History Theatre / HalloweenHorrorNights

* AnalProbing: Performed on [[TheXFiles Mulder]] in the 2008 Bill & Ted show by [[Franchise/{{Predator}} the Predator]].

* UniversalHorror: HHN Orlando celebrated [[MilestoneCelebration Universal Pictures' 100th anniversary in 2012]] with the Universal House of Horrors, fittingly enough; not to be confused with the yearlong attraction at Universal Studios Hollywood that gets used as part of Hollywood's event. 2009's movie themed event featured houses based on modern revivals of ''Film/{{Frankenstein|1931}}'' and ''Film/{{Dracula}}'' along with a tie-in house for the then upcoming ''[[Film/TheWolfman2010 Wolfman]]'' remake.

Halloween Horror Nights is quite simply one of the largest annual Halloween events in the world. Hosted from the end of September to the end of October (occasionally extending to the first day or two of November), Halloween Horror Nights is hosted by UniversalStudios theme parks in Orlando and Hollywood (expanding to Singapore and Japan as of 2011) every year. While the Orlando event is the biggest, all events revolve are several key similarities: haunted houses (sometimes referred to as mazes, though they all have a predefined path), scarezones (sections of the park themed with props and effects and populated with actors), and shows (with [[BillAndTedsExcellentAdventure Bill & Ted's Excellent Halloween Adventure]] being a perennial favorite). The houses and scarezones are populated with "scareactors", dressed in costumes and makeup and positioned to scare the bejeezus out of passerby.

* UniversalHorror: HHN Orlando celebrated [[MilestoneCelebration Universal Pictures' 100th anniversary in 2012]] with the Universal House of Horrors, fittingly enough; not to be confused with the yearlong attraction at Universal Studios Hollywood that gets used as part of Hollywood's event. 2009's movie themed event featured houses based on modern revivals of {{Film/Frankenstein}} and {{Film/Dracula}} along with a tie-in house for the then upcoming [[Film/TheWolfman2010 Wolfman remake]].

While only the diehard fans usually know this, Halloween Horror Nights actually began in 1986 at Universal Hollywood; after a grisly accident where a scareactor was run over by a tram, Hollywood canceled the event. Universal would not revive their Halloween events until Orlando (to compete with the local "Terror On Church Street" haunt) introduced Fright Nights in 1991, an event that lasted for one weekend in October and included one house, The Dungeon of Terror, and a large number of shows, musical acts, and street performers. Fright Nights was massively popular, with the house achieving wait times of over 2 hours, and the name was changed to Halloween Horror Nights in 1992. '92 also saw the introduction of the Bill & Ted show, which has continued every year since. The event has only grown since then: in 2011 at its peak, for Orlando's Halloween Horror Nights 21, there were 8 houses, 6 scarezones, and 2 shows. The event has gone from a few nights to 4 or 5 nights a week every week from September 21 to October 31. The biggest competitor at the moment is Howl-O-Scream at Busch Gardens. Hollywood's event (under the direction of John Murdy, who originally worked on the Orlando event) would eventually catch back up with the Orlando event in terms of scope and has been well received by fans and by the creators of the franchises that Hollywood bases their mazes on. The biggest competitor for Hollywood at the moment [[note]]in fact, Horror Nights kicked off in 1986 to compete directly with them[[/note]] is Knotts' Scary Farm.

* After Life: Death's Vengeance [[note]]the first use of 3D for a noncomedic house[[/note]]

* DyeingForYourArt: Many scareactors and show actors have had to undergo physical changes for their characters, but the most extreme example may be for Orlando in 2010's Havoc: Dogs of War, where every actor (male and female) shaved their head bald to play psycho super soldiers.

* AlwaysNight: Subverted for scarezones and any house in the Jaws and Disaster queues (where some rooms allow daylight to flood in), as the event opens several hours before sunset.

