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Halloween Horror Nights Week 3 Recap HHN25

Universal Orlando wrapped their 3rd week of Halloween Horror Nights last night. We were able to attend the event on Thursday and Saturday and spent extensive time in the scare zones as well as another run through all nine houses. The following is our weekly recap of scores and rankings, along with news and notes for the houses and scare zones.

Haunted Houses / Mazes Scores & Ranks

1. Jack Presents: 25 Years of Monsters and Mayhem – This house remains at the top of our list and would have a hard time being knocked out of the top spot at this point. Week over week, this house continues to improve on their scares, along with timing and variety. Of special note, the #HHNBear in the second room seems to have taken on a life of its own and has taken to dancing and fist pumping when chanted at as folks make their way through the room (BEAR, BEAR, BEAR). (5* out of 5*)
2. Freddy vs. Jason – The third week for this house has kept it firmly in place at number two. It seems like the initial Jason that provided an immediate scare is no longer in place. We’ve had a couple of runs through that we’ve missed scare timing, but overall, this is a pleasure to experience. Of note, one of the last Freddy characters that you pass in the house is now wearing a Camp Crystal Lake shirt, which is a nice touch. At press time, our run through score was Jason 10, Freddy 5. (5* out of 5*)
3. Body Collectors: Recollections – Body Collectors remains a strong house with gorgeous settings, including the best facade of the year. This has also been the most consistent house week over week with no huge changes (with the exception of the sometimes person in the ceiling and/or person crouching by the exit). The babies in the crib within the prison scene seem to be the big buzz on the web and if they may tie into next year. (5* out of 5*)
4. Insidious – Though still a solid house, it feels like the scares have become more hit and miss lately with Insidious. We’ve been through a few times where we’ve had gaps in places that actors were previously and the house hasn’t seem to had. (4.0* out of 5*)
5. Run: Blood, Sweat and Fears – This house continues to improve week over week. We’ve continued to notice that the scareactors are amped up and giving 150% to get right in your face, making the personal interaction mean more. The house does still have some gaps in it and experiences have varied by the cast that is on at the time.  (3 1/2* out of 5*)
6. Asylum In Wonderland 3D -This house hasn’t changed much week over week and remains one of the strongest 3D houses that Halloween Horror Nights has had to date. We’ve tried the house without the glasses on this week and still found that the effects were pretty powerful. (3* out of 5*)
7. An American Werewolf In London – After a couple of really good runs in this house during week 2, we’ve found that the house returned to a very hit or miss status for week 3. Some of the scares seem to be missing at times and without them, the house isn’t very effective. (3* out of 5*)
8. The Purge – During our weekly walk through of The Purge, we were impressed with the scareactors and again disappointed in the overall house. The barker that is supposed to be standing outside has yet to be there for any of our trips and the house still doesn’t make much sense despite the multiple walk throughs. Overuse of strobe here is still killer and a huge turnoff. (2* out of 5*)
9. The Walking Dead: The Living and the Dead – We haven’t really noticed anything new or improved in this house week over week other than the overpowering smell of chlorine in the pool room. We are really curious why the house employs a disco/rave room at the end, prior to walking out. (2* out of 5*)

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Scare Zones Scores and Ranks

1. Evil’s Roots – Week after week, this is by far the zone with the most scares. With the heavy use of fog and ambient lighting, it is almost impossible to see everything (or everyone) around you. Man dressed as bush from this zone gets the scare zone MVP award this year. (5* out of 5*)
2. Psychoscareapy: Unleashed – This zone seems to have an endless amount of scareactors in it. We’ve seen multiple new characters every time we visit, which makes us think that folks must be having fun raiding wardrobe on a nightly basis. We also noticed the growing number of human heads to the pumpkin carving station, which when worked with by the scareactors, comes off as sheer brilliance. (5* out of 5*)
3. All Nite Die-In Double Feature – This zone continues to be a fan favorite, with the black and white set being a highlight of the event. Dr. Frankenstein is simply over the top as well as The Bride and Wolfman. Jason and Freddy are selfie monster machines. Both casts are wonderful and rack up many scares for folks walking back and forth from Bill & Ted’s show. (5* out of 5*)
4. HHN Icons – The Icons zone remains a highlight of the event as a showcase to the past with the characters that helped build Halloween Horror Nights into what it is today. The kill scenes by the Icons themselves are excellent and the sub-icons in the zone are hitting on all cylinders. The lighting in the zone seemed to be hit and miss this past week, especially in the area closest to the front of the park, where you could barely see the characters that are in front of you. (4.5* out of 5*)
5. Scarytales: Screampunk – We spent a bunch of time in this zone this past week and experienced a ton of scares, including the biggest that we’ve seen so far this year….from Little Bo Peep. Yes, you heard that right. (4* out of 5*)

Across the houses and scare zones, we noticed small enhancements that add finer details to the characters (Lady Luck’s fangs, The Director’s contacts, Little Boy Blue’s trumpet, and Beast’s hair). We are looking forward to returning this weekend to note continued progress throughout the event and will continue to update the site with our pictures and videos.

Our HHN25 playlist and pictures from week 3 are below: