While Halloween Horror Nights also features well-known horror movie characters at their events, they're also known for making original horror icons as mascots for the event.
As Horror Nights in Hollywood focuses mainly on pre-existing movie licences for their events and promotions, the majority of these characters listed come from the Horror Nights event in Orlando (unless otherwise listed.)
Still heavily under construction.
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The Icons
Jack the Clown
"Not afraid of the dark? You don't know Jack!"
Jack "the Clown" Schmidt
Jack was the first original Icon of the event; and arguably the event's most popular and recognized Icon. His first appearance was in in the event's 10th year in 2000. The artwork for the event's advertising had his face based on the likeness of former Art & Design member J. Michael Roddy; who served a prime role in the creation of the character.Born as Jack Schmidt in the Shady Brook Asylum in the late 1800's, Jack as an adult became a clown working for Dr. Oddfellow's Carnival of Thrills. Jack was a serial killer who had murdered 13 children, and as the police began to close in on Halloween night in 1920, he attempted to enlist Oddfellow's help in hiding the evidence before showing him where he hid the dead children. Rather than bring down the police on the carnival (as Oddfellow himself was wanted for the deaths of several in a freak circus accident), he killed Jack and hid his body along with those of the children inside the carnival's "House of Horrors" exhibit. Several years later, Oddfellow had the carnival sold off and its assets split between numerous people. 60 years later, sometime around the 1980's, a BBC crew doing a documentary on the great dark rides of America in uncovered the "House of Horrors" and accidentally discovered the corpses inside a giant jack-in-the-box. Around the time of Halloween, the crew was found dead, and the van carrying the corpses disappeared into a swamp.
Following that event, numerous urban legend retellings of the tale arised, the legends also stating stories of this clown corpse killing again, in thirst of vengeance against Dr. Oddfellow for his betrayal. The urban legends concluded with the statement that anyone that releases Jack from his oversized jack-in-the-box by turning the crank will receive a "special reward" from the clown himself.
In the year 2000, the "House of Horrors" exhibit was recovered and bought by Universal Studios for their annual Halloween event. Knowing of the urban legend, one employee attempted to put the claim of a "special reward" to the test and turned the crank for the infamous box. Jack, now fully unleashed and back from the dead, proceeded to kill the employee; and in celebration of his return, lead a take over of the entire Florida park in order to create a Halloween event that no one would soon forget.
It would not be long before Jack made his reappearance at the event, as due to 9/11, the 2001 event was toned down and Jack was made the Icon once more, as the originally intended Icon was seen as too violent (Eddie Schmidt, originally intended as Edgar Sawyer before being retconned as Jack's brother).
Jack returned in the 2004 house Horror Night Nightmares, where for the first time he teamed up with not only with the event's newer Icons, but also his brother Eddie (in what was his first actual appearance). He yet again made another appearance in 2005, serving as the barker for a "Rat Run" maze that was used during the event's peak nights. He was back once more for the event's "Sweet 16", having been resurrected a second time along with the other Icons by The Lord of Darkness. He was captured and sent to the Shady Brook Asylum, incidentally reuniting him with his birthplace. Over time, his mere presence began to have a noticeable influence on the inmates; to the point that he was able to rally them to riot and break free along with making him their leader.
Jack made a comeback once again for 2007 event. Having discovered that Dr. Oddfellow is still alive after all these years and running a new travelling carnival, Jack tracked him down and murdered him, finally achieving his revenge. With Oddfellow dead, Jack took over his carnival, turning it into his own twisted utopia. For his new "Carnival of Carnage", he traveled the world to find the most demented freaks imaginable. He eventually managed to recruit Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, and Leatherface to serve as his main sideshows. Along with that, to assist him personally, he recruited his own personal henchmen; Tiny and Chance, the latter of whom would go on to become his girlfriend.
For the event's 20th anniversary in 2010, Jack was made into one of the heralds for the return of the entity known as "Fear", who secretly was behind the happenings of the event all the way from the beginning. As his herald, Jack was the representation of "Chaos". Following the end of Fear's reign, Jack, along with the other heralds were sucked into the entity's lantern, thought to be gone forever.
This would turn out not to be the case, however, as he and the other Icons were released from the lantern by an unknown source. Following his escape, he started his "Carnival of Carnage" again for the event's 25th year, gathering together his own massive legion of "Maniacs" that included Freddy, Jason, the Walkers, the inhabitants of "The Further", all of his fellow Icon "friends", and numerous other characters from the event's past.
After the end of the Carnival, Jack mysteriously vanishes. The only thing that remains of him is a lone Jack-In-The-Box that's kept with the police on an evidence shelf, with it being said that he'll return when someone turns the crank once more.
With official (non-Easter Egg) appearances in houses and scarezones in 2000, 2001, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2015, and 2021, Jack has the most appearances of any Icon with 9. He's also made hidden appearances in houses in 2003, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2016, giving him a total of 14 appearances over the years of Orlando's event.
In all of his media appearances and in most of his in-park appearances, he's been played by stage actor James Keaton since his creation in 2000.
Jack also appeared at Universal Studios Hollywood's Horror Nights event, but with a completely different backstory (simplified to be a horror movie crazed Shady Brook inmate who escaped and was causing trouble on the Universal Studios backlot), but has yet to make another appearance since.
He also made his debut at Universal Studios Singapore's HHN in 2014, holding his own house titled Jack's 3-D Dementia, and a live show known as Jack's Nightmare Circus. He returned to the event in 2016, where he held another show, this time called Jack's Recurring Nightmare Circus.
- Attention Whore: He loves to soak up the spotlight more than any other character the event has created.
- Ax-Crazy: If there's anything he loves more than anything, it's murder.
- Bad Boss: Will kill his own minions if they step out of line, even threatening to do such to Chance at one time.
- Badass Boast: At the start of The Carnage Returns, he essentially proclaims himself the ruler of HHN.Jack: You've forgotten that I am the thing that goes bump in the night. I AM THE BOOGEYMAN! I. AM. HORROR NIGHTS!!!!
- Badass Longcoat: He's had one since 2007.
- Back from the Dead: Twice. First in 2000, then again in 2006.
- Big Bad: Of the event's 2000, 2001, 2007, and 2015 years.
- Borrowed Catchphrase: He borrowed one of the Caretaker's Ironic Nursery Rhymes at one point in his The Carnage Returns show."East is east and west is west, but my good friend the Caretaker said it best. Eenie, meenie, miney... Screw it."
- Bowdlerise: His violent nature was toned down for 2001's event in reaction to 9/11.
- Breakout Villain: No one in the creative department could have ever predicted that he would become as popular as he did.
- Card-Carrying Villain: He's a twisted, blood-thirsty clown, and he won't ever make anyone forget that.
- Character Catchphrase:
- "Not afraid of the dark?"
- "You don't know Jack!"
- "Jack is back!"
- "No more clowning around!"
- "It's time to think outside of the box!"
- "I always get the last laugh!"
- "What the shit?!"
- Circus of Fear: His "Carnival of Carnage".
- Cold-Blooded Torture: Naturally inflicts this on many of his victims, both physical and psychological.
- Comedic Sociopathy: He managed to make several of his kills in the Carnival of Carnage shows quite amusing.
- Deadpan Snarker: Most of his jokes are delivered this way.
- Death Is Cheap: As mentioned earlier, he's been killed and brought back more than once.
- Diabolical Mastermind: Especially with how he's able to keep a carnival filled with the worst of the worst running without any real interference from the authorities.
- Dissonant Laughter: There are times when he laughs without really anything having happened.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Despite the occasional abuse he puts Chance through, he does seem to legitimately care about her.
- Even Evil Has Standards: In certain showings of 2015's The Carnage Returns show, he would pick on a child in the audience, and when he learns the age of the child, he would turn to the parent and mock them for bringing their kid to the event.
- Eviler than Thou: He considers himself the king of Horror Nights, basically.
- Evil Feels Good: He loves being him.
- Evil Is Hammy: He knows how to take a bite out of the scenery while doing his thing.
- Evil Laugh: All the time, to the point that you could hear him laughing in between much of the background music throughout HHN 25.
- Evil Redhead: Always sports his orange clown hair.
- Flanderization: He started off as being a mostly dark and scary villain with a bit of a comedic side, though over the years that comedic side has been emphasized greatly.
- For the Evulz: The basic motivation for everything he does.
- He's Back!: His returns to the event are usually treated as a big deal; after all, "Jack is back" is one of his catchphrases.
- Humongous-Headed Hammer: In 2007's Carnage of Carnage show, he smashes a girl's head to pieces with a giant mallet.
- The Hyena: Laughs very frequently, which makes sense since he's a clown.
- Ironic Nursery Tune: Comes naturally with his jack-in-the-box, which plays a creepier version of "Pop Goes the Weasel".
- Jerkass: Along with being a murderer, he also loves making up the most creative insults to hurl at people around him.
- Large Ham: More or less on The Joker's level.
- Laughably Evil: His character has become more and more humorous in his recent appearances.
- Leitmotif: If you hear a creepy instrumental version of "Pop Goes the Weasel", you can usually expect him to be around the corner.
- Light Is Not Good: His white makeup certainly should not be an indicator of anything good.
- Monster Clown: An undead clown that killed dozens in his life and afterlife, he is a monster through and through.
- Murder the Hypotenuse: In the finale of the Carnival of Carnage show, he kills Dr. Pennetti for attempting to seduce Chance.
- Obviously Evil: He pretty much has every single aspect of an evil clown nailed down.
- One-Shot Character: For Halloween Horror Nights Hollywood, he only appeared in 2007's event and never made another appearance there.
- Practically Joker: Like The Joker, he's an Ax-Crazy Laughably Evil Large Ham Monster Clown.
- Put the "Laughter" in "Slaughter": As implied earlier, murder is something he finds to really be a laugh riot.
- Repulsive Ringmaster: What he becomes after he kills Oddfellow and takes his place.
- Sadist: You should've figured that one out already.
- Scary Teeth: Please don't make him smile.
- Serial Killer: He's killed countless of children and adults throughout his evil career.
- Sidekick: Chance and Tiny have served as his cohorts in both Carnival of Carnage and The Carnage Returns.
- Slasher Smile: Just look at any image of him.
- Supernatural Gold Eyes: His yellow eyes only help to drive home the point that he's undead.
- The Unapologetic: He is who he is, a psychopathic murderous clown.
- Wolverine Publicity: Over all of the other icons for the event.
- Would Hurt a Child: 13, in fact.
The Caretaker
"Ah, the smell of death gives you a chill
It is even stronger from a fresh kill
Try to run from me and lose your way
I'm right behind you, here to stay."
It is even stronger from a fresh kill
Try to run from me and lose your way
I'm right behind you, here to stay."
Dr. Albert Caine, a.k.a. The Caretaker
Dr. Albert Caine was once a respected surgeon who worked as the caretaker of the Shady Oaks Cemetery in Willamette Valley, Ohio. Converting his Victorian-style mansion into a funeral parlor and mortuary, Caine became obsessed with the concept of the soul, digging up bodies to experiment on. He began tricking homeless people into staying at his mansion so that he could perform live autopsies. He grew more and more insane, performing experiments on fear, pain, and the limits of the human mind. His family held grisly dinner parties with the corpses and his psychopathic assistants stole body parts to make into dinner ingredients. One night, some teenagers walking through the graveyard saw the Caines dancing with bodies in their parlor, and they were placed under house arrest. An angry mob of local families burned down the house with the family in it, but the bodies were not recovered.Initially the Icon for 2002 was Cindy Bearer, daughter of the mortician Paul Bearer (who made extra money selling human flesh from butcher shops), and the event was based around her demented mind and playthings. A rash of child kidnappings in the area led to Cindy being scrapped (though she would reappear in 2006 as a corpse and later as a full character in 2010), and her father was given the reins to become Dr. Caine. He would appear again in 2003 with a sequel to his famous house, Screamhouse, and again in 2004, 2006, 2010, 2015, and 2021. Along with all that, a little-known fact is that The Caretaker was also the icon of PortAventura's Halloween event in 2003
, before Universal sold their stake in the park. This made him the first icon to be used outside Orlando's event.
