When it comes to Halloween there is no in-between. Either you have a general distaste for the pageantry that permeates every layer of the fall holiday, or you worship the month of October. I’m being hyperbolic, of course, but it does feel like there is a subset of people in the world who treat All Hallows Eve like a religion. And I don’t mean Wiccans.
I fall into the latter camp: Halloween is my favorite holiday. No greater moment solidified my transition into young adulthood than the moment I felt too old to Trick R Treat. It’s a phase of my life that I mourn more than any other, but luckily, having a kid offers a reunion, of sorts, with the joy of spooks and candy collecting. I love it all, but haunted houses are where I feel the spirit of Halloween most comes alive for me.
Whether it’s a neighbor’s garage lined with black trash bags and filled with teenagers in cheap Party City masks, or the elaborate houses at a big-budget theme park event like Halloween Horror Nights, there is something special about those few minutes you spend shuffling through a creation whose sole goal is to terrify you. Universal has perfected that concept with HHN, but now it wants to make it year-round.
What is Universal Horror Unleashed?
Universal Horror Unleashed aims to take Halloween and make it a destination. If you head to Las Vegas, in the Area 15 space right off the strip, you’ll find ground zero for frights, chills, and spooks. I was lucky enough to visit Horror Unleashed, and it filled the Halloween-lover in me with tremendous joy.
Stepping into Horror Unleashed, you’ll find a large open space that’s part industrial boiler room, part Vampire nightclub, and part demented dollhouse. It’s this open area that serves as the glue that interconnects the entrances to each of the houses. There are some decorations and appropriate theming, and the goal seems to be to establish that nowhere is safe in Horror Unleashed. It’s a bit weird, a bit creepy, and if your head isn’t on a swivel, you’re likely to get jump scared before even setting foot in a house.
Universal has given each of these areas its own theming, complete with actors that fit that particular theme. The Vampire Queen is posing on her throne for a photo op, Slashers doing their best to catch you off guard, actors are posing as frightened guests, creepy dolls that may or may not be real people, and HHN icon Jack the Clown’s circus space, where you can watch some live entertainment. Much like HHN takes over Universal Studios and does its best to give no quarter or respite from the terror, Horror Unleashed peppers its open space with enough opportunities to preserve that sense of ease you get before entering a house.
And the live entertainment, while less scary than the houses themselves, maintains the idea that there is always something to do in Horror Unleashed. The stage at Jack’s circus gets frequent use, either with a comedic juggler with a very dirty sense of humor or the marquee show called Jack & Chance: Stay or Slay. I love it when the actors commit to their roles full-bore, and Jack is the best example of that. His show is like a demented circus performance where you get to see some impressive technical feat, in this case, ribbon twirling, packaged around a public execution vignette. It’s short and sweet, and snapping a picture with Jack and Chance afterward is a nice bonus.
Universal Horror Unleashed Has Some Seriously Tasty Bites
In and around the event space are a couple of places to grab a bite to eat or a drink. The Boiler bar gives off major abandoned industrial warehouse vibes, and is a perfect spot to enjoy an alcoholic beverage to steel your nerves. You’re not safe in The Boiler, but the drinks have fun theming, and all that I tried was very tasty. You can also grab the same drinks and a few circus-themed ones in Jack’s Alley, which has more tabletop and lounge seating, in addition to a traditional bar.
There are two spots to eat within Horror Unleashed, a quick-service, walk-up restaurant called Rough Cuts. Again, the theming is on point with every dish being inspired by severed body parts like Belly, Ribs, or Thighs. I’m a sucker for theme park food that really embraces its theming, and Rough Cuts nails it. Of the dishes I tried, my favorites were the Skull (pizza sauce, mozzarella, and pepperoni stuffed inside a garlic bread shaped like a skull), the Belly (tasty Pork Belly with a little hot honey on it), and the Korean-inspired Ribs.
Restaurant
If you’re looking for something a little bit more intimate, but by no means safe from scares, the Premiere House is Horror Unleashed’s sit-down restaurant. Themed around Blumhouse’s library of films like M3GAN and The Black Phone, Premiere House has a lot to choose from, whether it be salads, flatbreads, sliders, or some creative desserts. I’m only one person, so I couldn’t sample everything (or really, most things), but the sliders I did try were fantastic, the Black Lagoon bites (pork and shrimp siu mai) were excellent, and something very different than what you would expect from an experience like this, but the star of the show for me was the Haybale dessert. It was not overly sweet, had a ton of fun textures, and was served on a clever little shovel. I devoured it.
