Downtown Clowntown Unites Killer Klowns and Art at HHN 35

Universal Orlando announced Downtown Clowntown, the fourth and final scare zone for Halloween Horror Nights 35, and it does something HHN almost never does: it puts two separately licensed horror IPs in the same zone. The Killer Klowns from Outer Space and Terrifier’s Art the Clown take over the New York section of Universal Studios Florida together.

Universal’s description:

The city that never sleeps becomes a waking nightmare when its boroughs are overrun by Killer Klowns from Outer Space, Art the Clown and other murderous clownsfolk who can’t wait to tear you limb from limb. Don’t be fooled by the locals – survival is no laughing matter.

The “other clownsfolk” are unnamed. Universal has not confirmed whether any of HHN’s own clowns join the street.

Two clown franchises, one street

This pairing is the unusual part. HHN typically keeps licensed IPs in their own dedicated attractions, and these two come from entirely separate rights-holders – Terrifier is Damien Leone’s creation distributed through Cineverse, while the 1988 cult classic Killer Klowns sits with MGM. In 2026, neither has its own house: the clowns exist only on this street.

Both are returning favorites with history at the event:

Killer Klowns from Outer Space is back in Orlando after a seven-year absence. The Klowns ran a scare zone in the same New York backlot in 2018 and got a full haunted house at both coasts in 2019.
Art the Clown debuted at HHN just last year, and we covered how thoroughly he took over the 2025 event – a Terrifier house with an optional “Symphony of Blood” blood-waterfall finale, plus Art roaming the entire park, “like Where’s Waldo, but it’s Art,” as Orlando creative lead Michael Aiello put it. That house went on to win House of the Year. For 2026 the Terrifier house does not return; Art moves to the street.

We flagged in early July that clowns are the theme of Halloween 2026 – Bath & Body Works and Michaels both built carnival collections, and HHN 35’s whole event theme is the Infernal Carnival of Nightmares with Jack the Clown and Dr. Oddfellow as co-icons. Downtown Clowntown is the payoff: a full city block of them.

The complete HHN 35 scare zone slate

With this announcement, Orlando’s four zones are set:

Zone	Location	Announced
Infernal Carnival of Nightmares	Illumination Boulevard	June 26
Sideshow of Decay	Hollywood area	July
Fortnitemares: Freaky Fields	Central Park	July 22
Downtown Clowntown	New York	July 24

The zones sit alongside the returning street experiences Mel’s Die-In: Zombies and Club Horror, plus the Chainsaw Horde, HHN’s roaming chainsaw pack, which Universal announced July 23.

Downtown Clowntown is Orlando-exclusive. Hollywood’s only announced 2026 zone remains the shared Fortnitemares.

One sourcing note worth passing along to fellow lineup-watchers: Universal announced this zone through the official HHN Orlando social channels and its blog rather than a formal press release – the same quiet treatment Sideshow of Decay got, while Fortnitemares earned a full bilingual release.

Event details

Halloween Horror Nights 35 runs 48 select nights, August 28 through November 1, 2026, at Universal Studios Florida – the earliest start in event history. Single-night tickets start at $87.99, multi-night Frequent Fear passes from $229.99 are on sale now, and the full tier breakdown is in our HHN tickets guide.