A Way-Too-Early Halloween at Shangrila Towers, Part 4 - Halloween Horror Nights 35

Spooky Season seems to come around sooner and sooner each year, and I am leaning into the madness with a series of Halloween-themed blog posts well in advance of the big night. Let's cap this early celebration of All Hallows' Eve off with a September trip to Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights:

I heard good things about HHN this year, so the guys and I schlepped off to Universal Studios Orlando for another trek into the night:

There wasn't much of an overarching theme for HHN 35, but there were some houses that are unlikely to ever be repeated. Ozzy Osbourne: Prince of Darkness is a tribute to the late rocker filled with scenes inspired by his songs (yes, there is a "crazy train") - if any HHN house could be called "touching," this one would be it.  Other probable one-offs include Sinners, based on Ryan Coogler's hit 2025 movie, and Evil Dead Burn, which began development before the movie even started filming, thanks to some help from Warner Bros.  My favorite of the night was actually the Hellraiser house, which did a fine job of realizing Clive Barker's nightmarish vision.

Aside from the houses, this year's live show (Nightmare Fuel: Blood Noir) was pretty good, with more plot than usual and fewer momentum-killing interludes for vaudeville illusions (there was still a sword swallower, though). The scarezones were largely misses, sadly - while I liked the Killer Klowns from Outer Space elements in Downtown Clowntown, let's hope the hamhanded attempt to appeal to the young'uns with Fornitemares is not the start of a trend. 

As usual, we finished the evening with a quick trip to the merch store, and so ended another Halloween Horror Nights...