In the commercials for the 2002 event, he was portrayed by actor Hank Stone, and in many of his in-park appearances he was portrayed by Bryce Ward.
Despite his name, he isn't exactly an example of The Caretaker. While he does take care of his adopted daughter Cindy, he doesn't do it in a way that helps her, as he's just as, if not more insane than she is.
- And Show It to You: He performed this during the opening show at Halloween Horror Nights: Islands of Fear.
- Badass in a Nice Suit: Always has a formal suit on when doing his killings.
- Big Bad: Of 2002's event, as in that year he ruled over all of the "Islands of Fear".
- Buried Alive: Implied with some of his vitcims.
- The Cameo:
- He made an Easter Egg appearance as a mannequin in The Cabin in the Woods house from 2013.
- In 2016, he made yet another Easter Egg appearance in the Krampus house. His home could be seen in one of Krampus' snow globes, and if you looked closely, you could see him looking out of one of the windows.
- Catchphrase:
- "Your time has come."
- "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe. Catch a body by the toe. If he hollers, cut him low. Eeny, meeny, miny...moe."
- "I know what evil lurks in the hearts of men..."
- Cold-Blooded Torture: Through his "live autopsies".
- Creepy Blue Eyes: Varies, sometimes they can be foggy-white.
- Creepy Mortician: Could possibly be considered a defining example.
- Crusty Caretaker: Subverted. Despite his appearance, he's very well-spoken and calm.
- Disposable Vagrant: He performed most of his sick and twisted experiments on the homeless people that he would invite into his house.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": He's almost always referred to as "The Caretaker".
- Evil Genius: Appears to be the most intelligent out of all the icons, having a large depth of knowledge when it comes to human anatomy.
- Evil Laugh: His laugh can vary. Sometimes it's a soft and quiet laugh... and other times it's a full-blown evil laugh.
- Evil Old Folks: What he appears to be, though it hasn't been made clear whether he's elderly or just middle-aged.
- Evil Overlooker: An image of the Caretaker menacingly overlooking the Islands of Adventure park was used in both marketing and merchandising in 2002.
- Evil Wears Black: Is never seen without his black suit.
- Grave Robbing: He and his family would steal the buried corpses from a nearby cemetery for a variety of uses.
- Iconic Item: The aforementioned surgical clamp/claw.
- I'm a Humanitarian: He utilized certain body parts of his victims as dinner ingredients.
- Ironic Nursery Tune: The Caretaker really loves this trope.
- In the commercial for 2002's event, he quietly does the "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe..." tune while picking out which tool he'll use to cut his victim open.
- A more rare commercial for the event in 2002 has him doing the "This little piggy..." tune while looking over his covered up victims.
- Before killing another one of his victims, he does a dark variant of the "Hush, little baby, don't you say a word..." tune.
- In the commercial for 2002's event
- Large Ham: When he's about to kill someone, he really loves to express himself.
- Mad Doctor/Mad Scientist: In the past, he did many horrific experiments on his victims.
- Name of Cain: His name is Albert Caine, and as is evident from his other tropes he's not a pleasant person to be around unless you want to be thoroughly creeped out at best and tortured to death at worst.
- Nightmare Face: Just check out the image on the event's Nightmare Fuel page if you don't believe us.
- Obviously Evil: According to the event in 2010, he's meant to essentially be the personification of death.
- One-Shot Character: 2003 was his only appearance at PortAventura's Halloween event. Justified since Universal gave up their ownership of the park the following year.
- Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: At the end of his nursery rhyme: "Daddy says... IT'S. TIME. TO. DIE!!!"
- Sadist: Like with Jack, this one shouldn't be too hard to figure out.
- Serial Killer: A given with all of the lives he's claimed.
- Shear Menace: The gigantic surgical clamp/claw he uses.
- Slasher Smile: The image shown to right and the one on the Nightmare Fuel page are pretty clear indicators of this.
- Soft-Spoken Sadist: Most of the time, except for sometimes when he's just about to go in for the kill.
- Strapped to an Operating Table: His victims just before he tortures and kills them.
The Director
"My actors only get one take. It's a short take."
Paulo "The Director" Ravinski
Paulo Ravinski was born in Eastern Europe, occupying his time shooting birds with a BB gun and recording their deaths on film. Inevitably, he became a snuff film director well known throughout the underground circles of Europe, but his first project, The Widow's Eye, was controversial enough to result in him being forced out of his country to flee to America. Paulo was hired in 2003 to direct Halloween Horror Nights, but he turned it into his dream project and began populating the park with real horrors.The Director was the Icon for 2003 and would later appear in 2004, 2006, 2010, 2015, and 2021. He was also chosen by Universal Studios Hollywood (under the name Pavel Pranevsky) in 2006 as the Icon for their new Halloween Horror Nights event, which had gone through two short runs in the 90s beforehand. Hollywood slightly changed the character: he was banned from ever setting foot in Universal Studios after executives saw his graphic films, but he took up residence on an abandoned backlot set and took over the park during October. His voice was also changed from a light American accent to a gravelly, indeterminately Eastern European one. The Director (with a different actor) appeared as the Icon for Singapore's inaugural Horror Nights event. He along with Jack are the only two Icons to have appeared at all three events.
In the commercials for the Orlando event, he was portrayed by actor/music artist Gianni Garofalo.
- Ax-Crazy: If he believes that someone's death is required to further his films, you can bet he'll go through with it.
- Big Bad: The idea behind 2003's event is that he took control over the Islands of Adventure park and made it into his own twisted film set, where guests were forced to take part in each of his productions.
- Camera Fiend: His camera will come along with him no matter where he goes.
- Creepy Blue Eyes: Sometimes, they can be pure white, however.
- Crossover: Both of his houses in Halloween Horror Nights XIII and XVI consist of his "cuts" of famous horror films such as The Silence of the Lambs.
- Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette
- Electrified Bathtub: He has done this kill multiple times: first for the HHN 13 commercial, then for "The Arrival" show at Sweet 16, and finally at HHN 25 in the "Icons" scare zone.
- Enforced Method Acting: Though he kills his victims most of the time, there are a few occasions where he'll just film their sheer terror without killing them; such as in the Infestation show, where he basically did his own little version of Fear Factor by placing a glass box over a volunteer's head before dropping a variety of creepy-crawlies into said box.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": He's referred to as "The Director" most of the time.
- Evil Wears Black: Always has a black suit on.
- Expy: His character appears to be strongly inspired by Mark Lewis from Peeping Tom, who just like The Director is a serial killer obsessed with the art of film.
- Finger-Forced Smile: He does a super-twisted variation of this for the 2003 commercial. He forces a terrified jester to smile by impaling two hooks into each of his cheeks and then pulling said hooks upwards. The jester's real emotions are made very clear when a close-up shot shows a single tear coming out of his eye.
- Finger Framing: The commercials and many of the promotional images for 2003's event showed him doing this.
- Large Ham: Not to the same extent as some of the other icons, but he still has his over-the-top moments.
- Leitmotif: "You Oughta Be in Pictures" (usually the Boswell Sisters version) is the song you'll always hear when he's filming.
- Nightmare Face: His Slasher Smile on the picture above.
- Obviously Evil: Let's just say he's not someone you'd want to see in a dark alley.
- Off with His Head!: In one of the radio ads for 2003's event, he films someone getting decapitated by a guillotine.
- One-Shot Character: At both Hollywood and Singapore's events.
- Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: At Hollywood's event, there was a bit of an inconsistency over how The Director sounded. The Terror Tram along with some of the ads for that year depicted him with an Eastern European accent, while other ads had him with his normal accent.
- Primal Fear: He tapped into this with his Infestation show from 2003, where he would place a glass box over a participant's head and drop in spiders, scorpions, and the like.
- Serial Killer: His exact body count isn't known, but it appears that he's killed many while making his movies.
- Slasher Smile: Just look at the picture!
- Snuff Film: He is an auteur of the genre, as seen in his promotional adverts for Halloween Horror Nights XIII.
- The Sociopath: He views the murdering of innocents as a means to an end when it comes to making his films.
- Soundtrack Dissonance: "You Oughta Be in Pictures", as said above.
- Trouble Entendre: If he should ever ask you to be a part of a "final cut".
- Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: According to his backstory, his first step into the world of snuff films was shooting birds with a BB gun and filming their last moments with his father's camera at age 8.
- The Un-Smile: He can be seen smiling frequently, but for all the wrong reasons.
The Storyteller
"Once upon a nightmare I told a story... and the tales that I tell are rather gory."
Elsa "The Storyteller" Strict
Elsa Strict has the least backstory out of all of the Icons, to the point where the actresses playing her in 2010 would threaten anyone who asked of her past. What is known is that she was the Icon for 2005, with the park transformed into the world of Terra Cruentus from one of her storybooks; in The Lord of the Rings-meets-steampunk world, she appeared only in a house completely unrelated to the world.The Storyteller would reappear in 2006, 2010, 2015, and 2021.
- Anvil on Head: She does a dark version of this for the commercial of her year. She has a man strapped on top of a bed of nails, with a tied-up anvil hanging above him. After dropping a couple of quips, she cuts the line for the anvil, sending it plummeting towards him as he lets out a horrific scream. The subsequent Gory Discretion Shot leaves the clear implication that the impact of the anvil forced him down into said bed of nails.
- Catchphrase: "No one will live happily ever after!"
- Creepy Blue Eyes: Her eyes take on a very light blue color.
- Diabolus ex Nihilo: The Storyteller has no backstory as of this time. She only exists.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": In 2005's event, she was only known as "The Storyteller". Her actual name (Elsa Strict) wasn't revealed until 2006's event.
- Evil Laugh: She did one in full-force at the end of her mini-show in 2015's Icons - HHN zone.
- Evil Old Lady: A very clear example. Despite her age, she commits murder just as much as the other icons.
- Evil Wears Black: She wears a black dress with white accessories.
- Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Always wears glasses, especially when ripping out someone's tongue.
- Greater-Scope Villain: She was the one behind everything in 2005's event, being the "storyteller" of it all.
- Leitmotif: "Haunted Nursery", by Midnight Syndicate.
- Obviously Evil: She's the embodiment of all the psychopathic grandma tropes.
- Starter Villain: In a way. Despite being featured in the promotions for Halloween Horror Nights XV, The Storyteller was only the one through whom the events of HHN XV happened. Although, she did appear in a house of her own.
- Tongue Trauma: One of her favourite "tricks".
- If asked of her backstory during Halloween Horror Nights XX, she would threaten to tear the inquirer's tongue out.
- During The Arrival, a show during Halloween Horror Nights: Sweet 16, the Storyteller pulled a guy's tongue off.
- She reprises the act for 2015's "Icons - HHN" scare zone.
The Usher
"Buy a ticket to the Universal Palace, and let me usher you into an experience you will never, ever forget. Tickets please."
