Every fall, Universal Studios Hollywood transforms into a haunted playground after dark. Known as Halloween Horror Nights, or simply Horror Nights, the event turns the park into an immersive experience filled with haunted houses, scare zones, and theatrical effects that bring horror films and nightmares to life. Guests walk through elaborately themed mazes, encounter scare actors, and board the Terror Tram for a terrifying ride through Universal’s backlot.
Each year, Universal Studios Hollywood introduces new attractions and redesigns old ones. For 2025, the lineup includes Terrifier, Poltergeist, Five Nights at Freddy’s, and Jason Universe, along with the return of Monstruos 3: The Ghosts of Latin America. The event will run from September 4 through November 2, 2025, and gates open at 7:00 p.m. each night. This year’s Hollywood version is expected to draw massive crowds from across Southern California.
Many of those crowds will be made up of students and younger visitors. High school and college students often attend in groups, turning it into an annual tradition. Some go for the thrill, others for social media photos, and many simply for the fun of being scared with friends.
Calabasas High School student Dana Chen attended this year’s Horror Nights and shared her thoughts on the event.
“I really like the water show, but they have that every year,” Dana said. “I liked the pyrotechnics and the Jet skis, that was really cool.”
The event’s high energy, celebrity-inspired attractions, and movie-quality sets make it especially appealing to Gen Z audiences who grew up watching horror movies and playing horror video games.
Set builders, lighting designers, sound engineers, and costume teams work together to construct the mazes inside. Universal transforms each evening with fog machines, strobe lights, eerie music, and scare actors roaming throughout the amusement park.
Another Calabasas High School student, Kaelyn Ramirez, said her favorite part of this year’s Horror Nights was the Five Nights at Freddy’s house.
“It was really good, and I felt like I was in the game,” she said. “The rest of them didn’t have as much detail, and it was really scary.”
Kaelyn also mentioned that the event is worth the price only if visitors stay for the full night. “Last year I went and only stayed for two hours, it wasn’t worth it at all,” she said. “This year I stayed until two in the morning, and it was definitely worth it because I went to every house.”
Horror Nights is more than entertainment; it is a major financial success for Universal. According to Forbes, the company spends over $100 million each year to stage, market, and staff the event. Theme Park Insider found that Universal’s theme parks generated around $7.5 billion in revenue in 2022 and nearly $9 billion in 2023. Ticket sales, VIP passes, merchandise, and themed food and drinks all contribute to its massive earnings. The event also strengthens competition among major theme parks like Disney and Six Flags, which continue to expand their own Halloween-themed attractions in response.
For fans, however, the appeal is not just in the numbers. Halloween Horror Nights is a cultural event, blending film, theater, and fear into one experience. It brings together students, families, and horror enthusiasts who come for the same reason: to be part of something that feels larger than life.
As Universal is transformed each fall, one thing is certain: Horror Nights is here to stay, thrilling and terrifying audiences year after year.
