Plus, ‚Five Nights at Freddy’s‘ makes its long-awaited debut at the annual spooky season theme park event.
The gates of Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights Hollywood have opened, and this year’s event has some of the theme park’s biggest debuts. Between Terrifier and Five Nights at Freddy’s, the headliner haunted houses really pack a punch, with the terror titan-led Jason Universe house, based on the Friday the 13th franchise, also helping to power a killer season start.
But that’s not to say there were some lows; surprisingly, HHN’s anticipated Fallout offering fell short of expectations. Some repeat houses managed to hold enough excitement, but the West Coast event—which is smaller than the version mounted by Halloween Horror Nights Orlando—might prove to create uneven experiences for park guests who can’t shell out the extra dough for express passes.
Express tickets were provided by Universal for media to be able to review all the houses, and that’s a key takeaway from the start: as theme park insiders, it was clear to us that it might be near impossible to visit all the houses if you do general event admission. If you’re locked in to that price point, always be sure to prioritize 3-4 houses and one entertainment offering—between the Blumhouse-themed Terror Tram, the stunt show The Purge: Dangerous Waters, or the Chainsaw Man short film screening. If you really want to do everything in one night, upgrading to express may be your best bet.
I do have one pro tip from attending in past years: the express pass will sometimes be offered at 50% off near the end of the night and you can buy in to race through all the houses in the last few hours of the event. I’ve done it myself. You can only take advantage if you’re already in the park when the signs go up at the ticket upgrade stations, so keep an eye out for that.
As an LA local, I’ve also simply spread it out by buying a multi-night ticket (such as the “Frequent Fear” pass) and going once a week to hang out for vibes and scope out shorter lines for houses I’ve missed or want to do again.
Here’s what we thought of Halloween Horror Nights Hollywood for 2025:The Good
Terrifier: Art the Clown has unofficially solidified his place as a Horror Nights icon. From the moment you arrive at the event, the roaming silent clown killer chillingly charms with his bag of demented tricks. Personally, and like most going to the event, this was my first exposure to the character and the world of Terrifier, having been deterred by some of the divisive discourse surrounding the gratuitous violence of the franchise. However, the Terrifier house cleared up some of my concerns and I think the films fall more into an absurdist gore vibe versus the gritty gore genre (think more Raimi than Roth).
