REVIEW: Halloween Horror Nights

October 29, 2019

REVIEW: Halloween Horror Nights

For decades, Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights has been entertaining thousands of visitors with their yearly Halloween celebration. This mammoth event brings together mazes, scare zones, and chainsaw wielding demons to create an evening that has inspired countless DIY mazes and SoCal haunters. However this event has become a mixed bag of emotions as Universal is driven by an ever-increasing profit margin as opposed to creating a wholly enjoyable and imaginative event. The mazes, with their waiting lines that last hours, follow a routine template that in general comes across as uninspired.

The most disappointing aspect is that Horror Nights, a multi-million dollar event which undeniably employs multiple teams of incredibly talented people, always feels creatively restricted. This could be due to their boring attachment to doing IP centered mazes, which usually come with a baggage of producers and directors with too many opinions. Or it could be that they have just stopped trying. For example, the mazes are overstocked with "boo boxes". This is an effect that occurs when you pass a corner and a loud sound, typically an electric jolt, is timed with a strobe light to cue a monster who jumps out at you. This trick has been used over and over and over again with every Universal maze for over a decade. While this trick was cutting edge ten years ago, it has now run its course and is being used in much more creative ways by DIY mazes.

All this aside, we do love the new, original maze: "Holidays in Hell”. This was a breath of fresh air and thankfully the narrative wasn't connected to a movie. This attraction took us through every U.S. holiday, including the horror of a possessed Thanksgiving turkey out for revenge. The “Ghostbusters” maze was also very enjoyable. This wasn't surprising considering the film contains so many iconic favorites like Slimer and Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. The production design was spectacular and we loved the hybrid creation of a sculpture of Stay Puft that was animated by projections as he was zapped by the Ghostbusters team.

While Universal Hollywood’s Halloween Horror Nights lacks the “wow” factor, is overcrowded, and in general a lackluster experience salvaged by a few entertaining mazes, it has undeniably inspired many people to follow their imaginations and bring to life new worlds of horror. We kept this in mind as we exited Horror Nights to the sounds of generic dubstep music, hopeful that the teenagers who were walking out with us had found inspiration for their future creative enterprises.

VC

October 29, 2019

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