The Highs and Lows of Halloween Horror Nights 2026

Taylor Moore

News & Life Editor

Universal Studios’ Hollywood Halloween Horror Nights returns this year with a powerful lineup. The studio began announcing mazes back in May, building up months of anticipation for us horror fanatics.

This year has been a great year for the horror genre so far: “Sinners” released in March, “Obsession” in May and “Evil Dead Burn” in July. I was so excited to see that these three movies would get their kudos at Halloween Horror Nights 2026.

While “Obsession” didn’t get a maze, the already-iconic Nikki wandered around the park to interact with fans with her creepy big smile and eerie demeanor. While I have my own thoughts about her being a scare actor, since the movie is about a woman losing her autonomy to a man who wished for her to be obsessed with him without her consent, I have to admit that the actress killed it. It was a delight to see Freaky Nikki in person.

This year’s lineup included “Sinners,” “Evil Dead Burn,” “Hellrasier,” “Killer Klowns from Outer Space,” as well as two Universal Studios Hollywood original concepts, “Killceñara,” featuring music by Slash, and “Dead, Deader, Deadest.” “Stranger Things” returned for one final adventure with our beloved characters. The theme park also paid tribute to a renowned celebrity we lost this year, Ozzy Osbourne with “Ozzy Osbourne: Prince of Darkness.” Art the Killer Clown from “The Terrifier” series returned, much to my delight, starring in the Terror Tram.

Now, let’s dive into my favorite night of the year. It’s a given that this review will contain spoilers of scares and spooky treats. You’ve been warned.

Dare I say that “Sinners” was my favorite movie of 2026, so it shouldn’t be surprising that the “Sinners” maze was my favorite out of this year’s lineup. I saw the movie with my best friend, Sam, on opening weekend, so of course, she and I took the lead for this maze.

The maze is located where “The Walking Dead” walk-through interaction used to be. When I originally saw this, I was surprised the maze didn’t get one of the larger lots since the movie was a box-office hit. But I now realize this spot was strategically chosen.

I was expecting to immediately be greeted by Remmick, the Irish vampire villain, and his freshly turned horde of vampires, but that wasn’t the case. We entered Club Juke and were met by Sammie “Preacher Boy” Moore singing, “I Lied to You” and his cousin, the second half of the Smoke-Stack twins delivering his film monologue prepping us for what was to come: eating, drinking, dancing and sweating till we stank. The actor portraying Stack had every single mannerism of Michael B. Jordan’s portrayal perfected. The crowd cheered along to his speech in the same manner the crowd did at the train station from the film. It truly felt like we were stepping into the “Sinners” (2026) universe.

The real horror began as we entered the woods outside of the juke joint, where shadowy silhouettes of vampires whispering, “Fellowship and love,” stared at us with their glowing eyes. It wasn’t until you were deep in the woods where you finally met Remmick, creepily singing “Rocky Road to Dublin” with a huge, sharp-toothed grin and glowing red eyes.

The maze immersed you in the grizzly, vampiric horror. I cannot reiterate enough how much I love that the glowing eyes were incorporated in this maze. Watching them glow at you from the dark before a jumpscare added an extra level of terror.

Every actor nailed their role, but I have to give the scare of the night to Remmick, who flew down at the crowd on wires with his claws elongated, shouting, “Sammie!” Before he swiped at you and flew back up into the darkness. The effects in this maze matched the quality of the film’s, while the now notorious soundtrack by Ludwig Göransson blasted through the speakers.

If I could go through this maze over and over again, I would. I highly recommend kicking your Horror Nights off with “Sinners.”

Of course, there was an Ozzy Osbourne-themed bar in the lower lot, with various drinks, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic, as well as fun eats playing off the dark aesthetic from the late singer.

I tried the Ultimate Sin-amon, a concoction of cinnamon fire whiskey, apple juice, spiced brown sugar, lemon juice and beet powder, topped with a cinnamon sugar-rim and a chocolate bat. It tasted like fall in a cup and was the perfect refresher for the night.

Bradley opted for the Bark at the Moon Mule, which consisted of vodka, grape, blackberry, lime juice and ginger beer, served with a purple sanding sugar rim and fresh blackberries. He said the blackberries as the finishing touch were his favorite part of the drink, but overall, it tasted like grape soda.

This maze had an average wait time of 90 minutes throughout the entire night. Right as we were about to accept that we weren’t going to be able to pay homage to the late Prince of Darkness, Bradley checked his phone and announced, “The wait time for Ozzy is only 20 minutes.” So we began our trek to the lower lot.

This maze integrated rock nostalgia in every corner. The soundtrack consisted of Ozzy’s greatest hits in the line, making it feel more like a party than a wait time.

When we entered, we were immediately greeted with a scareactor dressed as a conductor on stilts, urging us to come “All aboard” the maze to Ozzy’s opening from “Crazytrain.” His signature laugh followed each jumpscare. You are literally taken aboard Ozzy’s Crazytrain, full of dead bodies, as the flames of hell blazed outside through the windows, while the song, “Straight to Hell” played in the background.

