Dan Harkless' Universal Studios Hollywood Info: Universal's House of Horrors

(Also, see the video from my 2007-07-18 visit below.)

The above clips (had to split the video into two due to YouTube's 10-minute limit) were taped April 5, 2007, shortly after Universal's House of Horrors opened on March 31st. Previously, the attraction had been Van Helsing: Fortress Dracula, which closed on 2007-11-04. I never had the opportunity to go through that attraction in its normal form, but I did go through it in its Halloween Horror Nights 2006 incarnation, which, somewhat confusingly, was also known as Universal's House of Horrors.

The new UHoH uses the same layout as Van Helsing, and shares some setpieces from the old attraction with minimal redressing, but rather than focusing on just the vampires and werewolves theme, there's a suite of different horrifiers: vampires including Dracula and Nosferatu, skeletons (a holdover from Van Helsing), a hangman, The Phantom of the Opera, mummies, Chucky from the "Child's Play" films, "Mother" and Norman Bates from "Psycho", bodies in bodybags, werewolves, Frankenstein's Monster, a "Texas Chainsaw Massacre"-type figure, etc.

Keeping the "big monster on a bungee unexpectedly jumps out to grab you" idea used with the werewolf at the end of the HHN 2006 UHoH was definitely a good call (though I personally prefer a werewolf over an oversized Chucky). Another thing that pleases me greatly is that they replaced the static Frankenstein's Monster statue lying on a table from the HHN 2006 UHoH with a live one (yet having a static Bride of Frankenstein figure on a raised table is a nice addition too). The intimidating Frankenstein's Monster on very high platform shoes from the classic monsters maze at the 1997 HHN was one of my favorite things there. This version isn't as tall, but without the platform shoes he's more realistic and can move more quickly for those rush-in scares. The guy playing him on this visit really did a great job of inhabiting the character. For additional grabbing action, see the 2007-07-18 video below.

I don't think the "Psycho" section of the maze compares at all to the amazing "Psycho" section of Halloween Horror Nights' Terror Tram backlot walkthrough, but it's hard to beat the "Psycho" theme when it comes to spine-tingling music.

One other tidbit on the maze is that according to my YouTube subscriber and fellow House of Horrors fan Hammerman8699 (whose channel I recommend you check out, BTW -- he's got a lot of really cool rare stuff, including Marty Feldman short films, "lost" TV pilots, stuff related to the cult classic TV show Sledge Hammer!, etc.), the trees in the woods section are a salvage from the defunct E.T. ride.

To wrap up, I have to say I really like the new House of Horrors. Walkthrough attractions at theme parks are something of a lost art in the never-ending quest to power through as many guests per hour as possible (in controlled motorized conveyances). Basically, this attraction is on par with a very high-quality Halloween theme park maze (fewer human scarers, but not by all that much), yet it's open all year round for whenever you get that jones to physically enter a fantasy world of horror.

Of course that's assuming you're up for the horror. Very often when I've gone through the attraction I've seen at least one parent who'd taken a very small child in who was now crying piteously. I think Universal needs to strengthen their warnings to parents and maybe have the line workers question any parents who are bringing very young children in with them. It'd be an, er... crying shame if Universal felt the need to tone down the attraction to placate parents that don't bother to read the signs.

Taped the attraction again on my July 18, 2007 visit to the park, with a particular eye towards capturing things I hadn't caught well (or at all) in April. For instance, this time I got shots of some additional placards in the queue area, as well as the Hannibal Lecter (misspelled "Lector" on the placard) mask, which wasn't there last time. Sorry that there are still some items in there I haven't captured -- on both visits, my girlfriend, who doesn't like scary things, was outside waiting for me, so I didn't have the luxury of unlimited time to film this stuff. I've tried to make up for the rushed taping job in the queue area by editing the "Exterior and queue" videos to have freeze-frames on the placards so you can read them.

Also got a much more visible shot of Nosferatu this time, got a non-obscured and in-focus shot of the Norman Bates as Mother figure, and captured the werewolf in the forest section. Also caught a glimpse of a morgue attendant / mad doctor character in the bodybag section. Didn't realize at the time it wasn't a patron, or I would have lingered longer on him. Also, as mentioned above, additional Frankenstein clutching action this time. Unfortunately Chucky didn't seem to want to do his lunging bit until I left (I've actually edited out additional failures to lunge in between the two you see here), but at least I got a good shot of him doing that last time. Didn't get the Igor or roving Phantom of the Opera characters I've heard tell of -- perhaps next time.

Dan Harkless Last modified: September 28, 2008

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