This year I was lucky enough to visit the nation's premier Halloween event: Halloween Horror Nights 35 Orlando!!! Let's not waste any time and jump right into my thoughts!
ICONS
This year we got dual icons: Jack Schmidt/Jack the Clown and Richard Oddfellow. Oddfellow was the proprietor of the sideshow/carnival where Jack was employed in life. While Oddfellow was evil in his own right, he could not abide Jack's murders bringing authorities to the carnival. Jack lost control and became chaos personified, forcing Oddfellow put an end to Jack's madness once and for all...or so he thought. Now, the two have become reluctant allies, putting their powers together to create the Infernal Carnival of Nightmares. Jack represents Chaos, Oddfellow represents Control. All are invited to attend, but not everyone will be leaving in one piece. The icons worked exceptionally well this year. I didn't see Oddfellow in the streets, but I did catch one glimpse of Jack in the Downtown Clowntown scarezone.
THEME
The theme for this year is the Infernal Carnival of Nightmares, a carnival that Jack and Oddfellow are creating together. See what happens when Chaos and Control work together to create the stuff nightmares are made of!
SCAREZONES
DOWNTOWN CLOWNTOWN
The city that never sleeps becomes a waking nightmare when it’s overrun by Killer Klowns from Outer Space, Art the Clown and other clownsfolk who can’t wait to tear you limb from limb.
The clowns have overrun Downtown NYC, laying siege to the area and claiming it as their own. With Chance the clown in charge, she's invited the Killer Klownz from Outer Space, Art the clown and his possessed posse, and her own gang of roving terrors to wreck their own special brand of chaos and terror. This is one of the best zones I have ever had the pleasure of walking through, and I got to spend a good deal of time in it. The zone is incredibly large, stretching from the entrance of the Minions Cafe all the way through NYC including Transformers alley and Delancey street. It feels enormous. There are multiple elaborate set pieces throughout including a main stage for Chance and Jack, and multiple mini-stages for different clowns (Art even gets his own Christmas themed mini-stage, including The Little Pale Girl, Possessed Vicki, and Sienna). This zone is full of many different clowns (Jack's brother, Eddie, is even featured. Yes, I got to see him while I was there), so the opportunities for scares are endless. Even if you don't get scared, you will doubtless be entertained. Downtown Clowntown ranks as one of the best Scarezones of all time.
RATING: 5/5
INFERNAL CARNIVAL OF NIGHTMARES
Jack and Dr. Oddfellow invite you to step right up and see what horrors hide in every shadow at a sinister spectacle decades in the making.
This is the entrance zone, which incorporate the classic Halloween Horror Nights truss (even if a good deal of the letters were non-functional during my visit). The zone includes a stand for both Jack and Oddfellow. Both icons were absent throughout the night, which was very disappointing. There isn't much to the zone, which is par for the course for the entrance zone during the last several years. There is a neat ticket booth included, which is more than we normally get. Past the truss there is signage for each of the Haunted Houses, and different characters from each house. This was not a very involved zone and despite the truss and ticket booth, was fairly disappointing.
RATING: 2.5/5
SIDESHOW OF DECAY
Cindy’s time has come. With Dr. Oddfellow’s dark sorcery, she opened a portal in the carnival’s junkyard — using it to resurrect decayed nightmares from the past that are back to haunt you.
This zone occupied the Hollywood section of the park. I was very hyped as it was meant to be this year's anniversary zone. It features multiple characters from HHN pat including Batricia, The Caretaker and Cindy (atop a parade float), the Cats from the Cat Lady of Crooked Lane scarezone, and more. Unfortunately, it didn't feel particularly cohesive but was still fairly cool regardless. The highlights were the Caretaker and Cindy, who had pre-recorded spiels throughout the night.
RATING: 3.5/5
MEL'S DIE-IN ZOMBIES
Zombie carhops have swarmed Mel’s Die-In, and they aren’t just here for the burgers.
VERY disappointed in this zone. It's situated in/near Mel's Drive-In. The theme is cute and the zombies that are there are certainly doing their best, but there's not much theming and it's sparsely occupied with scareactors.
