Editorials
Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights Orlando is a Communal Celebration of Our Holiday Season!
If you needed something to signal the official countdown to Halloween it would be Universal’s annual Halloween Horror Nights, which simultaneously takes place in both Hollywood and Orlando parks. While every state in the country is blessed with various haunts and mazes, Universal is the only one that’s jam-packed with licensed properties from all of the biggest horror films. Armed with a studio and theme park-sized budget, Horror Nights always delivers the terrifying goods on an epic scale and drops fans directly into their favorite genre films. While I’ve been blessed to have been to Horror Nights Hollywood on several occasions, this was the first time I experienced the event in Orlando, and it did not disappoint.
While Hollywood opens with a glamorous red carpet affair, Orlando is a more communal experience that bleeds all over the park. As Horror Nights marks the beginning of the Halloween season for myself, it’s the same for tens of thousands of locals who pile into the park to wait up to four hours just to experience these incredible mazes together. It’s a celebration of our holiday season that’s shared from soul to soul who high-five each other as they exit each attraction and wish the next group the best of luck.
This past Friday, the fans in Orlando showed their dedication by braving 100% humidity (that felt like 107 degrees), waiting in massive lines to walk through “American Horror Story: Volume 2”, “SAW: The Games of Jigsaw”, “The Shining”, and “Ash vs Evil Dead” mazes, and to bid farewell to the annual “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Halloween Adventure” show that’s become a Horror Nights staple. The latter was an unexpected celebration, a jam-packed and electric crowd that screamed and cheered (and even cried) for the pop culture-themed show that will end its astounding 26-year run this season. In a world filled with so much tension, it was pleasing to witness everyone being excellent to each other…
Orlando’s Horror Nights feels much larger than Hollywood’s, filling the streets with performers and five massive scare zones. The highlight, of course, was the strip dedicated to Michael Dougherty’s anthology Trick ‘r Treat and the stories within the film. With pumpkins hanging from the trees, several characters could be seen stalking victims while Sam could be seen popping up with his pumpkin-candy in more than one spot. You can watch our walkthrough of the scare zone over on Facebook.
It was quite exciting experiencing The Purge scare zone, a chaos-filled New York strip that is populated with iconic imagery from the film and flickering signs warning of the 24-hour Purge.
My personal favorite was Invasion!, a throwback to 1955 where aliens have crash-landed into the park and are abducting human for horrific experiments. The vibrant UFO prop was mighty impressive and I loved the mixture of different kinds of aliens that would approach and scare you. It’s also one of the more colorful scare zones that lights up the night.
While scare zones keep it fun while grabbing a Halloween-themed drink and walking between each attraction, the main events are the mazes that are a mix between famous horror properties and original creations made exclusively for the park. There is, however, a surprising difference between Orlando and Hollywood – while the Los Angeles-based event wraps a story around each maze (with a beginning, middle, and end), Orlando’s focuses more on cool imagery and scares. So, while the former is more like walking through an actual movie, the latter is way scarier. If you’re going to make the trip out to one you’re going to have to pick your poison.
Of the mazes, the big winner was “American Horror Story: Volume 2”, one that will make you feel the wrath of the disturbing “Raspers” and infamous serial killer Bloody Face from Asylum. They also transport you to Salem where the witches of Coven are lurking around every corner, while the ghosts of the blood moon from Roanoke are ready to jump out at you. Experience a tease of the maze over at our Facebook page.
We also surrendered to the overwhelming “shine” and the murderous ghosts inhabiting the eerie Overlook Hotel from Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining”, another highlight of the event. What I loved about “The Shining” was how abstract and bizarre it was, making it feel as if you were experiencing your own “shine”, while also depicting famous scenes from the film including the bloody elevator and party massacre. The finale was killer, making us escape the snowy maze as Jack pops out of hedges ready to axe whoever crosses his path. Head over to our Facebook page to watch some of our walk-through!
While there’s also wicked mazes for “SAW: The Games of Jigsaw” and “Ash vs Evil Dead”, one of my favorites was easily the original “Dead Waters”. The maze looked like a scene out of “Resident Evil 7” as we entered a rotting half-sunken riverboat and the skeletal remains of a Voodoo Queen’s victims.
Whether it’s Orlando or Hollywood, Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights is hands down the best haunt I’ve ever been to by a longshot. The collective experience and love for Halloween mixed with high-quality attractions (not to mention that the rides are also open) make this more than just an event, it’s something hardcore horror fans must experience at least once in their lives. What’s even more insane is that Horror Nights is so jam-packed with bloody goodness that it’s impossible to experience it all in one night, and offers so much bang for your buck that you’ll have no choice but to return multiple times through its closing night on November 4th.
Get tickets and more info at the official website.
A full breakdown of the mazes include:
- THE SHINING: The visually intense psychological thriller is now the most terrifying haunted experience imaginable.
- SAW: THE GAMES OF JIGSAW: The traps are set. All that’s missing is you. The Jigsaw killer has returned to torment you with his twisted take on poetic justice.
- AMERICAN HORROR STORY: VOLUME 2: Experience three horrifying stories in one disturbing house as a deranged cast of characters seek not only your life, but your soul.
- HORRORS OF BLUMHOUSE: From the deranged filmmakers behind Insidious, Sinister and The Purge comes the Horrors of Blumhouse. They’ve all come back to haunt you.
- ASH VS. EVIL DEAD: The STARZ original series, Ash vs Evil Dead, expertly blurs the line between horror and comedy in this horrifically hilarious addition to Halloween Horror Nights™.
- DEAD WATERS: Enter a pestilent swamp that oozes evil, the hellish realm of the Voodoo Queen. If you fail to escape, you’re in for a gut-wrenching sacrifice.