* CreepyDoll: The ''Film/DeadSilence'' house in 2007, among others.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: As the event has gradually expanded over the course of the decades, this is to be expected. The very first Orlando HHN was named Fright Nights and only included a single haunted house, with most emphasis being on the various music and stage acts around the park; it's been described as "a giant Halloween party". In 1992 it's confirmed that they were still using thick fake blood for their blood spray effects rather than merely water, and the famous Chainsaw Drill Team and set scarezones only appeared in 1994.

* POVSequel: Film/TheCabinInTheWoods

* RoomFullOfZombies: One of the most well-remember rooms of 2008's Dead Exposure was filled with hanging zombie mannequins and actors mixed in; with the only lighting being blacklight strobes every few seconds, it caused more than a few moments of panic upon entering.

* TownWithADarkSecret: Carey, Ohio seems to attract every crazy in the universe, from murderous schoolteachers to cannibalistic meat processing plant owners and employees to psychopathic horror show hosts. How it remains standing is a question for the ages.

* UniversalHorror: HHN Orlando celebrated [[MilestoneCelebration Universal Pictures' 100th anniversary in 2012]] with the Universal House of Horrors, fittingly enough; not to be confused with the yearlong attraction at Universal Studios Hollywood that gets used as part of Hollywood's event. 2009's movie themed event featured houses based on {{Film/Frankenstein}} and {{Film/Dracula}} along with a tie-in house for the then upcoming [[Film/TheWolfman2010 Wolfman remake]].

While only the diehard fans usually know this, Halloween Horror Nights actually began in 1986 at Universal Hollywood; after a grisly accident where a scareactor was run over by a tram, Hollywood canceled the event. Universal would not revive their Halloween events until Orlando introduced Fright Nights in 1991, an event that lasted for one weekend in October and included one house, The Dungeon of Terror, and a large number of shows, musical acts, and street performers. Fright Nights was massively popular, with the house achieving wait times of over 2 hours, and the name was changed to Halloween Horror Nights in 1992. '92 also saw the introduction of the Bill & Ted show, which has continued every year since. The event has only grown since then: in 2011 at its peak, for Orlando's Halloween Horror Nights 21, there were 8 houses, 6 scarezones, and 2 shows. The event has gone from a few nights to 4 or 5 nights a week every week from September 21 to October 31. The biggest competitor at the moment is Howl-O-Scream at Busch Gardens. Hollywood's event (under the direction of John Murdy, who originally worked on the Orlando event) would eventually catch back up with the Orlando event in terms of scope and has been well received by fans and by the creators of the franchises that Hollywood bases their mazes on. The biggest competitor for Hollywood at the moment [[note]]in fact, Horror Nights kicked off in 1986 to compete directly with them[[/note]] is Knotts' Scary Farm.

* ZombieApocalypse: the 2013 event had zombies roaming the entire park.

* Zombie Apocalypse: the 2013 event had zombies roaming the entire park.

Information about the Icons and other original characters created for the event can be found at the (still heavily under construction) Characters page. A partial list of some of the many multimedia properties that Horror Nights has adapted over the years can be found under the Trivia page. Feel free to help out with the Characters page and with crosswicking the tropes.

* UniversalHorror: 2012's Universal House of Horrors, fittingly enough, to tie in with [[MilestoneCelebration Universal Pictures' 100th anniversary]]; not to be confused with the yearlong attraction at Universal Studios Hollywood that gets used as part of Hollywood's event. 2009's movie themed event featured houses based on {{Film/Frankenstein}} and {{Film/Dracula}} along with a tie-in house for the then upcoming [[Film/TheWolfman2010 Wolfman remake]].

* UniversalHorror: 2012's Universal House of Horrors, fittingly enough (not to be confused with the yearlong attraction at Universal Studios Hollywood that gets used as part of Hollywood's event). 2009's movie themed event featured houses based on {{Film/Frankenstein}} and {{Film/Dracula}} along with a tie-in house for the then upcoming [[Film/TheWolfman2010 Wolfman remake]].

