With Nope to life for horror fans, visitors can't help but look back on Halloween Horror Nights (HHN) mazes of the past with nostalgia. Movie tie-in houses have always been a big hit for HHN, and some of the best horror movies have gotten mazes.
From classic slashers like An American Werewolf in London, HHN brings cinematic terrors to life as no other event can. Though there have been plenty of hair-raising movie mazes in the past, only the best gave visitors permanent nightmares.
Evil Dead (Halloween Horror Nights 23)
Based on the spine-tingling remake from 2013, Evil Dead transported fans into the movie's world and recreated its most horrific scenes with sinister glee. From the opening facade featuring oversized pages out of the Necronomicon to the infamous fruit cellar sequence, the house held nothing back when it came to screen authenticity.
Like the remake itself, the house was incredibly gory and used frightening visuals to menace guests as much as the typical jump scares. While HHN has never done a proper maze for the original films, the remake house from HHN 23 was so much more than a simple cash-in for the movie's recent release.
The Shining (Halloween Horror Nights 27)
Fans were curious how the creative minds behind HHN could pull off a maze based on The Shining, but the designers went above and beyond to bring the psychological horrors to life. The expansive house captured all the memorable moments from the film, including the notorious hedge maze and the nightmarish scenes from room 237.
Being one of Stanley Kubrick's best films, The Shining was so much more than a cut-and-dry horror flick. As such, the house was also more than just a simple spook-house with actors doing their best Jack Nicholson impressions. Instead, the maze relied on classic parlor tricks to add a ghostly element to the scares, and the gigantic size of the maze gave guests the impression of actually stepping foot into the Overlook Hotel.
Krampus (Halloween Horror Nights 26)
Bringing one of Krampus went above and beyond to deliver thrills and chills in equal measure. Transforming a soundstage into the snowed-in neighborhood from the film, guests wound their way through the house as it was besieged by Krampus' minions and the evil being himself.
Using levels to perfection, every detail was painstakingly recreated from the movie, and the guest was rewarded when they experienced it multiple times. Though it wasn't the scariest house of all time, the twisted Christmas theme was a fun change of pace for fans of the Halloween season.
Trick 'R Treat (Halloween Horror Nights 28)
If any horror movie perfectly represented the Halloween season, it would be the campy cult horror classic Trick 'R Treat. Starting initially as one of HHN's scare zones, the movie was eventually given a full-blown maze that allowed visitors to have their wits scared out of them by the familiar ghouls featured in the film.
With so much to choose from, there was a wide variety of scenarios brought to life within the walls of the Trick 'r Treat maze. The movie's mascot character Sam popped up all over the house, and visitors couldn't get the full experience in just one walk-through. With a cult classic as beloved as Trick 'r Treat, Universal was up against high expectations which they more than exceeded.
The Exorcist (Halloween Horror Nights 26)
A movie that is set primarily in one room for its entire running time didn't seem like a good fit for an HHN event, but The Exorcist lived up to the film's vaunted reputation. Expanding the movie's setting into a horrific headspace, the maze relied less on following the film's plot and more on enhancing the horrors implied within the story.
With a possessed Reagan cropping up to horrify guests, visitors were also treated to many frightening illusions which heightened the experience for all the senses. Playing on common fears like darkness and even a few gross-out moments, the HHN maze helped to remind visitors why The Exorcist is still considered one of the scariest movies of all time.
The Thing - Assimilation (Halloween Horror Nights 17 & 21)
The HHN scenic department outdid themselves when they tackled John Carpenter's sci-fi horror classic The Thing, and fans were shocked to find a maze experience that exceeded even the film's terror. Being staged twice, The Thing was first presented as a sequel to the original, and then as an adaptation of the 2011 reboot of the same name.
Utilizing horrific puppets and animatronics, the house was so much more than a performer sneaking up on guests. Bringing the snowy climate of the arctic to Florida wasn't an easy feat, and guests were given a multi-sensory experience when they weren't being hounded by the half-assimilated creatures from the movies.
House Of 1000 Corpses (Halloween Horror Nights 29)
Considering the fact that the movie was made with a haunted house atmosphere, Rob Zombie's debut film House of 1000 Corpses was a shoo-in for a spot at HHN. Dropping guests in the lap of the notorious Firefly family, House of 1000 Corpses had all the movie's grit and grime and didn't miss a beat when capturing Zombie's unique vision.
With so many frightening characters to choose from, the guest was never menaced by the same villain twice, and the environments from the movie lent themselves well to HHN's maze format. Rob Zombie is a rock musician who was inspired by horror movies, and it all came full circle when he got his own maze at HHN.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Halloween Horror Nights 26)
Stepping into horror movies is one of the appeals of Universal's Halloween event, but The Texas Chainsaw Massacre had guests thinking twice before visiting the Lonestar State. Done with absolute accuracy, the house recreated the original film from the '70s and presented a maze that felt so real it was truly horrifying.
Most HHN mazes play with time and space, and the guest leaves one environment and enters another with no sense of scale or distance. However, Texas Chainsaw was designed in such a way that the guest felt like they were in an actual house, and the realistic nature of the environment only added to the stomach-churning atmosphere.
Halloween (Halloween Horror Nights 24 & 31)
As the film proved back in 1978, simplicity can often be the scariest approach to horror, and Halloween was both simple and effective with its frights. The maze brought guests face to face with the embodiment of evil that is Michael Myers, and placed them in Haddonfield in 1978 for the scariest experience of their lives.
It could have been predictable and boring to make a Halloween house, but the intricate design of the maze was engrossing enough to entertain guests between appearances from the Shape. All the best moments from the movie were in the house, and Myers proved to be the perfect icon to make multiple appearances at the event.
An American Werewolf In London (Halloween Horror Nights 23 & 25)
No one was laughing when they stepped foot inside the maze based on the horror comedy An American Werewolf in London, and HHN created their most faithful movie adaptation to date. Progressing through the plot linearly, the guest is menaced on the moors and eventually finds themselves in the film's thrilling finale in Piccadilly Circus.
Using puppetry to bring the harrowing wolf to life, the designers clearly enjoyed working with John Landis' unique film. While its overall design was fascinating, it wasn't without its hair-raising moments, and the house was scary enough to be brought back after only a one-year absence. Some horror films are obvious fits for HHN, but American Werewolf showed off every bit of creativity the design team possessed.
