Universal Studios Hollywood is running its 2026 Halloween Horror Nights over 42 select nights from September 3 through November 1, with the event beginning at 7 p.m., subject to change per Universal. Universal has not published a closing time. Universal has now announced all eight Hollywood houses. Five are shared with the Orlando event (Sinners, Stranger Things, Hellraiser, Evil Dead Burn, and Ozzy Osbourne: Prince of Darkness), and three are Hollywood’s own: the original Dead, Deader, Deadest, the returning Hollywood-only Killer Klowns from Outer Space, and Killceañera: Music by SLASH, revealed at Midsummer Scream. At that same Midsummer Scream panel, creative director John Murdy also revealed the 2026 Terror Tram, a Christmas-gone-wrong takeover starring Terrifier’s Art the Clown; three new scare zones and new Street Experiences; and a hidden character encounter based on Curry Barker’s film Obsession. Universal has not announced a formal 2026 Hollywood theme or icons. This guide tracks every Hollywood detail Universal has announced and is updated as new reveals come in.
For dates, lineups, and tickets at every Universal park, see our Halloween Horror Nights 2026 all-parks guide.
Last updated: September 1, 2026. All eight 2026 Hollywood houses are now confirmed, most recently Killceañera: Music by SLASH, revealed at the Midsummer Scream panel. That panel also unveiled the Terror Tram takeover starring Art the Clown, three new scare zones (El Circo de la Muerte, Hackerz, and Blood Bog) and new roaming Street Experiences (Universal’s term), including Murder of Crowz and Shriek of the Banshee, and a hidden Obsession character encounter. HAN will update as any remaining reveals drop.
Quick facts
- Event: Halloween Horror Nights 2026 (Hollywood)
- Where: Universal Studios Hollywood
- Dates: 42 select nights, September 3 through November 1, 2026
- Show start: 7 p.m.
- Theme: Not yet announced
- Icons: Not yet announced
- Haunted houses: All 8 announced (Sinners, Stranger Things 5, Hellraiser, Evil Dead Burn, Ozzy Osbourne: Prince of Darkness, the Hollywood originals Dead, Deader, Deadest and Killceañera: Music by SLASH, and the Hollywood-only Killer Klowns from Outer Space)
- Terror Tram: Returns for 2026 as an Art the Clown takeover, “Every Day Is Artmas,” scored by Ice Nine Kills
- Scare zones: 4 announced (Fortnitemares: Freaky Fields, shared with Orlando, plus El Circo de la Muerte, Hackerz, and Blood Bog), plus roaming street characters (Murder of Crowz and Shriek of the Banshee)
- Shows: 1 announced (The Purge: Dangerous Waters, returning)
- Tickets: From $77 per night (general admission), more on peak dates; see our HHN 2026 tickets guide
- Official site: UniversalStudiosHollywood.com/HHN
Table of contents
- Haunted houses, ranked, with video
- Scare zones
- Shows and Terror Tram
- Tickets: what you’re actually buying
- Unmasking the Horror: a new daytime tour
- Halloween Horror Nights Orlando 2026
Haunted houses, ranked, with our walkthrough videos
Five of the eight Hollywood houses are shared with Orlando. Dead, Deader, Deadest and Killceañera: Music by SLASH are the 2026 Hollywood originals, and Killer Klowns from Outer Space is a Hollywood-only house this year. Universal typically runs slightly different cuts of shared IP houses at each coast.
We attended and filmed all eight houses and the Terror Tram. Here is our ranking, best to worst, with a firsthand verdict and a walkthrough video for each below.
- Sinners
- Hellraiser
- Ozzy Osbourne: Prince of Darkness
- Terror Tram
- Evil Dead Burn
- Killceañera: Music by SLASH
- Stranger Things 5
- Dead, Deader, Deadest
- Killer Klowns from Outer Space
Sinners
Based on the 2025 Ryan Coogler vampire horror film. The Hollywood version is set inside Club Juke, the 1930s Mississippi juke joint at the center of the film. Per Universal: “This juke joint’s opening night might be your last. Pierce the veil and experience the horror of the film Sinners as the Smokestack Twins defend Club Juke from a hive mind of bloodthirsty vampires.”