I know that theme park food and, honestly, all food in Vegas can be overpriced, but you get some solid portions with every dish, and I can always appreciate the blending of theming with unique flavors. Even something as safe as a pepperoni pizza has some added flair as a Pizza Skull, so it’s hard not to be drawn in by the menus, even if you plan to hit up a buffet later.
The Houses are the Main Attraction at Horror Unleashed
Universal Monsters
As a Universal Monsters obsessive, that house was first on my list and luckily the first available at opening. This hit all the classic icons you would expect from the Universal Monsters lineup, like Frankenstein’s Monster, Dracula, and the Wolfman. There’s a nice bit of scenery for each major character, some solid jump scares, and two well-developed sequences towards the end.
While it doesn’t have the mass appeal of a current IP, I feel that the Universal Monsters are timeless, and this is arguably the Universal Horror Unleashed house that will serve as a pillar of the experience. The theming and set decoration are fantastic, the small narratives for each character are well done, and it builds to a moment that will push trepidatious guests over the edge.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is another classic for the Universal horror experience, and fits perfectly into Horror Unleashed. You are going to see a lot of Leatherface here, and if his chainsaw revving doesn’t strike a little fear in you, then nothing will.
There are some good jump scares in the house, clever misdirection, but the star of the show is Leatherface, and rightly so. They don’t save him for a grand finale, but give you plenty of opportunities to see him and the effects of his chainsaw. It's a classic Universal haunted house, through and through.
Scarecrow: The Reaping
Scarecrow is one of the most recent additions to the HHN repertoire, and Scarecrow: The Reaping goes big at Universal Horror Unleashed. The queue features a really impressive cornfield setup with a massive scarecrow scare actor that’s up on stilts. It’s a beginning that sets you up for one of the most creative houses of the bunch.
The sense of scale in one section of Scarecrow: The Reaping trumps a lot of what you might see in any haunted house, but even the more intimate details are well done. How the house blends the scare actors with the scenery leads to some effective jump scares, and it’s never not unnerving to have little bits of straw/string/whatever hanging from the ceiling and just slightly tickling your face. This is a great house, even if it doesn’t have the IP appeal.
I’m not sure if this is a regular pattern, but during my time there, certain houses would close for a brief period, presumably to give scare actors breaks and whatnot.
The Exorcist: Believer
You know you are in for some creepy demonic possession stuff with The Exorcist: Believer, and it does not disappoint. The house pulls out a few tricks that none of the others do, and has a really disturbing exorcism sequence that’s well done. Possessed children will always get the tension high, and boy, does this house have some weird-looking demons to freak you out.
If I were to pick the “weakest” house, I might pick Exorcist, but it still hits those creepy vibes, and plenty of guests were screaming their heads off around me. Maybe this will be the house that’s first up for a refresh since it’s tied to a specific movie, but for what it is now, you don’t need a strong familiarity with The Exorcist.
Universal Horror Unleashed: Final Thoughts
Look, I have too much experience with haunted houses to properly evaluate their scares. For me, it’s less about whether I am scared by the house, but rather if it effectively scares the average patron. That isn’t to say houses don’t surprise me – they often do – but I spend a lot of time walking through a house, taking in the design elements more so than being frightened by the idea of walking from room to room.
Sure, a well-utilized boo hole (the spots where a scare actor is waiting for their moment to strike) will get me, but I love taking it all in. The vibes are what draw me in, and getting to hear the shrieks of terrified guests ahead of and behind me is what I live for.
So, I can’t properly say whether a house is “scary” in the same way someone else might. What I can speak to is how effective those jump scare moments are, how well designed the houses are, and their use of the source material (where applicable). On those three fronts, I consider Universal Horror Unleashed an immense success. Wall-to-wall theming and a commitment to packing every inch of the space with something to see or do are what Universal does so well with Halloween Horror Nights. And now having Horror Unleashed to offer a smaller-scale-but-no-less-impressive version of that makes this Halloween obsessive so very happy. I think the tasty food and the live entertainment are bonuses; it’s the houses that make this a must.
If you’re the type of person, like me, who counts down the days before you can put on “Spooky, Scary Skeletons”, then this is the place for you. Put the chips away, take a quick detour off the Las Vegas strip, and enjoy an evening with Dracula, Leatherface, and Jack The Clown.