Julian "The Usher" Browning
Julian Browning was an usher at the Universal Palace Theater who was obsessed with film, becoming something of an expert; he was also very strict on following the rules of the theater. During a 1940 re-release of his favorite movie, The Phantom of the Opera, he engaged in a scuffle with a rude patron and his flashlight was thrown through the screen. Going backstage to retrieve it, he became tangled in ropes left over from the theater's stage days and was strangled to death. During the rest of the theater's run, Julian's spirit became the physical image of the theater and its methods of killing patrons who violated various rules.The Usher was the Icon in 2009, though he was overshadowed in advertising by The Wolfman (2010), Chucky, and Billy. He is the only HHN Icon to not appear in a television advertisement nor have any dedicated merchandise. He reappeared with several other icons in 2010, 2015, and 2021.
- Affably Evil: When he's not killing rule breakers, he seems to be a pretty nice yet extremely creepy guy.
- Anti-Villain: He is one of the few Horror Nights characters that does not kill innocents, rather instead he kills anyone that violates the rules of the theater, such as talking during the movie, using cell phones, being obnoxious in general, and so on.
- Berserk Button: The Usher really hates it when theater rules aren't followed."She is a proud and dignified lady, one that demands the proper respect and authority. She will not be insulted and rude behavior will not be tolerated... ever."
- Big Bad: Of 2009's event, where he brought all of the guests through the screens of the Universal Palace Theater and into a variety of different horror films.
- Catchphrase: "Tickets, please!"
- Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: He has brown hair, though it's hard to see under his usher hat.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Similar to several of the other Icons, he's most commonly referred to as "The Usher".
- Evil Laugh: Every now and then he'll do a sinister cackle.
- Improbable Weapon User: He uses his own flashlight as a weapon, and has surprisingly proved it to be very effective. During his entry gate video in 2009's event, he impaled a disrespectful theater patron through the mouth with it, and in his mini-show for 2015's Icons - HHN, he killed another theater patron by repeatedly bashing him over the head with it.
- Large Ham: He basically makes an entire buffet out of the scenery.
- Leitmotif: The theater intermission song, "Let's All Go to the Lobby".
- Never Hurt an Innocent: He is the only Horror Nights villain that will not harm anyone that's innocent, instead targeting those that violate the rules of the Universal Palace Theater.
- Revenge: Represents Vengeance for Halloween Horror Nights XX.
- Soft-Spoken Sadist: Unlike characters such as Jack, he goes about killing people very calmly, never shouting.
- Soundtrack Dissonance: "Let's All Go to the Lobby" certainly does not give off that same cheerful feeling when played in his presence.
- Tongue Trauma: He once ripped out the tongue of one of his victims and stuffed it into his popcorn.
- Tragic Villain: He was merely a passionate theater usher that got killed while trying to do his job.
Fear
"What has been tradition shall forever be changed!"
Fear/Adaru
The very embodiment of Fear itself, Fear is Adaru, the Sumerian God of Fear. All prior icons were his puppets: Chaos (Jack), Death (The Caretaker), Sacrifice (The Director), Legend (The Storyteller), and Vengeance (The Usher). Fear was unleashed in 2010 when 20 photographs detailing previous event years were found to have strange burn marks, and when combined accidentally (maybe) unleashed the demon into the world.Fear was the Icon for 2010, which was the twentieth anniversary of the event. He was one of the few characters that did not return for the event's 25th year, though one of his lantern-minions did in the Icons - HHN zone, suggesting his influence is still very-much present. In 2021, the 30th anniversary event, this influence is confirmed, as he holds captive the other event Icons in his lantern as seen in the house “HHN Icons: Captured.”
- Greater-Scope Villain: He's responsible for the previous icons in the past events.
- Knight of Cerebus: The entire year of XX was about him bringing forth a new era of darkness.
- Eldritch Abomination: He's the living personification of fear.
- Eyeless Face: He has no eyes, just two big gaping holes.
- Large and in Charge: In addition to being the leader of the Icons, he's way taller than any of them as well.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Well, his name IS "Fear"... note
- Monster Progenitor: Being a super-demon, he has the ability to form together whatever horrifying creature he imagines.
- Obviously Evil: Comes naturally with representing all that is fear in life.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: Was within the lamp until Legendary Truth released him.
Lady Luck
"Some find my ways so puzzling, the purpose of my games. But it is so simple really... I am a lady through and through, and Luck is my last name."
In a twist on the usual version of the character, Lady Luck is merely the personification of bad luck. She appears whenever a choice is to be made and pushes the victims into making a poor choice, often resulting in their death or ruination. The backstory of every house is tied into luck or the victims making the wrong choice, and the website games to reveal the backstory were activated by picking the same choice that the victims made. Lady Luck returned for the event's 25th year, where she and her minions served as some of many of Jack's "Maniacs" in his new Carnival of Carnage. She would also return for the event’s 30th year in 2021.
Lady Luck was the Icon for 2011, played by Sallie Glaner in the promotional material.
- Alliterative Name: Lady Luck.
- Big Bad: She caused all the backstories of the houses within Halloween Horror Nights XXI to occur.
- Big Eater/I'm a Humanitarian: Her backstory reveals that she will frequently eat the remains of her victims.
- Chainsaw Good: She wielded a chainsaw for a very brief time in the 2015 Icons - HHN zone.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: Shown torturing a man on a roulette wheel in the adverts.
- Demoted to Extra: In 2015's Icons - HHN scarezone, she was not given a stage like the other Icons were, and was treated as more of a secondary character.
- Evil Laugh: In the commercials for 2011, she laughs evilly all throughout her torturing of a male victim.
- Evil Redhead: Sports long red hair, except for when she shapeshifts into other humans.
- Femme Fatale: She's an attractive evil spirit that will kill and often devour anyone that bets against her and loses.
- The Gambler: She's the spirit of Lady Luck herself, making this one a given. If you lose against her, the cost is your life.
- Historical Villain Upgrade: Was disguised as, if not actually being, Queen Isabella of Spain who caused the pain of "The Forsaken" house to occur when she flipped a coin for Columbus and a rival captain, leading to the latter and his men to become cursed.
- Jump Scare: Like Bloody Mary, her adverts have featured a lot of these.
- Leitmotif: "Luck be a Lady", by Frank Sinatra.
- Sadist Teacher: In a sense, as one of her forms was the college professor of "The In-Between" backstory that offered her student the choice of messing with a relic/dimensional portal, knowing he would do it.
- Shapeshifting Seducer: The backstory for all of the houses mention that she appeared in the form of another human to give the characters of each house a choice to make.
- Slasher Smile: Much of the marketing depicted her with such.
- Soundtrack Dissonance: The aforementioned "Luck be a Lady" song.
- Voluntary Shapeshifter: Appears as many forms such as a World War I recruitment poster, a college professor, and
Queen Isabella of Spain.
Chance
Click here to see her "Asylum" look
"Take a chance. I dare you."
Jack's personal harlequin henchwoman and girlfriend who tends to be almost as psychopathic and blood-thirsty as him.
She first appeared in the 2007 Carnival of Carnage show, where she, along with Dr. Pennetti and "Tiny" was one Jack's close minions that assisted him in his murders of various patrons. After this, she appeared again with Jack in 2010, having now truly become his girlfriend.
Her next appearance would be in 2015 at Jack's new "Carnival of Carnage", where, along with getting a design change, she ascended to full-on The Dragon status over Jack's many "Maniacs". In The Carnage Returns show from that same year, she again helped Jack with his murders, this time having much more involvement in things.
She would soon ascend to full-Icon status in 2016, where the story picks up after 2015's event. After the end of the Carnival of Carnage, Chance ends up being captured and thrown into the Shady Brook Asylum for her involvement in the carnival. While waiting in her cell for Jack's inevitable return, she enters her own "theatre of the mind", where all of her twisted fantasies come to life.
Along with the other Icons, she would reappear for the event’s 30th anniversary year in 2021.
In all of her media appearances as well as in the two aforementioned shows, she has been portrayed by Erin Nicole Cline.
- Anti-Humor: 2015's show has this little moment when she's talking to one of her victims, before subverting it the show's very last performance.Chance: Do you like jokes, Amanda? You're going to love this one! What's funny about knife? NOTHING!
- Ax-Crazy: As mentioned earlier, she shares Jack's desire for maximum bloodshed.
- Bait-and-Switch: In the final showing of The Carnage Returns (that had an audience composed almost entirely of people that had seen it before), Chance takes her usual "What's funny about a knife?" line into a completely different direction; instead of ending it on an Anti-Humor note, she instead goes off into a tangent where she lists the several things funny about a knife.Chance: Do you like jokes, Amanda? You're going to love this one! What's funny about a knife?Audience: NOTHING!!!Chance: Actually... um, there's a few things funny about a knife. The blood, the screams, that funny little sound that the flesh makes when you tear it... but you wanna know my favorite part!?Audience: What?Chance: "Just the tip."
- Batter Up!: She kills a victim (that's said to have been an internet troll) in the 2015 show by hitting him in the face with a baseball bat (with nails in it).Chance: Who's on first, what's on second...Jack: What about the shortstop?Chance: I. DON'T. GIVE. A. DAMN!!!!
- Big Bad: She was made the event icon in 2016, with the theme of the event being that the guests are entering her own twisted mind.
- Chainsaw Good: She wielded one towards the climax of the original 2007 show.
- Catchphrase: The 2016 event gave her a lot of phrases that she would frequently repeat.
- Costume Evolution: She's gone through three costume changes so far.◊
- Cute and Psycho: Do not let her high-pitched voice fool you.
- Decapitation Presentation: She finishes the internet troll by ripping his already-dislodged head right out, which Jack then presents before the audience.Chance: Poor troll... he seems to have LOST. HIS. HEAD!!!!
- The Ditz: She has traces of this, especially when in The Carnage Returns she fails to realize that Amanda, one of her victims, won't talk to her because she's already dead.
- Don't Explain the Joke: In her park spiel for 2016's event, she at one point states her Catchphrase, "You won't stand a chance!", and then proceeds to point out in lengthy detail why it's a clever play-on-words of her name.
- The Dragon: For Jack.
- Dragon Ascendant: As has already been mentioned, she rose to full-on Big Bad status in 2016 following Jack's disappearance.
- Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Though for a while her hair color varied wildly between brown, black, and blonde.
- Evil Laugh: Nowhere near as often as Jack, but she still does it frequently.
- Expy: She is blatantly the Harley Quinn to Jack's Joker, right down to the high-pitched voice. In 2015's The Carnage Returns show, she even at one point refers to Jack as "puddin'", as Harley would to the Joker. Despite the obvious similarities however, Erin Nicole Cline, the actress that primarily portrays the character, has mentioned that she originally had no idea who Harley Quinn was when she first started playing the character and stated that she mostly based her performance off of Baby Firefly from House of 1000 Corpses.
- Facial Horror: The diamond-shaped makeup around her eyes became two big scars in her 2015 appearance.
- The Ghost: At Singapore's event. She does not make an appearance in Jack's Nightmare Circus show, but is briefly mentioned at one point by Jack.
- Giggling Villain: She does this often, particularly in her spiel that could be heard around the park in 2016's event; where she does a sinister yet playful-sounding giggle in-between most of her dialogue.
- Glasgow Grin: Something she has had since her first appearance, with it becoming more and more noticeable with each redesign she goes through.
- Hearing Voices: In her 2016 scarezone, A Chance In Hell, she would frequently converse with her own mental voice while on stage.
- Journey to the Center of the Mind: The entire theme of 2016's event has guests wandering into Chance's own demented mind, which is set up as a theatre where she's the main star.
- Karma Houdini: Averted, as 2016's backstory reveals that she was eventually captured and incarcerated for her involvement in the Carnival of Carnage.