Read our full coverage of Sinners at HHN.
Our verdict (ranked #1 of 9): Sinners has landed especially well in Hollywood, particularly compared to Orlando. The opening scene drops you into the juke joint, where the blues prodigy Sammie is performing, and the performer is a dead ringer for the character from the film. This is where Hollywood really shines, thanks to the talent Halloween Horror Nights can pull for these roles. The effects are a step above, too. The barn scene plays out over two levels, one vampire drops from the ceiling into the middle of the crowd and then retreats back up on ropes, and every vampire has glowing eyes. It pays homage to the film while making you feel like part of it, with effects you do not see in the other houses. Creative director John Murdy broke the house down in a lights-on tour.
Stranger Things 5
Developed in partnership with Netflix, the house draws from the show’s fifth and final season. Guests navigate the town of Hawkins as the barrier between reality and the supernatural collapses. Familiar locations include the Wheeler House, Hawkins National Laboratory, the MAC-Z military base, the Upside Down, and the Abyss. Demogorgons hunt at every turn, and Vecna pulls guests into the final battle.
Read our full coverage of Stranger Things at HHN.
Our verdict (ranked #7 of 9): Stranger Things 5 feels like a recycled house this year.
Hellraiser
Hellraiser’s first-ever appearance at HHN, based on the original Clive Barker trilogy. Doug Bradley, the original Pinhead, reprises the role, lending his voice to the production. Guests enter via the Lament Configuration and move through three confirmed settings: the shadowy attic of Frank Cotton’s family home, the disturbing Channard Institute, and the Labyrinth. Universal has not detailed any layout differences between the Orlando and Hollywood versions.
Read our full coverage of Hellraiser at HHN.
Our verdict (ranked #2 of 9): Hellraiser is another take that differs from Orlando. The projection mapping and effects on the facade set the tone, and working original clips from the film into the scenes is a nice touch. The Cenobites attack from all directions with genuinely creepy weapons, and there are some very good hidden scares.
Evil Dead Burn
Based on Evil Dead Burn, New Line Cinema’s sixth Evil Dead film, released in U.S. theaters July 10, 2026. Guests enter the Price family’s secluded vacation home in the woods, where the Book of the Dead has been reopened and the family is possessed by Deadites. Per Universal Studios Hollywood: “The Book of the Dead has been reopened, and now an infernal force consumes a family home… encounter not just the root of evil, but the whole family tree.” This is the Evil Dead franchise’s third HHN appearance and its first movie-tie-in house in 13 years.
Read our full coverage of Evil Dead Burn at HHN 2026.
Our verdict (ranked #5 of 9): There is not much to say about Evil Dead Burn. The house relies on the IP to do the work.
Dead, Deader, Deadest
The first original house of the Hollywood lineup, announced July 23. Ambrotox, a miracle drug that promises to restore the dead without embalming, backfires inside the Deville Family Funeral Home and raises a century’s worth of corpses. The Deville name is a callback to 2022’s Universal Horror Hotel. Read our full coverage of Dead, Deader, Deadest.
Our verdict (ranked #8 of 9): There are some fun moments in Dead, Deader, Deadest, because who does not enjoy a good graveyard haunt at Halloween, but the story unravels as it goes.
Ozzy Osbourne: Prince of Darkness
Announced July 29 and shared with Universal Orlando. The Hollywood build runs chronologically, starting in Birmingham, England and opening on “Crazy Train,” then moving through the decades into the Osbourne Asylum, drawn from the Diary of a Madman album, and through the successive versions of the Ozzy persona: Madman Ozzy, Werewolf Ozzy, and the Prince of Darkness. Executive producer John Murdy says the house is inspired by all 13 of Osbourne’s albums. Osbourne died July 22, 2025, and Universal built the house with the participation of his family.
Read our full coverage of Ozzy Osbourne: Prince of Darkness.
