I would be the first to confess I’m an enormous hen. Once I watch horror films, I achieve this at dwelling with my fingers partially protecting my eyes. But someway, I spent final weekend screaming my head off in 10 frightfully enjoyable haunted homes at Common Orlando’s annual Halloween Horror Nights occasion.
Why would a self-proclaimed scaredy-cat willfully put herself by way of a number of hours of monsters, demons, ghosts and gore? As a result of although I could have misplaced my voice by the tip of the night time, there’s a lot extra to Halloween Horror Nights (often called HHN amongst followers) than low cost bounce scares. The groups who design and construct the homes are as twisted as they’re gifted, and the scare actors give their minds, our bodies and, let’s face it, most likely their souls to totally embody the characters they’ve been solid to painting.
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Plus, there are all of the make-up artists, costume designers, sound and lighting technicians, and different employees members who helped make this occasion potential. In brief, regardless of being terrifying, if you stroll into the homes at Halloween Horror Nights, you are feeling transported into the (underneath)worlds these artists have dreamt up. In between screams, I discover myself awestruck by what they’ve been in a position to create. That feeling retains me coming again yr after yr … together with the truth that I’m fairly good at laughing it off once I survive one more home.
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That will help you put together on your go to, I’ve ranked all 10 homes from this yr’s occasion. However for all the explanations talked about above, my rankings aren’t based mostly on scares alone. Nearly each home is one I might fortunately tackle once more, and those that I’m much less enthusiastic to repeat are solely due to how terrifying they have been. As an alternative, my rankings are based mostly on how excited I might be to undergo a selected home once more.
Even so, rankings are subjective. My checklist will doubtless be completely completely different from yours, and that is only one other thing I really like about Halloween Horror Nights. Every home has its personal distinctive mix of storytelling, set design, inventive characters and, after all, scream-inducing scares. It doesn’t matter what taste of horror you like, you’ll discover it right here.
Learn on to see how my rankings evaluate to yours — I’ll see you within the fog.
Halloween Horror Nights 2024 haunted home rankings
1. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire
This home is predicated on the most recent movie within the “Ghostbusters” franchise, however that doesn’t imply you received’t see your favourite characters (each human and in any other case) from the unique movies, too. You enter the home by way of Ray’s Occult Books store earlier than strolling by way of scenes impressed by “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.” You’ll then meet Garraka, the evil god who tries to make use of his ice powers to destroy the world within the film.
As you progress by way of the home, you encounter ghosts from the brand new film, together with dozens of Keep-Puft marshmallow males, but in addition basic characters like Zuul, Slimer, a library ghost and even Vigo the Carpathian from “Ghostbusters 2.” You additionally get to see the Ghostbusters doing what they do greatest — combating ghosts with their electrified proton packs.
What actually blew me away about this home, although, was the set design. A few of the rooms have been so large and immersive that I didn’t wish to go away. I needed to remain and absorb each element. This was all intentional, after all. Whereas I used to be distracted by the size and fantastic thing about the home, Garraka had the proper alternative to come out and scare me, which he did … a number of instances.
2. Slaughter Sinema 2
This B-movie horror-themed home is (fairly fittingly) supposed to be a sequel to Slaughter Sinema, a haunted home that debuted throughout Halloween Horror Nights 2018. Each the unique home and this yr’s are set on the Carey Drive-In theater in Carey, Ohio, a recurring HHN location and the real-life hometown of one of many occasion’s creators.
If you enter Slaughter Sinema 2, you might be dropped proper into the center of the bloody motion of eight gory horror movies, from a Mardi Gras homicide scene to a strip membership with soul-stealing mummies. What makes this home a lot enjoyable, although, is the sheer number of characters and settings you get to expertise. It’s nearly like eight mini haunted homes in a single.
My favourite scenes have been “Blood and Chum,” an undersea shark assault with a shark puppet the dimensions of which I hope to by no means see in actual life, and “Killer Kringles,” which can make you very cautious of ending up on the naughty checklist.