- "Knock Knock" Joke: Something that she would often do in her park-wide spiel for 2016's event.Knock Knock!Who's there?Homicidal maniac!
- Ms. Fanservice: To the point that the first thing that's shown on the video screen in The Carnage Returns is a close-up of her cleavage.
- Multiple-Choice Past: Her full backstory has never been made clear, although in her A Chance In Hell scarezone, the story she would usually state when asked about her past is that when Jack was searching the globe for things to add into his Carnival of Carnage, she was one of the things he took notice of and decided to take make her a part of his crew. She would also mention that prior to meeting Jack, she used to be a dancer that went insane somehow.
- Of Corsets Sexy: Her 2015 outfit played this trope very straightly.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: "Chance" is the only name given to her, as her actual name has never been revealed.
- Perky Female Minion: What she is to Jack, something that comes naturally with her similarities to Harley Quinn.
- Psychopathic Womanchild: She's a grown-up who goes about killing and maiming with a creepy amount of child-like innocence.
- Punny Name: Since the inception of the character, her name is quite commonly used as a play on words; what with one-liners like "You don't stand a chance!" and "Do you want to take a chance with Chance?"
- Serial Killer: In 2016's A Chance In Hell scarezone, she would sometimes casually mention that she's murdered about 300 people so far.
- Sexy Jester: A very straightforward example.
- Supernatural Gold Eyes: Her redesigned look in 2015 gives her yellow eyes, though it's not yet known whether she has any supernatural connections besides being involved with Jack.
- Villainous Breakdown: In The Carnage Returns, she reacts with extreme rage when she converses with Amanda and doesn't get a response, which leads to her screaming at the top of her lungs.Chance: You know, Amanda, there was this one time when I- Honey, look at me when I'm talking to you, that's very rude. Amanda... (throws knife) HELLO?! Why aren't you talking to me?! (throws another knife) WHY. ARE. YOU. IGNORING. ME?!?! (throws one more knife) AMMMMMMMAAAAAAANNNNNDDDDDDDDAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!
- Villainous Harlequin: She initially started off like this when she made her first appearance in 2007, possessing a very childlike and ditsy kind of personality. But over time, she was was made into a much more significant threat, along with being given far more darker and murderous characteristics - though at times she'll still display traces of her original childlike self.
The Master of Puppets
The Daughter of the Dead, The Maiden of the Opera and The Crone of the Forest
The Minister of Evil
Submit to my rule, and we will rise FOR ETERNITY!
The icon for Universal Studios Singapore's Halloween Horror Nights 4. Military hero Jonah Goodwill was elected to become the first World Leader, with his opponent, finance titan Walter Bale losing by a landslide. At the inauguration for world leader, many protesters rallied, all of them calling out Goodwill and calling him a tyrant and an evil monster. Upon stepping out of the limo and taking the stage, the mob booed and shouted, trying to get past riot police squads. Ignoring the crowd and taking the stage and waving to his supporters, Jonah announced, "Citizens of the world, you were wise to elect me! I hereby stand as the first World Leader! Submit to my rule, and we will rise FOR ETERNITY!" Suddenly, two protesters broke through and opened fired at the newly elected ruler. Suddenly, the man stood up and revealed his true form: a horned demon with huge, bat-like wings. With a snap of his fingers, he set the two protesters on fire and declared that his rule has begun.- Hate Sink: Nobody likes him. But when the people tried to rebel against him and even tried to assassinate him, he showed his true form and... well, let's just say the riot police weren't needed.
- Non-Indicative Name: There is not much good will in his heart, evidently.
- Take Over the World: And he did it in a heartbeat!
Dr. Oddfellow
Who wishes for IMMORTALITY!?!?!
"I promise these can unhinge your soul and prepare you for something more: Power! Immortality! That is what I'm offering".
Dr. Rich Oddfellow
The icon for Universal Studios Orlando 2023. In 1920, he was the owner of a carnival whom Jack the Clown was employed at, until it was revealed the clown was responsible for the deaths of thirteen children. Dr. Oddfellow, himself wanted for causing a freak circus accident, murdered Jack and hid his body in the carnival's house of horror. Years later, Jack rose from the dead and took his revenge, killing Oddfellow and taking his Cane of Souls, the source of his power. However, in 2023, Oddfellow came back from the dead and took his cane back from Jack, taking over Halloween Horror Nights for himself. His new backstory reveals that he has been around for hundreds of years, using the Cane of Souls as a way to preserve his immortality.- Greater-Scope Villain: He's the reason Jack became a Monster Clown.
- Magic Staff: His silver-headed Cane of Souls is the source of his power.
- Scary Black Man: He is revealed to be an African American man who has done a lot of immoral things to preserve his own immortality.
- Repulsive Ringmaster: He was one even before he became immortal.
- Tarot Motifs: One of the magics he uses is the use of Tarot Cards.
- Unseen No More: He was originally part of Jack the Clown's origin story until he became fleshed out and became an Icon.
- Zodiac Motifs: One of the magics he ues is based off of both the Eastern and Western Zodiacs.
Semi-Icons
Eyegore
- Eye Scream: If his name wasn't enough of a hint, just look at the picture to the right.
- Green and Mean: His entire body is covered in green fur.
- Horns of Villainy: Has two small green horns.
- Killer Rabbit: Though he looks kind of cute in a way, don't let that fool you.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: With the exception of his black pupils, his eyes are entirely blood-red.
- Scary Teeth: On top of all of his other typical monster-aspects, he has razor sharp teeth.
Eddie Schmidt
"I see you..."
The younger and just as demented brother of Jack, noted for his restraint mask, chainsaw, and subtle clown paint on his face.Eddie AKA Edgar Dice Slay was originally Edgar Sawyer, a psychopathic and obsessive horror movie fan who was scarred and driven to vengeance and murder when bullying teens from his trailer park burned down his home with him inside it. His backstory and name was then altered due to several corporate-based conflicts, as he was deemed too similar to the murderous family from the The Texas Chainsaw Massacre because of him also having "Sawyer" as his last name, and one of the Vivendi executives at the time, Edgar Bronfman Jr., was less-than-amused at having one of the event's killer icons share the same name as him. For these reasons, he was turned into Eddie Schmidt, Jack's younger yet more vicious brother.
Originally intended to be the Icon for Halloween Horror Nights XI, Eddie would've performed a hostile takeover of the event from Jack, hanging him and slicing his head off shortly after; and then finally proclaim the event his, promising it to be "more gorier than ever before." However, everything then changed, as due to the devastating occurrence of 9/11/2001, the event in general that year was toned down to avoid offending anyone, with almost all traces of blood, gore, and death being removed; replaced with a more traditional fantasy-kind of horror. This lead to Eddie himself being scrapped as the icon, with executives feeling that he looked too much like a terrorist. He was replaced with the return of Jack the Clown that year, who fits in with the more "fantasy-horror" theme they were going for.
These sudden changes resulted in much marketing confusion, as advertisements and merchandise with Eddie's likeness had already been produced and it was too late and costly to pull all of them. In a move many found baffling, marketing simply stated that this masked man was Jack, and it was just an alternate look for him. Fans obviously did not buy this, knowing about the Eddie character and the fact that he did not look even remotely like Jack, which lead to a bit of backlash; criticizing what they viewed as a knee-jerk reaction.
Eddie being Jack himself was ultimately retconned after this event and the two were made separate characters again in 2004, where Eddie was one of the main characters in the Horror Night Nightmares house, which had a whole room dedicated to him. Despite being counted as an icon in 2004, he wounded up being demoted to simply a major character in 2006, in which he received his own house titled RUN: Hostile Territory, which was about running his own torture-house business following the bankruptcy of his and Jack's original "RUN" game show. He would reappear again with other icons again in 2010, celebrating the return of Fear. He once more appeared in 2015, serving as one of Jack's "Maniacs". The Body Collectors: Recollections house from that same year reveals that he was born along with Jack inside the Shadybrook Asylum in the late 1800's. In 2021, for the event’s 30th anniversary, Eddie would get his own spotlight scare zone with “Lights, Camera, Hacktion: Eddie’s Revenge.”
- Ax-Crazy: In order to emulate his personal movie slasher heroes, he kills just as much as they do.
- Catchphrase: I.C.U. note
- Chainsaw Good: A chainsaw is his preferred weapon, in homage to Leatherface from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
- Creepy Souvenir: His room in 2004's Horror Night Nightmares shows that he collects the ripped-off faces of his victims.
- Demoted to Extra: Despite being cut in 2001, he was still treated as one of the icons as a wink to the fans. Come 2006, the decision was made to no longer include him among the icons.
- Facial Horror: Along with his serious burn scars, his mask has been permanently fused to his face.
- Hunting the Most Dangerous Game: The premise of his show RUN wherein contestants flee for their lives while attempting to avoid murder by Eddie and his associates.
- Messy Hair: His hair is very unkempt-looking, an obvious way of alluding to how unstable he is.
- Monster Clown: At least partially with the small bits of clown makeup he wears.
- Multiple-Choice Past: Because of him being changed to be Jack's brother, his backstory hasn't been made clear.
- Obviously Evil: He looks like a horrific combination of Freddy Krueger and Hannibal Lecter.
- Older Than They Look: As mentioned, 2015's Body Collectors: Recollections revealed that he and Jack were born in the late 1800's; meaning that he's well over a 100 years old, but for unexplained reasons never aged past his 20's.
- Prophet Eyes: One of his eyes is foggy white, while the other is blue (albeit bloodshot).
- Red Right Hand: His two different eye colors.
- Serial Killer: Judging from his RUN houses as well as his devotion to being a slasher villain, it's safe to assume that he's killed dozens upon dozens.
- Sibling Rivalry: The original treatment for 2001 had him having one with Jack, though it appears the current version of the character is on good terms with him.
Sindy
Sindy, a.k.a. Cindy Caine
She was officially canonized in 2006's Screamhouse: Resurrection, albeit with a backstory change, where in the house she was depicted as being The Caretaker's dead daughter (also having blonde hair instead black/dark brown) whom he was attempting to revive in various gruesome ways.This was later retconned entirely when she would go on to make her first ever physical appearance in 2009's Shadows of the Past scare zone with her original dark-haired design, and resurfaced a year later in Halloween Horror Nights: Twenty Years of Fear wherein she received her own house, The Orfanage: Ashes to Ashes.
The house completely altered her backstory for the second time, where now she was a disturbed child whose parents passed away from unknown causes, resulting in her being sent away into an orphanage. Throughout her stay at the orphanage, she would never get along with her peers. Eventually, this resulted in her snapping and burning the entire orphanage down, killing everyone but herself inside. Not too long after this incident, she was found and adopted by Dr. Albert Caine, a man equally psychopathic and murderous as her.
After this, she would again appear for the event's 25th year, having now joined Jack's massive band of carnival "Maniacs" along with her new father. The event’s 30th year would see her return again as part of the house Welcome to SCarey: Horror in the Heartland.
- Alliterative Name: Cindy Caine.
- Chainsaw Good: She occasionally wielded a chainsaw in 2015's "Icons - HHN" scare zone.
- Creepy Blue Eyes: Like her father, her eyes can vary from being light blue to foggy white.
- Creepy Child: Do not let her child-like innocence fool you.
- Cute and Psycho: Despite acting a lot like the typical sweet little girl, she is just as depraved as her father.
- Daddy's Little Villain: Even moreso in the original plans for Halloween Horror Nights XII, when she would have manipulated various monsters as her playthings.
- Driven to Villainy: While she was always a bit on the unstable side, it was her abuse by other children in the orphanage that drove her over the edge into complete insanity.
- Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: She's typically seen with black/dark brown hair, though in Screamhouse: Resurrection, she was depicted with blonde hair.