Our verdict (ranked #3 of 9): Ozzy Osbourne: Prince of Darkness is not as grand as the Orlando version, but there are still some large set pieces, and the music and the train give it a real vibe.
Killer Klowns from Outer Space
The Klowns return for their third Hollywood appearance, after houses in 2019 and 2022, and this one is Hollywood-only: at Universal Orlando the Klowns appear in the shared Downtown Clowntown scare zone instead. Per Universal: “In this haunted house based on Killer Klowns from Outer Space, try not to become the cotton candy-covered snack of some seriously unfriendly visitors from worlds unknown.”
Read our full coverage of Killer Klowns at HHN Hollywood.
Our verdict (ranked #9 of 9): Killer Klowns from Outer Space also feels recycled.
Killceañera: Music by SLASH
Revealed at the Midsummer Scream panel, Killceañera is the second Hollywood original of 2026 and completes the eight-house lineup. It twists a traditional quinceañera into a revenge story: Lola, a disfigured orphan, throws a deadly fifteenth-birthday party for the people who wronged her, conjuring monsters as her Court of Dishonor. Slash of Guns N’ Roses composed the score, which builds to an original song, “15 Candles,” that Lola performs inside the house, which Murdy called a first for the event. Read our full coverage of Killceañera: Music by SLASH.
Our verdict (ranked #6 of 9): The facade on Killceañera is beautifully done, and the working balcony is a great touch for showing the main antagonist lip-syncing to the song. As we covered before, the Slash-scored track is a genuinely fun song that gives strong exposition, and it plays through the rooms so you follow the story as you walk. The catch is that a lot of the effects and creatures are recycled from previous years, so it does not feel like a brand-new house.
All eight Hollywood houses have now been announced. Universal’s May release put the 2026 Hollywood event at eight haunted houses plus the Terror Tram, and the Midsummer Scream reveal of Killceañera completes that count. The event’s scare zones, shows, and Terror Tram theme were also detailed at that panel and are covered below.
Scare zones
Hollywood has four announced scare zones for 2026. Fortnitemares: Freaky Fields, shared with Orlando, opens on Hollywood’s Sept 3 opening night with the Battle Bus and familiar Fortnitemares characters plus HHN-exclusive additions. Read our full coverage of Fortnitemares Freaky Fields.
At the Midsummer Scream panel, John Murdy revealed three more Hollywood scare zones:
- El Circo de la Muerte, on French Street, a Mexican carpa sideshow inspired by the traveling tent shows of 1920s and 1930s Mexico, with a ringmaster, a dancing bear, a bearded lady on stilts, and other sideshow performers.
- Hackerz, a chainsaw zone staged to spill into the New York Street area alongside the Fortnitemares presence there.
- Blood Bog, a new zone by the Studio Tour rotunda, filled with ghillie-suited swamp creatures.
Universal groups several other experiences as roaming street characters rather than fixed scare zones. Murder of Crowz brings back a flock of dad, mom, and baby crows, and Shriek of the Banshee is a wagon run by a carnival barker and his talking skeleton. An Art the Clown stalk-around appears around the park in several looks, and Obsession’s Freaky Nikki, the hidden character encounter based on Curry Barker’s film, roams the darkened streets.
Shows and Terror Tram
HamiKuma meet and greet. Universal Studios Japan’s Halloween mascot returns to Hollywood for meet and greets at select afternoon and early evening times on event nights, part of a run that puts the character in every Universal Studios park this year. Creative director John Murdy gave a lights-on tour of the Sinners house, breaking down its flying vampire, 1925 truck, and film-accurate scares.
New: see the Fortnitemares food coming to Halloween Horror Nights Hollywood, from a 22-inch Battle Bus Dog to Slurp Juice.
The Purge: Dangerous Waters returns for 2026, its fourth consecutive year in the WaterWorld venue. Watch our full show video. The Terror Tram, Hollywood HHN’s signature backlot experience, returns for 2026 with its theme revealed at Midsummer Scream: an Art the Clown takeover called “Every Day Is Artmas” that walks guests through seven Christmas-gone-wrong zones on the backlot, with an original score by Ice Nine Kills. Read our full coverage of the Art the Clown Terror Tram.
