Halloween Horror Nights has plenty to offer for horror and theme park fans alike: expertly designed, theatrical haunted houses; scare zones taking over the streets; and live entertainment when you’re ready for a break from the scares. But what about the scaredy-cats, or those who want to go behind the scenes?
Enter Unmasking the Horror Tour, one of the extra offerings available during HHN 35.
What is Unmasking the Horror?
Officially dubbed Behind the Screams: Unmasking the Horror Tour, this offering is a daytime V.I.P. tour that presents a lights-on look at the year’s haunted houses, in either a 3-house or 6-house lineup depending on the date and time chosen.
These tours include a guided, informational exploration along pedestrian pathways (once per house), with exclusive access to photograph select rooms in select haunted houses. The photos below are in rooms we were allowed to photograph, though some rooms in the houses are “photos down,” meaning we can’t take photos or video in those areas.
You also get an exclusive commemorative lanyard and pin, and a buffet-style lunch if you opt for the 6-house tour.
These tours are not recommended for children under age 13 due to the graphic nature of the houses and lights-on viewing, which shows the set design and props in greater detail.
How much does it cost?
You don’t need admission to Universal Studios Florida or HHN 35 to take part in the tour; neither is included in the tour’s cost.
The 3-house Unmasking the Horror Tour starts at $99.99 per person, and the 6-house tour starts at $229.99 per person.
What times are available?
The timing for each tour can vary based on the date; tours are usually offered in the morning from 8 a.m. to 11:45 a.m.
How long do the tours last?
The 3-house tour normally lasts up to two-and-a-half hours, while the 6-house tour runs up to five hours. Both tours are made up of groups of no more than 12 guests and combine multiple parties.
Which haunted houses are included?
Our tour, which was the 6-house option, included lights-on walkthroughs of the following haunted houses:
- Jack & Oddfellow: Chaos & Control
- Stranger Things 5
- Evil Dead Burn
- Ozzy Osbourne: Prince of Darkness
- Sinners
- Madlands: Caged Cannibals
Tracker Facts: Unmasking the Horror Tour
One of our favorite parts of doing the Unmasking the Horror Tour is learning all sorts of fun facts about each of the houses, most of which you’d never learn otherwise! Keep reading for more of our favorites.
To kick things off, we got the hidden animal theme for this year: snakes! In each of the haunted houses at HHN 35, you’ll find snakes hidden throughout. Last year, the hidden animal theme was lizards. Universal Creative places these critters in the houses each year as a fun Easter egg.
Jack & Oddfellow: Chaos & Control
Our tour began with the Jack & Oddfellow house. We were immediately told that, for this house, Dr. Oddfellow is narrating the story of how he and Jack crossed paths.
As you make your way through the house, the song “Pop Goes the Weasel” is what plays when the switch happens between Oddfellow and Jack in the story.
At one point, you enter Jack’s dressing room, which marks the first time we’ve ever seen Jack the Clown in his “human” form. Chance and Eddie are also represented here, with Chance’s knife and Eddie’s half mask as set dressing.
Jack’s Jack-in-the-Box grows larger and larger as the house progresses, and Dr. Oddfellow wants to stuff him back inside. If you keep an eye out, you’ll eventually see what happens there — no spoilers!
There’s even a reference to the Usher in this house, with a pair of his pants hanging in one of the circus tents.
The spinning tunnel featured in the house is not a literal spinning tunnel like you’d find at a carnival, but several LED panels.
A “Jack’d Up!” sign is on display in Shadybrook Rest Home and Sanitarium, referencing Halloween Horror Nights X in 2000.
The Shadybrook section of the house also marks the first time Halloween Horror Nights has ever included a tilted pathway in a haunted house.
If you’re keeping an eye out for the snake in this house, you’ll find it in the “elixir scene.”
In the “giant skull scene” (which is 13 feet tall, by the way), you can see into past rooms through a window that represents a portal. The designer for this house, Dylan Kollath, loves to incorporate this into his designs, and you can see this influence in other houses as well.
The large masks of Jack and Oddfellow near the end of the house are entirely 3D printed! Several 3D-printed items were used in the haunted houses this year.
Dr. Oddfellow’s original look is even featured in this haunted house, courtesy of a sign for “Dr. Oddfellow’s Fear House.” His look has since changed, but his original design is there for guests to see.
Stranger Things 5
Kicking things off with the snake, you’ll find this house’s animal Easter egg in the first room, off to the right of Castle Byers.
There are two animatronic Demogorgons in this house: one in the ceiling in the Abyss, and one in the dryer during the Hawkins Memorial Hospital scene.
During our tour, we learned that this was one of the last houses built, and yet Universal Creative still paid great attention to all the little details.
In this house, you’ll have more “dynamic opportunities” to see different characters depending on whether the cast at the time is group A, B, C, or D.
The Abyss set with Vecna and Holly, where she is physically trapped in the “Pain Tree,” is entirely 3D printed as well — even the walls! Vecna, though, is obviously not 3D printed.
Evil Dead Burn
The animatronic head outside of the house’s entrance is Jessica from the film Evil Dead Rise. Here, she is transformed into a Deadite.
A wooden duck on a shelf inside this house is a reused prop from El Artista: A Spanish Haunting. In that house from HHN 34, the main character Sergio Navarro was a fictional painter, writer, sculptor, and woodworker.