- Evil Orphan: If her current backstory is anything to go by.
- Facial Horror: Her original scrapped backstory had her face getting horribly disfigured when her house is set on fire.
- Multiple-Choice Past: Similar to Eddie, her backstory has never been made 100% clear.
- Name of Cain: Whether she got the Caine name by birth or by adoption, she's one little girl you wouldn't want to run into.
- Punny Name/In-Universe Nickname: SINdy. Her name also has a secondary, probably accidental pun: Cindy sounds an awful lot like cinder, which goes well with her Pyromaniac tendencies.
- Pyromaniac: She wound up burning down the orphanage she lived in for a time, and takes enjoyment in fire altogether.
Terra Queen
"Born of Gorewood from cold dead ground; The Queen be lost, the Queen be found; Know ye witness the season come; Know ye witness our Queen be done."
The ruler of the Terra Cruentus, the Terra Queen was the Big Bad of the events of Halloween Horror Nights: Tales of Terror, commencing the sacrifices of victims to further her rule over the land. At the end of the event, she sacrificed herself, ending the "Season of the Queen", which is said to occur only every 15 years.Originally meant to be the icon of 2005's event, she was replaced in marketing with The Storyteller, who served as the narrator for the happenings of Terra Cruentus.
Since her initial appearance, she has not appeared at the event since. At least, not until HHN 30 in 2021 where she returns to the event in her own scare zone Gorewood Forest, thus somewhat fulfilling the "every 15 years" prophecy due to 2020 being skipped.
- All Bikers are Hells Angels: Some of her minions are demonic versions of this trope.
- Big Bad: Of HHN XV, while The Storyteller served as the Greater-Scope Villain.
- Blood Lust: To an extreme extent, since the blood of her sacrificed victims is used for a variety of things.
- The Bus Came Back: After her sacrifice at the end of 2005's event, she would come back 16 years later in her own scare zone Gorewood Forest.
- Evil Overlord: She's the evil ruler of Terra Cruentus.
- Evil Weapon: She wielded the "Terra Throne Blade" for her sacrifices.
- Face Death with Dignity: Instead of kicking and screaming like her victims, she willingly walks to the sacrificial altar to end the Season of the Queen. She even has a chance to wave goodbye to her subjects and the guests before her own sacrifice begins.
- God Save Us from the Queen!: Rules over Terra Cruentus and continues her rule by creating unwilling sacrifices.
- Horns of Villainy: She has numerous horns, to the point that it makes the upper part of her head look like a headdress.
- I'm a Humanitarian: The blood of her sacrificed victims was sometimes used to help make "Bloodberry Wine", which was served to her and her minions.
- Karmic Death: The blood of sacrificed victims is used to power the Queen's rule and control. On the final night of the event, she herself is sacrificed to complete the cycle.
- Obviously Evil: Her demonic appearance and being a leader of a group that sacrifices others to continue her rule makes her pretty evil.
- The Voiceless: She only speaks in growls and hisses.
Bloody Mary
"To suffering, there is a limit. To fearing, none."
Dr. Mary Agana, a.k.a. Bloody Mary
Originally Dr. Mary Agana, Mary was a phobia therapist denied funding for her extreme method of immersive therapy: exposing patients to the extreme of their fear to cure them of it. She continued on with her own money in a small office in or near New York City in 1958, but only succeeded in sending two patients to the hospital and causing one to commit suicide. As her own fear of death was subdued by seeing death, she began purposely killing her patients while becoming obsessed with her reflection and mirrors. A private investigator, Boris Shuster, began investigating the disappearing patients and made an appointment with her. On the night of the appointment, Mary was murdered by a patient and ex-con who escaped the electric chair he had been placed in; no body was recovered. Shuster founded the Legendary Truth paranormal research team to investigate various paranormal activity, especially the legend of Bloody Mary, and during an investigation into the destroyed office in 2008 the team disappeared.
Bloody Mary was the Icon of 2008 and the first Icon since the Crypt Keeper in 1995 to be based on an existing character. Her backstory was elaborately told through her journal entries, increasingly deranged sketches, and medical files on the patients, chronicling her descent into murder and madness. Due to legal issues regarding the usage of Bloody Mary in entertainment, she has not been seen since (except for a nurse costume in 2010's Psychoscarepy house based on her doctor appearance).
In the 2015 Legendary Truth investigation (which was held during the event's last three nights), it was implied that she may have played a role in freeing the other icons from Fear's lantern.
Although she was marketed as the Icon of 2008, she is currently not officially considered one of the Icons, primarily due to the fact that the urban legend of Bloody Mary is copyrighted; thus limiting what the event is able to do with the character, as they have to get the license every time they use her. However, given that the copyright expired in 2020, it is possible that the character may be used again. In the 2021 30th anniversary house “HHN Icons: Captured,” it is revealed she has a mirror realm within Fear’s lantern.
In the commercials for 2008, she was portrayed by Laura Clery.
- Big Bad: The theme of 2008's event involved guests entering her world behind the mirror, which she had total control over.
- Blood Lust: To the point that in her commercial she used blood as her lipstick.
- The Cameo: She briefly appeared as her human self in 2010's PsychoScareapy: Echoes of Shadybrook, where she could be seen torturing a patient.
- Deadly Prank: In her backstory, it's revealed that her grandmother, a school teacher named Mary Worthington, became the victim of a prank committed by the school's handyman and a group of students. What happened is unknown, but when the schoolmaster opened the school the next day, he found broken mirror shards on the floor and Mrs. Worthington missing and presumed dead. It is theorized that Mary Agana became possessed by her grandmother so she can exact her revenge on the ones who comitted the prank.
- Death by Irony: After dedicating a large amount of time killing her own patients to end her own fear of death, she winds up getting to face her fears first-hand when one of her patients turns the tables and kills her.
- Demonic Possession: Some theorize that Mary was possessed by her grandmother.
- Disproportionate Retribution: She kills her last victim, a board member of NAMH, with a drill after taking advantage of his fear of dead bodies (all her past patients), which was the reason he stopped being a physician and became a psychiatrist in the first place. And the reason she did it? He and the other members of NAMH rejected her immersive exposure to fear thesis.
- The way she "treats" her patients seems to be this. Why? Because they are the descendants of a group of students responsible for the disappearance of her grandmother, school teacher Mary Worthington.
- Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: She sports super-pale skin with long black/dark brown hair.
- Ethereal White Dress: She's a ghost who wears an old-fashioned white dress.
- Jump Scare/Screamer Prank: The event's commercial for her year did this. Considering the famous legend, it shouldn't be too hard to figure out when the screamer comes up.
- Knight of Cerebus: Perhaps even more then the later icon Fear itself.
- Large Ham: Let's just say she is having the time of her life when it comes to speaking and scaring.
- Meaningful Name: As a human, her name was Mary Agana note , and she was a murderous doctor.
- Mirror Monster: Comes naturally with her being based off of the famous urban legend.
- Neck Lift: An unaired version of the 2008 event's commercial had her grabbing a female victim and lifting her up by the throat.
- Never Found the Body: Played with. Though she was confirmed as being dead, her body was never found.
- Nightmare Face: The commercials for 2008 offered a bit of a too-close-for-comfort look at her face.
- Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: In her human life, she was a phobia therapist that eventually went mad and started killing her own patients in order to rid herself of her own fear of death.
- Obviously Evil: She's meant to be an embodiment of all evil legends.
- Our Ghosts Are Different: As a ghost, she's still able to kill people, and can bring anyone who says her name three times into her world behind the mirror.
- Prophet Eyes: She has completely foggy-white eyes.
- Psycho Psychologist: She started out as a legitimate phobia therapist until she became obsessed with making her patients face their fears. Then again, when her idea for immersive fear therapy was rejected by the National Association for Mental Health, she carried on her experiments anyway.
- Sins of Our Fathers: All of Mary's victims are the descendants of the students and the school handyman who caused her grandmother's disappearance.
- Schmuck Bait: People really shouldn't say her name before a mirror...
- Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl: Her appearance seems to take some strong inspiration from Sadako in The Ring.
The Iniquitus
- Big Bad: All of the roaming hordes in 2012 were being led by them.
- Black Cloak/Evil Wears Black: They each wear black cloaks, with only their skull faces peeking out.
- Do Not Fear The Reaper: They resemble the classic Grim Reaper.
- Skull for a Head: As said above, the six of them have skulls for faces.
The Legions of Fear
From left to right: Vampires/Strengoits, Beasts/Cerebins, Warriors/Baccanoids, Prisoners/Maschorians, Traditionals/Morphans, Zombies/Kerezans
Six individual groups of supernatural beings that follow the Iniquitous reapers. For thousands of years, they remained dormant under the park until renovators accidentally unearthed them. They are: The Strengoits (Vampires), the Cerebins (Beasts), the Kerezans (Zombies), the Morphans (Traditionals), the Maschorians (Prisoners) and the Baccanoids (Warriors).- Alternate Reality Game: In 2012 and 2013, the Horror Unearthed and Legendary Truth had games that involved getting points for a certain legion on the Halloween Horror Nights website by interacting with certain objects around the park, going through the haunted houses in a certain order or in a certain amount of times and playing the mini games on the website. The winning team would earn a prize, namely a secret meeting and banquet with the Horror Nights staff.
- Beast Man: The Cerebins.
- BFS: The Baccanoids in the park wield huge Chinese swords.
- Bold Explorer: The Baccanoids love to explore the unknown.
- Chainsaw Good: The Maschorians in the park are a gang of chainsaw wielding prison inmates.
- Creepy Child: The Morphans in the park are child-like creatures who represent the traditions of Halloween. As such, some of them resemble human Trick-Or-Treaters.
- Gadgeteer Genius: The Maschorians are masters of mechanical weaponry.
- Hidden Depths: The six legions have certain quirks to them.
- The Strengoits are obsessively passionate, sometimes overcome by their own desires. During such periods they are singularly focused in satisfying their needs. They are often seductive in both genders and are known to convert those they meet to their line, transforming individuals into fellow Strengoits. Self-described night people. Passionate - Seductive - Sensual. Unusual athletic prowess when excited. Fashionable. Proud. Unusually well-groomed.
- The Cerebins are powerful and exhibit innate animal instinct. Given to might rather than reason, they are perceptive with extraordinary sensory capabilities and enjoy nighttime darkness undisturbed. But they miss nothing. Primal. Athletic. Muscular. Quick movers. Given to physical fitness, especially weight training.
- The Baccanoids are stealthy, disciplined and agile. Smarter than most, they pride themselves on their peak physical condition and like to change appearance often. Obsessive. Quick. Disciplined. Societal. Inquisitive. Excellent problem solvers, they love puzzles, riddles and games.
- The Maschorians are strong but can be cruel to those of lesser ability. They travel in gangs and are masters of mechanical weaponry that are more than compensating for any lack of physical superiority. A Maschorian pack is almost always organized and each individual is descended from the strongest dominant leaders. Tribal. Hierarchal. Deceptively strong of body, they are even stronger of will.
- The Morphans are cleverly deceptive. Given to elaborate disguise, they are generally small in stature and delight in practical jokes, pranks and surprises. Playful to fault. But can be vindictive, vengeful and mean-spirited when insulted. At times, immature in behavior, but they do have fun and love to party.
- The Kerezans are relentless, do not move fast, but will not stop. Although they appear to unite in one group, these are individuals out for themselves with absolutely no interest in others of their line...and it is just by coincidence they have gathered in their pursuit of sustenance. Singular and focused. Unconcerned what others think. Inspirational to novelists, filmmakers and playwrights.
