coming. If you love the films, this has some of the best moments in it. The human scare actors that are in the house, look great, and the costumes are movie-accurate. Even though it is a lot of puppets, those look fearsome as well. The sound design in this house is some of the best in the entire event. Going through a second time, it was a bit better with the scares, but this one still needed more humans in it, somehow.

8. Terror Tram: Enter The Blumhouse – B

The Terror Tram trades an overall story for a broader range of Blumhouse properties to pick from. That makes the whole experience feel like a bit of an advertisement for Blumhouse. You go through a different route by the Bates Motel and zig-zag around with some excellent work from the scare actors for the Happy Death Day section. There’s much more wasted space between the Bates Motel and the Bates house, though. It’s just walking up the hill, and the Bates Motel sign isn’t even turned on. The section right before the Purge also leads to a massive traffic jam, and they might want to rethink this section for future events to make it less of a bottleneck. The opening section is well worth the ride; seeing all the villains come out is a sight to behold.

7. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire – B+

This house was less scary than I would have liked. With the movie being a much scarier version of Ghostbusters, this house had the potential to be a better version of the 2019 Ghostbusters house. The sets and costumes are impressive, and the animatronics and stiltwalkers for Garraka are the highlight. It follows the movie pretty well, but there aren’t very many Ghostbusters in the house, and there are only three sprinkled throughout. It might be a lot of fun, but it’s not very frightening.

6. Insidious: The Further – A-

If you’re in the mood for some gross smells, Insidious: The Further is for you. This one is based on the movie series and goes through plenty of red doors into the area known as The Further. It’s filled with terrifying demons, monsters, and scary childhood nightmares. There’s a bit of wasted space here, dragging the grade down. There is too much walking around pitch-black corners with no payoffs for scares. Even with that, the set design props this one up to an almost fantastic grade.

5. Dead Exposure: Death Valley – A

I was assuming this was going to be a Fallout house, without the Fallout license. I was wrong. It’s a scarier theme than that, with animal testing gone wrong and a bio-virus turning people into face-ripping zombies. This is among the best set design in the event with the sterile white walls contrasted with blood everywhere. You get a great scare right before walking into the house, which sets the tone. Also, this one had the AC blasting for a freezer room, which was nice on a sweltering night. The only thing I would dock this one for, was that it’s incredibly short, it’s about a minute and a half shorter to walk through than the other houses at the event. If you’re into bio-zombies, this is for you.

4. The Weeknd: Nightmare Trilogy – A+

The original Weeknd house surprised the hell out of me back in 2022. This time around, I was expecting some greatness and got it. It’s not just a reskinned version of the old house either, this is brand new stuff. New music, new sets, new monsters. You get the trademark imagery and weirdness of some of The Weeknd’s music videos, with his music blaring throughout the house. The first house was more about the sets and props, this one is all about the monsters and the story. It’s a nice companion piece to that house, and if not for some truly great ones coming, this could have been the best of the event.

3. Monstruos 2: The Nightmares Of Latin America – A+

The Monstruos house last year was the runaway hit of the event. It blended actual terrifying scares, smells, and the best theming out there. This time around for the sequel, it’s not quite as good, but still among the best of 2024. The new myths and nightmares of Latin America are terrifying. Add into that some set design that’s just stunning and you get a house that is worth waiting for in the middle of the park. See the legends of El Charro, El Cadejo, and El Cucuy in this house.

2. Universal Monsters: Eternal Bloodlines – A+

After the disappointment that was Universal Monsters: Unmasked last year, the Bride of Frankenstein story is back for Universal Monsters: Eternal Bloodlines. The Universal Monsters houses off up stories that we normally don’t get celebrating the legacy of these characters. The soundstage that houses Eternal Bloodlines is historical, it’s where they filmed a majority of the classic monsters films. This time around, the Bride teams up with Saskia Van Helsing to take on Dracula’s daughter and other monsters of the night. The story unfolds as you walk through the house with some of the best costumes and makeup in any Halloween event here for all the characters. The Bride of Frankenstein remains one of the best characters Johny Murdy and his team have thought of. This is about as close to Horror Nights perfection as it gets.

1. Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Legacy Of Leatherface – A++

This is the main event of the night. If you only go through one house, it should be this one. The Legacy Of Leatherface takes your through different timelines, different eras, different movies, for Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The sets are immaculate, looking as sticky and sweaty as the original movie. You’re going through a slaughterhouse, which is already gross enough, but then you get to the smells that are pumped in. If you have a low tolerance for smelly things, this house might not be for you. It’s gross, but that grossness adds to the ambiance of the perfection that is the scares. Leatherface and the rest of the Sawyer family do an amazing job scaring the everloving crap out of guests.

This is easily one of the best houses that Halloween Horror Nights has ever put on.

Halloween Horror Nights At Universal Studios Hollywood Overall Grade: A+

This year’s Horror Nights is a return to form after a bit of a misstep last year. The top four houses here could all be the best at any previous event. Halloween Horror Nights offers the best of the Halloween season for any type of guest. Even if you don’t like getting the hell scared out of you, there’s rides, food, shows, and more to enjoy. It certainly helps that the houses this year are absolutely exquisite. If you plan well, you should be able to get through all of the houses in one night.

If you’re thinking about attending Halloween Horror Nights 2024, you can grab tickets right here.

For more on Halloween, check out THS Fright-A-Thon.

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