Universal Orlando Resort shared a first look inside Slaughter Sinema 2, one of the Halloween Horror Nights 33 haunted houses, with USA Today.

Slaughter Sinema 2

Beware spoilers for Halloween Horror Nights 33 ahead.

USA Today spoke with Lora Sauls, Universal Orlando Resort’s director of Creative Development and Show Direction for Art and Design, Entertainment. Sauls explained that sometimes they come up with more haunted house ideas than they need, and unused ideas get saved for the future. The 2018 Slaughter Sinema house and this year’s version test out some of the unused ideas via a drive-in theater concept.

“They’re really good ideas, we just don’t think they’re a full haunted house,” Sauls said. But if the guest reaction is good, some of the Slaughter Sinema 2 concepts could become full haunted houses or scare zones in future years. The Yeti debuted in the previous Slaughter Sinema and was later featured in two Yeti-themed houses.

Trailers for some of the fake horror flicks featured in Slaughter Sinema 2 will be projected on a movie screen outside the house.

“And some that didn’t make it quite make it in the house,” Sauls said. “Again, that incubator. We want to see what fans like. If they didn’t make it in the house, maybe it will make it in the house in the future, so it’s very fun.” 

There are eight themes inside, each introduced with a movie poster and some spanning multiple rooms.

Mardi Gras Murders: “We’re in New Orleans, and these jesters are murdering people. And these jesters are amazing because they have the jester mask, but when they take off their mask, their flesh is just shaped like a jester hat and mask,” Sauls said. “As we go through this scene, the jesters get more fleshy. They are really disgusting.”  

USA Today writes, “This scene is set in an apartment where someone has partied a little too hard, as evidenced by the Jell-O shots, hurricane glass, keg and empty liquor bottles around the room and vomit on the couch. A Mardi Gras parade appears to be going on outside the balcony.”

Heavy Metal Hell: “The story is that a teenager played a record backward, and it opened this hell gate of Heavy Metal Hell rockers that are killing people with their chainsaw guitars,” Sauls said.  

The opening scene is in the teen’s bedroom, where he’s been split in two. “He should have listened to his mother,” Sauls said, adding that senior show director of Creative Development for Universal Orlando Entertainment Art and Design, Charles Gray, loves adding little life lessons to houses.

Guests then walk into Heavy Metal Hell, “where they face danger in every direction.” 

Killer Kringles: “Santa has his naughty list, and he’s bringing all the naughty list boys and girls and human beings to Mrs. Claus, because she feeds the naughty list (kids) to the elves,” Sauls said.

Guests will see Santa’s sleigh in his workshop, with a bag full of naughty children.

“Our effects team has little actuators in that bag, and we hear kids in the bag,” Sauls said. “They’re in there going ‘Let me out! Let me out!’ and you see this bag-like arms are moving back and forth.” 

Night of the Undead Clowns: “This was a clown graveyard that now all because of Bzzzcon and them dumping their contaminated liquid in this graveyard, they’ve now become zombie clowns,” Sauls said.  

Bzzzcon was the group behind the giant bugs of HHN’s 2022 Bugs: Eaten Alive house. Night of the Undead Clowns will include a big Bzzzcon container, clown remains, and clown costumes embedded in the dirt walls of an underground scene. 

“This was one, I remember in our brainstorm, we really loved the idea of zombie clowns,” Sauls said.

Hatchet and Chains: Demon Bounty Hunters: “We’re going into a western movie, and these are demon bounty hunters,” Sauls said. “One of them is actually a demon that is hunting other demons.” 

The story plays out in a saloon, where guests may become Hatchet and Chains’ targets. “They don’t know if we’re demons,” Sauls explained.  

Blood and Chum: “This is a summer camp where this very oversized shark has made its way to a lake,” Sauls said. “It is eating every kid that jumps into the lake.” 

The scene is underwater and features a giant moving shark head. Sauls said “he’s a little bigger than Bruce,” the famous “Jaws” shark.

Mummy Strippers Unwrapped: “The story is these club owners stole some merchandise from an Egyptian Museum. They stole one of the sarcophaguses and they put it in as their decor for their strip club. Well, the sarcophagus awoke and reanimated,” Sauls said.

Guests entering the strip club risk having their essence sucked out by the mummy strippers, who use it to transform into beautiful beings.  

Zyborgs: “You’re in kind of this future world where machines want to take over human life,” Sauls said. “The zyborgs want our bodies. They are coming for us.”

The human body parts are used to make other machines. Lasers overhead will make guests feel like they’re in the trenches of battle. 

The house will also include a bonus end scene referencing the first Slaughter Sinema.

“Most of our houses run between nine and 13 scenes, but as you can tell, they’re all very winding, and our designers do a great job of making everything feel very long,” Sauls said.

Easter eggs in Slaughter Sinema 2 include references to the different HHN production and design team members, including their names on movie posters. Audio from the park’s Mardi Gras parade will play in the Mardi Gras Murders section. Near the end of the house are references to the original Slaughter Sinema’s Pumpkin Guts, Beast Baby, and Amazon Cannibals.

Halloween Horror Nights 33 runs on select nights from August 30 through November 3, 2024. Other than Slaughter Sinema 2, haunted houses on this year’s lineup include Goblin’s Feast, Major Sweets Candy Factory, The Museum: Deadly Exhibits, Monstruos: The Monsters of Latin America, Triplets of Terror, A Quiet Place, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, and Insidious: The Further.

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