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Universal Studios Orlando is getting ready to celebrate its 35th anniversary in a big way this spooky season by making us feel like we’re locked inside some of the best horror movies. The theme park has already announced Sinners will have its own house and we've learned we’ll be able to relive the final season of Stranger Things. I can’t wait for those scares, but now we have word about the first of the original houses, and it’s the scariest, and most unexpected house announcement yet. Also allegedly among "the bloodiest" this season.
The third confirmed house set to be on Orlando’s Halloween Horror Nights 2026 lineup is called Madlands: Caged Cannibals. Guys... cannibals!??! I'm screaming already.
CinemaBlend had the chance to speak to Lora Sauls, who is the resort’s assistant director of entertainment creative development, about the new house, and she told me a lot about how the idea came about and why they think it'll be a "home run" with people in the parks.
This idea came out of every year we do a brainstorm week where we have scenic designers, character designers, show directors all come to the table with every idea they can think of. No idea is a bad idea. And last April, we had that meeting and one of our newer scenic designers had the idea for this post-apocalyptic zoo that was infested by this tribe of cannibals because animals were instinct. Humans are cannibals, and they took on the tropes and traits of the animals that once lived in this post apocalyptic zoo... And, we just said 'This is a home run.'
Typically, half of HHN's houses consist of non-IP haunts, and after Sauls described Madlands to me, I completely understand why the theme park decided to announce this one first. It's a shocker in the best way. Plus, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre houses are already incredibly popular whenever they have them, and now Universal Studios has the chance to put their own memorable spin on the cannibal sub-genre of horror. As Sauls explained:
It's a bloody house. It's [one of] our bloodiest this year, as you may have kind of assumed, since its cannibals. No one is safe because guests are trying to get in this zoo to be safe from every other cannibal that's out there, but they don't know that these tribes of cannibals are also in the zoo. These tribes take on these traits – they fashion their out of what they've seen on these old zoo signage and things around this old zoo. Because this is so far after animals are extinct that they don't really know. So they're just seeing what these animals did and from what is left at the zoo and really taking on those traits. But they are coming at us strongly. They are killing machines, and every person that goes into this house is their prey.
When guests enter Madlands, they’ll be transported to a fictional dystopian world where a tribe of cannibals take on the traits of zoo animals when hunting their prey. And guys, we are the prey. Per Sauls, this is definitely one of the more hardcore houses this year – which means it’s going to be one people are going to be talking about!
We think this house is going to be one of the most aggressive in the event… I think this one is gonna be that intense, very bloody, very in your face, very intense attacking, kind of scare level. These are tribes of cannibals. They just need to eat. And you their food. It's a conga line of food that's coming into their kazoo.
Sauls also said she’s really proud of this one from a production point of view, pointing out the “scenic aesthetic” of it. She encourages fans to go at a slow-but-steady pace through it, but I just know this one is really going to trigger some serious fears. I'm stressing out about it and I'm nowhere near a theme park gate yet. Of course, I was curious about the smells in this one; the Universal Studios’ assistant director teased there’s some “interesting” ones to get ready for. Hope you brought a clothespin.
If you’ve been craving (pun intended) a really scary haunted house at Universal’s Horror Nights, Madlands sounds like it will have the kind of intensity you might be searching for. The announcement comes at a perfect time in the HHN lineup in my opinion, too. I always want something to get me into my fears, and Madlands might be that house this year.
Tickets are now on sale at Universal Orlando’s website with the theme park event running from August 28 until November 1.
