Halloween Horror Nights 35 is open at Universal Orlando, and this year’s Infernal Carnival of Nightmares runs 10 haunted houses. We walked all of them at Premium Scream Night, and the gap between the best and the rest is wide this year. Our ranking runs best to worst, with a read on which houses are worth the wait and which you can skip if the lines get long. One caveat up top: a weak HHN house is still a strong night out.
Go behind the scenes: inside the Hellraiser house, inside H.R. Bloodengutz, the lights-on Unmasking the Horror tour.
1. Ozzy Osbourne: Prince of Darkness
Ozzy is the best house of the year and the most ambitious. Every song becomes a different environment, the scenes come at you from every angle, and there are water effects and even a train before the throne finale pulls the whole thing together. It is, fittingly, a ride on a crazy train. There are jump scares, but the house is really about being transported somewhere else, and that is what makes it land for longtime fans and first-timers alike. Plague Productions, the design studio we have interviewed before, was part of it and said it was an “honor and privilege to help bring to life two incredible houses this year.” Our Ozzy Osbourne: Prince of Darkness preview has the backstory.
2. Hellraiser
Hellraiser is the gross-out maze of the year, in the best way. The big set pieces, like walking straight into the puzzle box, are excellent, and the house uses sight lines, mirrors, and triggers to keep you lost and second-guessing where the walls actually are. Blood drips from above for good measure. The one thing holding it back is that a few of the masks and costumes look awkward up close. Plague Productions was part of this one too.
3. Jack & Oddfellow: Chaos & Control
This is the linchpin house, the one that carries this year’s story of Jack the Clown and Dr. Oddfellow. The opening narrative lands, and the classic funhouse tricks, a spinning tunnel and a slanted floor, work precisely because Universal rarely uses them anymore. The custom props are excellent. Where it stumbles is the back half, where the story loses the thread and never delivers the big icon payoff the setup promises.
4. H.R. Bloodengutz Presents: A Halloween Fright-Tacular!
If you are an HHN regular, this is your house, and it may be the runaway hit of the year. You move through vignettes drawn from Halloween seasons past, including a callback to the Pumpkin Lord and the Pumpkin Spice Doctor, whose bride wails “I need more pumpkin spice.” It is campy in the way the best Halloween traditions are, with real scares mixed in. Bloodengutz returns after 15 years, and the wait was worth it.
5. Evil Dead Burn
A standard maze elevated by a strong property. Fans of the franchise get what they came for, even if the layout does not take many risks. Our Evil Dead Burn preview has the details.
6. Cybergoria
An Orlando original with some of the more interesting costume design in the lineup and a few environments that stand out, and it does more than most to actually tell its story. More in our Cybergoria preview.
7. Sinners
Carried by the strength of the film, Sinners is a fine walk that plays it safe. Worth it if you love the movie, skippable if the line is long.
8. Stranger Things 5
The weakest of the licensed houses. It feels like recycled material, without the new scares or ambitious sets the show could easily support.
9. Invasion: Alien Abduction
An Orlando original with an interesting premise and a couple of fun moments, but not much novelty once you are inside. Our Invasion: Alien Abduction preview has more.
10. Madlands: Caged Cannibals
The bottom of the list. The premise is there, but the story breaks down and nothing inside feels new. More in our Madlands: Caged Cannibals preview.
Plan your night
Ranking aside, all 10 houses run every night of the event. For dates, tickets, and hours, see our every-house Orlando guide, our all-parks Halloween Horror Nights guide and our Know Before You Go, and if you are planning around the menu, our HHN 35 food guide lists every item.
