Los Angeles: Universal Studios Hollywood: Halloween Horror Nights 2024 Review

2024 has been a very different year for Halloween events.

As of this writing, not a single event has been what I expected. Normally, due to its geographic constraints, Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood is a lot smaller than Orlando’s version. You can tell that my expectations are low from how I am talking about it in my video.

Call me surprised. I’ve been coming to the Hollywood event since 2017. This year is the best one I’ve seen from Universal Studios Hollywood. It’s all about superior storytelling. Let’s talk about the points that stood out to me,

Eternal Bloodlines

I was engaged throughout Eternal Bloodlines. It wasn’t perfect, specifically it had several empty rooms when I went through. At an admission cost of about $230 for Express Pass, I take umbrage to the fact that they do not let you go back through at all at that price point.

Each year I encounter an average of 2 houses that I get poor show quality in on both coasts due to timing or absent actors in rooms. It seems to me that if you can;t guarantee no empty rooms for every park guest, you need to offer 2 power ups at this level to re-do a house would solve this problem and still allow them to sell an Unlimited Express Pass. It’s not like $230 is small money I’ve given you.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a standard haunted house but it’s executed well given the building constraints they have. Standard means good in this case, especially when there have been multiple years of The Weeknd, which is a lmore modern take on a haunted house experience. It balances out nicely. 

Monstruos: The Monsters of Latin America

The Latin American monsters house was my favorite one on either coast this year. The storytelling, execution, and sound were 10/10 on point when I went through. You can see more of my reaction in the video above, but I felt that they did a great job of teaching people like me who have no knowledge of this folklore within the experience. I laughed, got scared, and felt more interested in Latin American culture and myth than ever before.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is a movie I am not familiar with at all, but I could tell what the story was and the humor in it in the execution. I enjoyed every scene and thought the lighting and sound was on point. I am surprised I didn’t see more little Stay Pufft guys being carried around the park.

Dead Exposure: Death Valley:

Dead Exposure is bad. It’s so bad that I call it “butt” in my video and go a bit further into why I feel that way. Dead Exposure has a long history in Florida, and this had none of that. It lacked all of the story, scares, and depth that its former Florida counterpart had. All I saw was a brightly-lit and sparsely populated dumping ground for extra props meant to absorb drunken capacity. If you are here for the art, execution, and actors, like I am. If you are short on time, this is the one to skip.

A Quiet Place

A Quiet Place was one I was really excited about because they feature deaf performers and ASL (American Sign Language) in the house, but the execution of the queue meant that most of us didn’t even get to see the intro video with the ASL. Ironically, the text was too small for my bad eyes to make out in the short time we were hustled past the monitors into a dead space that could have had the same video projected on the front of the facade on on the back of the first room.

This was a logistical fail.

If you had Express you likely will not be in front of the TV area long enough to see it.

Why are we giving the people who paid more less story?

Enter The Blumhouse Terror Tram

If you come from a culture of local farm haunted attractions that use a hayride vehicle to pull you along while actors scare you on the ride, this will not be what you expect.

Every year the tram ride has moved closer and closer to being like a time share sales pitch on wheels for new movies instead of an immersive story. No actors scare you while you are on the ride and there are no custom videos to talk directly to the audience.

This year, you watch Blumhouse movie previews, most for old movies, and are just dropped off on the backlot, where the backlot tour usually takes place.

Not everyone sees the beginning of the show when the actors come out and do their threatening. My tram came up and they had already scattered. Every year the second half of the tram tour just trails off, and that also happened this year.

That said, it was the best one I’ve seen so far in how the staging of the beginning Megan scenes were. They took effort to build a closer path with stages so you don’t feel as open and free in the first 1/3 of the show. The lighting and sound was great, too. I don’t see why they didn’t bother filming videos for on the tram to make it feel more like a story and less like a generic brand sales pitch.

Final Thoughts

I think many of us, myself included, really like Blumhouse but are getting tired of the same 3 Blumhouse movies at the park every year.

This makes me wonder - with so few new movies coming out, studios thinking that replacing their staff with AI is a good idea, and record numbers of layoffs and people leaving Los Angeles, will that mean that these events just become a rehash of the same 12 movies that people remember?

Sure, not everyone is there for the art, like I am. That’’s OK. I firmly maintain that those of us who are there for the art legitimize the event so that the less discerning folks will come and drink. Otherwise, people can eventually find another place to drink.

Sure, I am existentially thinking about the future and calling out what I see as small tweaks that could take this event from good to even better. That doesn’t take away form the strong storytelling, amazing actors, and all who worked hard to create what I see as a very successful event worthy of your time.

The world may be weird these days, but I have to give Universal Studios Hollywood’s Halloween Horror Nights 2024 a thumbs up, for the first time ever.

I loved it so much that I hope I can come back again this season.

Do this one.