- Half-Human Hybrid: As it turns out, all humans are descendants of these creatures in one form or another, including not only the Halloween Horror Nights characters, but also famous people throughout history.
- Historical Domain Character: Many of the famous people with Legion bloodlines include Richard III of England, Blackbeard (Morphans), Vlad the Impaler, Lucrezia Borgia, Countess Elizabeth Bathory (Strengoits), Attila the Hun (Cerebins), Ramses II (Kerezans), Marquis De Sade, Lizzie Borden, Caligula, Ivan the Terrible (Maschorians), Edgar Allan Poe, Jack the Ripper, Empress Jia Nanfeng, and Confucius (Baccanoids).
- Hive Mind: The Kerezans are described as being a state of mind rather than a group of individuals.
- Life of the Party: In spite of their mischievous nature, or perhaps because of it, the Morphans are fun at parties.
- Only Smart People May Pass: The Baccanoids love solving puzzles, riddles and games.
- Our Vampires Are Different: The Strengoits are vampires of different cultures and myths around the world.
- Our Zombies Are Different: The Kerezans can either be zombies, ghouls, mummies or Frankenstein Monsters.
- Wicked Cultured: The Strengoits' traits include elegance, pride, beauty, very strange but very fashionable attire, and extreme flexibility. As such, when seen in the park, some of them wear very beautiful clothing.
Bones
- Carry a Big Stick: He often has a huge scepter with him, which is of course topped with more skulls.
- Evil Wears Black: Wears plenty of black in addition to some purple and red.
- High Collar of Doom: Has a long black collar.
- Large and in Charge: He's the leader of the festival, and towers over everyone else there.
- Meaningful Name: It seems fitting that a living skeleton would be called "Bones".
- Shoulders of Doom: He uses the front side of two skulls as his shoulder pads.
- Sinister Scythe: When not with his scepter, he carries around a massive scythe.
- Skull for a Head: His face is a skull with a series of unique patterns on it.
- The Voiceless: Despite being the face of 2017's event, he never says anything.
Other Individual Characters
Eel Mouth
- Carry a Big Stick: He often carried a skull scepter with him during the sacrifice ceremonies.
- Black Cloak: Wore one in his appearance in Shadows of the Past.
- The Dragon: To the Terra Queen.
- Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Has long dark brown hair in addition to his inhumanly-pale skin.
- Glasgow Grin: An entire chunk of his cheek is missing on one side of his face.
- Meaningful Name: His name comes from the fact that his missing cheek makes half of his mouth resemble that of an eel's.
- Voice for the Voiceless: Did all of the talking for the Terra Queen, who only communicated through arm gestures.
La Llorona
¡Ay, mis hijos!
Based directly off of the famous legend, she's a disturbed spirit searching for her dead children, and will tear through anyone that stands in her way.She originated at the Hollywood's event in 2010, as a character in a scarezone. In 2011, she received her own house, La Llorona: Villa De Almas Perdidas, which proved so popular that an updated version of it was brought back the following year, under the title, La Llorona: La Cazadora de Ninos.
With the character's popularity at Hollywood's event, it was decided in 2013 to have her brought over to Orlando's event, where she received another house, Urban Legends: La Llorona. Since then, she has not made any appearances beyond the Icons - HHN scarezone in 2015.
- Ascended Extra: At Hollywood, her first appearance in 2010 had her being a single character in a scarezone, but come the next year she received her own house.
- Big Eater/I'm a Humanitarian: A scene in Hollywood's house shows her gobbling up a little girl whole.
- Canon Immigrant: Originated as a character at Hollywood's event, but in 2013 was brought over to the Florida event.
- Chainsaw Good: In 2015's Icons - HHN scarezone, she occasionally wielded a chainsaw.
- Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Similar to Bloody Mary, she has extremely pale skin with long black/dark brown hair.
- Eldritch Abomination: She turned into a giant waterlogged hunched-backed creature towards the end of her maze, with a gaping maw and no visible legs. She was seen in this form when devouring the girl in the bed.
- Ethereal White Dress: Wears a old-fashioned white dress with a veil in her appearances, and is a ghost.
- Eyeless Face: In some of her appearances in Florida's house, she had two holes with a black substance coming out in place of where her eyes should be.
- Glowing Eyes of Doom: Most depictions of her in the event have shown her with glowing yellow eyes.
- Nightmare Face: She can form one frequently, most notably in the aforementioned scene where she ate a little girl.
El Cucuy
Maybe there's a good reason to be afraid of the dark.
He is the Mexican version of the Bogeyman, a cave-dwelling monster who captures and eats naughty children at night. A creature who can on take every shape and size, hiding in the shadows, lurking in your closets and under your beds. Of course, that's just a story that parents tell disobedient children to behave, right? We're grown-ups now. We now know there's no such thing as the Bogeyman, right? Or maybe our parents knew something we didn't. Maybe that creaking you just heard under the bed wasn't the sound of the house settling in, but something you feared as a child: a monster waiting to eat you alive.He originated at the Hollywood's event in 2013, as a character in the haunted house, El Cucuy: The Boogeyman and is voiced by Danny Trejo.
- And I Must Scream: El Cucuy's victims' heads are turned into jack-o-lanterns, then he removes them from their bodies so he can keep them like trophies while he eats their bodies. And the jack-o-lanterns are still alive, screaming for help.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Kills a child for staying up past bedtime.
- Evil Sounds Deep: Considering he's voiced by Danny Trejo, he has a gruff voice.
- Ironic Nursery Tune: "Duérmete niño, duérmete ya... Que viene el Coco y te comerá." In English, the Spanish nursery rhyme translates to "Sleep child, sleep now... Here comes the Coco and he will eat you."
- Invasion of the Baby Snatchers: Perhaps the biggest example imaginable, and straight from the stories of parents. A monster who roams at night, looking for disobedient children to capture and eat. Still don't think so? Take a look at the various missing person posters found throughout the house and at the collection of toys he has in his cave.
- Pumpkin Person: He turns his victims' heads into jack-o-lanterns and keeps them as decorations while he eats their bodies. And the pumpkins are still alive.
- Sadist: Clearly enjoys killing his victims in gruesome ways.
- To Serve Man: He eats naughty children by capturing them, turning their heads into jack-o-lanterns to remove them from their bodies, and then eating their bodies.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: El Cucuy takes the form of different people including a grandmother, a clown, a movie theater usher, and, perhaps the most disturbing of all, a police officer.
- Would Hurt a Child: El Cucuy is perfectly willing to kill children he deems "naughty".
H. R. Bloodengutz
Larry Kurtzenberg, a.k.a "H.R. Bloodengutz"
A character during Halloween Horror Nights 21 and Halloween Horror Nights 30 that nevertheless became an Ensemble Dark Horse, a struggling actor Larry Kurtzberg was given the role of creature feature host H. R. Bloodengutz by Lady Luck in the disguise of a talent agent. When the block was cancelled by his producer Reynolds, Kurtzberg abducted him and his crew, forcing them to film his final broadcast as he tortured Reynolds to death live on the air.
- Ax-Crazy: Upon losing everything he had worked for, he became crazy obsessed with murder.
- Berserk Button: Being referred to by his real name. "I told you, my name is H.R. BLOODENGUTZ!!!
- Cold-Blooded Torture: Inflicted this upon Reynolds, as seen throughout the house.
- Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: His super-pale skin is mostly due to the makeup he's wearing, however.
- Eye Scream: Stabbed Reynolds in the eye with a quill pen in the intro to his President's Day horror feature.
- Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday: The gist of his films are horror stories set around famous holidays such as "The Feaster Bunny" and "Ho-Ho-Homicide".
- Karma Houdini: Averted. Unlike most HHN characters, Bloodengutz is arrested and thrown in prison for his actions. This, of course, happens after he's mortally wounded Reynolds and hurt the crew.
- Large Ham: Larry really got into the role. He really got TOO into the role.
- Punny Name: "Bloodengutz" note
- Snuff Film: In a sense as his final broadcast featured him torturing Reynolds, finally slitting his throat at the end.
Sam Meetz
Meetz Meats! Serving you for over twenty-five years!
Featured in Halloween Horror Nights: Ripped from the Silver Screen, he was the main character of the Leave it to Cleaver house. In it, he was the owner of the Meetz Meatz, a popular meat factory that was founded by his grandfather. The factory started off using meat from livestock and pigs, but when Sam's father inherited the company, he felt that things needed to be changed due to the dwindling profits the factory was experiencing during the Great Depression. Ultimately, he decided to change the ingredient of the factory's meat — instead using human flesh he would get from secretly butchering the homeless, lawbreakers, and anyone that trespasses into the factory. The new meat was an instant success, and continued to be a success when Sam finally inherited the factory from his father.Since his first appearance in 2009, he went on to make a brief cameo in the Jack Presents 25 Years of Monsters and Mayhem house in 2015.
- Black Comedy Cannibalism: More or less the entire point of the Leave it to Cleaver house he appeared in.
- Catchphrase: "Meet me at Meetz! The "Z" stands for fresh."
- Chainsaw Good: Along with his employees, he often wields a chainsaw against any trespassers.
- Creator Cameo: He's portrayed by Mike Aiello, a member of the event's creative team that later went on to become the Creative Director of HHN in 2010.
- I'm a Humanitarian: The Meetz Meatz factory sells meat made entirely out of humans.
- Kill the Poor: Kidnaps homeless people from off the streets to use for the meat's "secret ingredient".
- Villain with Good Publicity: He's seen as the kind and friendly owner of the successful meat factory by the general public, which of course has no idea of what goes on behind the scenes with his business.
Tiny
Jack's muscle-bound henchman, who helped carry out some of his murders in the Carnival of Carnage show in 2007. He had a minor role in The Carnage Returns show, as the person controlling "The Big-Ass Saw".- Dumb Muscle: He possesses great strength, but is quite dim-witted at the same time.
- The Ghost: Jack only mentions him as the person controlling "The Big-Ass Saw" in The Carnage Returns, but he's not shown.
- Ironic Name: His name is "Tiny", and yet he's a huge muscle-bound maniac.
Dr. Pennetti
Another one of Jack's henchmen, he appeared in the Carnival of Carnage show as yet another helper in the murders of the show's unwilling participants. At the same time, he also took an interest in Chance and attempted to seduce her several times, to varying degrees of success. Jack, noticing this, tricked him into being the show's final victim. He was set on fire and then impaled by falling ceiling spikes, killing him instantly.- Cruel and Unusual Death: Set aflame, then pierced with spikes. Not exactly the best way to go.
- One-Shot Character: He was killed in the show, so it's rather unlikely that he'll show up again.
- Noodle Incident: It's implied that the reason why he had scars on his face was because of a previous incident where he upset Jack, though the specifics of it were never said.
- Scars Are Forever: When he tries to pick at his scar, Jack reminds him of this fact.Jack: Stop picking at it, it's never going to heal!
Robert L. Strickland
The central character from the Hellgate Prison house in 2004. He was the warden of the prison back in the '50s and was viewed by colleagues as being a very controversial figure due to his inhumane methods of dealing with out-of-line inmates. He would eventually go so far with his methods that it would unintentionally incite a prison riot among the inmates trying to uprise against him. The incident cost him his position in the end.- Death Row: The reason for why he's viewed as being so controversial is because he'd sentence any prisoner to death at the drop of a book, and would make sure that the prisoner's execution was as painful as could be.
- Large Ham: He speaks with a very big booming and domineering voice, along with having many of the other stereotypical prison warden traits.