Our verdict (ranked #4 of 9): What sets the Terror Tram apart this year is the video that plays on the way down. As John Murdy discussed on the Halloween Horror Nights panel at Midsummer Scream, it uses custom music and a custom video, and it is fun to watch as you descend. The layout is otherwise close to previous years, with Art the Clown in place of the usual characters.
Watch: Inside Halloween Horror Nights Hollywood
Our full 2026 walkthrough shows what every house, scare zone, and the Terror Tram feel like on the ground, and each house section above now has its own firsthand verdict and walkthrough video.
Tickets: what you’re actually buying
Hollywood ticket products are on sale via UniversalStudiosHollywood.com/HHN. The 2026 options include:
- General admission (single night), from $77, and higher on peak dates.
- Universal Express Ticket, which cuts the wait at each house.
- R.I.P. Tour, a VIP guided tour that skips the lines entirely.
- Day/Night Ticket and After 2 p.m. Day/Night Ticket, which pair daytime park admission with event entry.
- Early Access Ticket, from $20, which opens select haunted houses at 5:30 p.m.
- Frequent Fear Pass and Ultimate Fear Pass, multi-night passes for repeat visits through the season.
- Dining Pass, $64.75 with tax, covering two entrées plus four sides, snacks, desserts, or beverages on your selected date. Event admission is separate.
- Unmasking the Horror Tour Add-On, the new daytime behind-the-scenes tour covered below.
On what you’re actually buying. Whether you’re on the East Coast or the West Coast, the ticket price mostly buys wait time. If a house runs a two-hour line on a busy Saturday, that’s what general admission gets you: the full two hours. Express Pass cuts that roughly in half. RIP Tours skip the line entirely. The other lever is timing: early entry helps beat the peak, and the middle of the night is when the lines are worst.
For the complete cross-coast ticket breakdown, see our Halloween Horror Nights Tickets 2026 Guide.
Unmasking the Horror: a new daytime tour
For the first time at Hollywood, Universal is selling the Unmasking the Horror Tour Add-On, a daytime, lights-on walkthrough that goes behind the scenes of the event. Previously an Orlando exclusive, the guided tour takes guests through two haunted houses, Sinners and Killceañera: Music by SLASH, once each, with the lights up to show the design and craftsmanship, plus the chance to photograph in select designated areas.
It costs $20 per person and does not include theme park admission, which must be bought separately for the same date. Each tour lasts up to an hour, in groups of no more than 20 guests that may combine multiple parties, and it runs on select days from September 10 through November 1 (not opening week), roughly every half hour from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Guests check in at the Universal Box Office 15 minutes before their scheduled departure, and reservation changes require at least 48 hours of notice. It is a separate experience from the night event and the RIP Tour, trading the scares for a close look at how the houses are built.
What HHN Hollywood was actually like in 2025
What differentiates Halloween Horror Nights in Hollywood is the actors. The acting talent in Hollywood is, of course, tremendous, and it shows at this event. Universal’s Hollywood actors hit every mark, popping out around corner after corner with scare timing that stayed in sync all night. Terrifier was the goriest standout, with Art the Clown seemingly everywhere (an Art the Clown actor roamed the event).
My favorite was Five Nights at Freddy’s, thanks to the genuinely gorgeous puppets, animatronics, and a showstopping Springtrap. Jason Universe delivered classic-slasher kills, Monstruos 3 leaned into pitch-dark Latin American folklore, and The Poltergeist mined pure childhood nostalgia.
One practical tip from 2025: with Universal Express, visitors could clear the full maze lineup in a single night, and without it planned on multiple visits. The 2026 lineup is now complete.
Early Access at Hollywood vs Orlando
Hollywood and Orlando run different early-access products, and they are easy to confuse. Hollywood sells a $20 Early Access add-on that opens select houses from 5:30 p.m..