As a Universal Studios event, houses and scarezones based on movies are quite common, to the point where 2009's Orlando event included 6 movie houses out of 8 total. Universal Hollywood often has almost exclusively film-based events beginning in 2006, and ''Film/HouseOf1000Corpses'' even got its start as a Hollywood house. It does have the occasional original property, however, such as ''La Llorona'' in 2011[[note]]which got a sequel house in 2012 and a house at the Orlando event in 2013)[[/note]]. One of the key points of the Orlando event is its use of icons: beginning with the [[TalesFromTheCrypt Cryptkeeper]] in 1995, there's been a number of icons (as well as a great many unused concepts) that have been used to provide a face for the year. Orlando also uses the event website to expand upon the backstory of the icons, houses, and scarezones for each year, often mixed in with games (such as "Horror Unearthed" which had an online and an in-park component and the AlternateRealityGame Legendary Truth). Hollywood's event is predominantly movie-centric, and as such, doesn't have Icons and focuses on characters from the house/scarezone properties in the event and marketing. [[note]]Despite Hollywood's focus, Orlando icons have appeared at the 2006 and 2007 events, although only one of them (The Director) served as an Icon in the traditional sense. The Director also holds the distinction of being the first Icon to appear overseas, for the first year of Halloween Horror Nights in Singapore.[[/note]] One of the other distinctions that Hollywood has over Orlando is the Terror Tram, which goes through many of the same sights as the distinctive Studio Tour...only for one reason or another, guests are forced off the tram and onto the the Backlot sets, with rethemed paths and scareactors galore.

* ''Series/TheWalkingDead'': No Safe Haven (licensed house, scarezone AND Terror Tram theme) [[note]]one of the first Hollywood houses (and the first scarezone) [[http://www.shocktillyoudrop.com/news/175687-halloween-horror-nights-welcomes-the-walking-dead-no-safe-haven-new-area-of-universal-backlot-to-be-used to be located in the Backlot's metro area]], first HHN Hollywood house to have a scarezone directly tie into it, first Terror Tram theme to appear twice in a row[[/note]]

* ''Music/BlackSabbath'': 13 3D (licensed house) [[note]][[note]]one of the first Hollywood houses [[http://www.shocktillyoudrop.com/news/175687-halloween-horror-nights-welcomes-the-walking-dead-no-safe-haven-new-area-of-universal-backlot-to-be-used to be located in the Backlot's metro area]], the first house to be located in the 747 soundstage[[/note]]

* LateArrivalSpoiler: If you haven't seen Film/TheCabinInTheWoods before you go see the house its based on, prepare to see a load of these. Although, considering the nature of the film, it's understandable they wouldn't even try and make it spoilerless. [[spoiler: The big "purge button" scene will be part of the maze. The ending scene with the god won't...but some past Horror Nights characters ''will''.]]

* ''Series/TheWalkingDead'': No Safe Haven (licensed house, scarezone AND Terror Tram theme) [[note]]one of the first Hollywood houses [[http://www.shocktillyoudrop.com/news/175687-halloween-horror-nights-welcomes-the-walking-dead-no-safe-haven-new-area-of-universal-backlot-to-be-used to be located in the Backlot area often used for movie and TV filming]], first HHN Hollywood house to have a scarezone directly tie into it, first Terror Tram theme to appear twice in a row[[/note]]

* ''Music/BlackSabbath'': 13 3D (licensed house) [[note]][[note]]one of the first Hollywood houses [[http://www.shocktillyoudrop.com/news/175687-halloween-horror-nights-welcomes-the-walking-dead-no-safe-haven-new-area-of-universal-backlot-to-be-used to be located in the Backlot movie and TV filming]][[/note]]

* ''Series/TheWalkingDead'': No Safe Haven (licensed house, scarezone AND Terror Tram theme [[note]]one of the first Hollywood houses [[http://www.shocktillyoudrop.com/news/175687-halloween-horror-nights-welcomes-the-walking-dead-no-safe-haven-new-area-of-universal-backlot-to-be-used to be located in the Backlot area often used for movie and TV filming]], first HHN Hollywood house to have a scarezone directly tie into it, first Terror Tram theme to appear twice in a row[[/note]]

