Halloween Horror Nights is an iconic holilday event at Universal Destinations and Experiences around the world, but if there’s one thing that fans don’t like about it, it’s that it eventually ends after October does. Luckily, those fans won’t be plagued by that frustration for much longer, because this August will bring the opening of Universal Horror Unleased, a permanent year-round horror experience that is bringing an HHN classic to Las Vegas.
Of the four houses that will make up the initial batch of spooky locations, the one that’s an original Universal theme park creation is Scarecrow: The Reaping. The house first debuted in Orlando in 2017 before appearing at Universal Hollywood in 2022.
Throughout those years, the house apparently earned some of the highest guest ratings in the history of the event, making it a perfect choice for the new location. I had the chance to speak with Nate Stevenson and T.J. Manarino with Universal Entertainment recently about Scarcrow and Universal Horror Unleashed, and they revealed some of how this version of the house will be different from what fans know, and some of the effects may literally blow you away. Stevenson told me…
We also have something called Memorable Moments in the house, [this] is where we actually, for a small amount of time in the house, we capture guests, and we actually have a story come to life in that moment. So in this house, it really needs a little bit of a spoiler alert, but they’re actually going to get to experience the dust storm rolling in, and they’re going to get to be a part of that. So we’ve definitely plused this up. All the best parts are still there, but then we’ve added to it to make it more immersive and more exciting.
Every great horror movie has its own major set pieces. Maybe it’s a brutal death, or maybe it’s a harrowing escape. But there are those moments from your favorite horror film that you simply never forget. That’s exactly what this sounds like. I’m not even a serious horror fan, but this sounds incredible. It also looks incredible. Check out the preview below.
Halloween Horror Nights’ team has designed some incredible houses over the decades that showcase some impressive effects, but an actual dust storm is something entirely new. It’s also something that we would likely only see in a full-time experience.
HHN houses are something that guests move through at a more or less constant pace. You take in each piece of the story while moving past it and on to the next one. However, Universal Horror Unleased will give guests a chance to stop and take in the scene in a way that they never have at HHN. Stevenson continued…
We have something that are called Holding Rooms… This gives us a great chance to actually tell the story of the house. So the wind starts to pick up while they’re waiting, and a voiceover comes in that starts to really set up the scene and set this environment that we’ve that we’ve created. So you go in with a lot more information, and I think it makes the story more rich and makes the experience more rich.
If there’s one area where Halloween Horror Nights could improve, it’s in helping to set up the story being told. HHN’s structure certainly makes that difficult as time and resources are somewhat limited. But Universal Horror Unleashed is free of much of that restraint, and it seems these Holding Rooms will allow for more immersive storytelling than HHN usually provides.
In addition to Scarecrow: The Reaping, Horror Unleashed will open with houses dedicated to The Exorcist: Believer, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and, of course, the classic Universal Monsters. While details about those other three houses are still forthcoming, they will likely all be using these Memeorable Moments and Holding Rooms to varying degrees to enhance their own stories.
It’s clear that Universal Horror Unleased will be something more than just a year-round Halloween Horror Nights. It’s taking full advantage of its permanent status to do things that simply can’t be done in the parks, making both HHN and Horror Unleashed activities that fans of horror and themed entertainment will want to experience. Universal Horror Unleashed is set to open on August 14 in Las Vegas’ AREA15 immersive entertainment district.
