Movie

Universal Studios Hollywood Halloween Horror Nights. © 2015 Arielle Davidsohn, licensed to About.com

The Bottom Line

takes the prize for the scariest, most gruesome annual Halloween theme park experience in Southern California. Famous slasher movies are reenacted by dozens and in some case hundreds of replicate villains. They don't have the largest number of mazes, but they are definitely the most gruesome. Some, but not all of the park rides remain open.

This is a separate ticket from the day pass.

Our 2015 Halloween Correspondent, Arielle Davidsohn reports:

Universal Studios Hollywood Halloween Horror Nights (say that 10 times fast) is one of the spookiest and most immersive Halloween theme park experiences in Southern California. Universal transforms it’s theme park from a sunny amusement park, to a dark and grotesque Halloween realm filled with horror movie themed mazes, creepy attractions, and gore themed refreshments.

As you enter park, you are greeted by a symphony of shrieks and a face full artificial fog. As you grope through the haze towards the otherworldly lights, you begin to feel uneasy … and you should because you just walked in to one of Universals aptly coined scare zones. Actors dressed as demonic Exterminatorz, Dark Christmas creatures, and Corpz zombie soldiers stalk you and jump out of your periphery when you least expect it. The chainsaw creatures got me every time! A pyrotechnic bridge lights up as you pass beneath it, expelling a massive flame. Yes, it was real fire folks; I could feel the heat!

There was a maze for every interest, but I will take you through my favorites starting with a classic.

The first maze we went through was Halloween: Michael Myers Comes Home. It takes you through Myers’ abandoned family home, allowing you to be part of the movies’ events as you go. This was definitively the most frightening to me. The walkthroughs were timed perfectly so that you always felt isolated and unsettled.

The highlight of this maze was the Michael Myers room of mirrors. Rows of masked knife wielders stare at you as you pass from one end of the room to the other. Which one is the real Michael Myers, and which is just another reflection? I guess you will have to walk through to find out!

Fans of blood, gore, and intestines will get their fill at another favorite of mine: The Walking Dead: Wolves Not Far. As you approach the maze, you can see the telltale wire fence and the sign that you are entering Terminus. For fans of the show who already know what happens at the end of the train tracks, you will not be disappointed. Zombies stalk along the fence, eliciting shrieks from the guests even before they get inside. One determined zombie even separated me from my group and forced me to enter solo. Terrifying! Inside, I was impressed by the sheer number of disemboweled bodies that littered the maze. Just to get from room to room, you have to push past very realistic-looking corpses hanging from the ceiling. Ew! This maze had some of most alarming makeup, and the actors got close enough for you to feel them breathing down your neck. I loved it!