The Fallen - THE FALLEN: You’re about to be caught in the crossfire of the eternal war of light versus dark and no one will be saved.
- SCARECROW: THE REAPING: At a long-abandoned Depression-era farm, vengeance takes root, and the only harvest that will be reaped is you.
- THE HIVE: The crumbling house on 19 Hemingway Lane harbors a nest of bloodthirsty vampires. If you awaken them, you will face a savage, bestial hunger.
Despite ancient humans having already overcome several potential doomsday scenarios in real life, post-apocalyptic fiction used to be relatively rare until the invention of the atomic bomb convinced us that the end of the world could be just around the proverbial corner.
Since then, we’ve seen many different stories about the collapse of civilization and the strange societies that might emerge from the rubble, but I’d argue that one of the most interesting of these apocalyptic visions is the post-nuclear America of the iconic Fallout games. A witty satire of American jingoism and cold war shenanigans, it’s honestly baffling that it so long for us to finally see a live-action adaptation of this memorable setting.
Thankfully, Graham Wagner and Geneva Robertson-Dworet’s Fallout TV show isn’t just a great adaptation – it’s also an incredibly fun standalone story that makes the most of its post-apocalyptic worldbuilding. And since fans are going to have to wait a while to see the much-anticipated second season, we’ve decided to come up with a list highlighting six post-apocalyptic thrillers to watch if you’re still craving more Fallout!
As usual, don’t forget to comment below with your own apocalyptic favorites if you think we missed a particularly fun one. And while it’s not on the list, I’d also like to give a shout-out to The Hughes Brothers’ underrated post-apocalyptic action flick The Book of Eli – which I recently covered in its own article.
With that out of the way, onto the list…
6. The Divide (2011)
Xavier Gens may be best known for his memorable contribution to the New French Extremity movement – with the eerily prescient Frontière(s) – but the filmmaker is also responsible for a handful of underrated thrillers that flew under the radar despite being legitimately solid films. One of the most interesting of these flicks is 2011’s The Divide, a single-location exercise in claustrophobic tension.
Telling the story of a group of New Yorkers who find themselves trapped in a bomb shelter after a surprise nuclear attack, this dark thriller is more interested in the ensuing social chaos than effects-heavy physical destruction. And while critics at the time were horrified by the bleak story and cynical characters, I think this mean streak is precisely what makes The Divide worth watching.
5. The Day After (1983)
One of the highest-rated TV films of all time, ABC’s The Day After is one of the scariest movies ever made despite being more of a speculative docu-drama than an actual genre flick. Following an ensemble of families, doctors and scientists as they deal with the horrific aftermath of all-out nuclear war, this radioactive cautionary tale was vital in convincing real-world politicians to review their policies about nuclear deterrence.
In fact, the film is even credited with scaring President Ronald Reagan into changing his mind about expanding the United States’ nuclear arsenal, with this new stance eventually leading to a treaty with the Soviet Union. With a story this powerful, I think it’s safe to say that The Day After is a must watch for Fallout fans interested in the more down-to-earth elements of the apocalypse.
4. The Postman (1997)
If I had a nickel for each unfairly maligned post-apocalyptic epic starring Kevin Costner that was released in the 90s, I’d have two nickels – which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice. And while Waterworld has since seen a resurgence in popularity with fans defending it as a bizarrely expensive B-movie, I haven’t seen a lot of discussion surrounding 1997’s more serious vision of a fallen America, The Postman.
Following Costner (who also directed the flick) as a post-apocalyptic nomad who begins to rebuild America by pretending to be a member of the newly reformed postal service, this David Brin adaptation is consistently fascinating – especially if you view the story as a cynical fairy-tale, which was Costner’s original intention.
And while the flick suffers from some goofy dialogue and a bloated runtime, it makes up for this by having directly inspired Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding.
3. Turbo Kid (2015)
Turbo Kid may have been billed as an indie Mad Max with bicycles instead of cars, but François Simard, Anouk Whissell and Yoann-Karl Whissell’s comedic throwback to the post-apocalyptic future of 1997 is much more than meets the eye. From quirky characters to madly creative designs, the flick rises above nostalgia bait by being a legitimately fun time even if you don’t get the copious amounts of ’80s and ’90s references.
And despite the horror-inspired ultraviolence that colors the frequent action scenes as we follow a young comic-book fan deluding himself into thinking that he’s a superhero, it’s the childlike sense of wonder that really makes this a treat for cinephiles. It’s just a shame that we’re still waiting on the sequel that was announced back in 2016…
2. Six-String Samurai (1998)
A lo-fi homage to spaghetti westerns and classic samurai films – not to mention the golden age of rock ‘n roll – Six-String Samurai is a must-watch for those who appreciate weird cinema. While I’ve already written about the madly creative vibes that make this such an entertaining flick, I think it’s worth repeating just in case some of you have yet to give this musical fever dream a try.
And appropriately enough for this list, the film was also a source of inspiration for the 3D Fallout games – especially Obsidian’s fan favorite New Vegas. The game even includes a New Vegas Samurai achievement (unlocked by killing enemies with a katana) with a vault-boy illustration modeled after the film’s rendition of Buddy Holly.
1. A Boy and His Dog (1975)
The grisly post-apocalyptic comedy that inspired the original Fallout games, L.Q. Jones’ adaptation of Harlan Ellison’s novella is just as shocking today as it was back in ’75. Telling the story of a teenage scavenger who travels the wastelands of 2024 America alongside his telepathic canine companion, A Boy and His Dog feels like a Heavy Metal comic brought to life.
While the film’s rampant misogyny and brutal violence make it tough to revisit under modern sensibilities, it’s still a landmark in post-apocalyptic cinema and one hell of a memorable ride. Not only that, but the flick also inspired the creation of Fallout’s most beloved NPC, the ever-loyal Dogmeat.
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