3. Monstruos: The Monsters of Latin America
This home highlights three Latin American legends — Tlahuelpuchi, La Lechuza and El Silbon — however these will not be the bedtime tales I might inform my kids at night time. Tlahuelpuchi is a feminine vampire who feasts on the blood of infants, La Lechuza is a witch who can shape-shift into an owl, and El Silbon is a cursed soul that carries a sack of bones of terrifying unknown provenance.
Truly, you don’t must think about any of it. As you stroll by way of the Monstruos, you get to see firsthand how these legendary creatures hunt and kill their victims. This home’s character design and gore degree have been top-notch, and I beloved that the characters paid homage to real-life legends of cultural and historic significance.
La Muerte, a personification of loss of life, was one other recurring character seen at numerous moments on this home, but it surely was extra unhappy and exquisite than scary, which balanced out the home’s extra horrifying moments with out taking you out of the macabre myths.
4. Triplets of Terror
There’s a protracted historical past of slasher homes at Halloween Horror Nights, however they’re typically based mostly on basic movies like “Halloween” or “The Texas Chainsaw Bloodbath.” This yr, Common created its personal slasher in Triplets of Terror. The home follows the Barmy triplets — Melody, Concord and Junior. For causes unbeknownst to us, the triplets murdered their complete household on the day of their ninth birthday. Each 10 years, the triplets “have a good time” their large day by recreating the murders in a brand new city with new victims.
I ranked this home so extremely as a result of as I used to be strolling by way of it, I spotted that it felt ready-made to be became its personal slasher movie. This home travels by way of area and time as we go to the scene of every new crime, resulting in a scene that mirrors the triplets’ ninth birthday in a darkish and disgusting method.
In most homes, you don’t know which scares to count on. In some methods, it was scarier figuring out that every one three of the triplets have been hiding someplace in every room, simply ready for the correct second to come out and shock me.
5. Common Monsters: Everlasting Bloodlines
For a number of years, Common has created a home devoted to the basic monsters that made the studio well-known. On this yr’s iteration, each night time is women night time with the Bride of Frankenstein, Dracula’s daughter, She-Wolf of London and the mummified Egyptian princess Anck-Su-Namun taking heart stage in the home’s all-female solid.
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On this home, Saskia Van Helsing, the daughter of Abraham Van Helsing and the Bride of Frankenstein, have teamed as much as battle Dracula’s daughter, who has partnered with She-Wolf and Anck-Su-Namun for a battle to the loss of life. I used to be so scared by all of the monsters attempting to assault me that I discovered it somewhat laborious to observe the story.
I didn’t even notice who had received the battle (which I received’t reveal as a result of I don’t wish to spoil it for you) till different folks in my group mentioned it afterward. Nevertheless, the surroundings on this home, from Anck-Su-Namun’s Egyptian tomb to Dracula’s citadel, was attractive, and the girl-power side gave it main factors in my guide.
6. Main Sweets Sweet Manufacturing facility
Every year, one home stands out because the “comedian reduction” home. This yr, that home is Main Sweets Sweet Manufacturing facility. Constructing on the lore of the Candy Revenge scare zone from 2022’s HHN occasion, Main Sweets has invited faculty kids for a discipline journey to his sweet manufacturing facility, and you might be among the many fortunate adults chosen to chaperone the journey. Sadly, Main Sweets’ sweet is nice in identify solely — these treats flip youngsters into murderous maniacs.
Make no mistake, this home has loads of scares and an amazing quantity of gross-out gore, however the over-the-top Main Sweets and Miss Treats characters, together with the candy-coated youngsters, added a component of enjoyable.
In the event you get an opportunity to do that one, be looking out for 2 large crimson buttons in the home. You may press these guest-activated triggers to up the scare issue.
7. A Quiet Place
There are at the moment three installments of the “A Quiet Place” movie sequence, however this home focuses on solely the primary two. In the event you haven’t seen the movies, they’re set in a actuality the place monstrous aliens have taken over the Earth. They can not see, in order that they solely assault what they’ll hear. The movie’s premise put Common within the place to construct a home that was as quiet because the movies. This starkly contrasts the same old loud music and sudden sounds in most haunted homes, however the impact was chilling.