* ''Series/TheWalkingDead'': No Safe Haven (licensed house) [[note]]one of the first Hollywood houses [[http://www.shocktillyoudrop.com/news/175687-halloween-horror-nights-welcomes-the-walking-dead-no-safe-haven-new-area-of-universal-backlot-to-be-used to be located in the Backlot area often used for movie and TV filming]], first HHN Hollywood house to have a scarezone tie into it[[/note]]

* ''Series/TheWalkingDead'' (licensed scarezone) [[note]]first Hollywood HHN scarezone to have a house tie into it[[/note]]

As a Universal Studios event, houses and scarezones based on movies are quite common, to the point where 2009's Orlando event included 6 movie houses out of 8 total. Universal Hollywood often has almost exclusively film-based events beginning in 2006, and ''Film/HouseOf1000Corpses'' even got its start as a Hollywood house. It does have the occasional original property, however, such as ''La Llorona'' in 2011[[note]]which got a sequel house in 2012 and a house at the Orlando event in 2013)[[/note]]. One of the key points of the Orlando event is its use of icons: beginning with the [[TalesFromTheCrypt Cryptkeeper]] in 1995, there's been a number of icons (as well as a great many unused concepts) that have been used to provide a face for the year. Orlando also uses the event website to expand upon the backstory of the icons, houses, and scarezones for each year, often mixed in with games (such as "Horror Unearthed" which had an online and an in-park component and the AlternateRealityGame Legendary Truth). Hollywood's event is predominantly movie-centric, and as such, doesn't have Icons and focuses on characters from the house/scarezone properties in the event and marketing. [[note]]Despite Hollywood's focus, Orlando icons have appeared at the 2006 and 2007 events, although only one of them (The Director) served as an Icon in the traditional sense. The Director also holds the distinction of being the first Icon to appear overseas, for the first year of Halloween Horror Nights in Singapore.[[/note]]

* Urban Legends: La Llorona [[note]]the first house to be based off of one of HHN Hollywood's original properties[[/note]]

* ''Series/TheWalkingDead'': No Safe Haven (licensed house)

* ''Music/BlackSabbath'': 13 3D (licensed house)

* Urban Legends: La Llorona [[note]]the first house to be based off of one of HHN Hollywood's original properties[/note]

While only the diehard fans usually know this, Halloween Horror Nights actually began in 1986 at Universal Hollywood; after a grisly accident where a scareactor was run over by a tram, Hollywood canceled the event. Universal would not revive their Halloween events until Orlando introduced Fright Nights in 1991, an event that lasted for one weekend in October and included one house, The Dungeon of Terror, and a large number of shows, musical acts, and street performers. Fright Nights was massively popular, with the house achieving wait times of over 2 hours, and the name was changed to Halloween Horror Nights in 1992. '92 also saw the introduction of the Bill & Ted show, which has continued every year since.

The event has only grown since then: in 2011 at its peak, for Orlando's Halloween Horror Nights 21, there were 8 houses, 6 scarezones, and 2 shows. The event has gone from a few nights to 4 or 5 nights a week every week from September 21 to October 31. The biggest competitor at the moment is Howl-O-Scream at Busch Gardens. Hollywood's event (under the direction of John Murdy, who originally worked on the Orlando event) would eventually catch back up with the Orlando event in terms of scope and has been well recieved by fans and by the creators of the franchises that Hollywood bases their mazes on. The biggest competitor for Hollywood at the moment (in fact, Horror Nights kicked off in 1986 to compete directly with them) is Knotts' Scary Farm.

As a Universal Studios event, houses and scarezones based on movies are quite common, to the point where 2009 included 6 movie houses out of 8 total. Universal Hollywood often has almost exclusively film-based events beginning in 2006, and ''Film/HouseOf1000Corpses'' even got its start as a Hollywood house. It does have the occasional original property, however, such as ''La Llorona'' in 2011 (which got a sequel house in 2012 and a house at the Orlando event in 2013).