- One-Shot Character: Though this was the only house he was in, he would go on to be referenced in 2015's RUN: Blood, Sweat, and Fears house, as the demented game show was being run by his nephew, who additionally was holding the game show inside the now-abandoned Hellgate Prison.
- Screw the Rules, I Make Them!: He committed many violations of the rules he had set for his prisoners, but didn't care.
- Sharp-Dressed Man: In the brief appearances he made in the house's queue video, he's shown wearing a '50s-style suit.
- Wardens Are Evil: A very clear example of such, to the point that his motto is, "Human rights are whatever I deem them to be."
Bobby The Blade
Robert "Bobby the Blade'' Galletta
"It was fun, and I'd do it all again. Light me up, Joe!"
A serial killer that appeared in the Afterlife: Death's Vengeance house from 2013. In the backstory of the house, he was convicted of multiple murders in 1930's Carey, Ohio, and sentenced to death by the electric chair. After being executed, his spirit is then forever tormented in the afterlife by the souls of those whom he killed.- Asshole Victim: The man was a serial killer with a body count of nearly two dozen in life whose last words were telling his executioner that not only was his killing spree fun, he would do it all again. The bastard more than deserves his fate, both the chair and what his victims have waiting for him when he joins them.
- Death Row: What he is placed on after being convicted of his crimes. He soon finds out it's a cakewalk compared to where he ends up after his death...
- Fate Worse than Death: He ends up being tortured by the vengeful souls of his victims for all eternity.
- High-Voltage Death: It comes with the turf of his execution being done via the electric chair.
- In-Series Nickname: "The Blade".
- Karma Houdini Warranty: Very much in play, as he is caught by the police and put to death for his crimes... and that's just in the mortal world. When the electric chair does its job, he gets to be tortured by the spirits of all his victims for the rest of time.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Bobby was a serial killer in life. His reward for doing so in death is having all of his victims torturing him for the rest of eternity.
- One-Shot Character: Made his only appearance in the Afterlife: Death's Vengeance house.
- Our Ghosts Are Different: Upon being executed, he becomes a ghost that's no longer a threat, and ends up being tormented by other ghosts.
- Serial Killer: Bobby was one before being caught, and it would go on to be something he would forever regret being.
Charlie McPherson
The main character of the Dead Exposure house from 2008. He was a tabloid photographer that one day was horrified to see that he had captured photos of what appeared to be zombies, and soon found out that he was in the middle of a Zombie Apocalypse. In vain, he tried to escape from the flesh-eaters, but was ultimately devoured gruesomely.His character is meant to mirror another Charlie McPherson that's involved in the backstory of 2008's event, who was one of Dr. Mary Agana's patients, having gone to her because he was freaking out at the fact that he would see frightening images every time his camera bulb went off.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: He hated having to gossip on celebrities, and wished for something more exciting to photograph. He got his wish in the worst possible way.
- Devoured by the Horde: At the end of the house, he's shown getting Eaten Alive by a horde of zombies.
- One-Shot Character: He appeared only in the Dead Exposure house, though did receive a brief mention in the Zombiegeddon house from 2010.
- Paparazzi: Before his death, he worked as a tabloid photographer.
- Spooky Photographs: The pictures he eventually takes reveal to him that there's a zombie infestation going on; but by then it was already too late for him.
Knightmare
A humanoid monster from Islands of Fear (2002's event), he is the ruler of a twisted version of the Lost Continent, called "Island of Evil Souls". He returned the following year, where that time he hosted a battle between an ice queen and a fire king that took place throughout the island. Since then, he's only received a few mentions in some of the event's material, most notably in some of the Legendary Truth investigations.- Evil Overlord: The role he served in his two appearances.
- Green and Mean: His skin is a mixture of green and yellow.
- Horns of Villainy: He has two large goat-like horns.
- Meaningful Name: His name reflects pretty clearly what his reign over the Lost Continent is.
Dr. Edward Burton
Another character from Islands of Fear, that served a major role in the Project Evilution house. He was a rogue InGen scientist that was interested in using dinosaur DNA for things other than cloning. His experiments ended up as gruesome dinosaur/human hybrids that ultimately killed him by hanging him.- Canon Foreigner: To the Jurassic Park series, as he was created just for the Project Evilution house.
- Evilutionary Biologist: His experiments were mostly to see what would happen if dinosaur and human DNA were mixed together; which of course ends up going horribly wrong.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: The Project Evilution house showed him being hung by his own creations.
- Mad Scientist: He used InGen's research to perform his own kind of twisted experiments.
- Mix-and-Match Critters: As said, his experiments were hybrids of humans and other animals.
- One-Shot Character: He never appeared again after 2002.
Hollywood Harry
In 2018, Hollywood Harry returns to tell his own Deadtime Stories: Who Let The Dogz Out?, Kill Billy's Inn, The Scarecrow's Revenge and Clownz On A Plane.
- Depraved Kids' Show Host: He develops a Crypt Keeper-like personality when he introduces his Deadtime Stories.
- Disproportionate Retribution: He wants revenge on Universal Studios for firing him.
- Monster Clown: Ironically, this trope was the reason he became one. It was because of news reports and movies that portrayed clowns as monsters that resulted in him becoming one.
- Non-Ironic Clown: He started out as one, but when the media started to portray clowns as monsters, he fully embraced the Monster Clown trope and became one himself.
- Psychopathic Man Child: Him, and his army of fired and disenfranchised circus performers.
- Take That!: To the "evil clown sightings" in 2016.
- You Are What You Hate: He hated the way clowns were portrayed in a negative light in the news and in the media, but when he went insane, he fully embraced the Monster Clown trope.
Larry Larva
"Are you tired of humans? Are you sick of being stepped on, squashed, swatted, and sprayed? Then call The Exterminatorz! The number one name in human pest control! Did you know that ninety percent of all life forms on this planet are insects? We outnumber humans a billion to one! Humans don't stand a chance!"
A character that appeared in Terror Tram: The Exterminatorz in 2023. He is an exterminator who has created a new chemical guaranteed to kill all humans or your money back guaranteed.- Big Creepy-Crawlies: As if his chemicals weren't enough, he has a whole army of giant insects who wish to join in his crusade of killing all humans.
- Body Horror: He has holes in his body with maggots crawling in and out of them.
- Eccentric Exterminator: One that specializes in killing humans.
- Expy: His character personality wise is inspired by “The Question Mark Guy” who did “Free Government Money” infomercials and Dan Akyroyd's “Bass-O-Matic” skit from early Saturday Night Live.
- Leitmotif: Every time he appears, the song "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" plays in the background.
- The Worm That Walks: He is, in actuality, a swarm of bot flies that have infested a human body.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: He wants all humans dead in part because of how they have been around for a measly three hundred thousand years, and have polluted the air and water during that time.
Groups of Characters
Terra Cruentus
There were six realms located in this horrible land.
- Terra Gate: The very entrance of Terra Cruentus, guarded by horrific winged creatures. Humans were drawn here almost as if under a spell, perhaps by a Storyteller's words? Beyond the gate was the very source of Terra Cruentus: the Terra Throne where the Rituale du Blude took place every night.
- Iron Bone Gorge: A realm ruled by gangs of rowdy bikers and seducing succubi. The Black Guard celebrated their devotion to the Terra Queen with a final drink of Bloodberry wine before beginning their duty.
- South Hollow: A realm that was once part of one land of hope and life before a rift split it into two lands of darkness. In the south, jesters and fools ruled the night, creating a land of confusion and dementia.
- Gorewood Forest: A realm of internment, patience, and metamorphosis. Bodies of the Rituale du Blude's victims were brought to the Cemetery Mines and were placed into the ground in order for their bones to become iron and their flesh to become stone. Near the mines was the Body Collectors' facility, where humans, dead or alive, were used to create decorations, weapons and clothing. The Body Collectors were also responsible for the creation of the Terra Throne Blade's haft, made from human femur. Across the way was the Skool, where the children of Terra Cruentus learned the ways of the land and played Dead Man's Wishes.
- Dragon Forge: A blistering realm that stank of ash and smoke, the Terra Throne Blade was created here, made from the iron in human blood. The Fire Pits' ore mongers gathered the materials needed for the Blade's creation from the Terror Mines. The leftover parts were made into weapons and torture devices used by the defrocked monks in the village of Blood Ruins.
- North Hollow: A realm that was once part of one land of hope and life before a rift split it into two lands of darkness. In the north was the location of Maldaken Pass, where the tests of survival were located. The first was a peak of cold, darkness and blinding light. The second was a seemingly harmless shack where one encountered their worst childhood fears. Those who survived were deemed "pure of hearts" and would be taken to the Terra Throne to be used in the sacrifice.
- Academy of Evil: The Skool is where the children of Terra Cruentus learn the ways of the land and how to trick and kill humans.
- Blood Magic: Human blood is what gives the land its power.
- Crapsack World: What did you expect? It's a world that literally runs on human blood, so expect lots of killing.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: People die in horrible, gruesome ways here.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: It's a land that specializes in them.
- Dug Too Deep: Whatever was dormant in the Terror Mines, the Ore Mongers of the Fire Pits awoke them.
- Fire and Brimstone Hell: The blistering realm of Dragon Forge might as well be this. It's a realm of ash, smoke and fire where the Ore Mongers create the Terra Throne Blade from the iron in human blood.
- We Have Reserves: Human's blood literally gave the land its power, including for the soil, harvesting, and for the creation of weapons.
- Winged Humanoid: Plenty of the creatures of Terra Cruentus have wings.
Legendary Truth
Founded by Boris Shuster to investigate supernatural cases in the wake of Bloody Mary, Legendary Truth has functioned as a kind of background to recent Halloween Horror Nights events.- Expy: Its branch-off group "Spirit Seekers" from the HHN XX house Legendary Truth: The Wyandot Estate is very much a Ghost Hunters stand-in.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: These guys are the reason Fear was released from his lantern.
- Tempting Fate: The Spirit Seekers used an electromagnetic device to draw out the ghosts of the Wyandot Estate so as to gain more ratings and credit as paranormal investigators. This resulted in all of them dying by night's end. Also may count as Too Dumb to Live.
Inmates of Shady Brook
Shady Brook Asylum is a recurring element of the Halloween Horror Nights PsychoScareapy series wherein the Bedlam House and its various inmates play roles as monsters throughout, so far, six different houses note and in two scarezones note .- Attack of the Town Festival: In the PsychoScareapy - Unleashed scarezone in 2015, they wreak havoc on a family-friendly Halloween block party.
- Ax-Crazy: They care about only one thing in life: murder.
- Crossover: The inmates had this with the Body Collectors in 2015 with the Body Collectors - Recollections house, where the Collectors come across the Shady Brook Asylum and wreak havoc.
- Darker and Edgier: The PsychoScareapy houses were traditionally a comedic house, allowing the actors great leeway in making humorous statements and harassing guests. However, in 2010's Echoes of Shady Brook, the Shady Brook asylum is abandoned and the ghosts of the inmates entirely lose their humorous aspect and become 100% deadly and angry.
- Evil Is Hammy: Being a bunch of deranged asylum inmates, they tend to go very over-the-top in their acts of mayhem.
- Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday: As proven when the inmates run amok in a neighborhood at Christmastime after a van carrying them crashes.
- I'm a Humanitarian: In the PsychoScareapy: Home for the Holidays house, one of the inmates is shown partaking in baking cookies out of an unfortunate woman's back.
- Insane Equals Violent: You could probably count the nonviolent patients on one hand, provided one of the other inmates hasn't sliced it off.
- Leitmotif: In a notable example of Soundtrack Dissonance, "Theme from A Summer Place" by Percy Faith is the music you'll always hear when they're involved.