RATING: 2/5
CLUB HORROR
The streets of San Francisco have been transformed into Club Horror, where the DJ’s undead but the vibe is alive and well.
Another disappointment. The zone occupies a very small area. The music blasting and thumping in it is ok. There is a DJ and less than a handful of dancers. Hopefully they ditch this "Zone' in favor of a full, uniquely themed one for future events.
RATING: 1.5/5
CHAINSAW HORDE
Led by the "Ringmistress", this roaming troupe of Chainsaw Carnies attack from the darkest corners of the midway.
This "Unofficial Scarezone" is located in the Springfield/Simpsons area of the park and has been a thing since 2015. Unfortunately, this zone has remained unchanged for as long as it's been at the event. The scareactors always deliver, but there is minimal theming and at this point it's become more annoying than scary.
RATING: 2.5/5
FORTNIGHTMARES
Trudge through this scare zone and brace for the Storm, because there’s no telling what horrors it’ll bring with it.
My least anticipated scarezone of the night. I'm not a fan of Fortnight and do not approve of HHN catering towards younger folk (I'm talking about middle-schoolers if not younger). That being said, this zone was surprisingly great. The scareactors/characters were colorful, lively, fun, and cool. My favorite was the character Wrath, who is absolutely dripping with aura. He wears a black trench coat, a black fedora, and his face is covered with a Rorsach-esque white mask. There are also dancing skeletons and a pumpkin cat lady who are also very enjoyable. There are industrial fans placed throughout the zone, but they only seemed to be operating at the beginning of the night. As you explore the zones, there are occasional sound effects of lasers/guns blasting and some characters indeed carry around colorful guns and pretend to blast at other characters. It really does feel like there is a bit of a battle going on. At the end of the zone is the iconic Fortnightmares bus, which indeed looks very colorful and cool. I wouldn't qualify this as a scary zone, but it was very fun to walk through. There are also IP characters that make an appearance. Jack has been known to pop his head in on occasion (He wasn't there the night I was attending), and a Statue of Liberty Purge character from The Purge: Election Year is a frequent roamer (This one I ran into multiple times). Overall, not a bad zone.
RATING: 4/5
FOOD OFFERINGS
This was the rare year where I was actually interested in some of the fare being offered at the event.
There was a Meetz Meats booth set up at the beginning of the bridge that leads to Springfield from London/MIB. Meetz Meats is a deep-cut for HHN fans. It was a basis for the 2009 haunted house Leave It To Cleaver. The story is that Meetz Meats was a butcher shop based in Carey, Ohio that offered the freshest, most prime cuts of meat available. It was all the rage for the citizens of Carey. There was a catch though, the reason the meat was so fresh is because it was made from the slaughtered remains of the clientele's fellow neighbors and friends. I ordered the Bloody Bones, which are smoked and charred BBQ ribs with crispy jalapeño bits on top. I don't know what I was expecting but this was absolutely delicious. The ribs had a very smoky flavor and the jalapeño bits on top added just the right amount of kick. The offering is very messy, so grab plenty of napkins. This is one you'll want to eat with your hands.
RATING: 5/5
The only other offering I was interested in was the Slurp Juice. Slurp Juice is a Fortnight staple. In the game it's used to quickly restore health and shield to players. At HHN it's made of Powerade Mountain Berry Blast, Sprite, pineapple juice, Blue Curaco Syrup, and silver edible glitter. It was absolutely delicious and tasted like blueberry pineapple Sprite. It was not pre-mixed, meaning you get to watch the bartender/server make it in front of you. I think you tasted the Sprite, pineapple juice, and blue curaco syrup the most. It was very refreshing and I could have easily drank two of them. This drink is non-alcoholic, meaning it's a great option for the entire family!
RATING: 5/5
HAUNTED HOUSES
STRANGER THINGS 5
Join the Hawkins gang for one last adventure. Try to survive an army of Demogorgons, face the Mind Flayer and defeat Vecna once and for all in this haunted house based on Stranger Things 5.