The lead-up for the 2013 event at Orlando has a renewed emphasis on [[http://www.hhn23experience.com ''Legendary Truth: The Collective'']], the paranormal investigation group that first appeared in 2008 as part of that event's AlternateRealityGame and has made sporadic appearances since then. Unlike in 2008, the Legendary Truth campaign will be a year round experience through [[http://www.legendarytruth.com the official LT website]], their [[https://www.facebook.com/pages/LegendaryTruth-The-Collective-Official/147356518612214 Facebook page]] and other social media yet to be announced. Elements from 2012's competitive game ''Horror Unearthed'' will come into play, mainly the Dark Legion factions that players were assigned to. On top of all that, a lone blogger has taken it upon themselves to try and uncover the evil that park guests will be coming face to face with at this year's event on [[http://www.eviltakesroot.com/ Evil Takes Root]]. The biggest announcement about the event itself is the return of ''Series/TheWalkingDead'', which will not only see a new house, but will see all of the scarezones based on it in some manner. Other houses that have been confirmed so far include houses based on ''Film/TheCabinInTheWoods'' and ''Franchise/EvilDead'' as well as ''La Llorona'' (the first house to be based off of Hollywood's original concepts) and "After Life: Death's Vengeance" (the first use of 3D for a non-comedic house). ''Film/AnAmericanWerewolfInLondon'' has also been confirmed as a house.

One of the key points of the Orlando event is its use of icons: beginning with the [[TalesFromTheCrypt Cryptkeeper]] in 1995, there's been a number of icons (as well as a great many unused concepts) that have been used to provide a face for the year. Orlando also uses the event website to expand upon the backstory of the icons, houses, and scarezones for each year, often mixed in with games (such as "Horror Unearthed" which had an online and an in-park component and the AlternateRealityGame Legendary Truth). Hollywood's event is predominantly movie-centric, and as such, doesn't have Icons and focuses on characters from the house/scarezone properties in the event and marketing. Despite Hollywood's focus, Orlando icons have appeared at the 2006 and 2007 events, although only one of them (The Director) served as an Icon in the traditional sense. The Director also holds the distinction of being the first Icon to appear overseas, for the first year of Halloween Horror Nights in Singapore. Singapore's event weaves in both common Horror Nights staples (the use of Icon characters and common HHN maze/scarezone themes) mixed in with haunted attractions based in Singaporean culture. Japan's event started with a focus on licensed properties such as ''Franchise/FridayThe13th'' and ''[[Film/TheMummyTrilogy The Mummy]]''. It gained mainstream gaming media attention in 2012 for its ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' scarezone, complete with [[http://imagescdn.tweaktown.com/news/2/5/25806_10_universal_studios_japan_dons_resident_evil_theme_for_its_annual_halloween_horror_nights_event.jpg appearances]] from some of the franchise's most recognizable protagonists and monsters along with [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KgVjoX94NI Raccoon City wall projections]].

The lead-up for the 2013 event at Orlando has a renewed emphasis on [[http://www.hhn23experience.com ''Legendary Truth: The Collective'']], the paranormal investigation group that first appeared in 2008 as part of that event's AlternateRealityGame and has made sporadic appearances since then. Unlike in 2008, the Legendary Truth campaign will be a year round experience through [[http://www.legendarytruth.com the official LT website]], their [[https://www.facebook.com/pages/LegendaryTruth-The-Collective-Official/147356518612214 Facebook page]] and other social media yet to be announced. Elements from 2012's competitive game ''Horror Unearthed'' will come into play, mainly the Dark Legion factions that players were assigned to. On top of all that, a lone blogger has taken it upon themselves to try and uncover the evil that park guests will be coming face to face with at this year's event on [[http://www.eviltakesroot.com/ Evil Takes Root]]. The biggest announcement about the event itself is the return of ''Series/TheWalkingDead'', which will not only see a new house, but will see all of the scarezones based on it in some manner. Other houses that have been confirmed so far include houses based on ''Film/TheCabinInTheWoods'' and ''Franchise/EvilDead'' as well as ''La Llorona'' (the first house to be based off of Hollywood's original concepts) and "After Life: Death's Vengeance" (the first use of 3D for a non-comedic house).