Orlando runs a different system called Stay & Scream, which opens three houses from 2 p.m. It is free to anyone holding both daytime admission to Universal Studios Florida and a same-night event ticket, and a Universal Orlando Annual or Seasonal Pass counts as the daytime admission. Guests without daytime admission can buy a $70 Scream Early ticket, which is simply a fourth qualifying admission rather than a separate programme. Universal has not announced a Hollywood equivalent. Our know before you go guide covers the Orlando system in full.
Food and drink: the 2026 menu
Halloween Horror Nights Hollywood spreads themed food and drink across the event, with several houses and IPs getting their own menus. Here is the 2026 rundown by venue, based on an early preview from Inside Universal.
New for 2026, Universal Studios Hollywood is serving a “Simpsons” Treehouse of Horror food lineup in Springfield on the Upper Lot: five items including the Sloppy D’oh, the Wurst. Brat. Ever!, and the Mmm… Forbidden Pumpkin Donut. See our Treehouse of Horror food guide for the full menu and the episode references behind each dish.
Clown Cafe (Art the Clown): Art gets his own food on the Lower Lot, with the Death by Cheese Stick, Bloodbath Brisket Fries, Clown Cafe Cauliflower Bites, the Gut Wound chocolate raspberry croissant, and drinks like Art’s Killer Cold Brew. Art also runs a Christmas-themed Tinsel Bar near the Animation Studio Store. Our Art the Clown Terror Tram guide has the full Clown Cafe lineup.
Stranger Things (Studio Cafe): Surfer Boy Pizza in cheese or pepperoni, the Hellfire Club Spicy Italian Sandwich, and Steve’s Smuggled Peanut Butter Bites.
Sinners (City Snacks): Remmick’s Burnt Ends, black-garlic-whiskey BBQ wings, and a Pecan and Whiskey Bread Pudding, while Mulligan’s Bar becomes Sinners’ Club Juke with themed cocktails.
Ozzy’s Bar (above Jurassic Outfitters): a tribute to Ozzy Osbourne serving the Crazy Train Chickpea Curry Burrito, Bark at the Naan, and the Prince of Darkness Cake, plus cocktails like the Blizzard of Ozz-arita.
Other venues add more, including Evil Dead Burn’s Severed and Smoked Chicken. Fortnitemares has its own food too, from a 22-inch Battle Bus Dog to Slurp Juice, in our Fortnitemares food guide.
Merchandise
Halloween Horror Nights merchandise reaches Universal Studios Hollywood in three waves: August 13 at Production Central, August 18 at the Universal Studios Store in Universal CityWalk Hollywood, and August 19 at the Universal Studios Store and Production Central inside the theme park. Universal says the Hollywood range leans on the bloody Hollywood sign and the park’s exclusive houses, alongside an assortment shared with Orlando that includes blood-splattered polos, acid-wash Spirit Jerseys and Lug bags with mix-and-match haunted house charms. Our Halloween Horror Nights merchandise guide has the full breakdown with prices.
Halloween Horror Nights Orlando 2026
The East Coast event runs 48 select nights from August 28 through November 1 at Universal Studios Florida, the earliest start date in the event’s 35-year history. Universal Orlando has announced all 10 houses, all four scare zones (Infernal Carnival of Nightmares, Sideshow of Decay, the shared Fortnitemares: Freaky Fields, and Downtown Clowntown with Killer Klowns and Art the Clown), two shows, returning street experiences Mel’s Die-In and Club Horror, and the Dead Coconut Club – Harvest overlay at CityWalk. For the full Orlando lineup, see our Halloween Horror Nights 2026 in Orlando: Complete Guide. Orlando’s food is a draw by itself, too: our HHN 35 food guide ranks every item with prices.
This guide is updated as Universal makes new announcements. Last updated September 1, 2026.
This event is part of our Haunted Houses in California 2026 guide.
Doing Halloween in Southern California? The region’s other major Halloween event is Knott’s Scary Farm.
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Hungry? See our complete guide to the Halloween Horror Nights Hollywood 2026 food menu, every item with prices and photos.