Moderately than strolling by way of a home stuffed with noise, there have been characters who popped out of the darkness with out making a sound. As a result of the home was so quiet, I knew that if I heard a noise within the distance, an alien assault wouldn’t be far behind. In staying true to the movies (there’s a deaf character within the first two films), Common integrated the usage of American Signal Language into the home. Common labored with members of the deaf and hard-of-hearing group to carry ASL into the home in an correct and acceptable method.
As a lot as I beloved this home, the quiet issue was extra unsettling in idea than it was in observe. I needed it to be almost silent, however when you’ve a home stuffed with friends who’re scared and screaming, that’s laborious to perform. I additionally thought, based mostly on the premise, that there could be moments after we have been those setting off the noises and alerting the aliens to our whereabouts, so I feel my very own notion of what the home could be could have gotten in the way in which of having fun with it for what it was. I can’t wait to stroll by way of this one once more with a contemporary eye, although.
8. The Museum: Lethal Reveals
The setting for The Museum: Lethal Reveals is the Museum of Worldwide Folklore. There’s a brand new exhibit on show on the museum referred to as the Rotting Stone and, as you’ll have guessed, it’s wreaking a little bit of havoc. What I beloved about this home is it’s not solely the museum friends and workers who’re being contaminated by the Rotting Stone, however the installations as nicely.
That mentioned, whilst a scaredy-cat, I didn’t run from this home with my coronary heart pounding out of my chest. It wasn’t overwhelmingly scary, however I beloved the individuality of inanimate objects coming to life.
A number of of the reveals started to maneuver and are available to life because the Rotting Stone took maintain. I can safely say this home introduced my first encounter with a haunted sail and possessed wallpaper, and I completely beloved it.
9. Insidious: The Additional
Let me preface this by saying the one and solely purpose I ranked this almost final is as a result of it was so scary that I hope to by no means go by way of that large crimson door once more. This home is predicated on all 5 installments of the “Insidious” movie franchise. If you enter the home, you might be strolling by way of the crimson door into the Additional, a darkish dimension inhabited by demonic beings and the tortured souls of the useless.
The scares in Insidious: The Additional are, in a phrase, relentless. It is without doubt one of the scariest haunted homes in my HHN historical past. It isn’t simply the sheer variety of bounce scares but in addition how they arrive at you.
There are rooms stuffed with drapes and curtains that could possibly be hiding all method of demons (which, after all, they’re) and different rooms which can be full of so many demons and ghosts proper out within the open that I used to be actually afraid to stroll any additional. Once I did lastly make it out, my coronary heart didn’t decelerate for a superb 10 minutes. I talked to different friends who fell to the bottom on this home as a result of they have been so frightened.
The demons and settings keep true to the movies. The characters appeared very very like they did on the massive display screen. I’ve buddies who ranked this home on the prime of their checklist, and I fully perceive why. As somebody who can barely be in the identical room as a balloon due to how excessive I bounce when one pops, this home shook me to my core and past. Into the Additional, I hope by no means to go once more.
10. Goblin’s Feast
Who doesn’t love a feast? Effectively, chances are you’ll not love this specific feast in case you are of the human selection. On this village of goblins, orcs and witches, you are what’s for dinner. There have been hungry goblins feasting on physique elements hiding round each nook, which undoubtedly had me screaming.
There was one very giant and really scary goblin on the feast desk that I couldn’t look away from (which additionally supplied a straightforward alternative for his spouse to scare me), however except for that, it didn’t join with me. I’ve heard a number of folks say this was one in all their favorites, so don’t take my phrase for it. Perhaps I’m not a goblin woman.
Backside line
I’ve mentioned it earlier than, and I’ll say it once more: There was not a nasty home within the bunch. Each single home this yr knocked it out of the park in several methods, and I can not wait to return. I ought to most likely give my voice just a few days to get better earlier than I tackle Halloween Horror Nights once more, although.
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