The lead-up for the 2013 event at Orlando has a renewed emphasis on [[http://www.hhn23experience.com ''Legendary Truth: The Collective'']], the paranormal investigation group that first appeared in 2008 as part of that event's AlternateRealityGame and has made sporadic appearances since then. Unlike in 2008, the Legendary Truth campaign will be a year round experience through [[http://www.legendarytruth.com the official LT website]], their [[https://www.facebook.com/pages/LegendaryTruth-The-Collective-Official/147356518612214 Facebook page]] and other social media yet to be announced. Elements from 2012's competitive game ''Horror Unearthed'' will come into play, mainly the Dark Legion factions that players were assigned to. On top of all that, a lone blogger has taken it upon themselves to try and uncover the evil that park guests will be coming face to face with at this year's event on [[http://www.eviltakesroot.com/ Evil Takes Root]]. The biggest announcement about the event itself is the return of ''Series/TheWalkingDead'', which will not only see a new house, but will see all of the scarezones based on it in some manner. Other houses that have been confirmed so far include houses based on ''Film/TheCabinInTheWoods'' and ''Franchise/EvilDead'' as well as ''La Llorona''.

* EasterEgg: For Orlando Carey, Ohio is the hometown of a member of Art & Design, and has been used as a setting for MANY of the houses and scarezones.

* UniversalHorror: 2012's Universal: House of Horrors, fittingly enough.

* HotterAndSexier: While Orlando concentrates mainly on the scares, Hollywood supplements their scares with some eyecandy. This comes courtesy of Freddy's Fly Girls, cage dancers dressed up in Freddy's trademark fedora, sweater and claws (and not much else.)

As a Universal Studios event, houses and scarezones based on movies are quite common, to the point where 2009 included 6 movie houses out of 8 total. Universal Hollywood often has almost exclusively film-based events beginning in 2006, and ''Film/HouseOf1000Corpses'' even got its start as a Hollywood house.

The lead-up for the 2013 at Orlando has shown a renewed emphasis on ''Legendary Truth: The Collective'', the paranormal investigation group that first appeared in 2008 as part of that event's AlternateRealityGame and has made sporadic appearances since then. Unlike in 2008, the Legendary Truth campaign will be a year round experience through [[http://www.legendarytruth.com the official LT website]], their [[https://www.facebook.com/pages/LegendaryTruth-The-Collective-Official/147356518612214 Facebook page]] and other social media yet to be announced. Elements from 2012's competitive game ''Horror Unearthed'' will come into play, mainly the Dark Legion factions that players were assigned to. On top of all that, a lone blogger has taken it upon themselves to try and uncover the evil that park guests will be coming face to face with at this year's event on [[http://www.eviltakesroot.com/ Evil Takes Root]]. The biggest announcement about the event itself is the return of ''Series/TheWalkingDead'', which will not only see a new house, but will see all of the scarezones based on it in some manner. Other houses that have been confirmed so far include houses based on ''Film/TheCabinInTheWoods'' and ''Franchise/EvilDead''.

The lead-up for the 2013 at Orlando has shown a renewed emphasis on ''Legendary Truth: The Collective'', the paranormal investigation group that first appeared in 2008 as part of that event's AlternateRealityGame and has made sporadic appearances since then. Unlike in 2008, the Legendary Truth campaign will be a year round experience through [[http://www.legendarytruth.com the official LT website]], their [[https://www.facebook.com/pages/LegendaryTruth-The-Collective-Official/147356518612214 Facebook page]] and other social media yet to be announced. Elements from 2012's competitive game ''Horror Unearthed'' will come into play, mainly the Dark Legion factions that players were assigned to. On top of all that, a lone blogger has taken it upon themselves to try and uncover the evil that park guests will be coming face to face with at this year's event on [[http://www.eviltakesroot.com/ Evil Takes Root]]. The first house announced for the Orlando event is ''Film/TheCabinInTheWoods''.

** A common fan discussion is on the viability of Universal's new HarryPotter attractions for HHN, with the common statement being that J.K. Rowling has barred the use of her properties for such uses. According to some, Rowling actually approves of the series being used for an adult event and the only obstacle is the corporate side....