Halloween Horror Nights: New horror stories come to Universal Studios

Virtually all theme parks present Halloween events. But none reach the horrific heights of Halloween Horror Nights at the two Universal Studios in Orlando and Hollywood. While most parks repeat many of their haunted mazes year to year, Universal introduces a fresh lineup each fall. And while most parks use generic monsters, Universal features brand-name stories and characters with big-budget aesthetics and effects.

It's not any old zombie lurching at you; it's a walker from The Walking Dead. It's not just a guy in a mask threatening to stab you; it's Michael Myers of Halloween infamy. And while almost every park has a battalion of baddies revving up chainsaws, Universal has the original power tool-loving lunatic, Leatherface from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

For its 26th HHN, Universal Studios Florida presents nine haunted houses. The event runs on select nights through October 31 and requires separate admission from the daytime park. Individual tickets cost $104.99 with other options available.

Go gaga over American Horror Story and The Exorcist 

While I'm not a fan of the television show, I was impressed with the park's take on American Horror Story. Based on three seasons of the anthology series, Murder House, Freak Show, and Hotel, the mashup house incorporates especially striking sets. For example, a scene showing the Countess character (played by Lady Gaga in the TV show) inside an art deco elevator was evocative. Clips from the series were projected onto the walls of the maze.

Another scene demonstrated Universal's masterful use of misdirection. It was kind of hard to take my eyes off of a man dressed as a pig about to be murdered in a shower. That's why it was startling when an actor (or a "scareactor," as Universal dubs them) suddenly emerged out of my field of vision and threatened me with a knife. Strobe effects and audible blade swishes heightened the tension.

Sound, such as the triggered effect of a blade swish, plays an important role throughout HHN mazes. Music – sometimes menacing, sometimes more cinematic in tone – accompanies the nonstop action. There are also plenty of thumping heartbeats, loud bangs and pops, and, of course, constant cascades of screaming visitors to amp up the thrills and chills.

If American Horror Story was HHN's best maze, The Exorcist was a close second. As the haunting "Tubular Bells" theme song form the groundbreaking 1973 movie played, I made my way into a note-perfect facsimile of possessed Regan MacNeil's brick home. Universal included many of the film's highlights, including (spoiler alert) Regan and her bed levitating, the crazed girl's head doing a 360, the titular priest performing the exorcism, and – eww! – Regan vomiting.

While I didn't personally see any pea soup-green projectile vomit (I was told that it does happen, but the effect must have been resetting as I made my way through the maze), I did hear plenty of anticipatory retching. Universal's horrormeisters draw on a wide palette of multisensory shenanigans to immerse guests in their tricked-out mazes. Had I witnessed the legendary barfing scene come to life, I not only would have seen and heard it, but I would have felt the vomit spewing on me and oozing down my face. (In other mazes, I felt the spray of "blood.") Throughout the haunted houses, guests have to feel their way through hung pieces of rope, string, plastic sheets and other items that impart ominous overtones in the dark. They also have to endure blasts of air, heat, and other sensory ticklers.

Halloween returns to Florida and other mazes

While both the Halloween and Texas Chainsaw Massacre houses had suitably sinister atmospheres and great set design that did justice to their source material, they both suffered from a common HHN problem: the conga line.

With wait times sometimes stretching to an hour or longer, Universal understandably wants to keep the lines moving in the popular houses. That means a steady stream of nearly shoulder-to-shoulder guests makes its way through the mazes. Depending on where you are in the flow, you may or may not be on the receiving end of the intended scares. Sometimes, like a car that either gets stopped at every red light or sails right through while travelling along a downtown thoroughfare, a guest might get caught in the wrong cycle.

That apparently happened to me, as legendary movie maniacs, Michael Myers and Leatherface, rarely confronted me. It's not much of a Halloween or a Texas Chainsaw Massacre without the stars wreaking their trademark havoc. (It wouldn't guarantee face-to-Leatherface confrontations, but if you want to avoid HHN's notoriously long lines and you have the financial means, you might want to consider purchasing either express passes or "R.I.P." small-group tours.)

After focusing on specific seasons of the television show for a number of years, Universal is presenting a best-of retrospective for its The Walking Dead house this year. There were plenty of walker-induced scares and nicely conceived sets, including one depicting a sewer from season six. And yes, Universal pumped in the appropriate aroma; talk about a multi-sensory experience.

Christmas came early to HHN with a house based on the film, Krampus. (For those unfamiliar with the horror movie, no, the main character is not a monster that forces people to eat too much fruitcake and develop intestinal distress, but rather a kind of anti-Santa Claus.) Despite some intriguing sets, including one in which a gingerbread man circles down a kitchen drain, this was one of HHN's least scary and weakest mazes.

Of the Florida park's three original houses, the Egyptian-themed Tomb of the Ancients also skimped on the scares and didn't leave much of a mark, hieroglyphic or otherwise. Ghost Town, however, which uses the Old West and ethereal gold prospectors as inspiration, included some nifty effects and, like an accomplished gunslinger, squarely hit the mark.

Disney parks: A not-so-scary Halloween celebration

HHN's oddest house was Lunatics Playground 3D – You Won't Stand a Chance. Presented in eye-popping 3D with Day-Glo colors, the maze featured the 2016 host, Chance. The girlfriend of former HHN host, Jack the Clown (that prescient character seems to have inspired legions of actual scary clowns lately), Chance wore a bit of greasepaint, but was more of a deranged sadist than a Cirque du Soleil performer gone to the dark side. I know it's wrong in so many ways, but I found myself laughing at instead of recoiling from scenes such as the hostess enjoying a human music box she apparently fashioned by cranking the handle attached to an exposed organ of her poor victim.

If you want to get up-close and personal with Chance – but not too close, and keep a wary eye on your internal organs – she is featured in one of the event's five scare zones. The best outdoor zone was Vamp '55. Greasers who morphed into vampires attacked guests as well as the homecoming queen, nerds, and other archetypes at a Hollywood High School parade, circa 1955.

The Florida event's two shows include Academy of Villains, an energetic and entertaining dance troupe that was featured on America's Got Talent, and the annual presentation of Bill and Ted's Excellent Halloween Adventure. Neither the bodacious duo nor their the cult movie classic have anything to do with horror or Halloween, but Bill and Ted have inexplicably become a fixture at HHN. Featuring jokes that are mostly groaners, loud music, and a cast that doubles as comedy sketch performers and sexy dancers, the show parodies pop culture. Not that they need any more skewering, but Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump figure heavily in the proceedings.

It's also Halloween in Hollywood

Universal Studios Hollywood also presents Halloween Horror Nights. The West Coast event runs on select evenings through November 5. The separately ticketed event costs $89 at the gate. Discounted tickets are available online from Universal.

Four of Hollywood's six mazes are essentially similar to the brand name ones in Florida: American Horror Story, The Exorcist, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Krampus. The other two are clones of houses that Florida presented last year: Freddy vs. Jason and Halloween. (The California park focuses on the original Michael Myers flick, while the Florida park uses the Halloween sequel as its theme this year.) The Walking Dead has taken up permanent residence at Universal Studios Hollywood with a haunted house that is open at HHN as well as during the day all year long.

The park also incorporates its Studio Tour, which is repurposed as Terror Tram for the nighttime event. Horror maven Eli Roth has developed an original story for this year's attraction in which killer clowns (more scary clowns!) terrorize guests on the studio's backlot. Characters from The Purge are on the loose throughout Universal Studios Hollywood's single, park-wide scare zone. And hip-hop dance crew, the Jabbawockeez, perform at the event.