Orlando, FL — Universal Orlando Resort announced that an H.R. Bloodengutz haunted house will run at Halloween Horror Nights 2026, the character’s first headlining house in 15 years. The new house, “H.R. Bloodengutz Presents: A Halloween Fright-Tacular!”, is a direct sequel to the 2011 fan-favorite “H.R. Bloodengutz Presents: Holidays of Horror,” with the original actor reprising the role.
“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,” Universal said in its announcement on the @HorrorNightsORL social channels.
The house is exclusive to Universal Studios Florida and is the fourth of 10 houses Universal has revealed for HHN 2026.
About the House
The sequel picks up 15 years after the original 2011 house. Bloodengutz has finally broken out of the Carey Penitentiary on Halloween Day and returned to the derelict WKNB television studio to present a marathon of straight-to-TV Halloween films he never got to showcase. The house is structured around seven scenes corresponding to seven horror movies the host presents, some of which are callbacks to HHN’s past, according to HHN show director Ramón Paradoa in an exclusive interview with Bloody Disgusting. Teased scenes include a black-and-white zombie film in an old graveyard and a Halloween party in a tiki bar overtaken by monsters.
Paradoa told Bloody Disgusting that Universal worked with “the original actor who played Bloodengutz in 2011 to reprise his role,” delivering “an authentic, older version of the character.” Bloodengutz appears in queue-line and interstitial video between scenes, ushering guests into each movie, in the same horror-host framing used in the 2011 house. Universal has not publicly named the performer.
Paradoa described the slate this way: “We call these houses Halloween comfort food, and we’ve done them throughout the course of our history, and this house checks off that vibe.” The Halloween-only focus is a departure from the 2011 original, which spanned holidays from Valentine’s Day to Christmas.
About the Character
H.R. Bloodengutz is a Universal Orlando original, created in-house for HHN 21 in 2011. In HHN lore, the character is the on-air persona of Larry Kurtzberg, a washed-up Broadway actor who became the unstable host of WKNB Channel 21’s “Midnight Horror Show” in the fictional town of Carey, Ohio, and was imprisoned after killing his producer on a final live broadcast. The name is a parody of the Sid & Marty Krofft children’s series “H.R. Pufnstuf,” and the character’s look and cadence are modeled on Al Lewis’s Grandpa Munster.
The character last appeared as a cameo in HHN 30’s anniversary house “Welcome to SCarey: Horror in the Heartland” in 2021. He also surfaced earlier this year at Universal Horror Unleashed in Las Vegas, where the spring Feaster Grievings event revealed Larry Kurtzberg to be The Feaster Bunny, a callback to one of the fake films from the 2011 holiday house. The cross-property reveal tied UHU’s year-round programming to HHN’s shared mythology.
Halloween Horror Nights 2026
Halloween Horror Nights 2026 marks the event’s 35th anniversary under the theme “Infernal Carnival of Nightmares,” with Jack the Clown and Dr. Oddfellow returning as co-icons. The first house Universal Orlando announced for the season was “Jack & Oddfellow: Chaos & Control.” Universal has since announced a Sinners haunted house at both Orlando and Hollywood and a Stranger Things haunted house at both coasts drawing from the show’s fifth and final season. Six houses remain to be announced.
Event details
Halloween Horror Nights 2026 runs select nights Aug. 28 through Nov. 1 at Universal Studios Florida, and Sept. 3 through Nov. 1 at Universal Studios Hollywood. The H.R. Bloodengutz Presents: A Halloween Fright-Tacular! house is exclusive to the Orlando event. Tickets are on sale now. For more information, visit UniversalOrlando.com/HHN.
