Universal Studios’ Horror Nights has come a long way. From starting as a three-night event held the week of Halloween in the 1990s, to haunts that take over the theme park for several weeks out of year. This year, Horror Nights has expanded its brand to a year-round event in Las Vegas called Universal’s Horror Unleashed (with a second location in Chicago already on the way). Fans of getting scared have more options than ever, but which event is for you?
I’m a Halloween Horror Nights pro who recently experienced Universal Horror Unleashed for the first time. I found myself very impressed with what the new attraction has to offer as an alternative to going to one of the Universal theme parks to get my jump scares. I also had the chance to speak to show director Nate Stevenson and Vice President of Entertainment Art & Design, TJ Mannarino/ They highlighted how Horror Unleashed is different from Horror Nights. As Stevenson shared:
We were able to build this thing from the ground up, right? So, instead of like an overlay on a park, and trying to make the park as creepy as possible. Literally from the time you're walking up to the building, you're seeing a story. This is an old warehouse, Warehouse 25. We say it's been here for a hundred years. And, we've been storing all these different Universal props here. So we have this whole big story that happens where the shadow world broke through.
When you go to one of the Universal parks, you’re going to be jaunting all around a massive theme park that juggles all sorts of IPs, like the Wizarding World, The Simpsons and Super Nintendo, at the same time as creepy clowns and monsters are haunting you. It’s a very fun way to experience Universal Studios, but as Mannarino spoke to, Horror Unleashed’s resources are 100% about immersing you in their creepy vision about a prop warehouse full of terrifying beings. As he continued:
So the level of immersiveness is really a big thing. We see the Horror Nights as kind of a moment in time sort of event. They run up and scare you and run away. For this, you can actually sit and talk to these characters.They'll talk to you about their story. If you talk to enough of them, you'll learn the whole story of the warehouse, and it kind of goes as deep as you're interested in going.
When I experienced Horror Unleashed, I found the ability to talk to the characters lurking around the event to be a really exciting aspect of the event. It reminded me of Universal’s incredible FanFest Nights event that they kicked off earlier this year, which allowed me and other guests to feel like I was inside Back To The Future on its original set.
The character interactions have me already wanting to go back, because there’s so many I didn’t approach or missed out on learning about. Plus, I think it allows for the guest to have a more three dimensional experience, between being inside a haunted house and feeling like you’re part of the story with a unique conversation with the actors. Stevenson also said this:
We knew people were gonna be able to spend more time in the houses. So each one of these houses opens with this extended facade scene where you have an extended story that kind of tells you about the house you're about to walk into. And we have a a big story moment in each house where people stop and you get to experience the story moment. So [there’s] a lot of neat things that we've not tried before that really just immersed the guests a little more.
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I can also confirm that Universal's Horror Unleashed gives you a lot more time in the houses, and they let people in by party (rather than the ongoing congo line), making it feel like you’re really getting to make the most out of the experience. For example, one of my favorite houses from Universal Hollywood Scarecrow: The Reaping was recreated for Horror Unleashed, and it absolutely was five times more scary than the Horror Nights version.
You can read more from my interview with the Horror Unleashed creators, and check out how to buy tickets on the Universal Horror Unleashed website.
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