Stranger Thing Season 5 was very disappointing. While the house was definitely better than the season, I only really cared for the first half of the house. Overall, it didn't really offer much in terms of theming or scares. A good deal of the scareactors were fan favorite characters like Hopper, Dustin, Lucas, Holly, and Derek. There were a few Vecnas and Demogorgons throughout, and the one scene of Mike discovering his powers was fine. The Mind-Flayer lair finale was accomplished by a screen. Not cool. Not a bad house, but definitely the weakest of the night.
RATING: 3/5
OZZY OSBOURNE: PRINCE OF DARKNESS
You’re in Ozzy’s world now. Bow at the throne of the Prince of Darkness in this haunted house inspired by the twisted mind of one of rock ‘n’ roll’s greatest legends.
The story for this house is a cult has made it their mission to resurrect Ozzy Osbourne. The facade was cool as it seems to resemble a crumbling mausoleum. There were several pools of water (in reality just screens) that would reflect Ozzy's face. The second facade was even cooler as it looked like a crumbling castle with cult members standing about (some mannequins, some animatronics, and some scareactors). There were rooms modeled after a dungeon, a crazy train (which resembled The Hogwarts Express with a rumbling floor), a rainy potion themed to outdoors with melting people, and a portion themed to a cemetery with a werewolf (this part lightly reminded me of Winter's Night). As you trek through the house, Ozzy's blaring music accompanies you. The last room is Ozzy sitting on a throne. I really dug this house. My only complaint is right when I was really starting to love the house, it ended. Ozzy is a moderate-short length house but it packs a whole bunch of atmosphere and coolness into the limited amount of space it has. Definitely one of the better houses of the night.
RATING: 4/5
MADLANDS: CAGED CANNIBALS
A defunct zoo is now the deadly domain of warring cannibal factions that have taken their animal instincts to extremes. They’re territorial. They’re hungry. And you’re lunch.
A post-apocalyptic house set inside an abandoned downtown zoo overrun by cannibalistic gangs. The gangs are in the middle of a territorial war, and you are caught in the middle. Each faction has taken over a section of the zoo (Zoo Safari, Lions, Rhinos, Bats, etc) and have modeled themselves after the animals that occupied that section. The costumes and sets were incredibly well-designed, the music was absolutely rockin', and the scares were mostly on-point. The bat portion of the house smelled like bat guano. There was a cool jeep with a machine gun turret and a rhino cart with a spiral drill on top. This was bloody, insane, atmospheric, and fun. It also smelled like a classic HHN house (with fog and other scents). This was surprisingly my favorite house of the night and it felt like a classic HHN house all the way.
RATING: 5/5
INVASION: ALIEN ABDUCTION
Make contact with horrors from worlds unknown in this haunted house, where a ship full of Grays have torn apart a remote homestead in search of fresh test subjects.
This house had the best facade of the night. The facade was a complete barn and shed with crashed alien ship pieces that would glow on occasion and a truck. Once inside the house, you get to witness the family that owns the farm besieged by classic Greys. The costumes and masks for the aliens weren't the best. Highlights include a hallway with rumbling floor, a slanted bedroom (sans slanted floor. Still a disorienting effect regardless), getting to see a child get lifted up through the ceiling (accomplished by the feet of a child animatronic disappearing through the roof. There are multiple characters that get a lifting/ebducted effect), and a small cat on the stairs sleeping peacefully through it all. This was a very cool house that mostly impressed, though it did leave me feeling that it was a bit lacking in the end. Still definitely worth a walk-though, though.
RATING: 4/5
H.R. BLOODENGUTZ PRESENTS: A HALLOWEEN FRIGHT-TACULAR
On a dark and stormy Halloween night, your favorite maître d’macabre returns to WKNB with a special scare-athon! Tune into a curated selection of H.R. Bloodengutz’ Halloween favorites in this haunted house complete with ghouls, gore and all the frights that keep you coming back for more.