If you’re looking for the snake in this house, you’ll find it on a shelf hidden among cleaning supplies.
The electric carving knife in the kitchen is a reference to the 2013 Evil Dead remake, when the character Natalie tries to amputate her infected arm.
The dishwasher door scene is accomplished by using a piece of plexiglass with wallpaper on it, in order to create a shadow without using a projector in the house.
A chainsaw is featured in this house as well, as an obvious reference to Ash Williams from the original films.
All of the notes on the table in the attic scene about the Necronomicon were hand-drawn by the HHN creative team.
The VHS tapes used as set dressing in this house represent the release years of the many Evil Dead movies. The tape labeled “Delta 88” is a reference to the Oldsmobile Delta 88, which director Sam Raimi owned when making the original Evil Dead, and has featured in several of his films since then.
Ozzy Osbourne: Prince of Darkness
In this haunted house, cultists are trying to summon the Prince of Darkness, AKA Ozzy. The house references several albums from Ozzy’s canon, including Diary of a Madman, with the “actual diary” on display featuring lyrics from the song, and Patient Number 9, with nine scratches on the wall next to the diary.
At one point, you’ll encounter a projection of a bat biting off the head of a human — this is bat Ozzy! This riffs on the infamous story of Ozzy biting the head off of a bat at a concert in 1982, thinking it was a rubber toy and not a real bat.
For the snake hunters, you’ll find this house’s critter in the cemetery scene on the broken tombstone on the left.
In this scene, the tombstones that read “Ambrose,” “Kollath,” “Gray,” “Cordero,” and more are the names of the HHN creative team. Joe Holmes, a guitarist who played with Ozzy, is the only tombstone name that isn’t part of that group.
Before you board the Crazy Train, you’ll catch Conductor Ozzy on stilts!
The room featuring all the skulls is the coal car of the Crazy Train. The train sequence featuring the passenger car is intended to represent love and the passage of time. The train and the passengers all go through various stages of decay as you walk through, but the reaper stays the same.
The next album referenced after Crazy Train is Black Rain, which brings us to the trenches with references to war.
We were told that some of the cast in the Ozzy Osbourne and Sinners houses moved to Orlando just to be cast in those houses!
Sinners
Next up, Sinners! As we initially entered the house, we learned that the first scene is the only time guests will ever see Smoke and Stack together in scare actor form.
The snake in this house can be found in a no-photo room on the tour, toward the end of the house. It’s hidden next to the static figure of Remmick on the fence. Despite what you’d think, it is not the animatronic snake outside of Club Juke (pictured above)!
To create the red reflective eye effect for the vampires, scare actors wear UV-reactive contact lenses. The vampire mannequins in this house have highlight circle stickers on their eyes to create the same effect. Sinners director Ryan Coogler was inspired to use this unique effect for his vampires after seeing Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, which features a wolf character named Death who has similar eyes.
The table to the left of Club Juke, found on your way in, is burnt to represent a vision of Remmick listening to Sammie play his music and thinking he can help bring his ancestors back.
In one room of the house, Club Juke changes from being brand new to set aflame — this was accomplished by using red Christmas lights covered in spray foam and painted to look like they were on fire. This is internally called the “Wendy Special,” after the Universal Creative designer who brought this burnt lighting effect to HHN.
In the bar, a bottle of Cordero & Co. Malt Tripled Smoked Juniper Gin is a reference to a member of the creative team. The apple and dragonfruit placed on the bar is to represent Asian culture, tying into the grocery store run by Bo and Grace Chow in the film.
The tall room after the bar scene is supposed to represent the aspect ratio change in the film. In the actual movie, the aspect ratio changes between an ultra-wide 2.76:1 and a tall 1.43:1 IMAX format.
The forested area with mirrors is supposed to represent the “Rocky Road to Dublin” jig scene.
The scare actor wearing a smoking vest after the forest scene is the first time that this effect has been used at Halloween Horror Nights.
Madlands: Caged Cannibals
This haunted house is directly inspired by Griffith Zoo in Los Angeles, California and the activity of “urban exploring,” where people visit abandoned or off-limits man-made places.
The batteries featured inside this house are references to Back to the Future, Jaws, and Frankenstein. For example, the battery out front is a “PowerTime Fusion Battery;” the DeLorean in Back to the Future was powered by a Mr. Fusion Home Energy Reactor to replace its previous plutonium power. Later in the house is a “Mega Loan-On Shock” battery and a “New Life Re-Animating Battery.”
The snake hidden in this house can be found in the room just before the Aviary section, tucked to the side of a yellow prop.
The scare actors in the crocodiles area have chainsaws to represent the force that the animal has with their teeth and jaws.
The bat from the Jungle of Doom: Expedition Horror scare zone at HHN 32 is featured in this house. Dr. Oddfellow was also featured in that zone.
Once you get to the polar bear enclosure section of the house, you’ll find that you’re actually in their pool, looking up at the ground level from below! There’s even a steel door that leads to where the polar bears would go at night to sleep. We thought this was so cool!
The Terra Queen also has a reference hidden in here, with the Terra Tools symbol painted on a metal shield used by the cannibals. Several references to her can be found throughout many of the haunted houses this year. She was originally one of the icons for the event in 2005, and has appeared in haunted houses and scare zones since then.
Have you ever taken an Unmasking the Horror tour at Universal Orlando? Did you learn any unique fun facts about the haunted houses? Let us know on social media!