Next was Osbourne Asylum, which had some of the best jumpscares of the night, stacked on top of each other in an insane manner, which feels right for Ozzy’s horror house.

When you think of Ozzy Osbourne, you can’t help but remember the time he bit off the head of a bat during his Iowa concert in 1982. Universal Studios played into that but tenfold, and with a twist: A large animatronic bat returns the favor in this maze, holding a decapitated human head as it spreads its massive wings in victory.

As you reach the exit, a large statue of the Prince of Darkness in his demonic bat form is perched on his throne before you’re met with a poster of the singer in his natural form reading, “God bless Ozzy Osbourne.”

This horror house was a worthy tribute to an iconic rock legend we lost this year. It was quite the treat to see so many guests jamming to music in between scares and turning to each other to point out Ozzy references. I know I enjoyed seeing Bradley bounce his head, singing along to lyrics while his little brother beamed at him. That’s a core memory, for sure. Thank you, Halloween Horror Nights

Let me preface by saying I have yet to see “Evil Dead Burn” (2026.) I know, Ms. I Love All Things Horror failed to see a horror release this year. Working full time has been kicking my butt and setting my movie schedule behind.

That being said, while I’m not familiar with the plot of this film, the maze captured the essence of the “Evil Dead” franchise. The movies thrive on combining dark humor, body horror and jumpscares; this maze embodies every aspect of that

When you enter the maze, you’re immediately greeted by a decapitated head on top of a large dirt pile, cautioning you of your impending death, tracking your movements as you move through the scene. Yes, the head moves! What a great way to set the tone for the rest of the maze.

The house is full of gore as the Deadites, the possessed blood-thirsty villains from the film, yet again wreck havoc on another family. Fair warning, there is a splash zone in this maze and some very interesting smells throughout. But it wouldn’t be Horror Nights without them

Our favorite psychotic clown, Art, from “The Terrifier” series made his grand return to Horror Nights. This time, he was the star attraction of this year’s Terror Tram. While I had high hopes, after such an amazing maze last year and character interactions throughout the park, I was truthfully let down.

Art the Killer Clown thrives on being eerie, combining body comedy with gory kills. But the Terror Tram felt cheesy, like the scares relied on being a fan of the movies rather than being a fan of horror.

I will say it was quite a shock getting sprayed while Art sawed through a body in the Bates Motel from the 1960 slasher film “Psycho,” but every other zone felt too light for such a large crowd going through.

Art’s deliveries rely on comedic timing, but it was timing and bandwidth that were lacking. There weren't enough scares to accommodate everyone going through. Rather than space out groups, as the theme park usually does, it felt like they were trying to get through the lines as quickly as possible. Let. People. Enjoy. The Scares. They paid for! End of story

One of my favorite scare zones from the previous years were the Death Eaters from the “Harry Potter” series. After being absent last year, they made their grand return to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. The entire land was drenched in eerie green lighting and fog as the followers of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named prowled around the darkness, ready to cast a curse on whoever came too close.

I love whenever the Death Eaters are out, but I only saw three. In previous years, several wandered throughout the land, even taking residence in a designated scare zone, Diagon Alley. While the three actors who were out killed it, I wish the bandwidth could have been expanded so everyone could interact with them

You’ll notice that this review is much shorter than any of my previous ones, both from XSTSY Media and University of La Verne’s Campus Times. That’s not for lack of trying; this year’s turnout was the largest I have ever seen, but I can’t say that’s a good thing.

I know I’m not the only one who has noticed that plenty of theme parks, not just Universal Studios Hollywood, have neglected to enforce capacity rules. That isn’t me being stingy about a crowded environment. The harsh truth is that crowd capacity exists for a reason.

We were forced to stop several times in the mazes because of how backed up they were. Universal Studios used to let small groups at a time in so attendees could get the full experience of the mazes. This year, I lost track of how many people were entering mazes before they began to let the next group through. As you can imagine, the scares did not feel the same when you’re stuck in a standstill seeing the same one for two minutes straight.

The Terror Tram was packed shoulder-to-shoulder. I could hardly see over other people and we were ushered through much quicker than usual. The line-up for the return tram was poorly laid out, with excessive bottlenecking to line up for tram cars and people shoving themselves in instead of waiting for the next tram. This is where crowd control was needed. Or here’s an idea: Maybe let a lesser crowd in the parks so it’s easier to manage.

This is my sixth year attending Horror Nights as a die-hard fan. Usually, my group can get through almost all of the mazes, but this year felt impossible to enjoy the night unless you were willing to cough up a large sum of money for the Express passes.

That being said, I have every intention of being back next year, with the Express pass. Yes, you finally wore me down, Universal Studios. Just take my money and I’ll see you next year, hopefully with just as good of a maze lineup as this year.

Universal Studios Hollywood Halloween Horror Nights runs from Sept. 3 to Nov. 1. Tickets can be purchased at the Universal Studios website under "Halloween Horror Nights” in the “Tickets & Offers” dropbar. Here is your final warning about the scares, both from the mazes and the crowds.

Taylor Moore can be reached at bytaylormoore@gmail.com.