This house is a deep-cut for long-time fans of HHN. H.R. Bloodengutz was the basis for a haunted house during my favorite year of the event: 2011. H.R. was the late night horror host for tv station WKNB, based in Carey, Ohio. When he was fired last minute before one of his shows was to air, H.R. went crazy, holding the tv station manager hostage. After killing the manager, H.R. was captured and placed in an insane asylum. Fifteen years later, he escapes from the asylum, hijacking a prison transport vehicle and hi-tailing it to his old WKNB station where he intends to host one final Halloween night broadcast. The offering this go-round include The Legend of Horseless Hallow, Monsters Night Out, The Grayscale Graveyard, Cult of the Pumpkin Lord, Conjure the Funk, Skoolhouse: Resurrection, The Madness of Dr. Pumpkinspice, Ho-Ho Homicide, and The Feaster Bunny. The facade is another one of the best of the night as it recreates the exterior of the WKNB station with H.R.'s stolen prison transport van parked outside, his orange prison jumpsuit discarded outside the door to the station, the door covered with yellow caution tape, and a hole cut in the wire fence as a makeshift entrance. The lights for the station continually blink on-and-off. There's also a queue video that plays featuring H.R.'s newest bloody broadcast. The video is not only in the queue for this house, but also featured in the queues for other houses as well. This house transported me straight back to the original H.R. Bloodengutz house and HHN 21. It feels exactly like the OG, but longer. Each movie gets one or two rooms, and each is very silly. My favorite movies were Monsters Night Out (which is set at a lively tiki bar), Cult of the Pumpkin Lord (A sequel to 2021's Wicked Growth: Realm of the Pumpkin), Conjure the Funk (A zombie disco dance party), Skoolhouse: Resurrection (A sequel to 2008's scarezone The Skoolhouse), and The Madness of Dr, Pumpkinspice (featuring a wacky, silly version of Dr. Frankenstein). I wanted to love The Legend of Horseless Hallow as the concept is very silly: The Headless Horseman loses his horse. Unfortunately, not much was really done with it. Overall, the creatives got this one right. They absolutely nailed it!!! I had the misfortune of going-through during a cast change so I missed The Pumpkin Lord and a highlighted dancing zombie from Conjure the Funk. This was this year's humor/fun house and it was an absolute joy getting to re-visit a fan favorite. I also adored the opening and closing rooms, which featured H.R. killing/torturing security guards/staff. Definitely one of the best houses of the night. I wanted to go through this one a second time, but was unable to.
RATING: 4/5
HELLRAISER
Enter a realm of eternal suffering where Pinhead and his Cenobites derive their immense pleasure in this haunted house based on the original Hellraiser trilogy.
I'm not a huge fan of the Hellraiser films, but I can safely say I adored this house. Here you get to travel through the first two Hellraiser films. You start out in Frank's house from the first movie before entering the Lament Configuration and traveling through the realm of the Cenobites. While Pinhead didn't look exactly as he does in the films, they clearly did the best they could. Every other character was pretty-much spot-on. That said, the real draw of this was the environments created. They re-create the environments from the first two films and some new ones along the way. Once in the realm of the Cenobites you start out having to maneuver through hanging chains which quickly turn into hanging, fleshy intestines. Very gross but very cool. There was a room where holes in the wall had bursts of blue light piercing through the fog/smoke. A very cool effect. You truly feel like you are in the world of the Hellraiser films. This is definitely one of the best HHN houses I've walked through.
RATING: 5/5
SINNERS
Head to Club Juke as the Smokestack Twins fend off bloodthirsty vampires in this haunted house based on the award-winning film.
This house had been highly hyped and advertised by the creative team this year but was ultimately very disappointing. None of the big scenes were effectively recreated ( the big dance party created by Sammy's song and the finale with vampires burning outside, for example). The environments were mostly fine. Many are calling this a book-report house, and they are correct. The best part is when you enter Club Juke several scenes into the house and are greeted by Smoke and Stack. Sinners is one of the most successful and innovative horror films of all time. It deserved a better haunted house than this.
RATING: 3.5/5
EVIL DEAD BURN
An infernal force has taken hold of a family home, and it’s hungry for its next victim. Dodge Deadites hell-bent on bloodshed in this haunted house based on the new film, Evil Dead Burn.
I was a sizable fan of the film this house was based on, and luckily this house did the film justice. The opening scene with the overturned burning car was cool and the interiors of the Price house are faithfully recreated from the movie. This was a mixture of a classic haunted house and an Evil Dead movie, which is to say it was very cool and very fun. I especially appreciated the last few rooms where you are walking through the house while it is burning down (mostly accomplished by screens, but still cool nonetheless). All the characters from the film make an appearance, including the poor possessed doggo. If you at all enjoyed the film, you'd likely enjoy this house too. Definitely reccomended.
