Planning a trip to Universal Studios Hollywood for Halloween Horror Nights this year? If so, here’s a guide to help you prioritize the must-see haunted houses and which ones to save for when the lines are shorter. The top houses should be your highest priority, while those at the bottom can wait for a shorter queue.

Haunted Houses Ranked

1. Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Legacy of Leatherface

   All while attempting to stay unbaised, this maze truly deserves its spot at the top. It takes you through key moments from each of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre films, introducing you to Bubba on a personal level. This intense haunted house is packed with scares, blood, and plenty of guts—literally. The immersion is heightened by the combination of sounds, visuals, and, yes, even the unsettling smells. The Leatherface scare actors do an incredible job, bringing the infamous character to life around every corner. It's a fitting tribute to the 50th anniversary of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

2. Insidious: The Further

   Undoubtedly the most intense maze of the night, Insidious puts a strong emphasis on jump scares. Encountering the demons from the Insidious series up close creates an unsettling experience, making you feel what the characters in the movies must have felt. Although this maze centers on the most recent Insidious film, it builds on the legacy of the franchise's previous houses. If you're a fan of jump scares, this maze is packed with the most, making it worth bumping up on your list if that's what you're after.

3. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

   I know what everyone’s thinking: how did this end up so high on the list? Ghostbusters as a movie has never been particularly scary, and the most recent film didn’t exactly win over critics. I took all of that into consideration before stepping into this house, but the moment I walked up to Ray’s Occult Book Shop, with the iconic Ghostbusters theme playing, I was hooked. The scare actors were perfectly cast, with impressive lookalikes, including a standout Finn Wolfhard double. While it’s not the scariest experience, it ranks high because of its incredible attention to detail and nostalgic charm. It's not terrifying, but it's visually stunning and worth checking out.

4. Dead Exposure: Death Valley

   Halloween Horror Nights just wouldn’t be complete without zombies, right? Dead Exposure is an original house for Universal Studios Hollywood, centered around a top-secret government facility experimenting to create super soldiers. Naturally, things take an unexpected turn, and what we end up with are neon-lit zombies! Despite having almost no line all night, this maze deserves more attention. It’s a fun, goofy experience packed with entertaining jump scares. The story is simple yet effective, and one bonus is walking through a freezer—perfect for cooling off on a hot night. Definitely worth a visit if you're looking for some lighthearted thrills!

5. The Weeknd: Nightmare Trilogy

   I came for The Weeknd’s first house in 2022, which was an unexpected surprise and a highlight of that year. So, when The Weeknd: Nightmare Trilogy was announced, I had to check it out for myself. While I wasn’t disappointed, it didn’t quite match the excitement of After Hours for me. The biggest issue with this house is the number of empty hallways, which disrupts the overall flow. However, if you enjoyed After Hours, you’ll likely still have fun with Nightmare Trilogy—just don’t expect it to top the original experience.

6. Monstruos 2: The Monsters of Latin America

   It’s tough for me to rank this house so low, especially since I’ve loved every Latin American monster house they’ve done so far. The first Monstruos house was a standout for nearly everyone. This year, though, it just didn’t hit the same for me. The visuals were stunning, the narration was well done, and the animatronics were impressive, but there was a noticeable shortage of scare actors and jump scares. While this allowed for more appreciation of the environment, which is crucial for this house, the overall scare factor just wasn’t as strong as I had hoped.

7. Universal Monsters: Eternal Bloodlines

   Take this one with a grain of salt, as it was the last house I visited that night. Set on the iconic Sound Stage 12 (where The Bride of Frankenstein was filmed), it was a visually stunning experience. Every year, there's a Universal Monsters house, and this year’s Eternal Bloodlines shines a spotlight on female monsters. Featuring a showdown between Dracula’s daughter, the Bride of Frankenstein, and Saskia Van Helsing, this house is packed with vampires, mummies, and werewolves oh my!. However, like the Monstruos house, it lacked in scare factor. Having someone actively fighting off monsters for you takes away from the jump scares. But despite that, this house easily had the best storytelling of the night.

8. A Quiet Place

   A Quiet Place was one of the houses I was most excited about this year. With its unique premise, I was really curious to see how it would translate into a Halloween Horror Nights maze, given the event's usual focus on loud, in-your-face scares—completely opposite of what A Quiet Place is all about. This house broke new ground as the first ever to incorporate ASL, but I felt it could have used a special gimmick to set it apart. While the scare actors did a great job, actively using sign language to tell the story while alien animatronics provided the scares, the reliance on animatronics meant fewer jumps compared to live actors. One improvement I think could have really elevated this experience would be integrating sound recognition. While tricky with the noise levels in a theme park, if they had placed microphones near the aliens and had them react to any sound you made, it would have added a much deeper level of immersion and fear, making this house reach its full potential.

Shows

Aside from the haunted houses, I'll be providing mini-reviews of the two shows available at Halloween Horror Nights, so you can decide if they're worth your time. The shows are The Purge: Dangerous Waters and Late Night with Chucky. (These reviews won’t be in a ranking order.)

The Purge: Dangerous Waters

The Purge: Dangerous Waters—or "Waterworld at night," as some might call it—is a must-see if you’re a fan of the daytime Waterworld show at Universal Studios Hollywood. This show cranks up the intensity with even more explosions and fire than its daytime counterpart. It's an action-packed, delightfully cheesy experience with a bit of gore. The impressive blood effects were a surprise and added to the excitement, making this show a more action-filled and thrilling version of its daytime predecessor.

Late Night With Chucky

The shorter of the two shows this one is easier to sit down and watch, especially because it runs more consistantly through the night than The Purge does. Late Night with Chucky is an interactive comedy show set to feel like a Late Night talk show hosted by you guessed it, Chucky. Before you enter the show there is a QR code that appears where you can ask Chucky some questions. He only picks a few questions so your question may or may not be answered, but either way Chucky is one clever little fella… Don’t tell him I called him little. This show gave me a good laugh and took seemingly no time out of my day so if you want to just take a load off and sit down and laugh, this one will fit your schedule just fine.

Terror Tram: Enter The Blumhouse

Lastly, there’s the Terror Tram, which usually takes you on a daytime tour of movie sets, but takes a sinister turn at night. This year’s theme, centered on Blumhouse movies, felt a bit lacking. Traditionally, there’s a fun story explaining why you’re dropped off, like a tram breakdown or a roadblock, but this time, nothing, no video tie in just some jokes until we got to the drop off zone. The Tram has never been known for its scares, and this year it felt particularly empty. If you can catch it with a short line, it’s worth a visit, but if you miss it, it’s not the end of the world.

All in all, Halloween Horror Nights Hollywood was a success this year. While I have some qualms with some of the houses I think most of them are really good (Texas Chainsaw was good enough to do twice). The shows both are both entertaining and worth a watch, and the tram is… Blumhouse themed. But if we go off of an average, HHN this year was a success!