Halloween Horror Nights 2024: The First Trailer

Introduction

Halloween Horror Nights in Orlando is one of the premier horror events worldwide. Each year, between February and April, Universal Orlando starts revealing details about the haunted houses for that year’s event. However, this year broke the pattern. While tickets and dates were released in March 2024, there was no event information. April passed with no updates. In the second week of May, Universal began teasing through social media. First they posted an image of a barred door, then a video of screams from a sewer grate. These teasers led to a major reveal. Typically, the first reveal is for the headlining intellectual property or a returning favorite, like Jack the Clown. This year, however, the reveal introduced something entirely new.

The Build-Up to the Reveal

In a departure from their typical announcements, Halloween Horror Nights chose to keep fans on the edge of their seats longer this year, releasing no information about the houses, themes, or associated intellectual properties well into May. This tactic of delayed gratification made their recent reveal all the more interesting.

A Week of Cryptic Teasers

Prior to the major reveal, Halloween Horror Nights released a series of enigmatic videos hinting at a presence lurking beneath Universal Orlando. These snippets featured eerie sounds in the sewers and maintenance tunnels, setting a perfect stage for the main event. The longest video showed a tourist who was being hunted by something beneath the park.

The Halloween Horror Nights First Reveal

Finally, the anticipated full announcement came. Universal uploaded a two minute “trailer” that gathered together all of the teases. In the beginning, a park maintenance worked hears strange sounds coming from the sewer grates near the Revenge of the Mummy Ride. The camera pans down through the grate, into a maintenance tunnel. The barred door from the teasers appears. This time, the camera goes through the door to show what is inside.

What’s Behind the Door?

There were several theories about what would be behind the door, and by extension, what would be the first reveal of the Halloween Horror Nights 2024 event. Based on previous patterns, all of the theories revolved around either a returning original character or an iconic film or tv franchise that would headline the event. Each theory had at least some evidence to back it up.

Theory: It

It is considered a golden goose for Halloween Horror Nights. The It movies are made by Warner Brothers, and there is a long history of Warner and Universal working together in the theme parks. The entire Harry Potter lands that have revitalized the Universal Parks are based on Warner Bros movies. The focus on sewers and sewer grates in the teasers made many fans hopeful that this would be the year that Pennywise the Clown joins the Halloween Horror Nights roster.

Theory: Ghostbusters

The Ghostbusters movie has been a part of Universal Orlando since opening day. The space that now contains the Jimmy Fallon Race Through New York ride was originally a ghostbusters show, and the Fire station and New York Library façades still stand prominently in the park. The sewers and slime seen in the trailers brought to mind the second Ghostbusters movie, which started similarly. Rivers of pink slime in the New York sewer system were the first sign of trouble in that movie. Ghostbuster has also had a recent resurgence in the park. Halloween Horror Nights in 2019 featured a Ghostbusters house as one of its headliners to celebrate the movie’s 35th Anniversary. This year is he 40th Anniversary of the original movie and would make for a fitting time for the House to return.

Theory: Jack

Jack Schmidt was the very first original headlining Icon for Halloween Horror Nights, and has made more appearances throughout the years tan any other original character. The last time he headlined was for Halloween Horror Nights #30 in 2021, but the icon in 2023, Dr. Oddfellow, indicated that Jack would be returning soon for some sort of war between the two. When Jack returned in 221, his announcement video showed that his lair was beneath the Universal Orlando Theme Park, in the very similar space to the one teased in last week’s hints.

The Reveal

Which of the three was behind the door? None of them. The thing lurking behind the door wasn’t from a movie, or tv show, or any identifiable returning character. It was a slimy, writhing, black cocoon. The cocoon appeared to struggle, before tearing open and screaming. This blew the door off the room and sent a shockwave to the surface of the park, turning the sky red. The final shot showed the classic Universal entrance arch, with a red sky and vague eyes in the clouds. And reflected in the puddle beneath the arch was a hellish, living creature version of the entry, with a single eye and lots of teeth.

What does this mean for Halloween Horror Nights?

Every ten years or so, Universal Studios changes their outlook on Halloween Horror Nights. For years 2000-2011, original stories and Icons ruled the event. Most years featured an original character who had some sort of connection to all the houses, and crafted the story for that year. For most of years 2012-2019, characters from famous horror movies dominated the event. The theme and marketing were focused on the big movies that Horror Nights was able to make houses for, and there was little in terms of a cohesive story for the event. This started to change in 2021, and by 2023, , Icons, original characters, and cohesive themes and stories were back on the table and featured heavily. This year, the fact that the first big reveal is for a mysterious original is a very new pivot.

What Could the Creature Be?

There are plenty of things to speculate on in the new trailer and very few concrete facts. Halloween Horror Nights always takes inspiration from existing material when crafting their original characters and monsters. Jack Schmidt is definitely heavily inspired by both the Joker and Pennywise, for example. So what inspirations do we see in this new creature?

Alien, Lovecraft, and Stranger Things

My first thought seeing the cocoon was that Universal had secured the rights to use the Xenomorphs from Alien. The inhuman sounds, black tendril like parts of the cocoon, and the slimy look and sounds all scream Xenomorph. Alas, the rights to the Alien franchise went to Disney when the company bought Fox Studios. Disney is unlikely to share with their biggest theme park competitor.

Every year, Halloween Horror Nights creates an intricately themed gift shop, the Tribute Store. Last year’s Tribute Store featured a storyline and hints at some sort of eldritch abomination lurking behind the shadows. A totem inspired by the Lovecraftian Cthulhu mythos appeared, glowing, in a store window prior to the store’s opening. Despite the event’s end in November, the glowing relic is still visible in the street window near the Transformers ride. The creature, the red sky, and the creatures in the clouds and water could be pointing at some elder god being prominent for his year.

Finally, Halloween Horror Nights and Stranger Things have a history that goes back to 2018. There have been three different houses featuring Stranger Things since then. A fourth house to cover the final season of the show is all but guaranteed. The red sky in the trailer looked very much like the red sky in the Mind Flayer’s Upside Down. The fifth season of Stranger Things wont air until 2025 at the earliest, which makes it extremely unlikely that it will make an appearance at this year’s event. It would not surprise me if this year features inspirations from Stranger Things, in anticipation of an eventual Season 5 House.

Halloween Horror Nights Merchandise Online

Each year, Halloween Horror Nights usually chooses five Horror Movies, TV Shows, or Videogames to make into Haunted Houses. The houses themselves are excellent, and the merchandise that is inspired by them is top notch. Even if you cannot go to Orlando in the Fall, it may be worth it to check out their online store once the event starts. You could find some very interesting gifts and collectibles created just for the event.

Conclusion

Halloween Horror Nights 2024 has taken a bold new direction, diverging from its past trends in an an innovative approach to horror storytelling. The cryptic teasers and the enigmatic reveal of a monstrous, cocooned entity set a thrilling stage for what’s to come. This year, Universal Orlando has chosen to captivate audiences with fresh, original content rather than relying on familiar characters and franchises. This shift marks a new era for Halloween Horror Nights, promising an experience that is both unpredictable and deeply immersive. As fans await further details, it’s clear that Halloween Horror Nights 2024 is set to deliver something new.

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