For horror fans in the Orlando or Hollywood area, Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios is a yearly ritual. Starting in the early 90’s, Universal has served up countless haunted house incarnations and themes to peaks our interests. After last years very sub par outing in Orlando (a droll “best-of” concept that sounded a lot better on paper than it actually was), I knew that Universal had to up the ante in a very big way. Teaming with New Line studios, they created “The Carnival of Carnage”, this year’s theme which features three of horror’s most recognizable properties: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street. Also tossed into the mix are a few of Universal’s properties and original houses.

Dead Silence: The Curse of Mary Shaw: When I first heard that there would be a Dead Silence house, I was a little hesitant. Basing a house on a movie that almost no one saw in theatres and hasn’t even been on DVD long seemed like a last-minute effort to fill a vacant spot in the park. The house was made to look like the abandoned theatre featured at the end of the film and, much like the movie, offered up some great set design and atmosphere but little else in terms of scares. Various crew members dressed as Mary Shaw patrolled the house and while I have to give it to them for being absolutely spot on with the make-up and character design from the film, I was really disappointed with the lack of puppet frights offered up. They’re just lying around in the house as props, which is sad. That, to me, was a huge wasted opportunity and could have definitely given the house more impact.

A Nightmare on Elm Street: Dreamwalkers: This was, by far, the scariest house in the park, eliciting quite a few jolts and screams from me. Incorporating elements from basically every Nightmare film, the house served a plethora of nightmarish scenarios, ranging from the boiler room scene in the original to the sanitarium from Dream Warriors and Freddy vs. Jason. The best part was the house wasn’t based on the “funny Freddy” that is heavily incorporated in the later films. This was the real deal and I was pleasantly surprised by how the house came together. Freddy hadn’t been this scary to me since watching the original as a child.

Psychoscareapy: Home for the Holidays: Last year, Psychoscareapy was offered up as Asylum themed house, showcasing the escaped torturing security guards and performing every possible disturbing thing you could imagine an inmate doing. That said, I really hated that house last year. Someone thought it would be a great idea if the inmates simulated playing with their feces and, in turn, would have to make the house smell like a busted sewer main. It got to the point where I wished there was an emergency exit so I could get a breath of fresh air. Someone realized the error of their ways and thankfully decided to cross that idea of their list for this year’s incarnation. Instead of taking place in an asylum, the concept this year was that a prison van crashed into a house on Christmas Eve and dispatched its inhabitants. What a massive improvement! The inmates offered up plenty of scares and there was some absolutely depraved stuff in this house, giving me plenty “WTF” moments.

Vampyr: Blood Bath: The description for this house really says it all: “A rave rages in Club Vampyr where the base beats hide the screams in this carnal orgy of blood.” I was pretty obvious that this house was based on the opening scene of Blade but for some reason, there was absolutely no open recognition of this by the park or any formal announcement by either studio. This house was easily the worst of all. It was like they watched Blade and Hostel and decided the set designs for both films would work well together. They were wrong, Very wrong. And what was with the vampires who chopped up victims and ate their body parts? Not scary and very stupid. What a combination.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Flesh Wounds: As much as I enjoy Nightmare and Friday, I think it goes without saying that The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is vastly superior to either film, in terms of influence and genuine scares. When I heard about Leatherface getting his own house this year, I thought that there would be a small chance that it would be based on the original films, since New Line had re-released the original in theatres after its initial run. How very foolish of me. Even when I heard it was being based on the newer films, I was hoping that it would at the least see some carnage and have fun. After all, the bad acting and MTV editing from the remake couldn’t possibly be present in the house. Vampyr barely beats this out as the worst house this year. Even upon entering the house, the feeling of being absolutely cheated is overly apparent. In one part of the house, a girl runs out from behind a corner in the kitchen, starts yelling and crying and then gets dragged away by Leatherface. The first thing I thought of when I saw this girl crying was “Wow, she’s about as bad as Carl Elwes from Saw”. Sounds of chainsaws kept going off in the house but no one jumped out and the most starting thing was Sheriff Hoyt banging a trashcan lid with a stick. Lame.

Friday the 13th; Camp Blood: Like most of us, I grew up watching the Friday films and enjoy them to this day. My imagination ran wild when I hear they were recreating Camp Crystal Lake this year. Featuring a good mix of the different camp settings, the house gave me really intricate set designs (On par with the Nightmare house) and recreated some memorable moments from the series. The scares were a little on the sparse side but the house’s atmosphere more than made up for. Kudos to the designer for making me walk through a forest of twitching sleeping bags hanging from branches. It was the touches like that that made it one of the better houses this year.

Jack’s Funhouse in Clown-O-Vision: I was probably the least excited for this house upon getting in line. I imagined the house being a bit too cartoon-y for my tastes, going more for laughs than anything else. Then, when I was waiting in line, I was given a pair of 3-D glasses. My opinion all of a sudden took a 180 turn. They had my attention. Using neon paint and lights, the glasses enhanced the house and made it an overall decent concept that was more fun to look at than anything else.

The Thing: Assimilation: Out of all the years I’ve gone to HHN, this has to be my favorite house. John Carpenter’s The Thing is a classic and Universal has given it quite the treatment. Taking place in a secret lab in Florida (Had me fooled, it looked just like the Arctic base in the film), scientists are studying the remains of the creatures when they are awoken and storm the base. What made this house so great was that they used puppetry and animatronics to create the aliens and relied very little on “live” characters. The creatures were absolutely awe-inspiring. The detail was phenomenal and serious made me wonder whether Bottin got in on creating this house (Apparently, Carpenter nor Bottin were actually brought in on the house design at all). There were times where I held up the line to get a better look at how great the designs were. I highly recommend it.

Aside from the houses that are the focus of HHN, there are plenty of other things for park goers to enjoy. Several shows are going on this year, such as Bill and Ted’s Excellent Halloween Adventure, which pokes fun at this past year’s pop culture flubs; The Rocky Horror Picture Show Tribute, which is a must-see for fans of the film; Freak Show, which is exactly what it sounds like; and finally, Jack’s Carnival of Carnage. And if that isn’t enough, scare zones, which are set up throughout the streets of the park, run throughout the night, featuring hordes of chainsaw wielding maniacs who chase around park-goers, clowns riding chopper-style motorcycles and even macabre looking carnie folk.

A vast improvement over last year and far more ambitious on all accounts, this years Horror Nights is a must-see if you’re in the area. It could be their best effort in years.