haunted houses 2024

Written By Denise Pantoja

Over the years the popularity of Halloween has reached new highs. According to U.S. News and World Reports in 2023, more than 70% of Americans were planning on celebrating Halloween and a National Retail Federation article projected spending to reach a record 12.2 billion dollars. One of the best ways to celebrate the season is, without a doubt, hitting one or several haunted house attractions.

Having to juggle the real life horror of another cross country with seeking out the simulated horror of Halloween, Blood N’ Popcorn host T.J. Rotell and myself began our journey early in the season. A tip that we highly recommend.

1) HALLOWEEN HORROR NIGHTS AT UNIVERSAL HOLLYWOOD - UNIVERSAL CITY, CA

This haunt gets a massive amount of traffic and if you can’t afford front of the line passes or the RIP package, going very early in the season is a great way to fight the crowds. They usually start the haunt in early September. 2024 started September 5th and closes out this weekend November 3rd.

Universal has mazes, shows and select rides open throughout the evening but we concentrated on hitting the mazes. We had season passes and each got a general admission ticket to HHN included with our passes. When we arrived , we discovered that we could also purchase, sold separately, an early admission ticket for 1.5 hours ahead of the scheduled open time for the event. For $15, it seemed like a no-brainer. We tried to go area by area as Universal is VERY spread out, hitting the mazes that require a long walk to the backlot early. Recommend hitting this area at the top of the evening rather than the bottom, your feet will thank you (and wear comfy shoes). They had a gorgeous setup for the Dia de Los Muertos in the Plaza with food and adult beverages (a little sad that I did not get a blinking sugar skull glass). The streets were fun, The Luchadores Monstruosos street afforded me some solid jump scares! We got to see only one of the two shows, choosing The Purge over late Night with Chucky as the water show at Universal is always a good time.

Here are our rankings (out of 5) and notes for each maze.

INSIDIOUS: THE FURTHER - T.J. - 2.5 | Dee - 3

Some fun recreations of scenes from the movies but they were just that, the maze kinda lacked in scares. Had some decent effects.

GHOSTBUSTERS: FROZEN EMPIRE - T.J. - 3 | Dee - 3

A couple of surprises, some fun lighting gags and cool production design. Fun monster design.

A QUIET PLACE - T.J. - 4 | Dee - 4

Really cool design and fun scares. The monsters looked awesome.

MONSTROUS 2: THE NIGHTMARES OF LATIN AMERICA - T.J. - 3 | Dee - 3

This was unique and a good time. Showcases Latin American legends, the monsters parents threatened children with if their bad behavior kept up.

UNIVERSAL MONSTERS: ETERNAL BLOODLINES - T.J. - 3.5 | Dee - 3.5

Classic Universal Monsters are always a good time, I loved and was missing one of their older Universal Monster mazes from the early aughts. This maze follows the last of the Van Helsings and her fight against the unholy alliance. Great monsters, fun scares and cool production design.

THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: THE LEGACY OF LEATHERFACE - T.J. - 4 | Dee - 4

This maze celebrates the legacy of Leatherface, the often forgotten horror bro who came first. Great production design, complete with stomach turning body parts and lots of blood.

TERROR TRAM: ENTER THE BLUMHOUSE - T.J. - 2.5 | Dee - 3

We usually love the Terror Tram but this year it was a little unimaginative. I feel like the year The Purge was highlighted on the walk was more enjoyable than this year. Some cool costumes, kinda meh for us, but we did get the usual amount of gas fumes one can expect on the walk. The tram ride part was a much needed and welcome break for our feet.

THE WEEKEND: NIGHTMARE TRILOGY - T.J. - 3 | Dee - 3

Interesting maze. Very artistic with beautiful production design and cool costumes. “I feel like The Weekend was working through some personal shit with this one.” - T.J.

DEAD EXPOSURE: DEATH VALLEY - T.J. - 4.5 | Dee - 4.5

This was a fun one. Very cool animatronics but does showcase scenes with animal testing. Gotta love zombies, they are always a win for me and you can usually get a good scare. Or two…like me! Cool production design, monster design and costumes.

THE PURGE: DANGEROUS WATERS - T.J. - 5 | Dee - 5

Fantastic show, it’s amazing to watch the excellent stunt people at work. Fun, somewhat topical and really a beautifully performed show.

GENERAL TIPS FOR HHN:

  • WEAR WALKING SHOES.

  • START AT THE FURTHEST WALKING POINT TO SAVE YOUR FEET.

  • GRAB HANDHELD FOOD TO EAT IN LINE AND SAVE TIME FOR MORE MAZES.

  • TAKE UNOPENED BOTTLES OF WATER IN WITH YOU TO SAVE A LITTLE MONEY.

  • AVOID THE SMORE, IT WAS PRICEY AND NOT REALLY A SMORE.

  • HIGHLY RECOMMEND THE EARLY ACCESS ADD-ON.

  • UNKIKE MOST HAUNTED ATTRACTIONS, YOU CAN RECORD INSIDE THE MAZES WITHOUT FLASH.

2) REIGN OF TERROR - THOUSAND OAKS, CA

This one is always a staple for us and had a new layout this year. It used to boast 90 something rooms in the attraction but this year, after a remodel, they now boast “11 Inter-Connected Haunted Attractions. State of the Art Effects. 32,000 sq ft. 142 Rooms Full of Fear”. The layout was very different this year with a larger number of rooms being connected to one theme or narrative. Had a great time, as always. There were some good additions, but some old ones were missed. The outside scare actors working the lines were engaging and fun and looked great.

3) BRIMSTONE HAUNT - WILMINGTON, OH

This is a “smaller” haunt across from the local Renaissance Festival. You can get add on tickets to the haunt with Ren-fest tickets for just a little bit more. We went through a couple of them at Christmas time last year and were eager to see it at Halloween. Did not disappoint. Outside scare actors working the line were fun to interact with and cleary loved doing it.

PSYCHOSIS - MAZE - T.J. - 4.5 | Dee - 4.5

Short and sweet but great scares. The design is very tight, note for those with tight space issues. They did very well at creating an atmosphere of tension. Lots of scares, solid scare acting that didn’t just rely on screaming. Theme was a little confusing/inconsistent.

THE BOG - HAUNTED TRAIL - T.J. - 4 | Dee - 4.5

Fantastic trail, lasted about 25 minutes. Great production design and costumes. Less intense than Psychosis but overall well done, the design made you feel claustrophobic, even in open woods (shout out to the cool scene that had you walking through a small school bus). A few good scares, a few missed opportunities (they could have used more scare actors).

HAUNTED HAYRIDE - T.J. - 2.5 | Dee - 2.5

Always fun to be on a classic hayride during the season but this was just ok. A couple of decent scares but suffered from a lack of actors and a lack of scares. Yay for seats!

With all the chaos of life these days, we consider ourselves incredibly lucky to have hit the 3 Haunted Attractions we did but our greedy black hearts want more! The dream is to travel the country from early September through Halloween to have the scariest Halloween season ever. Please make sure to follow and share for free ways to support us in our endeavors.

Wishing you the jumpiest of scares!

The Deemogorgon & T.J.

Denise Pantoja