RATING: 4/5
CYBERGORIA
Awaken thousands of years in the future in this haunted house and brave a cold world driven by machines with a singular goal: to make you live forever, even if it kills you.
The idea behind this house is you are customers of a new company called Bio-Immortal, which promises to freeze you now and thaw you out later when they have discovered the secret to immortality. Unfortunately, the cyborgs designed to assist humans in the process have decided the best way to make humans immortal is to turn us into cyborgs, even if it kills us. This house had the potential to be the next Chaos: Dogs of War. It's definitely the scariest and most intense house of the night. I loved the concept and story behind the house, even if the environments are fairly one-note. The demented cyborgs are bloody, gory, scary, and very in-your face. Luckily, they each have a different look or vibe to them. I likely would have enjoyed this one more if the two twenty-something women behind me weren't performatively screaming their lungs out every single second of the way. It really ruined the house for me as I felt like I had permanent hearing loss by the end of the house.
RATING: 4/5
JACK AND ODDFELLOW: CHAOS AND CONTROL
Witness Jack the Clown’s unholy origins, then enter Dr. Oddfellow’s wickedly twisted universe where two of the most powerful forces in horror face off in a deathmatch of chaos versus control.
That's right, you get to actually experience Jack the Clown's origin and murder at the hands of Dr. Richard Oddfellow at the beginning of this house. You even get to see Jack without the makeup on (He just looks like a normal, balding, sad, old man. There's a cool effect where Jack's face is laid over the face of Jack sans makeup in a mirror before he turns to look at us. The first section is Jack's origin, the second portion is Dr. Oddfellow's dimension in the suitcase/trunk he shoves Jack into, the third portion is the dimension Jack creates in the suitcase/trunk, and the final portion is Jack and Oddfellow teaming up to create the Infernal Carnival of Nightmares. Most of this house after the first portion felt like the spiritual successor to 2011's The In-Between, but without the 3D. There was lots of black-light, a room with glow-in-the-dark string/yarn you had to pass through, a short spinning tunnel (or as I lovingly call it: The Vomit Tunnel. This year it's accomplished by a wrap-around screen and isn't as disorienting or dizzying as previous iterations), and a slanted floor room. I was very impressed by this house, but thought the Dr. Oddfellow's Twisted Origins house from HHN 32 was better themed and scarier.
RATING: 4/5
FINAL THOUGHTS
HHN 33 had really destroyed my expectations and hopes for Halloween Horror Nights. While HHN 35 doesn't rank as one of the best years I've attended, it's still one of the better event years of late. It felt like classic HHN, even though it could definitely use more fog (I appreciate some of the houses had a good deal of fog and that you could usually smell the fog while waiting in line. The scarezones had minimal fog, which was very disappointing). I also found the event to not be all that scary, even though I might just be desensitized by this point (I have attended fourteen years, after all). This year served to rekindle my faith in Halloween Horror Nights and proved the creatives could still put on a quality product. I SAY BRING ON HHN 36!!!
RATING: 4/5
SCAREZONE RANKINGS
1. DOWNTOWN CLOWNTOWN
2. FORTNIGHTMARES
3. SIDESHOW OF DECAY
4. INFERNAL CARNIVAL OF NIGHTMARES
5. CHAINSAW HORDE
6. MEL'S DIE-IN ZOMBIES
7. CLUB HORROR
HAUNTED HOUSE RANKINGS
1. MADLAND: CAGED CANNIBALS
2. HELLRAISER
3. H.R. BLOODENGUTZ PRESENTS: A HALLOWEEN FRIGHT-TACULAR
4. JACK AND ODDFELLOW: CHAOS AND CONTROL
5. CYBERGORIA
6. OZZY OSBOURNE: PRINCE OF DARKNESS
7. EVIL DEAD BURN
8. INVASION: ALIEN ABDUCTION
9. SINNERS
10. STRANGER THINGS 5
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