Halloween Horror Nights Stretch from September Into November
When the gates at Universal Studios Hollywood open at seven in the evening, the air has already shifted. In September, the heat that lingers in the San Fernando Valley finally begins to ease, and by November, the same hills cool quickly after dark.
On thirty-three select nights, the park transforms into Halloween Horror Nights, a program that stretches from early fall into the first days of November and keeps the park alive until two in the morning.
This is not an extension of the regular park day. Admission is sold separately, with its own tiers and passes. Families are told that the event is not recommended for children under thirteen.
What unfolds inside is a carefully built structure, the same each evening, made up of haunted houses, open-air scare zones, a tram experience on the backlot, and staged shows, all threaded together by a handful of rides that continue to operate at night.
Eight Haunted Houses
The heart of the event lies in its houses, temporary installations mapped across the studio lot and soundstages.
For 2025, the lineup reaches into different corners of popular culture.
Fallout reimagines the underground vaults of a game series. Five Nights at Freddy's turns animatronics into stalkers.
Terrifier builds from a cult horror franchise. WWE Presents: The Horrors of the Wyatt Sicks blurs wrestling and theatrical fright.
Jason Universe recalls the masked figure who defined slasher cinema. Poltergeist draws directly from a classic film.
Monstruos 3: The Ghosts of Latin America returns with folklore and apparitions.
Scarecrow: Music by Slash fuses performance with sound design shaped by a guitarist known for spectacle.
Inside each, the formula remains the same.
Crowds wait in long lines, then pass into corridors built from plywood and fabric, where lights, sound, and actors collapse fiction into lived experience.
The houses are the anchors of the night, and people move between them in a steady rhythm.
Scare Zones on the Pathways
Between those houses, the pathways themselves become part of the program. Four scare zones cut across the walking routes, each one unavoidable.
Noche de Brujas fills the air with imagery of witches and Latin American traditions.
Chainsaw Clowns relies on sound as much as sight, buzzing saws rattling nerves before a single mask is seen. Carnival of Carnage uses midway tropes to unsettle.
A crow-themed zone, titled with the word "Crowz," covers another stretch in dark feathers and sudden movements.
These zones serve as connective tissue. They make travel between houses unpredictable, layering surprise onto the spaces people thought were safe.
The Tram on the Backlot
Farther down the hill, the Studio Tour tram is repurposed as Enter the Blumhouse.
Boarding begins in the familiar plaza, but once the ride sets out, it moves through sets remade for Blumhouse titles.
M3GAN waits with her plastic smile. The Black Phone 2 places its masked villain in suburban streets.
The Purge appears with flashing sirens. Freaky reshapes the idea of body-swap horror.
The route circles the same asphalt where film crews once shot westerns and crime pictures.
At night, that ground carries another fiction. The tram ties Universal's past as a studio lot to its present as a stage for live horror.
Shows in Permanent Theaters
Two shows run alongside the houses and the tram.
The Purge: Dangerous Waters stages inside the WaterWorld arena, where stunt performers leap through fire and water with added menace.
Chainsaw Man: The Chaos plays inside the DreamWorks Theater, using 4D projections to immerse an audience seated in fixed rows.
These productions punctuate the night with moments of spectacle that can be watched rather than walked through, giving visitors a pause from the constant forward motion of houses and zones.
Tickets as a System
The ticketing reflects how large the event has become. A single-night general admission brings entry.
Early Access tickets allow a head start on houses. Day-to-night passes carry guests from the regular park into the after-hours program.
Express and Express Unlimited shorten waits, while the R.I.P. Tour provides guided access. Frequent Fear and Ultimate Fear passes allow return visits over the two-month run.
The variety of tickets has turned the event into more than an occasional outing. For many, Halloween Horror Nights has become a recurring appointment.
