Inside Universal Orlando’s Halloween Horror Nights 2025: ‘The scariest yet’

By Michael Lee Simpson

Exclusive footage from inside Universal Orlando’s Halloween Horror Nights 2025 reveals the chilling details and immersive terror of this year’s most talked-about haunted houses.

HHN 34 features 10 haunted houses, four scare zones and two live shows which run from August 29 to November 2.

Fans at a preview night last week said the scariest area was "Terrifier: Art the Clown," inspired by Damien Leone’s slasher films.

Video of inside - where cameras aren't usually allowed - shows gruesome recreations of scenes from the franchise - including a menacing chainsaw sequence - while guests are stalked by the sadistic Art the Clown.

“I thought the Terrifier house was one of the scariest just because of the clowns and how they jumped out to scare you,” said Scott Andrew, 37, general manager of an ecommerce company from Stilwell, Kansas.

“I really liked just the scenes of it, how they set the scenes — like the chainsaw scene and how after every corner they tried to shock you.

HNN also debuted the Five Nights at Freddy’s house - an adaptation of the hit video game and film franchise.

The walk-through featured massive animatronics of Freddy Fazbear and his haunted companions.

Another crowd-pleaser, Jason Universe, pays tribute to Warner Bros./New Line’s relaunch of Friday the 13th.

The house’s sets span decades of slasher history, showcasing multiple incarnations of Jason Voorhees.

“I thought it was a really good house,” Andrew said. “I think you had to be a Jason fan to appreciate all of it, to see all the different Jasons that they had.”

The Fallout house, also captured in the exclusive footage, recreates post-apocalyptic environments from the hit Prime Video series, including Vault 33, The Wasteland, and the Super Duper Mart.

Guests come face-to-face with Vault Dwellers, Raiders, and a towering Super Mutant.

“Fallout is a really good house, especially if you're a fan of the TV show. I think they did a really good job,” Andrew said.

Galgon: Monsters of the North immerses guests in Norse mythology, with frost demons and ancient gods stalking snow-drenched landscapes.

“One of the best ones with the North Gods,” Andrew said.

“I thought that was super creative, the way they did the scenery and the settings and the different lighting.”

The Hash and Slash: The Butcher of Carey house returns fans to the long-running fictional Ohio town that has been part of HHN lore since the 1990s.

Andrew calls it “one of the best houses as well. Definitely an original house.”

For psychological horror, the footage from Dolls: Let’s Play Dead reveals one of HHN’s most disturbing concepts yet, with guests trapped in a sadistic playroom as life-sized dolls.

“Dolls: Let's Play Dead was probably the creepiest house out of all of them… Definitely, in my opinion, the most disturbing house this year,” Andrew said.

Compared with 2024’s lineup, which featured Stranger Things 4, The Last of Us and The Exorcist: Believer, HHN 2025 leans heavily into slashers and darker original stories.

“This year is definitely scarier than last year,” Andrew said.