Halloween Horror Nights 34 is set to kick off this Friday at Universal Studios Florida, but eager fans who can’t wait for the fog were able to get a first look at three of this year’s original houses by reserving a Unmasking the Horror tour.
The Unmasking the Horror Tour is a VIP tour that offers guests a lights-on, behind-the-scenes look at select Halloween Horror Nights haunted houses. This year, the 3-house tour lets guests learn more about Hatchet & Chains: Demon Bounty Hunters, Dolls: Let’s Play Dead, and Grave of Flesh.
Since we are avid fans of Horror Nights, we eagerly booked a tour to learn more about the houses. Please keep in mind, these tours offer a light-on, actor-free look at the haunted houses, so this does not reflect the final look as show elements are missing.
BE WARNED! SPOILERS AHEAD!
Hatchet & Chains: Demon Bounty Hunters
Expanding on the scene featured in last year’s Slaughter Sinema 2, Hatchet & Chains now get their own haunted house.
The story centers on the titular duo: Hatchet, a demon, and Chains, a bounty hunter, each wielding their namesake as their weapon for hunting demons.
Our journey leads us to a small, remote western town, where an old, bitter woman awaits us at the entrance of the haunt. We arrive just in time to witness the aftermath of the lava demons escaping from the town well, with bodies strewn all around as she sits in her rocking chair. This old woman is responsible for summoning these hellish fiends to seek revenge against the town for the establishment of its new train station.
According to our tour guide, these demons possess their victims by ripping open their jaw and crawling inside.
Their goal is to catch the train and wreak havoc on the rest of the world, but Hatchet and Chains are here to stop them.
The house was designed by scenic designer Dylan Kollath, known for handling other mazes like Dead Man’s Pier: Winter’s Wake and Blood Moon: Dark Offerings. We’ll go through many familiar Western tropes: a robbed bank, the undertaker, the saloon, and a brothel (bringing back the scene from Slaughter Sinema 2), before finally making our way to the new train station, which will feature “an impressive” train projection sequence.
The codename theme for houses this year was flowers, and this was the only house out of the three that featured a nod: Carnation.
Dolls: Let’s Play Dead
Dolls introduces us to Lyla, a little girl who is finding out what happens when you torture toys. What happens when you burn them? What happens when you dismember them? What happens when you electrocute them?
This is very much a demented Toy Story.
Guests will enter a dollhouse, as we have “shrunk down” to toy size. The larger-than-life set is very impressive considering the haunted house is constructed in the sprung tent.
The vibe balances the humor with creepy just right, never going too far into the comedic elements. It also gets really creative with scenes, as we find ourselves under Lyla’s bed, with creepy dolls, wet bedsheets, and dust bunnies, or face-to-face with a yarn-spider (hovering over some excellent rubberhouse-style Jack the Clown bedsheets). We’ll even go inside an Easy-Bake Oven as Lyla burns her dolls – where it will feel like we’re being cooked.
Several GATs (Guest Activated Triggers) will be found throughout the house, which are the glowing red buttons, allowing guests to interact with the scene.
The deeper we go into the house, the more sadistic Lyla becomes – and eventually, the inclination to see what happens when you harm a living thing.
If you’re on the hunt for the traditional Easter Egg animal, this year’s hidden animal is lizards! We won’t tell you exactly where it is located in this house, but keep a lookout for a queen.
Grave of Flesh
What happens to us when we die?
Universal takes on their interpretation of that answer with a horror-appropriate take: We don’t rest in peace.
Grave of Flesh is like a blend of Poltergeist and Hellraiser. We find ourselves at Halmouth Cemetery (a play on Hell Mouth), where we have just died. While we’ve seen cemetery entrances before, Universal has added a creative twist by allowing us to enter through the perspective of someone who has just been buried. As we turn away from the gates and step into the towering cemetery, we see our headstone from a unique angle, as if we are looking up from six feet underground.
Our bodies serve as fodder for the underworld, where flesh-eaters rule these parts. The underworld consists of three distinct “domains,” each with its own unique feel and visual style.
The first part of the house finds us amongst the freshly buried, where our bodies have not been consumed just yet. There’s a moist feeling full of brown and earthly tones. As we travel deeper into the underworld, we enter this dark M.C. Escher-like labyrinth, full of bone remains and black ooze. Finally, we encounter an etheral-blue like plane of existence, where the soul is consumed.
3-House Unmasking the Horror Tours are available for purchase starting at $99.99 + tax per person. The 6-House Unmasking the Horror Tours are set to begin on August 29 with prices starting at $199.99 + tax per person, with buffet lunch included. Pricing varies by date and tour selection, subject to availability. Tour dates and prices are subject to change until purchased. The 6-House Tour is expected to include Fallout, Terrifier, The Horrors of Bray Wyatt, Jason Universe, El Artista: A Spanish Haunting, and Galkn: Monsters of the North. Guests will also receive a tour-exclusive button and lanyard. You can find more information on tours here.
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Looking to book that HORROR-filled Universal vacation? We recommend using our friends at MEI-Travel to help plan your next trip to Universal Orlando or Universal Studios Hollywood.