- Mooks: They served as this for Jack when he took over the asylum, and later for Chance when she was thrown into Shady Brook.
- Our Ghosts Are Different: During Halloween Horror Nights XX's PsychoScareapy: Echoes of Shady Brook, the inmates are malevolent spirits haunting the abandoned Shady Brooks facility after having been disturbed by teens acting on a dare.
- Psychopathic Manchild: Implied with some inmates, such as in the Home for the Holidays house when one inmate is seen wrapping a decapitated head like a present and another uses one to finish a snowman.
Body Collectors
A group of unknown size that takes part in killing humans for the sake of collecting the various parts of their bodies. They first appeared in 2005, where they were shown as living on Terra Cruentus in the Gorewood Forest. There, they would reap the benefits of the dead bodies of the sacrificed victims that were sent to them by the Terra Queen. In 2008, it was revealed that they exist in the real world as well, appearing in the Collections of the Past house, which was set in 19th century London, where the "Jack the Ripper" killings were shown to be cover-ups for their own collecting deeds. They showed up once again at 2015's event in the Recollections house. Still set in the 19th century, they were shown as descending upon the Shady Brook Asylum to further their collection, with the only humans they spared being two newborn infants that would later become Jack and Eddie Schmidt.- Creepy Souvenir: What their entire purpose is centered around.
- Crossover: In the 2015 house, Body Collectors: Recollections, they descend upon the Shady Brook Asylum and cross paths with the inmates from the PsychoScareapy houses.
- Evil Wears Black: As part of their uniforms, they wear black suits.
- Expy: Of the "Gentlemen" from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
- Malevolent Masked Men: They all wear a grey mask that has an evil smile on it.
- Sharp-Dressed Man: As mentioned, they all wear formal suits as part of their uniforms.
Treaks and Foons
A demented bunch of cartoon-like monsters that populated Toon Lagoon during The Caretaker's reign over the "Islands of Fear". They appeared again in another scarezone during Jack's first Carnival of Carnage in 2007, and then went on to make another appearance in 2010, inside one of the rooms in The Hallow'd Past house.- Creepy Circus Music/Leitmotif: Used as the background music in each of their scarezones.
- Fat Bastard: They all sport quite a gut.
- Frozen Face: All of them have permanent smiles on their faces.
- Gasshole: Along with the creepy circus music, their scarezones featured constant burping and farting sounds being played in the background.
- Harmless Villain: In all of their appearances, they did not really do much actual scaring; instead playing around with the guests. This was intentional, as their scarezone was designed to be a bit of a breather for the guests after they had experienced the intensity of the Island Under Siege scarezone next door.
- Monster Clown: They're all grotesque combinations of clowns, real-life cartoons, and normal humans.
- Uncanny Valley: Purposely invoked, they are made to resemble humans that have horribly exaggerated cartoon-like features.
Dogs of War
The antagonists of Orlando's Havoc: Dogs of War in 2010 and Havoc: Derailed in 2014. The Shadowcreek Labs were commissioned to create an army of super soldiers using vigorous training, hand-to-hand combat, weapons, and the use of a powerful steroid-like drug. Shadowcreek succeeded in creating super soldiers, but the insane, violent creations broke out of their cells and took over the labs, killing all of the employees and taking it over, making it their fort. Somehow, the security forces managed to detain the Dogs of War and transported them to a military train, where they were scheduled for immediate lab transfer. Unfortunately, the super soldiers managed to break out and crashed the train, leading to an escape of a bunch of heavily armed and insane test subjects.- Axe-Crazy: The experiments drove the super soldiers more insane than Shadowcreek wanted.
- Bald of Evil: The super soldiers have shaved heads.
- Super-Soldier: The whole point of the Dogs of War.
- Super Serum: The steroids used to create the Dogs of War.
- Gone Horribly Right: Shadowcreek Labs wanted to create the ultimate super soldier. They got what they wanted.
Nightingales
A bunch of shape-shifting creatures that prey on the dying. They first appeared in Nightingales: Blood Prey, where they feast on wounded soldiers during World War I, disguising themselves as nurses. They made another appearance in Jack Presents: 25 Years of Monsters and Mayhem, and yet another one in Nightingales: Blood Pit, which is a Prequel where the creatures feast on defeated Roman gladiators.- Bird People: In Blood Pit, they sport a bunch of bird-like features, suggesting that their appearance has evolved over time.
- Human Disguise: They change themselves to look like nurses during World War I to get closer to the soldiers.
- I'm a Humanitarian: They eat dying humans.
New Yorkshire
In the world of Saws n' Steam, huge chasms open up in the Earth, exposing the world to the core's heat, resulting in a majority of the world's oceans, lakes and rivers either evaporating. Water becomes more valuable than gold, and everyone begins to do what ever they can do to obtain it, resulting in Earth becoming a steam-driven world. In the town of New Yorkshire however, its people found another way to obtain water. At first they started with draining plants of their water, then began killing off animals and its own citizens, liquidizing their bodies to power their steam-driven machinery, but soon began to use advertisements of a "Utopia" promising happiness to outsiders.Strangers new to the city are given aptitude testes to see if they are worthy to be a citizen of the Horizon including three questions that ask for that person's weight, height and how much water they "yield". Those who pass go to the Horizon, but those who fail are suspended from New Yorkshire. Those who passed are escorted to a holding pen where people become livestock until they reach their 30th birthday. Then they are escorted to the deeper parts of the Horizon, leading to an extraction facility where they are harvested of their body fluids which is used to power the steam-driven town of New Yorkshire. There are those who are somehow aware of the truth escape from the Horizon. Some manage to get out alive, while some are captured by the Elite, the Horizon's chainsaw-wielding guards, and are taken forcibly to the extraction facility.- Chainsaw Good: The Elite carry chainsaws to kill anyone who tries to escape.
- Steampunk: Clue's in the title.
- We Have Reserves: The town of New Yorkshire kills people and turns their bodies into liquid in order to power their steam-powered machinery.
Giggles & Gore Inc Clowns
According to Halloween Horror Nights, evil clowns are not born, they are made. These clowns are the answer to the question of what happens to people who disappear. They got kidnapped by evil clowns who take them to abandoned factories and warehouses they've converted into torture gauntlets that transform people into evil clowns themselves.- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: The clowns turn people into one of them by stretching them, squishing them, stuffing them with the remains of wood-chipped people, shocking them with car batteries, and brainwashing them with cartoons.
- Axe-Crazy: What did you expect from a factory run by evil clowns? The Discarded are even worse.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Part of the transformation into evil clowns involves forcing the victims to watch a marathon of Woody Woodpecker cartoons A Clockwork Orange style.
- Clownification: A process of which involves painful surgery and brainwashing, or killing them in the process.
- Enemy Mime: The clowns turn people into mimes by ripping out their vocal cords and voice boxes with Freddy Krueger razor finger gloves.
- Even Evil Has Standards: The Discarded are clowns considered too dangerous and too insane for the factory worker clowns, so they are cast down into the dark basements.
- Industrialized Evil: People get kidnapped by evil clowns, get turned into evil clowns themselves, and then are left to roam free. That is, if they're not killed in the process.
- Monster Clown: Factories run by monster clowns that turn people into monster clowns themselves.
- Nightmarish Factory: A factory where kidnapped people are brutally tortured and brainwashed into becoming evil clowns or killed in the process.
Sweet Licks Frozen Clown Pops
"He wants more..."
Characters from Hollywood's Clowns 3D: Music By Slash. Hard times have fallen on Sweet Licks the Clown, the proprietor of “Sweet Licks Family Fun Center and Ice Cream Emporium.” The country’s obsession with low-calorie diet fads have crippled the formerly successful ice cream factory/roadside attraction. Sweet Licks’ failing company is down to just 2 employees, his mentally challenged son Bubba, and his psychologically damaged daughter Cutty.With Sweet Lick’s company teetering on the verge of bankruptcy, something drastic must be done to save the family business! But you can never keep a clown down for long and Sweet Licks has come up with an ingenious plan to pump some life into his slumping sales. The solution? A fabulous publicity stunt that will generate renewed interest in his moribund company. FREE ICE CREAM!!!!
For one day only, Sweet Licks is offering free tickets to his amusement center and free ice cream for all! What the unsuspecting public doesn’t know is Sweet Lick’s publicity stunt is really a murderous plot to create a new brand of “All Natural High Protein” ice cream using people as the key ingredient!
But who will serve Sweet Licks’ ice cream? The United States is experiencing a “clown crisis” with trade membership at an all time low! But Sweet Licks has a plan for this, too: create a new clown work force by stitching together the discarded body parts of his human victims! With hordes of hungry guests already lining up, the irresistible temptation of free ice cream has proved to be the perfect trap!
- Balloon Belly: In the Vomitorium (a bathroom converted into a prison), the clowns force feed some of their victims with their ice cream, making them big and fat. One of two fates occur for them: they either literally explode or they end up vomiting. Either way, the stuff that comes out of their stomachs ends up collected to make more ice cream.
- Carry a Big Stick: Bubba wields a big mallet.
- Chainsaw Good: Sweet Licks is seen wielding a chainsaw in one scene, then a buzz saw in the second to last scene.
- Character Catchphrase: Sweet Licks' catchphrases are, "I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!", "Yummies for your tummies!" and "Let's turn that frown upside-down!"
- Clownification: The ones who aren't turned into ice cream are painfully turned into clowns via surgery and electric shock torture.
- Cute and Psycho: Cutty.
- Dumb Muscle: Bubba.
- Fat Bastard: Bubba, again.
- Glasgow Grin: Cutty. She does this to a man/woman in the torture room.
- Greed: This is Sweet Licks' primary motivation. The threat of his ice cream factory going bankrupt made him go crazy and devise a plan to keep his business going: lure people with the promise of free ice cream, turn their bodies into ice cream and then sell it to the public, or to make them as a whole into more clowns from their shredded body parts.
- Half the Man He Used to Be: Happens to a man/woman the second to last room courtesy of Sweet Licks.
- Hell Is That Noise: Every time Bubba makes a Jump Scare, the sound of a cat yowling is played over his yelling to fit his cat motif.
- Human Resources: On the promise of free ice cream, victims are lured into the ice cream emporium only to discover THEY are the ice cream.
- Hypocrite: Part of the reason for them going renegade is clowns being portrayed as horror characters. Their response is to kill people and stylize themselves very much like those horror creatures, also making others into more of their kind.
- Ludicrous Gibs: The clowns do this to people in order to make them into ice cream. The second to last room is littered with these.
- Malevolent Masked Man: Bubba wears a disturbing-looking orange cat mask.
- Monster Clown: The ironic thing is, this trope is part of the reason they went insane.
- Nausea Fuel:
- The above-mentioned Vomitorium.
- And then there's the sewer, where sewage monsters lurk amongst the barrels of vomit the clowns keep.
- Nightmarish Factory: A factory run by a Monster Clown family who kills people and turns their bodies into ice cream.
- Non-Ironic Clown: They started out as these, but when the ice cream factory was shut down due to the country demanding more "healthy" treats, along with the media portraying clowns as horror characters, they went crazy.
- Psychopathic Man Child: Sweet Licks, his family, and his employees.
- To Serve Man: After the country demanded ice cream to be "all natural and high in protein", Sweet Licks, Cutty, Bubba and their employees began kidnapping people to turn them into ice cream...which is in turn, sold to the public.
- We Have Reserves: The guests the clowns lure into the ice cream factory that get turned into ice cream.
- X-Ray Sparks: In a scene recycled from Black Sabbath's haunted house the previous year, Cutty uses a cattle prod to electrocute a man in the torture chamber.
